Great post Rands. Saw many of my own problems in what you described.

Some of your conclusions (in-box to zero, strict to-do transfer policy) are also discussed in a great read which I came across recently - Bit Literacy (www.BitLiteracy.com). It was published in 2007 and is available as a free download from Apple's iBookstore or in a kindle edition.

Have you read this? I suspect you would agree with much of the advice on effectively engaging with "the bits" we encounter on a daily basis.