Getting Things Done

I’ve been bitten by the Getting Things Done (GTD) bug. This article describes the software programs that I considered in my search for a perfect GTD implementation for me.

I commute to work about 1.5 hours each way so I needed my GTD implementation to be totally portable. I needed something that I could use while I was out and about—while walking to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, sitting in the bus and train. The desktop computer was obviously out and so was a paper-based GTD implementation. I just couldn’t see myself carrying around a small notebook. My GTD implementation would have to include my Palm Treo 650 smartphone since I always had that with me.

I came by GTD actually through another route. I was searching for software that would allow me to brainstorm picture ideas while on the train. I learned this brainstorming technique while taking Cig Harvey’s photography workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops.

After reading about GTD, I initially just started using the built-in task list on my phone. I immediately didn’t like it as it was just too cumbersome and slow. Also, I wanted to see the interconnections between my next actions and my projects. Just having a enumerated list, while simple and more in line with the recommended GTD implementation (I think), wouldn’t let me do that.

PersonalBrain

The first software that struck my interest was personalbrain. I really like the dynamic nature of it and how you could link thoughts to other thoughts such that at the end of the thing you had a spaghetti-like map. I could visualize how this picture idea links to another idea and how this task relates to that project. It was great stuff.

While I loved the way personalbrain mapped the interconnections, at the time I was checking it out, it did not have a pda client application. I’ll keep an eye on this program though and look at it again if they come out with some portable method.

PocketMindMap

So I started to look for other applications. I looked at freemind, mindmanager 8, and most of the alternatives I found on this GTD page. None of them had a pda client so they didn’t make my cut. Then I found pocketmindmap. This was the portable mindmapping program I was looking for. This program was so good that I switched from a Palm Treo 650 with the palm OS to a Palm 700wx with a windows OS. Then I realized that pocketmindmap was compatible with mindmanager 8. That was perfect: I now had a portable mindmappng solution AND a desktop solution as well.

One of best features of pocketmindmap is its ability to export tasks and synchronize them with Pocket Outlook. So now I had a brainstorming software where I could map out my projects in Pocketmindmap with specific tasks linked to the task list in outlook. So as I mark tasks as complete in my pocket pc, pocketmindmap would pickup the updates.

Initially I tried using pocketmindmap to input everything—all my tasks, all my projects, someday/maybes and reference items. Pretty fast I found that it’s just too slow for that. It’s great for brainstorming and seeing interconnections between thoughts and projects, but to input next actions it’s just not fast enough. There is a solution with mindmanager where a widget stays open in the desktop. As thoughts come up, you type them and press enter and it will automatically be captured in a default “node” in the mindmanager mindmap that you specify. The next time you open mindmanager you can then process the stuff in that default “node”. The default node acts like the inbox in GTD. It would be great if pocketmindmap had that feature.

RTM and Evernote

So because pocketmindmap would not be my solution for the capture device, I then considered remember the milk (RTM). I thought it was a good concept. It has a syncing feature so it will automatically sync with my pocketpc. I could also enter tasks either using my pocketpc or using a browser. Pretty neat. Since I also back up my pocketpc to my computer, I then had two automatic backups – one in RTM and in the other in my computer.

Initially, I thought that it would be neat to input tasks using a browser which then synced with my pocket pc. I’ve found though that using a browser is not necessary as I always input stuff in my pocketpc anyway.

I used RTM for awhile but then I discovered evernote. One thing it offers that RTM doesn’t is that you could take a picture and save that as a note. Sometimes when I’m browsing through a magazine and I find a picture that gives me an idea, it’s much better to take a picture of it instead of describing what the picture idea is. After I take a picture using Evernote in my pocketpc, the application uploads the picture to the evernote server thereby saving valuable memory on my pocketpc.

For my reference files—things I want to remember, I use evernote now. It’s too slow to be my GTD inbox, but as a reference system it’s great. It’s a good repository of everything that I want to remember – reference images, favourite photographers, subway maps, train schedules, recipes etc. Someday/Maybe items don’t go into evernote – that goes on my task list – what goes into evernote are reference files only.

OPTasks as a GTD Inbox

My main capture solution though is OPTasks. I love this program. I spent hours looking for a program that was simple and fast. This one is fast. I found the native task application on the pocketpc was too cumbersome—too many fields to wade through just to get to the one I considered important for GTD: task name and priority. The way I use the priority field is to indicate whether the todo item is a next action (high), a project (norm), or a someday/maybe (low). The context sensitive categories that I’m using are

@home
@work
@train
@out
@Photography
@WaitingFor

To enter a next action or project or someday/maybe, I simply take out my pocketpc and start thumbtyping, choose priority and hit enter. That’s it. It’s really fast which is what I’m after so that I don’t forget what I was thinking. It doesn’t require a lot of mental effort. I’ve been using it for two months now and it works really well. I do a weekly review by simply cycling through all the categories of all my tasks or see all of them (“All Categories”) at the same time. OPTasks also has a filter function. If you notice in my contexts above I don’t have an @agenda. I’ve devised a way such that when the task is a discussion item with someone, I just type a “period” in front of the person’s name. I then can filter the task list by “.” or including the person’s name “.Mark”.

So that’s my GTD implementation using my pocketpc. I use OPTasks which acts as my main capture system and inbox. If the item is a @reference item, it ends up in evernote. pocketmindmap keeps photography related projects and ideas. If a photography project has a clear task it is linked with OPtasks under @Photography. RTM and Outlook serve as backups for my task list. I agree it is a lot of programs. And really do I really need all of them. hat’s something I might have to look at in the future.

You Might Be Interested In:

• Share & Save:
• Books on "GTD" at amazon.com

Copyright © 2005-2010 Jonah Calinawan. All Rights Reserved.