What are my Options

[jhundley]

I plan on posting this on several GTD related
area, so forgive me if you run acrossed this
post again. But I am looking at all
possiblities in revamping my GTD system.
Currently I am using a Palm T3, Work PC,
Personal Laptop, Journal and a 3x5 Pad.
The T3 I use to keep all my Appt etc with me as
well as stuff for my Family Projects in
Bonsai Next Actions linked to Task List
Ticklers are kept in REDO
CANDO shows Next Actions - Not Dated
ShortCut5 - Used to place
SubContext in notes etc as well as autoentry
of some data Datebk5 Shows task that have to
be done today, Appt - me and Family etc Work

PC - Email and Outlook 2000 - mandated thru
company
Laptop - Personal Email - Outlook
2003 - I like Outlook and using VBA I have
filters and VBA to achieve much of the things
in outlook that I can on Palm ie placing sub
contexts in Note field of a task
Journal -1.98 Composition Book from Office Depot I
take to Meeting and out for general notes,
drawing etc I feel I can write faster than
grafetti at this time plus this journal is
quad rulled(graph paper) so I can easily jot
down my designs for remodeling - One of my
projects The 3x5 pad is kept in a "Wallet"
for on the fly next actions or notes - again
I feel I write faster than grafetti I enter
all notes on my Work Pc several times a day.
More detail if needed.

I was wondering how others manage there GTD systems? I am open to
fresh Ideas as I keep coming back to my
original system which did not work. Any help would be greatly appreciated or points in a good direction
TIA

 

[Mark Jantzen]

I find it helpful to focus on distinct phases and remember that two of them are independent of "gear" -- process & do. My company does not support synching a Palm or PDA so I segment my systems. Here's my list:

Collect
- Email at work/home
- Physical in boxes at work/home
- Palm Notepad
- Uncategorized Tasks in Palm
- Databank tab in Time/Design binder ("In Box")
- Moleskine journal (beta testing)

Process
- Make front-end decisions on EVERYTHING

Organize
- Outlook for pure work-based lists
- Palm for everything else.
- Time/Design binder for in transit paper-based action support and reference
- Brother labelers at home/work
- Hon filing cabinet at home
- Hanging files at work ... hate them

Review
- Weekly Review ... like the short game practice in golf, vitally important and often overlooked

Do
- Better decisions with a complete inventory ...

Time/Design was my old GTD system which I still find useful for paper-based stuff in transit. My Palm and Outlook setups are very plain vanilla. I like that hard landscape, although I now use HandyShopper for my grocery list. I'm considering a beta test of Bonsai to keep lists of Focus Areas and Checklists (Palm Memos now) and more directly tie them to projects & next actions.

Hope that helped with at least some of your questions,
Mark