Getting Things Done revisited

[tomos]

Revisiting the revisitation, eh?

I'm confused by this bit - see numbered interjections in quote:

So then my big wall clock broke (a little) so I moved it for a while ... and BOOM! They [staples grid calendars?#1] are heavy enough to stand up against the wall of my main desk.
[...]
The original inspiration - On the big one [the big what?#2], the boxes [what boxes?#3] are very close to a 4x4 sticky. That you can't lose! (Or get crushed at level 2 when you need any more than four pieces of info.)

But the "Trick" behind it is ...You can go Vertically / Horozontally / (pick one, not both), like a mini spreadsheet, to group the small categories together.

And for those Projects, you use an entire whole page, now giving you some 4-7 subcategories, then you make your detail notes in the column or row.

-TaoPhoenix (July 16, 2015, 01:37 AM)

I think if I understood the queried bits, I'd understand the rest.

(maybe an image, or a link to an image if it's e.g. the calendars?)

[TaoPhoenix]

My version might be at least half the system and I definitely agree with the spirit of it all.

One of my main changes is that the "collection / inbox" in mine more fluid. (If I do it right and learn one quick reflex), when a piece of "stuff" comes in, if it's either a silly/short-term note or a short term to-do, it can live as a sticky for a while rather than a single inbox.

Then in the review stages (which will oscillate between every few days and maybe a couple weeks), it's something like a split for the 2nd stage processing/logging.

If it looks like it's gonna be contained as about 4 related info items, I can decide to make it one of the grid columns. The other split is if it feels different and especially if it looks way bigger, it might either become a printer-paper 2nd edition to go into a folder, or else become something for my big computer note taking system.

Conceptually I  think the difference in mine is that for my style, I have a lot of short term stuff, and then when I whack at them for To-Do or else the note becomes "bad", then I just throw out the sticky, and then the passage of time perspective makes it easier to make the grid topics much more long term useful.

[TaoPhoenix]

Revisiting the revisitation, eh?

-tomos (July 16, 2015, 02:44 AM)

We're supposed to! That's the whole point!

If we think a bit, most calendars have a "square" for that day, which I am calling a grid-box. That is why I could never use regular calendars! The boxes were both too small and "amorphous" so at least for me it ended up with either text drifting off a straight line or a "stupid scribble" of three words.

These are called Desk Calendars, but unlike the "empty blank square", the daily boxes are line-ruled like a 4x4 sticky (unlike the 3x3 which is blank - same problem!).

So not only do 3-word scribbles look truly hideous, but then for me, stuff always has "pieces and followups and details". So my big calendar, about 25" by 18", each "day" box has six lines. But "day" is in quotes, because the whole point is you can take a pen and cross off the days, and then you're left with basically a paper spreadsheet.

And it's a case where by "intrinsically forced" into the whole sheet and not crappy stickies, it forces me to really go to another level in the note taking in "stage 2". (Because what I have right now is the 3 related stickies from different days stacked onto each other in an awful mini-pile.)

And then at the end of varying chunks of time, you have automatically archived notes too, rather than trying to figure out what to do with the important stickies.

[TaoPhoenix]

Broadly, David Allen used an idea of a ride with a private pilot to fly "up and down" so you can see *both* the "forest and the trees".

The adaptation below is my simplified one.

The "10K feet" is Projects - that's roughly like the "doable" stuff you can confidently just finish, maybe like installing all the mods you know how to do, a bit of experimentation with new things, and then you "fly higher" for the next bit

So the 20K Feet one, is after you get the smaller "projects" done, what do you want to make as "areas of focus" which is the reason you're re-vamping? What can the new backbone support?

I'll suggest the first one, adding more content by resident bloggers.

To me a Win10 blog is an idea, a bit like your regular newsletters, that pulls in some 100 posts we do and follows Win10 as we see it. (Aka even if someone else writes it, a style like your newsletters.)

Sample fragment:
"So, in the first phase, Microsoft released interim builds a,b,c,d,e,f,g. Then the first launch build is X. User experiences at this link over here. ISO's and other installs over there."

And then lastly, the 30K feet is "what are the goals for the revamp when you're on your way and stuff is moving along?"

So to me, Mouser's existing thread covers the 10K feet pretty well. That leaves the open room of 20K feet for focus areas, and 30K feet for goals and visions.

Comments?

[TaoPhoenix]

No matter which exact setup works for you, a huge point of going kinda slow and carefully is thinking a bit ahead especially on categories of info, so that stuff doesn't get scrambled. (That's sorta how people get into a mess, it's ad-hoc-ness that finally breaks.)

One of the biggest separations is information and To-Dos. So for example one of my big categories is a standing food list of basics to start switching me out of fast food. To a point, that list doesn't change. But then "to-do" is "1-time" - you buy X, and then you're done. So something I am pondering just now, is to make little photocopies of the standing list. Then it becomes a disposable shopping list (saving hours by not re-writing it!!) (And a useful little possible idea for me is just to cross off stuff after I ate it, just to see meal patterns and maybe habits to change.)

