implement GTD

I periodically revamp my system, but I keep coming back to it (I’ve been using GTD for about 4 years).

Right now, I’m happy with my system and I’d like to not mess with it for awhile. So, here it is:

Next Actions and current Projects in Remember the Milk: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Someday Projects in Gmail as drafts. I’ve labeled them 2006 and February 2006 even though that’s not really playing by the GTD rules—it seems to keep me more sane to have some idea of when these things might get done.

I put my 43 things into my new system for GTD-Note Studio with the GTD template. I was frustrated numerous times and, once, nearly gave up. Will a system that is not particularly intuitive to me be a system that I can trust? I’m not sure. But I decided that if there was ever a time to attempt a complex implementation, this was it-summer break before getting my graduate degree in December. I won’t know if the benefits are worth the complexity until I really work with the system and I may never have more time to fiddle with it than I do now.

Next step: moving the last vestiges of my previous implementations of the system into the new implementation. I’ll do this as I go along rather than tackle it all at once.

This is a follow-up to my post about what tools to use for Getting Things Done.

I decided to stick with Note Studio, using a modification of the GTD template book by Dr. Volker Kurz (don’t bother downloading the template unless you also download the trial version of Note Studio-you won’t see a thing). Two things convinced me to take this path:Note Studio can be hot synced with my PDA-a wiki on my palm.
The GTD template allows me to plan my next actions with the project. By simply labeling the next actions with the context, they automatically appear on the appropriate context lists—with no cutting and pasting. This magic happens on the PDA, not the desktop, which frustrated me for a while over the weekend until I figured that out.

GTDTiddlyWiki came highly recommended by several people, including purplefibermom. If I hadn’t bought Note Studio a few months ago, I’d probably start with that. Although, I may decide, in the end, that it was worth the money to have this on my PDA.

Backpack is very pretty, but it also costs a pretty penney every single month. Here’s one of Aunt Joy’s secrets to financial success: minimize recurring expenses—they add up! Also, as Austin Moody pointed out Backpack doesn’t seem to be designed to implement GTD very well. It solves the project planning bit, but so do lots of things. Probably the more important, and unique, aspect of GTD is the concept of the context-sensitive Next Action list. I don’t see how to implement that easily with Backpack.

I also played around with a new tool that I saw on lifehack.org. Tasktoy is a GTD system on the web with an extremely clean and simple interface. As cool as wikis are, it always takes me a little time to wrap my mind around them. Tasktoy is very intuitive. I might have gone this route, but it limited me to twenty projects—I need 43!

I bought Note Studio a couple of months ago thinking that a wiki on a PDA might be just the thing. But now, I’m taking a look at the products at 37 signals, Backpack and Ta-da List. These tools would let me put the productivity stuff on the web—it works for me for email (Mizzou and Yahoo!) and my news aggregator (Bloglines), why not projects and to do lists?

Some people seem to be using 43 Things as a productivity tool. I am using my list as my current projects list. And I’m using my new blog as a log of productivity—something that is missing in GTD and that I seem to need (for me, it hasn’t really happened if I haven’t reflected on it). But, and I know this will come as a surprise to some, I really won’t share everything on the open web. My Next Action lists have private items, particularly the ones related to “29. organize my finances” and “4. get a job.” So, 43 Things is not a candidate for my full implementation of GTD.

To do these 43 Things, I will want a Getting Things Done implementation that works. My most recent implementation worked reasonably well through the semester, but now I’m looking for a method that will take me into the work world. It will likely involve a PDA rather than a three-ring binder.

There is one low-tech tool that I won’t be giving up anytime soon: The Crescent Moon Mind Map. Traditionally, the waxing moon (new moon growing to full moon) is considered a good time to start projects or to help them grow. The waning moon is the time to complete things.

Since I tend to have more energy for starting projects than for finishing them, I find it conducive to completing things if I organize my life around the moon phases. New moon to new moon is a bit less than a month, so the waxing moon lasts about two weeks and the waning moon lasts about two weeks.

Within a few days after the new moon, I make a mind map of the things I want to accomplish in the next month, thinking about what I can start or grow during the waxing moon to finish during the waning moon.

Many print calendars display the full and new moons. I put them in my PDA calendar at the first of the year.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has several tools for moon watchers. This visualization shows the moon phases through the month. Another tool computes the moonrise and set, so that you will know when you can see it. There is also a nice listing of the names of the moons.