DonationCoder.com Software > The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006

GOE - GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - DAY 1 ASSIGNMENT

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thomthowolf:
While I am at it, I thought I would collect some responses to earlier posts:
BTW. Others that want to try a Screen PostIt note program, could do worse then trying HottNotes
http://www.hottnotes.com/
has a checklist feature that Stickies lacks
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My personal favorite in this category of apps is WireNote http://www.wiredplane.com/en/wpt-wirenote/about.php
It is updated frequently, and does one trick that no other freeware alternative I have seen can do:it allows you to "stick" a note to a particular window, so that it opens and closes with that window.
I'm using todoList (TDL) http://www.codeproject.com/tools/ToDoList2.asp and I'm completely in awe with all the things it can do. The timing of tasks is great.
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I was really impressed with this particular software as well.  My only reason for not using it is that it is organized around projects rather than around contexts, and I really only want 1 list of things to do.  Also, I think that GTD is an attempt to completely disregard the traditional "to do" list.  No priorities, no dates, no timing.  The image I have in mind after reading the book is that you should see yourself as having endless free time, and a lovely menu of possible ways to spend it based on your time and energy. 
Being the creative type, and knowing that ideas often hit at inconvenient times/places, I try to maintain supplies needed for recording those spontaneous 'brain farts' in every room of the house...even my bathroom has a small hard cover spiral notebook with ribbon through the spirals that hangs on a hook on the wall, with a pen attached to another ribbon so it won't disappear. My 'personal space' is whatever space I am occupying at the moment.
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I really love this idea.  I love computers, but paper is really faster and easier to add ideas to.  Later, I enter the notes into my evernote system.  My wife was not thrilled with all the pads I distributed around the house, but she seems ok now ... I think ...
One thought I was having about this experiment...cost. We shouldn't need to have a second job to pay for getting things done...it will give us less time to get things done.
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Amen, brother!
I was now thinking i need something that can make my schedule for me. But not something that will make me a full day schedule (since i tend to procastinate, i would leave the stuff that were meant to do during the morning, to the end of the afternoon). I need something where i can put the tasks i need to do, their priority and the time they take, and then, on the moment i am at home, i input it how much time i have before i have to leave (or go dinner or something), and it gives me a list of what to do.
Anyone knows any similar software?
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Have you ever looked at What to Do http://www.handcraftedbytes.com/?
This is another really close second place software, and, IMHO better realized than MLO.

esiiteri:
So, I have started.  I am looking at GmailGTD as well as Agendus for Palm & Dektop.  I have been using Agendus for about a year after many years of Datebook3-6. I have also made files for all of the paper and loose stuff that is almost impossible for me to keep up with.  Hello weekly reviews! Good luck to all from the KIng of Procrastination!

urlwolf:
I think that GTD is an attempt to completely disregard the traditional "to do" list.  No priorities, no dates, no timing.  The image I have in mind after reading the book is that you should see yourself as having endless free time, and a lovely menu of possible ways to spend it based on your time and energy.
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This is a very interesting thought. I did just that (assume that my time is infinite) and the result is I have a backlog of projects started with people that are still expecting me to finish them anytime now.

I think it is a very exciting idea (it's all about intellectual curiosity, right) that you have a menu of things to pick from. But it is doomed to creating a backlog, and the projects rot if you do not work on them actively.

I think Mark Forster gets it right when he spends the first 2-3 chapters of his books showing you that your time is not infinite. In fact, it is very reduced, and most of us have activities that demand more attention than we can possibly allocate.

thomthowolf:

I think it is a very exciting idea (it's all about intellectual curiosity, right) that you have a menu of things to pick from. But it is doomed to creating a backlog, and the projects rot if you do not work on them actively.

I think Mark Forster gets it right when he spends the first 2-3 chapters of his books showing you that your time is not infinite. In fact, it is very reduced, and most of us have activities that demand more attention than we can possibly allocate.
-urlwolf (September 04, 2006, 04:39 PM)
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Very true.  I still like the menu metaphor, though.  The point of GTD is that life changes so quickly that a list you made this morning may not make sense by this afternoon.  If I can torture my own metaphor, then having the menu in front of you is not where you stop.  You still have to select something and get it done.  The idea is that you have EVERYTHING on the menu so that you can select exactly the right thing to do without worrying that you have forgotten anything important.  At least that's how I see it right now.  It isn't that time is infinite, but that it is free for you to fill with what makes the most sense at that moment.

momonan:
I'm with you, urlwolf.  Most of us have no difficulty thinking of things to do -- far more things than we can possibly accommodate in a lifetime.  That's why I'm hoping NOT to just make a list of things to do and start doing them.  My hope is that I can evaluate what is really important to me and make sure I'm able to do them.

To help me with this, I'll be working on putting "First Things First," as laid out by Stephen Covey (author of "7 Habits of Highly Effective People") and two of his disciples in a book they wrote about 10 years ago.  I'll report how I'm doing as we go along.  I will still need to figure out a good way of getting the things done that I decide are important, so I am looking forward to reading everything that is working for each of us.

So many good ideas, so far.  Hearing the DETAILS really helps.

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