(Archived) Another GTD question

[dav555 5]

I am starting using evernote for GTD. So far I have the following contexts:-

@Agenda

@Calls

@Home

@Internet

@Work

@tickler (with sub contexts of @jan,@feb etc)

@someday/maybe

Then I have none context headings like:-

Active projects

Reference

My question are:-

1. should @Tickler and @Someday/maybe be contexts or should they just be normal headings as I am never at the place called Someday/Maybe..

2. when using the tickler, should I be assigning all entries that have a next action a month or just for specific ones that have to be done that month? At the moment I see to be putting everything in July as ideally I would like to get them done in July but realistically it won't be..

Let me know your thoughts?

Mark

[davidward 13]

1. I've tried several ways; right now, this is my setup:

!When [This is a placeholder; not used as a tag]

!!Today [!! to keep it at the top; this and the others below are nested]

!Next

!Someday/Maybe

!Waiting

Contexts [placeholder; below are nested]

@15 Minutes

@Call/email

@Computer

@Errands

@Home

@Read/Review

Followed by. . .

Lists

Projects [placeholder]

Active [placeholder]

Inactive [placeholder]

Reference

[Numerous/everything else]

2. I've also experimented extensively with a Tickler tag. I found that it was cumbersome trying to hit the day

as well as the month, and I now put ticklers on gCal (all day events w/ the evernote note link in the description).

Unfortunately, the EN link is not clickable; I copy/paste into my browser and the EN comes up (from windows desktop

client).

It's easy to move the gCal event to another day if I need to; the EN note goes with it. I can also set it up as recurring.

I set up another calendar for this purpose: "Tickler". (It's green for "action").

I tag each EN note w/ "Tickler" in case I want to "browse" the tag and also so I know a given note has been calendared

for follow-up.

This seems to work best for me, until EN launches "Due Date".

David

My question are:-

1. should @Tickler and @Someday/maybe be contexts or should they just be normal headings as I am never at the place called Someday/Maybe..

2. when using the tickler, should I be assigning all entries that have a next action a month or just for specific ones that have to be done that month? At the moment I see to be putting everything in July as ideally I would like to get them done in July but realistically it won't be..

Let me know your thoughts?

Mark

[dav555 5]

Hi David

Like the setup, just have a few question about it:-

So I guess you are not classing today, next, someday etc as contexts like I am which I guess you are correct, they aren't contexts..

When using !!Today tag I assume you flag items with the appropriate context as well, I.e @Home or @Work therefore when you view !!today tag you see both home and work stuff today even though you are only at work.

How do you deal with these scenarios? Do you setup custom searches for example:-

Tag:!!today tag:@work

Also do you prefix projects with anything to keep them all together or just put under the project folder? I do this but when viewed on the iPhone it's not very good as they dont nest folders.

Thanks

Mark

[davidward 13]

I work at home so physical context is not vital to me. In fact, I may eliminate some tags. I don't really need to

have @Computer since it's always in front of me. If I need to call someone, the task is in !!Today or !Next

or I have it on Tickler for a certain day.

@Read/Review is good for browsing. @Errands is good for obvious reasons.

In your situation, saved searches would allow you to find @Work tasks for !!Today with one click.

On IPhone, when out, I mostly use !!Today and @Errands tags. Saved searches are also helpful.

For projects, I use a system I learned on this excellent post:

http://examinehealth.com/personal-produ ... rnote.html

Project names (tags) are preceded with a ".". For example, I have a project for ".Evernote/GTD".

The main note for each project is also tagged with "Active Projects" or "Inactive Projects". This allows

me to quickly find the main note for that project; it outlines project objectives. With note linking, it can

serve as an index to other notes (tasks, docs, research, etc.)

I can also click on Active Projects and browse the main notes for all active project. When a project is

moved from Inactive to Active, I simply swap the tags on the main note and then drag the project tag

on the sidebar from Inactive to Active.

Notebooks: I used to have many but now have two: INBOX and NOTES. With proper tagging, I can find

what I need in NOTES and I don't have to wonder about which notebook to put something in or search.

I have two temporary notebooks, however. PRIVATE is local; I haven't yet decided whether to sync these

notes or encrypt first or store elsewhere. The other temporary notebook, also local, is TO BE UPLOADED.

I have a folder on my desktop for documents I want to move to EN but I'm waiting for the last day or

two of the monthly cycle to see how much of the allowance is available, so I don't go over. This folder

is synced to the TO BE UPLOADED notebook until the end of the month.

As you know, the weekly review is key to making this work. I also do a nightly review. The objective is

to "plan tomorrow before tomorrow begins". I create !!Today tasks for the following day. During the day,

I spend most of my time in !!Today. If I finish, I can dig into !Next or a Context or Project and create

new !!Today tasks. Actually, !!Today is more of a "focus" list since there are always tasks in it that don't

get done today but stay in front of me for a few days or a week, and sometimes more.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your GTD set up!

David

Hi David

Like the setup, just have a few question about it:-

So I guess you are not classing today, next, someday etc as contexts like I am which I guess you are correct, they aren't contexts..

When using !!Today tag I assume you flag items with the appropriate context as well, I.e @Home or @Work therefore when you view !!today tag you see both home and work stuff today even though you are only at work.

How do you deal with these scenarios? Do you setup custom searches for example:-

Tag:!!today tag:@work

Also do you prefix projects with anything to keep them all together or just put under the project folder? I do this but when viewed on the iPhone it's not very good as they dont nest folders.

