TSW & GTD with EN. Specifically Projects.

[Dan5819 6]

Ok so I am trying to keep everything together. Meaning, my to do list & notes ALL in EN. I like the idea of using and being familiar with ONE app and not 2, with regards to managing my businesses and personal life.

So I am resisting omnifocus and todoist. VERY tempted to just accept these are better than evernote for task management and just use 2 apps. I do think though, in EN, there must be a simple way.

I am trying to make TSW work, for those who are aware, with have a pending actions notebook. This is fine for me most the time, just using memory to link the 'tasks' with the bigger project. In GTD there is a big difference between a project and a next action, we cannot DO a project, we can DO a next action. 

Interested to know how you guys are setting up TSW regards to projects, ie, in GTD terminology, your 'Projects List'. The next actions part in TSW is simple. I get that. Just trying to figure the Projects List part. I even emailed TSW but had no response, they are probably busy or it is probably outlined clearly somewhere but I have missed it.

One way I know is to tag each project with it's project name under a Nested Tag named 'Active Projects' but on an IOS device it's not easy to add new projects under a nested tag, so I was considering using a 'Business' stack and a 'Personal' stack and then make a new notebook for each Project with seprate notes as tasks with in that note. I'm just getting into searc syntaxes and kinda feel it's better to have less notebooks or stacks for these searches.

I will not aim for perfection in this, and I know I cannot have everything exactly as I wish for it to be. And I know I could eventually figure my own solutions out.

Your opinions on this though would be hugely interesting to read, that is, relating to setting up Projects & Next Actions. How you seperate them, link them etc etc etc.

Kind Regards

Daniel

 

 

[CalS 5,280]

Full disclosure, I use a modified TSW process.  I prefix each project with a ., so .Project1, .Project2, etc.  I nest any new project tags using the desktop software.  I have 5 parent tags for projects which are also preceded by a period.  Tag search in IOS is reasonably easy since when I press . I get a list of projects.

I don't use a next actions notebook, I use tags instead, using a prefix of !.  So !1-Now, !2-Next, !3-Soon, !4-Later, !6-Waiting.  The ! facilitates tag selection in the drop down.  This method does require two tag edits as priority changes vs a drag from notebook to notebook.  I have the !1-Now tag at the front of the shortcuts bar for easy access on desktop or IOS.  I also use reminder dates when there is a hard stop for a task.  Reminder dates trump ! tags.

I prefer the tag method, others prefer the notebook method (search the forum for TSW and you should find other discussions of this).  Net of it all, I would recommend doing your research and then just start, learn, and adjust as you go.  Generalizing a bit, but I think most of the TSW/GTD discussions I have read reflect a level of customization in each individual's method.  And typically it's not that hard to adjust using the search tools available in EN.

 

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, Dan5819 said:

Ok so I am trying to keep everything together. Meaning, my to do list & notes ALL in EN. I like the idea of using and being familiar with ONE app and not 2, with regards to managing my businesses and personal life.

Task management in Evernote is one of my favourite topics

>> just using memory to link the 'tasks' with the bigger project
Not sure if this is what you mean, but I have a tag for each project (!Project - xxxx)
At the very minimum, I have a project master note
and more likely one or more taks notes, all flagged with the same project tag
This makes it easy to produce a list of tasks when I'm reviewing a project

>>Just trying to figure the Projects List part
All my project master notes are tagged with !Project
This makes it easy to produce a Projects List

>>setting up Projects & Next Actions. How you seperate them, link them etc
I'm not that concerned about Next Actions, but I do keep track of task due dates
I use the reminder feature to assign dates
My saved search for my Current Tasks list is
         reminderTime:* -tag:!Archive -reminderTime:day+1 -reminderDoneTime:*
Using this, tasks appear in my list when due, and drop off when completed

I know TSW recommends tags for Now, Soon etc but I just avoid all that

As you can see, in the tag list my !Project and !Project - xxxx tags would be listed together.  On my Mac, they are actually a hierarchy, but it's not a problem that IOS shows tags as a list.

Actually, I rarely use the taglist.  
I put much used tags in the shortcut area and reference them there.
When I add a tag to a note, I type ! and get a list of all my "What tags"
                                            I continue typing !Project and get a list of all my "Project tags"

[Dan5819 6]

35 minutes ago, DTLow said:

echo

 

 

43 minutes ago, csihilling said:

Full disclosure, I use a modified TSW process.  I prefix each project with a ., so .Project1, .Project2, etc.  I nest any new project tags using the desktop software.  I have 5 parent tags for projects which are also preceded by a period.  Tag search in IOS is reasonably easy since when I press . I get a list of projects.

