David Allen's latest In Conversation

K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
What's funny, as I'm re-listening to it, is that I've already changed my personal system (on the recording I say it's all in eProductivity.) Over the holiday break, I moved all of my personal lists and personal reference out of eProductivity and into Evernote, which syncs across my desktop, iPhone and iPad. I chose Evernote because it does such a great job with storing information. It's not specifically designed as a list manager, but it's working great for me so far in Notebooks. And the ease of access across all of my platforms, and seamless synching, has made it effortless.
 
CJSullivan

CJSullivan

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Evernote - Interesting!

Haven't listened to the In Conversation yet, but can't wait! Can I assume you're not going all crazy with tags, etc. in Evernote? (You know people are going to be asking you to demo your set-up now you've divulged this new wrinkle!!!)
 
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tawaters

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Evernote

Agreed with Carolyn! Kelly, can you give us details on how you have your Evernote system setup?

Tom
 
K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
Sure! It's early days, and there's no saying it will stay this way, but I have 4 Notebooks setup:

I am only using tags in the Reference notebook. Here are my tags so far, but I'm finding I'm using search more than sorting by tags.

Within Next Actions, I have individual notes setup for each context I need. For example, "Errands" is a note within Next Actions, and the body of Errands holds my list:

For Projects, each project is a note within the Projects Notebook. For Someday, I have 4 different Someday list nested within that Notebook.

What I love is that I can be on my DAC Mac, personal Mac, iPhone or iPad and access this information. That's where Lotus Notes wasn't working for me. Especially when I was taking my long vacation over the holidays, completely untethered from any work devices, when I knew I needed to find a better solution for my personal data.

Hope that helps!

Attached files
 
Barb

Barb

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Dropped everything to listen

This was really wonderful! Don't miss this! Best part? She loves us!
 
CJSullivan

CJSullivan

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Simple & elegant!

Oh, I can hear that little seductive voice saying "Don't you want to think about moving back to digital from paper, my precious? Dontcha???!!! Look at how eaaaasssssy it could be?!" (think "Gollum" here)

Barb - I'm going to sync my iPod as soon as I get home and listen on the way to work tomorrow! Glad she loves us, cause we love her! :cool:
 
hikerpa

hikerpa

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Lurker coming out of hiding! ;)

Really enjoyed the podcast. Loved hearing about your early days and how you ended up at David Allen Co.

Thanks for making GTD Connect a happening place.

Ellen
 
K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
hikerpa;104645 said:
Lurker coming out of hiding! ;)

Really enjoyed the podcast. Loved hearing about your early days and how you ended up at David Allen Co.

Thanks for making GTD Connect a happening place.

Ellen
Click to expand...

Thank you Ellen! I appreciate that.
 
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haleyma

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Great Interview! Thanks...

Kelly,
I really enjoyed listening to this interview and hearing about your journey. Cool idea to 'turn the tables' and still get David's input in there. Please keep us updated on your Evernote adventures. Have you seen the Secret Weapon website? I've gotten my Evernote set up with that system and it's a pretty "busy" arrangement...they use time reference tags, too, like now, soon, later and that = procrastination for me. I like your simple arrangement. It does sync very smoothly across devices (I have an android phone, android tablet, Windows PC). I do really love the little check lists that I can make and have one on my phone's home screen for the day. Thanks again. Great interview.

Maureen Haley
 
K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
haleyma;104673 said:
Kelly,
I really enjoyed listening to this interview and hearing about your journey. Cool idea to 'turn the tables' and still get David's input in there. Please keep us updated on your Evernote adventures. Have you seen the Secret Weapon website? I've gotten my Evernote set up with that system and it's a pretty "busy" arrangement...they use time reference tags, too, like now, soon, later and that = procrastination for me. I like your simple arrangement. It does sync very smoothly across devices (I have an android phone, android tablet, Windows PC). I do really love the little check lists that I can make and have one on my phone's home screen for the day. Thanks again. Great interview. Maureen Haley
Click to expand...

Thanks Maureen! Yes, I have seen the Secret Weapon. Unfortunately, the seduction of overcomplicating a system plagues many software developers/teachers. They think more is better. The true measure is whether you can maintain being attracted to that system and actually get stuff done from it, when you're feeling sick with the flu. Usually all of those extra fields, criteria, and sort requirements don't hold up when people are down.
 
CJSullivan

CJSullivan

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TimeDesign Nostalgia

Kelly - it was so great to hear you and David wax rhapsodic about the ol' TimeDesign system... Took me back to the beginning of my adventures with GTD, using TimeDesign and coaching others at Polaroid...! I agree that it was (and still is - I still use parts of it in my Filofax!) an elegant tool, and a GREAT way to become very grounded in the GTD methodology. It covered everything from the runway to the upper levels, and the only issue I think anyone ever had with it was its portability (or lack thereof).

Also TRULY exciting to hear about the new technology work being done to replicate the "glue" for those intersecting with many different tools - both digital and paper... I think you guys are going in a good, exciting direction here!

Thanks again for your no nonsense perspective - I always appreciate that you're so grounded in the basics!!! Looking forward to seeing how things develop in 2013!
 
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alphatexana

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I enjoyed the podcast and certainly agree with the proliferation of "inboxes" in our lives through electronic media.

Thanks for posting up on Evernote. I am using it for my reference materials, but maintaining both work and personal lists in Nirvana.

Thanks.
 
TesTeq

TesTeq

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kelstarrising;104674 said:
Thanks Maureen! Yes, I have seen the Secret Weapon. Unfortunately, the seduction of overcomplicating a system plagues many software developers/teachers. They think more is better. The true measure is whether you can maintain being attracted to that system and actually get stuff done from it, when you're feeling sick with the flu. Usually all of those extra fields, criteria, and sort requirements don't hold up when people are down.
Click to expand...

I fully agree with this statement. And I would like to extend it:

The true measure is whether you can maintain being attracted to that system and actually get stuff done from it, when you're feeling great.

If you're feeling great you tend to overcomplicate things, test new tools, approaches, naming conventions, setups, contexts etc. - instead of just getting important things done. When you're feeling great you should do the most important tasks!
 
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iwantatr8

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Finding the glue.

Kelly,

What a great interview, just as interesting as the others and a fascinating view into working with David.

I agree with your statement of the general level of frustration with different GTD systems, and I relate this back to the comment you made about being relentless in finding the glue that makes your system work. One thing that I think people might find helpful is the methodology / thought process behind that.
  • How do you find the glue?
  • How do you check it's working?
  • How do you identify the missing links?
With a system independent process that people can use to check their own personal systems perhaps there is a way to reduce the level of frustration down to a more acceptable level. A system diagnostic if you like.

With your seamlessly working, 100% effective new evernote system I'm sure that you won't need it but for those of us less than perfect it might be useful :)

Regards,
Andy.
 
OF user

OF user

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I did something similar...

What made you decide to move to Evernote of all things? Would think you would go back to OmniFocus. I moved my Work lists from paper (personal still there) back to OmniFocus
 
K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
OF user;104725 said:
What made you decide to move to Evernote of all things? Would think you would go back to OmniFocus. I moved my Work lists from paper (personal still there) back to OmniFocus
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I moved to Evernote because I wanted to learn it, and wanted a tool that excelled with reference. OmniFocus can handle reference, but I don't think it's where it shines. And I didn't need a super robust list manager for my personal stuff. I only have a few projects and a few lists. I really needed a great personal reference tool, accessible across any platform, where I could also manage my lists.
 
OF user

OF user

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Makes sense. My problem with Evernote is handling projects. I assume you search for keywords to make sure each project has a next action?
 
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