Thanks

Mark

[dav555 5]

Hi David,

Again, thanks for your reply.

One other question around project...

When using your method of projects you put a "." to identify its a project. How do you then differentiate between a home or work project or do you not bother?

FYI, I have started using the !Today, !Next, !Someday/Maybe and it appears to be working well for me.. Thanks

Thanks

Mark

[davidward 13]

Pure gtd'ers say a project can't have a context because you can't "do" a project, only the tasks that comprise them. Others bend the "rules". So, a simple solution is to assign @Work or @Home contexts to your main project note. You could assign those same contexts to the tasks (notes) for those projects, and/or any additional contexts (e.g., @Errand, @15 minutes).

Another solution is to have FOUR project categories (tags): Active Projects (Work), Inactive Projects (Work), Active Projects (Home), Inactive Projects (Home). (Or, you could eliminate "Inactive" projects and keep those in !Someday/Maybe; I'm sure some folks do it that way but I like having Inactive Projects.)

I've experimented with Areas of Focus. I set up tags for my two businesses and personal (/ABC, /DEF, /Personal) so I can sort for those Areas prior to sorting on projects and tasks. I quickly found it was unnecessary for my workflow, however, but it might be something you want to try.

Keep me (everyone) posted on your progress!

David

P.S. !!Today (two exclams) keeps Today at the top of your tag list; otherwise, !Next will appear first.

Hi David,

Again, thanks for your reply.

One other question around project...

When using your method of projects you put a "." to identify its a project. How do you then differentiate between a home or work project or do you not bother?

FYI, I have started using the !Today, !Next, !Someday/Maybe and it appears to be working well for me.. Thanks

Thanks

Mark

[dav555 5]

Hi,

I may not have explained myself that well.. Here goes..

For example, I have a 4 tasks to do, 2 of these need to be done from @Home and 2 are @Work. The 2 @home are part of project called 'decorate bedroom' and the 2 @work are to 'upgrade to new system' and therefore have a tag named accordingly.

I have therefore 2 projects called:-

decorate bedroom

And

Upgrade to new system

Within each of these I have a note with the same name as project name with details of the project and what i want to achieve. This note is tagged with the project name, I.e 'decorate bedroom' and 'active project' but no context tags.

When I view 'active project' tag can see a single note for each project which is great and when I complete it I retag it with 'complete projects'

The tag called the project name 'decorate bedroom' has all the context tagged notes under it. This then sit in the root of the tags folder in the windows client.

I now drag these project name tag and nest them in another tag called projects so now I have the following:-

Projects

-- decorate bedroom (this is a tag)

-- task1

-- task2

-- upgrade new system

-- task1

-- tasks2

I also have the following simple notes just listing the project names:-

Active Projects

-- decorate bedroom (this is a note)

-- upgrade new system

The Project folder ends up with all the projects I ever do which is why I find it hard to tell a Work project from a home project from just looking at the list. I there thought shall I prefix all work projects with . and all home projects with a .. so they are all group together accordingly ?

So I guess my question is how do I differentiate between work and home project tag names and not the context in which the project is done in?

Hope this makes sense?

Am I going of in the wrong direction?

Mark

[davidward 13]

Since you have a "project" folder why not have two, one for Work and one for Home?

You CAN differentiate projects by tag and keep them all in ONE notebook (as I do). Your suggestion of one "." or two ".."'s to distinguish work from project task names is a good one (but I would use different punctuation; one or two periods will lead to confusion and inaccurate searches.) You could use one period for work projects and : for home projects. You could also use infrequently used letters, i.e., "z" or "q" to pre-pend project name tags. For example, "z.project name" for work projects, "q.project name" for home projects.

I've experimented with many tagging ideas and I'm still experimenting; try something and if you don't like it, try something else!

Hi,

The Project folder ends up with all the projects I ever do which is why I find it hard to tell a Work project from a home project from just looking at the list. I there thought shall I prefix all work projects with . and all home projects with a .. so they are all group together accordingly ?

So I guess my question is how do I differentiate between work and home project tag names and not the context in which the project is done in?

[dav555 5]

Another question I have is:-

When tagging something with say @Internet but is actually a personal thing and not a work thing do people generally also flag this with @home?

The reason I ask is I have a task that I have flagged as !today, @Internet. I mainly view my saved search that shows me !today and @home but this obviously doesn't display my @Internet task and if I just view !today then I see all including non @Internet ones which is too much navigate through.

To achieve what I want I feel like I need all combinations of:-

!today

!next

!someday/maybe

!waiting

combined with each of the following contexts:-

@agendas

@errands

@Internet

@home

@work

Bit this then equates to about 20 different searches and I feel it's going to be too cluttered.

So I was wondering should I flag all tasks with @home or @wok to highlight personal or work type tasks. That way !today and @home would catch all home stuff regardless of Internet or calls etc

Let me know your thoughts

Thanks

Mark

[davidward 13]

Yes. Location is a key to your workflow and you should tag all Next Actions accordingly.

Some may be done @Home or @Work and should have both tags.

Set up saved searches for many different scenarios and see which ones you use the most.

So I was wondering should I flag all tasks with @home or @wok to highlight personal or work type tasks. That way !today and @home would catch all home stuff regardless of Internet or calls etc