[TaoPhoenix]

Quick Update:

My "Paper Spreadsheets on Calendars" really work best with certain classes of info. Quick breakdown:

1. Smash ultra fast notes onto paper stickies.
2. Review stickies for ones that are worth keeping more than about a week
3. Then decide which ones should go into my note program (now covering 75% of my data) and which work better being cute little long term info that should be really fast to access. Notice: "Long term but silly" notes belong in my note program. It's the mid line really useful stuff with no more than about 4 notes per set that is a candidate for the calendars.

It's the overlap in part 3 that I keep wavering on.

But the very raw process of sweeping up the yellow stickies SOMEWHERE is valuable. I am grateful that I type decently fast, so the "duplication overhead" for me really isn't that big of a deal per se.

[TaoPhoenix]

New process:
I need to severely curtail my stickies!
It "traps data old school" (without the kewl kid k spelling skool)

The weakness is when I make detailed ones, I'm stuck.

What I really need to do is master the habit of using my note program which really is good. It's gotta be FASTER because I type at a decent speed. Then if I ever want to do anything with the info, I'm not stuck re-typing it.

What was holding me up was what to do with the "obsolete stickies". I didn't realize I can use the same trick I do with my desktop notes and just make "holding collections" like "Sept-Oct old notes". Then precisely what the program does, I just drag them there and because the program "rolls up" categories, POOF! Away they go! But then a few of them "zombie themselves", so fine. Move them back somewhere.

And back to the GTD theme, it's really a good program (MyInfo) for those periodic "sweeps" to see what changed and all. And I already made the mechanism of date tagging the initial note, then I put "Update1:" into the topic, so the same topic can keep accumulating.

Then of course, it's now digital info, so it does all digital-y things like traveling to emails as needed.

Bonus: Clean desk!

 

[TaoPhoenix]

New use:

I keep doing research and get all kinds of web links. Bookmarks and all don't work for me because those are "stuck in the browser". If I am going to integrate into my note program, what I can do is just open nodes and copy - paste the links in there!

[brotherS]

It has been a looong time since I read the GTD book, so I'm not 100% sure what I took from it and what I learned elsewhere, but if I recall correctly, using lists that are context specific is from GTD. So I now use https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas (because I can edit it in the web browser and there's an app for that) for lists of all kinds. Weekly shopping, calling people, project work, what I want for xmas, whatever. Amazing!

Another great thing for productivity (at least for me) is email: I email 'stuff' (ideas, reminders, links, things to do when back at the PC, ...) to myself almost every day. And since I use a specific address alias (https://support.goog...l/answer/12096?hl=en), Gmail automatically applies a label, which helps to find/ process them later. I use a different address alias for "some day, maybe" stuff. Those emails get a label too, but don't even show up in my Inbox. Very helpful.

[TaoPhoenix]

It has been a looong time since I read the GTD book, so I'm not 100% sure what I took from it and what I learned elsewhere, but if I recall correctly, using lists that are context specific is from GTD. So I now use https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas (because I can edit it in the web browser and there's an app for that) for lists of all kinds. Weekly shopping, calling people, project work, what I want for xmas, whatever. Amazing!

Another great thing for productivity (at least for me) is email: I email 'stuff' (ideas, reminders, links, things to do when back at the PC, ...) to myself almost every day. And since I use a specific address alias (https://support.goog...l/answer/12096?hl=en), Gmail automatically applies a label, which helps to find/ process them later. I use a different address alias for "some day, maybe" stuff. Those emails get a label too, but don't even show up in my Inbox. Very helpful.

-brotherS (August 19, 2015, 07:04 AM)

Yep, context specific sounds about right. "Personal choice" whether Canvas or my notes program or other people use other things. I'm about 50-50 "misc" vs context, but yeah I agree. I just did my sweep this morning and have a couple minor things to report in on.

I have a bit of a fine balance with temporary low level notes that I just smash on a sticky because I can throw them out when they are done. It's a hack effort to try to curate the notes program to only be "second or third level or higher" level of notes because I don't need endless entries of "DO DISHES!!" (Which takes me about three days to quit stalling and do!)

The other category is these "perpetual topic reminders" such as for my new medical needs I really have to make a point to drink lots and lots of water or Things Happen. So I left that one as a small folded-half sticky there in paper in visual sight. But there's stuff that is mid zone, that is useful to have visually for about a week, but then does need to not be forgotten, but if you really have to curate what gets to Live Forever on paper, you have to push yourself to just go ahead and jam it into the GTD system you have running.

A couple examples:

- A bunch of fairly interconnected items popped up all related to a new medicine I am starting to test and try out, and the fact I can't seem to get hold of my Psychiatrist, and I recall some info letter in the mail about a bunch of the doctors changing office buildings, and so on. So that whole mess is all important, but they just can't all live there as seven stickies on the desk.

- Various songs I found interesting this month. Nice not to forget them out of sight out of mind, but they too can't each hog a piece of paper just because I found them at different times.