Getting Things Done (GTD) - Cult or Awesome?

Aside, what burns me is that I have a moleskine book that I scribble, draw, make notes, etc. in (I like the paper and the binding stands up to abuse well) and I hate to be mistaken as a "system" person like that woman in Slacker that puts post-it notes on everything.

I actually never think of people I see using moleskines as "system people" but usually creative people.

Post-it notes are infinitely more useful anyway, because then you're not carrying around a notebook with 90% of the pages consisting of checked-off items. I could never figure out how the electronic ones are all about the mental clarity of completing things and.. poof! they're gone... whereas carrying around a notebook of dead tasks seems less rewarding.

notebooks that flip up >>>>> moleskines

Superior to moleskine:
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_02_small.jpg
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_04_small.jpg
http://www.duncan-wilson.com/website_thumbs/pixelnotes_05_small.jpg

The binding of the moleskine is great for me as regular notebooks get tore up in my bag.

ok the pixelnotes wall is pretty great xpost

You people and your paper.

haha
i have just run out of printer paper AND post-it notes!!
but yaay beginning of school year and everything being on sale

Vegetables go in the damn crisper.
haha how many roommates have i had that did not appear to understand this??

i got stuff/things done today

rrrobyn, that is because they did not have a good Getting Things Cold system. You should see my hack for chilling wine and beer, it involves a tub of salt water in my freezer.

Kevin: Things to do, things to do today. Got a big day ahead of me, several things to do. Gotta keep on top of my life, gotta keep on top of my life. I have seven things to do. Number one: Banking. Number two: Pick up dry cleaning. [He walks into an old lady and knocks her down.] Okay, ya just knocked over an old lady, keep moving, ya got seven things to do!

http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/archives/git-r-done.jpg

can't believe this didn't show up sooner.

I really never want to hear that again.

I listened to the GTD guy's book on CD on the drive to work (one hour each way, so eat my bottom). He's got a lot of wacky components in his "method" -- e.g., the 43 rotating folders -- but most of these can be largely ignored, I believe. The essence of the GTD programme, which has gotten short shrift in this thread in favor of taking down easy targets like Moleskines, etc., is the project/context matrix: You break down projects into context-specific components and then complete the components according to whatever context you happen to be in. For instance, you might have a home improvement project with a buy a hammer component and an office-decoration project with a buy a cactus component. If you have, say, a hardware store context, then when you consult yr GTD-compliant organizer at the hardware store -- Mr. GTD uses a Palm, not a Moleskine, but I use neither -- you will see these two items under the hardware store context and be able to take care of them more efficiently than if you were following a linear, project-based "method". In short, GTD is a two-dimensional multitasking algorithm.

The hoos-hah, er, hoo-hah about how people have these amorphous psychological to-do list entries terrorizing them that they need to put in an "inbox" is mere rhetoric dressing up the rather common-sense notion that humans have a difficult time organizing their ideas at the instant they occur to them. Even if you prefer project-based organizational methods, you probably allow yrself to jot down notions, free-form, before integrating them into a project, nay?

GTD is essentially quite simple, but even so, I think it works better for folks who have a lot of high-priority projects and a lot of contexts. Myself, I have a small number of manageable projects and few contexts. I just tend to lose track of the low-priority tasks, not the high-priority ones. I'm not a very good GTDer, but it works better for me than a to-do list, and the fact that I've got this big yellow icon on my dock at least reminds me to check it once in awhile.

I use iGTD, which is free and good enough for my minimal needs, but the Omni Group has an app in development that probably will be better. For PC, tho, I dunno, 'cause I am a total Mac snothead.

two quick notes

notebooks that flip up >>>>> moleskines

-- milo z, Friday, 31 August 2007 18:17

hi dere i have this one

http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/moleskine-reporter-notebook.jpg

deuce: Minimal ZTD: The Simplest System Possible really works for me.

!!!!

You should see my hack for chilling wine and beer, it involves a tub of salt water in my freezer.

-- mh, Friday, August 31, 2007 4:10 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

Wow! I am going to post this and then go mix up a jug of salt water and stick it in the freezer, to be put in a bowl when needed. That is a beautiful solution.

ALSO - I am pretty goddamn disorganized by nature, but I have been getting better at it, partially through necessity since I started an office job a couple months ago, making long-term organization necessary (as a waiter my "projects" were individual tables and I only had to keep myself organized for really hectic 2-hour +/- periods, and each day was a new start).

Anyway, I was reading Jeff's comprehensive post (not realizing it was Jeff) and while I would sooner die than live that degree of organized, I thought, "1. Oh, wow, I do some of this (texting my email for reminders, or texting my own phone) and 2. This guy is my guru."

