the magic of 4D

Orla works by providing a methodology for getting organized and a tool (Outlook software) which makes it easy to implement that methodology.

The Orla methodology is driven by 3 simple principles:

  1. You can identify and capture the work contained in your emails using 4D triage (Ditch, Deal, Delegate or Decide).

  2. You can structure all your emails into 2 types of work items – work that is strictly fixed in time (calendar items) or work that is more flexible (tasks). Our Outlook software allows you to easily transition from the rolling to do list of your inbox to an organized “My Work” view showing all tasks and calendar items for a given period.

  3. Once emails are structured in this way it is small step to use the same “My Work” view to manage and capture all non-email related work. This allows you to move to a single electronic organizer that contains all of your work, supported by an Outlook tool, that makes it easy to apply the principles.

Supporting these principles is a straightforward training program that has just 5 learning goals.

The links below capture the core methodologies and the rationale that drive Orla. The principles are simple – but are highly effective in practice. By providing an easy-to-use Outlook interface that supports these principles plus the basic training you need we make it easy for you to permanently change your organizing behavior significantly improving your email experience in the process!


Fixing Email Pain