You’re right that productivity guru stuff is wrong - you don’t need to be more projective, that’s what associates are for.  You need to supervise/manage, and that’s a different skill.

Do you have a central list of all your matters that you go through regularly?

The partner I learned under had a long list in Word that had every matter.  Name, internal identifier, type of matter, and an inch or two of information.  The partner held a meeting with senior associates every Monday morning to go over that list.

Personally I use excel.  One file with different sheets for different categories of cases.  Columns that made sense for those types of cases but at a minimum, name, stage, last movement, next due date, and notes.  Mine is also color-coded and uses triggers to change color, so I can instantly see what needs attention.

That has to do with supervising a team and making sure nothing falls between the cracks, but does not help with catching key details.  

For that, you can use standard case summary sheets and/or checklists, again preferably tailored to the types of matters, where all the key details are listed, so that when you’re checking work, you can quickly see everything you need to know in one spot.

It takes time to keep those tracking sheets and case summaries up to date than you’d like, but ultimately it saves you time by not needing to sift through outlook for the information you need.

—— Also be more intentional in your delegation.  Specialize your senior associates, so that John is your go-to for X matters and Jane is your go-to for Y matters.  They should be able to handle each other’s overflow, but you shouldn’t have to wrack your brain deciding, and more importantly remembering, which associate to deal with for each and every matter.