DIY Planner - GTD+R - Comments

Help for you

pastor_scott — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:41:57 -0400

Nola,

If you are having problems following the work flow, here's the basics of it...

1) Print the field and make your pockets
2) The pockets will hold the various tasks you write down and save.
3) Once you've cleared your head by writing down all of the tasks you want/need to track sort them on the field. The directions are pretty self-explanatory.
4) Once you sorted your tasks by daily, weekly, and monthly reviews, place your tasks for the day in your "today" pocket and take it with you. As you do these tasks either throw them away or file them back into the back side of the pocket (the "inbox") if they are repetitive tasks you do weekly, daily, etc...
5) As new tasks come to you, write them down and place them in the "inbox" pocket for processing the next day.
6) Tomorrow, repeat the sorting process. It should only take minutes now since you've sorted the initial tasks. Place your inbox tasks on the center space on the field along with your daily review stuff. Once a week, pull out the tasks from the middle pocket, and once a month add in the tasks from the upper right pocket. Delegated tasks go in the gray pocket.

Once you get in the rhythm of it, it works pretty effortlessly but if you have further questions, feel free to let me know!

"Anonymous" started the thread

ygor — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:28:44 -0400

Look at "Recent Comments" in the column to the right
-----------------------------------
"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Hmm, why is my previous post listed as 'anonymous' ?

Nola — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:48:31 -0400

That is in the 'recent posts' list. I think the recent posts has been acting funny lately.

Ok, I am spazin' with this. Just don't get it.

Nola — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:14:13 -0400

I really want to understand it, but even though I'm reading his instructions and looking at the work flow diagram, I'm still confused.

Help??

Strengths!

sctechsorceress — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 22:06:02 -0400

I just read this thread for the first time when the recent updates started showing up, and I think I may have found the tools I really needed.

The way that my work day goes, is that I have one or more project tasks to work on. Those won't finish today, so there is one 'next step' to be done toward the task. Depending on what may be discovered while doing that next step, the next day's step may be what I though it would be in the morning, it might be something completely different, or today's step might be pushed to tomorrow by some unpleasant surprise.

That's what happened today - because of what someone else did on their task, I had (surprise!) three unexpected things that had to be done before I could approach the step I had planned for today.

Aside from this, customers and co-workers are all free to toss 'mini-tasks' my way. Some need to be done NOW! Some can be done anytime today, and a rare few can be done tomorrow. In any case, there is some cost to the project I'm working on (only so many hours in a day!)

I'm just trying this system today (with a few DIY-er changes, of course) and with the frequent changes to my 'next step', I'm finding it much easier to dask off a note, and stick in the envelope, either Today (arrggghh!) or Inbox (yeahhhh!!!)

I'm not going to be tossing them when the task is complete. I also need to keep a record of what I've done. With all my tasks on small cards (more about that later), I can just stick the completed cards into my journal.

Now for the changes. I don't have any A4 paper. So, just to see how the folding went, I printed one page on letter size (scaled down to fit). I actually left the folded envelope on my desk for a couple of days... until it hit me!

Scaled to letter size, the GTD-R envelopes fold up to a size that perfectly fits a Circa Micro PDA card! Now, I don't have any Circa Micro PDA cards, but I have a paper cutter and a Circa portable punch. So, a couple of sheets of cover stock and a few minutes with those tools, and I had my very one Micro PDA cards. Not nicely lined and grided like Levenger's, but just plain, blank cards.

Now, some may say.. what.. a bunch of individual cards?! But I don't go to my tasks... I sit here at my desk and they come to me. Which means that I can keep the blank cards handy (I may use that free envelope) and keep my Inbox/Today envelope right in front of me all the time.

Thank you so much for posting this here. I would never have found it otherwise.

Thanks

jonglass — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 08:13:55 -0400

That little tidbit is filed away. :-)

-Jon

Re: Weaknesses

pastor_scott — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:40:57 -0400

Jon,

I've not made many modifications as there is some flexibility built into it. One thing I did notice as I used it more was that I needed to find a simple way to manage projects (Multi-task items). I use the "free pocket", as Kenji calls it, for that. I usually sit down and go over project details and then place the project sheet in the free pocket. I can then more accurately trace my way through the project much like Allen would have you keep a separate section in your day planner for projects.

