GTD Tips and Tricks

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Fizzgig

Hi Stephen

I've set up this system both at home and at work and I had the same issue when I set it up at home. Now, I can't remember the exact procedure but I vaguely recall that I had to publish the "Project" form as one to be used in the new 'Projects' folder I had created within Outlook, rather than just as a standard 'Contacts' form. Unfortunately i can't double check this as i'm at work at the moment, but I hope it might help in some way.

Hi Fizzgig

Yes thats the thing. I try to do this but cant! I even downloaded the form on the webpage suppied but?????

[Stephen]

In step 2 of the instructions of Managing GTD Projects in Outlook

when I click on the link to download the form, I do so, open the file then follow the new instructions . But when I go to close the file an error message comes up....

The file as field for this contact is empty. You may not have entered a name or company.Do you want to save this contact with an empty file as field?

Now I assume that the file as (field) is the 'Project name' field? Or am I wrong here. I have filled this field with my name just to see if it makes a difference. Then the you can close the form without any error mesage. But then when you go to outlook and click on projects on your side menu, instead of the project form coming up (which you need) , a contact form comes up instead!!!
ARGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Where is a computer boffin when I need one? help!

[Fizzgig]

Did you right click on the 'projects' folder in your outlook and were you able to choose the 'projects' form under properties?

If you still haven't managed to sort it out I can be contacted on msn and i'll be happy to help.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Fizzgig

Did you right click on the 'projects' folder in your outlook and were you able to choose the 'projects' form under properties?

If you still haven't managed to sort it out I can be contacted on msn and i'll be happy to help.

Thanks for helping me Fizzgig, cheers! Sorted!

[searstower]

Originally Posted by Sky

I enjoyed Allen's book, but I also enjoyed Covey's top-down approach to organization. I tend to be a big picture kind of guy, so just focusing on individual to-do's drives me crazy -- the purpose gets lost in the shuffle.

Sky,
If you think GTD focuses on the small stuff too much that's because you are not doing a weekly review. That's when the 10,000-30,000 foot planning of values, mission and 3-5 year/lifetime goals happen in GTD.

I love getting things out of my head, but I also feel it's inefficient to write everything down on paper. That's why I set up my GTD system with an old Palm Pilot that syncs my todo lists (next actions) and my memos (someday/maybe lists, project lists, etc).

My system sounds a bit complex but it's really not. I use OmniOutliner with the KinklessGTD plugin to plan my 10,000-30,000 pieces and for my weekly reviews, which include looking at my bigger goals and seeing how/if my current tasks are taking me there. All of this then syncs to my iCal tasks list, which syncs to my Palm via Missing Sync.

I carry my palm around every day and add tasks, cross them off or copy and paste them to another list if I decide I've changed my commitment to the task. This syncs to my iCal when I get home, which syncs to kGTD which puts us back where we started.

Oh, and one of my lists on the palm is "Ideas which I have no idea what to do with yet". That's where I put my random thoughts that I want to make useful. During my weekly review, I remind myself of those and see if any brain connections are forming yet on what to do about them.

Rebecca

[nozbe]

I second the "weekly review" comment, Rebecca.

Tomorrow's Sunday and it's my weekly review time. It's really important to do it every week to stay focused on the goals.

I've read books by Covey and by Allen and I still prefer Allen's Getthing Things Done (GTD).

It actually inspired me to write my own GTD web application - Nozbe - I've used it for some time in-house and now I decided to show it to the world....

The beauty of GTD is that there is no "right way" of doing GTD, everyone should try what's working for them.

For example Nozbe is my own take on GTD and I'm launching it to actually see if there will also be people who would like to do it the way I'm doing it :-)

I'm launching the beta version later this week.

BTW, what I also love about GTD concept is the "next action" concept - according to David Allen:

The "next action" is the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion.


...and this is so true... sometimes we are stuck with something because we just fail to identify "what's my next action?"...

[searstower]

I just found this awesome article in Merlin Mann's archives about how important the verbage is for next actions.
GTD: Project Verbs vs. Next-Action Verbs | 43 Folders

When I looked at my list, I realized that the next actions that had been on there a bit too long were stated as projects, not really as next actions!

Very useful article...
Rebecca