I don't use a next actions notebook, I use tags instead, using a prefix of !.  So !1-Now, !2-Next, !3-Soon, !4-Later, !6-Waiting.  The ! facilitates tag selection in the drop down.  This method does require two tag edits as priority changes vs a drag from notebook to notebook.  I have the !1-Now tag at the front of the shortcuts bar for easy access on desktop or IOS.  I also use reminder dates when there is a hard stop for a task.  Reminder dates trump ! tags.

I prefer the tag method, others prefer the notebook method (search the forum for TSW and you should find other discussions of this).  Net of it all, I would recommend doing your research and then just start, learn, and adjust as you go.  Generalizing a bit, but I think most of the TSW/GTD discussions I have read reflect a level of customization in each individual's method.  And typically it's not that hard to adjust using the search tools available in EN.

 

Appreciate the fast response on that my friend.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

1 hour ago, Dan5819 said:

So I am resisting omnifocus and todoist. VERY tempted to just accept these are better than evernote for task management and just use 2 apps. I do think though, in EN, there must be a simple way.

As you have seen, Evernote can be used for project management, although it was not designed specifically for that purpose.  The downside is that you have to do everything manually to keep all items of a project related to that project, like sub-projects, tasks, sub-tasks, action items, people, etc.  You have to both remember the keys (or tags) used to connect these, and to actually assign the keys when creating a new item.

For small, simple projects involving only one person this is probably not much of a burden.  But if you want to effectively manage larger, more complex projects, with others involved, then you would probably be best served by tools dedicated to project management.  I hear your desire to keep Evernote as your main tool.  Well, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too:  IQTell.

You may want to consider tools like IQTell, which does a great job of:

1. Tight integration with Evernote 
2. Project/Task/Action management
3. Integrating your calendar and email with the above

[DTLow 5,736]

 

In case you're wondering.  Your post was duplicated and I responded under the other post.
I deleted the duplicate post and copied my answer in this discussion

[CalS 5,280]

8 minutes ago, Dan5819 said:

Appreciate the fast response on that my friend.

You are welcome.  Any other questions, feel free.  And check back if you want and let us know where you landed.

[Dan5819 6]

Response is appteciate alot. This forum seems extremely active. Will consider using it more to fine tune my 'simple living' mission. 

[Dan5819 6]

Don't mean to give such short responses right now. It's late where I am right now. 

[CalS 5,280]

No prob.  Short is good, better than TLDR.  

[Dan5819 6]

On 5 July 2016 at 3:21 AM, csihilling said:

You are welcome.  Any other questions, feel free.  And check back if you want and let us know where you landed.

I decided to allow EN to do what is does best and that is as a paperless filer & reference app. These words don't praise it enough as it should be. I am using OmniFocus and happy with that and using note links to Evernote. Extremely happy with this setup.

I have 2 businesses so the dedicated Project Manager wins here for that purpose. 

Evernote wins by far on the note and file storage.

Thanks guys

[CalS 5,280]

Glad it is working for you!

[gongnr 1]

Hi!

 

First of all, I think that not exist one way to do it. My organization in Evernote is a constant work in progress. Before telling you how I do it, I think you should write down an structure of notebooks and tags, and try link them as you can, and then find out which is the best way for you. Notebooks and tags are Free.

I have a typical GTD structure, but I make some little changes that don't go against with the GTD method. For example, In my GTD, I have actions, projects and PROJECTS. Yeah Yeah Yeah, I understand the difference between " wash my teeth" ( one action ) , and " go to the doctor " make the phone call reservation, have the date, go to the doctor.       ( more than one action, it's a Project ). But " get Married" , is not the same as going to the doctor. So that's a PROJECT. So inside my Project Notebook, I a Have Project Get married. And what's more, that project has a tag. Just in case I have some information that is related to the PROJECT but is not specifically of that project.

In my life when a project Finishes I review if I want to keep something, and the delete Everything. The idea is getting things done, and find quickly related information, not being a librarian  .

Use the tags you want the times you want, the same for project notebooks. GTD is like customizing your second brain. I bet your " brain operating system" will always have an  update once. If you need more information about how I specifically structure my mind, I think that you will learn somethings, but your Mind I think. I have copied others structures for months, and never worked at all.  I recommend that you should use Evernote as a second brain. And the main difference between EN and your physical brain, is that scanning the EN is much more easier. You can see your thoughts organized, and that give you the chance to improve your organization. The final light probably you find that less is more, and you learn how to focus in a new way. 

Sorry for my English!

 

 

[DTLow 5,736]

On August 3, 2016 at 6:50 PM, gongnr said:

and then delete Everything. The idea is getting things done, and find quickly related information, not being a librarian  .

I delete nothing. My process is to use a generic !Archive tag, which I apply to my search scripts (-tag:!Archive) so archived notes are excluded