Post written by Marlon Ribunal.
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Information Security is one of the top priorities of any company that deals with data. Practically all companies have to deal with some kind of data. The company’s accumulated data – that includes documents, emails, voice messages, and all other forms of data – is a big portion of their assets. Information Security, therefore, is a serious business.

Every employee (yes that’s you) must take part in his or her company’s effort of protecting every bit of the company’s data. The employee’s daily office routine is a big factor in this. How efficient an employee handles his or her “stuff” is very critical to the success of the security effort. In fact, human error is cited as the greatest security risk.

How the GTD Workflow Helps in Information Security?

The simple answer to that is simple: Follow the GTD Workflow Processing and Organizing. One of the common pitfalls in data security in any company is print materials or printed documents that are left sitting around in inappropriate places. Let’s take that as example to illustrate how GTD can help in securing information (we can practically apply the following illustration to any piece of data that we deal in the office).

Following the GTD workflow, you ask yourself: “Is it actionable?” If you printed a document, chances are you need it for something – you need it right away or some other time. Do you need to take action on the document now?

YES – Identify the Next Action

Do It – According to the GTD’s 2-minute rule, if the task requires 2 minutes or less, then do it and dispose of your document (trash or keep it away in your reference file). You may have a different routine. Your tipping point might be more than 2 minutes – that might be five or ten minutes. If you think you can do the tasks associated with that document within your allotted time, then do it and deal with the document right away.

Delegate – If you are like most office workers, you are given some projects that need other people’s help to accomplish. If you’ve printed documents for these projects, you don’t want to leave those documents sitting on your desk for a period of time and only deal with them “when you get the chance.” Deal with the documents right away by delegating them to the appropriate co-worker.

Defer – Again, if you are like most office workers, it’s one of your bad habits to print documents that we don’t even need right away. Or there are some instances wherein we need to print documents in advance for future tasks, such as a document that we need to read in advance. At any rate, we need to deal with these materials right away. If we only need them for the future, we need to put them in their appropriate place.

NO – Trash or Keep as Reference

Reference – We usually need supporting documents to accomplish certain tasks. If you printed documents, it is critical that we properly keep them in their appropriate folder or drawer.

Incubate – There are materials that we put on pending status because we might need them in upcoming projects or we cannot just decide on what to do with them. These materials must be dealt with nonetheless. The point is whatever kind those materials or documents are, we have to have them in their proper places.

Trash – There are times that we printed documents by accident or acquire documents that we don’t need. If they are of no use to you or to your co-workers, put them in the secure trash bin.

What are the benefits of following the GTD Workflow to the Information Security effort?

Plug the Common Security Holes

By following the GTD Workflow, we are basically putting plugs to the most common security holes – physical documents. Obviously it is hard to control the “access” to printed documents. The best that we can do to protect our printed documents, or any hard copy of critical documents, is to keep them in their appropriate and secure places.

More Control to Data

The more you have control to your data, the easier for you to manage its security requirements. How much control do you have over your data and the system they are part of is the most critical factor in the information security effort. You cannot basically secure your data or assets if you do not have control over them.

Secure the Document Trail

Securing the documents themselves is only one side of the coin. The other side is the actual process that governs them. It’s one thing to secure the elements; it’s another thing to secure the process. Securing the process is at the same weight with the data themselves. You cannot have a secure data without a secure process.

Have you been deploying the GTD System only as a Productivity System? Have you ever thought of its importance as a Security System? Share how you have applied it as a security measure.