I can post more later but thought this might answer your initial question.

Cool - Still at your GTD+R system!

VentiDarkRoast — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 15:49:43 -0400

Pastor_Scott -
Thanks for sharing. Its refreshing to hear about a long term success with a system, as "we" are so often in search of The Next Thing to fix all our organizational problems or just to scratch our itch to find the 'hip-est' setup.

Cheers!
----------------------
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act,
but a habit." - Aristotle

I'll admit...

jonglass — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 08:23:39 -0400

...I'm amazed. ;-) The system looked too complicated to me, and I didn't think I could hold out any time at all! Are there any weaknesses to the system? or any modifications you've made to make it work better for you? Any other advice? Since you've been so successful, I'm rereading the web site. ;-)

BTW, your post reminded me that I promised to post photos of my ducter wallet that I made last February, and which I'm _still_ using. ;-)

Looking forward to hearing more.

-Jon

Wow.

caligatia — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 01:00:16 -0400

That's awesome! Congrats!

Still Working

pastor_scott — Tue, 1 Jul 2008 23:53:22 -0400

It's been nearly a year since I last posted on this but wanted to let you know I'm still using this system. As much as I switch around, this is a record for me. I did try to find ways to integrate it with other systems but after experimenting, found myself going back to the original concept.

I manage my emails and traffic through Google but refer to them as I put tasks on paper. The GTD+R system is still working great for me after all this time.

Hope others give it a whirl.

GTD + R = Maximum results

Antonius Momac — Sat, 1 Mar 2008 03:30:34 -0500

I love this system,

I'm on day 3, but I honestly love the organization of the system. It is extermly simple and effective for organizing everything that you hope to get done. The best part is that a Techie, Software engineer is advocating a non computer system, which seems far superior to the other hunders of options out there.

It's a strong system. I hope more people find it, and try it out. I think they'll like it.

The game idea seems childish, but the structure that it creates is fantastic and so easy to learn/follow.

GTD Contexts?

Rainer — Sat, 8 Sep 2007 10:16:54 -0400

How would one use contexts like "at office" or "at home" with this system?

Rainer

Still using this...

pastor_scott — Thu, 9 Aug 2007 01:18:00 -0400

After nearly four months of daily use, the GTD+R system is still in use here. I like it because of it's simplicity and ease of use. I am now tracking many more projects/items then I ever had previously and the satisfaction of trashing a slip (meaning you did something) is fulfilling.

Give it a whirl if you're a GTD junkie. I think Mr. Ohta did a great job with this system.

It's worked well for me

pastor_scott — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:19:00 -0400

Glad to see others here see some cool applications for this. It has worked well for me. One thing I like is the instantaneous method of item management. I've been using GTDinbox for Firefox (Gmail extension add-on) to manage my task lists but sometimes, I would get lax writing something down for inbox processing figuring I would wait until I got somewhere where I could access my stuff online and remember it then. The flow of GTD+R allows me to write the idea down immediately and put it in the inbox pocket for processing the next day with my morning coffee. I've used a small zippered case with my Rhodia pad and a few other items to keep me organized for a while now so I just swapped pads and put the pocket in there for protection. I keep the playing field, work flow diagrams, and extra pockets in a folder near my tickler file for easy access in the morning.

GTD+R

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:46:47 -0400

I was on the Rhodia Drive site recently when I came across a very cool way to do GTD. It's called GTD+R (Rhodia notepads) and is designed by Japanese software engineer Kenji Ohta. You can check it out at his site:

http://gtd-r.blogspot.com/

The site is a how-to of the system and includes downloadable templates in PDF format. The templates are designed for A4 paper and really should be printed on that size. I tried to condense the charts and pockets to standard letter size and it was a bit small. A quick trip to Office Depot for a ream of legal paper got me rolling as I guillotined it to A4 size.

Check it out and tell me what you think. I like the system and have been using Rhodia notepads for a while now since they are a bit cheaper than Moleskines.

The Rhodia Drive site address is:

http://rhodiadrive.com/

Scott

[edited 18apr07 by sara: linkified]

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