I'm so proud of you.

Let's GTD each other.

you're both fired.

^ stop loss

Hee hee.

While Jeff can tell you that I'm pretty much the polar opposite of a GTD disciple, I am enthralled by organized people. Hell, I'm enthralled by Jeff's ability to file his taxes on time and keep from overdrawing the family checkbook!

Wow! I am going to post this and then go mix up a jug of salt water and stick it in the freezer, to be put in a bowl when needed. That is a beautiful solution.

i assume this pun was accidental? it still made me laugh.

jeff, your system sounds like a more advanced version of what toby uses, and what i'm too lazy to try. do you endnote fun reading/fiction/etc as well as things that might need to be cited somewhere?

Nah, I don't endnote fiction. I don't really read much fiction though.

I thought about getting organized, bought a lined moleskine, shoved it in my "go-bag," and then decided it was easier just to grow some unruly facial hair in order to diffuse any assumptions that I should be getting anything done, ever.

I am liking the alpha build of Omnifocus. I tried reading the GTD book, but I put it down 20 pages in a couple of weeks ago and haven't felt the urge to go back. Overall it's too early to say if this is C or D - probably closer to C though?

"go-bag"

i work two jobs, i have a witeboard at each job w/ various projects written on them, give them a weekly revision to keep it up to date. seems to work well!

my personal life is nowhere near as organised.

There's an article on GTD creator David Allen in the latest Wired that brings out the 'new age' background to the origins of GTD.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-10/ff_allen

Yeah that shit kinda disturbs me.

The article makes apologies for it though!

Although the article tries to make GTD link to his new age background, it's not very convincing, and rather stretching the analogy:

Allen recommends that we take regular comprehensive inventory of our intentions, which he calls open loops. Any open loop requiring more than one action is a project, and projects, naturally, go on a list. The project list is not a reminder of values or deeply held beliefs. Rather, it is an exhaustive external repository meant to capture every single thing that you may want to do. The project list must contain everything, otherwise unlisted items will return to our minds at unwelcome moments and cause suffering. A New Age cliché holds that every intention generates a chain of spiritual effects we ignore at our peril. This is karma. In GTD, karma makes the last stage of its journey from a Hindu theory of cosmic justice to a rational tool in the American self-help kit. Karma is now just an open loop.

I think its far more mundane than that though. GTD is just the equivalent of some of the 'lean manufacturing' processes that have been in industry for years.

It's caught the zeitgeist because it gives people an opportunity and purpose to mess around with mac programs (and moleskines) in a way they love to do anyway.

lol

http://www.myticklerfile.com/public/examples

Is it any good?

I was looking at life balance but it's expensive and complicated.

Guys I have fallen off the wagon. David Allen has to sacrifice me on altar or something, right?

And the Great American Novel you're writing?

Kate was kinda a bitch on this thread.

Not that I have room to talk, I came off pretty cultish. "GTD saved me from drugs and self-destruction!!!"

I don't think she was really. (x-post)

She was outspoken or even dismissive, but bitchy? I think someone took unnecessary offence (on behalf of their husband!).

I suppose, more than bitchy, I mean that she was a little sharp in her dismissal. I got a whiff of classism out of it that rubbed me the wrong way.

Kate was kinda a bitch on this thread.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 17 November 2007 23:54 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

[OBVIOUS ZING DELETED]

As I type this I have a bottle of Gatorade chilling in a bath of sub-32-degree salt water. What a great idea.

hands up who likes being banned?

Are you threating me?

http://www.tomasleal.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/cornholio.jpg

i've been using omnioutliner's omnifocus. it's good for keeping track of big multi-task things but not that great at keeping track of nonlinear projects. it'll only cost $30 but that's because i'm already an omnioutliner user.

admission: i'm really into gimmicky productivity software like omnioutliner and devonthink and iwork and ilife, so i might actually buy this lifebalance thing

i've also been doing the "moleskine GTD" thing w/ the reporter notebook + the double flags ... nice!! it's basically a fancy way of having a "things to do" list in your bag but whatever, fancy is as fancy does

Getting Things the Fuck Done with Henry Rollins

My notebook has been invaluable while we've been moving. There's no way I would have been able to keep track of all the phone numbers and work order numbers etc etc without this thing.

writing things down in a notebook is hardly a new weird thing to do, though.

Indeed! I think that was discussed upthread a bit, buncha people going "lol you guys = aspies for making a whole system around your to-do list."

The heart of the whole thing for me is the "processing." It forces me to either get the Thing done or schedule it for a specific time in the future on my GCal or my cell phone calender. Then I can move forward in the notebook without worrying "did I schedule/do that thing?" I can be confident that it's done. Less worry, more organization in my life.