Who else is all or mostly paper? My paper system...

J

joetab24

Registered
Not sure why, but my GTD system has just sort of clicked as of late. Everything has come together and is working in unison, a very good feeling.

I've posted this on some other GTD forums. If you'd like to take a look at how I organize my paper based GTD system, here it is:

my paper based system explained

Please share what works/doesn't work with your paper based GTD systems. Look forward to hearing/sharing ideas with you!

Joe
 
P

pphillips

Registered
I'm a paper person too.

Thanks for sharing Joe. I'm a paper person myself. While I do try to use technology (Omnifocus being my latest tool of choice), I keep going back to paper. Post-It notes are the best. I like how you add them to your project folders along with the loose leaf paper.

Thanks for sharing. You've given me an idea for end-of-year collecting and processing.
 
J

JDMAvery

Registered
Paper based, but using Livescribe Pen & Evernote to back it all up.

First Confession - I do use eProductivity for work, so I am not a pure paper based GTDer but I do use my paper planner a lot.

My planner it goes almost everywhere with me.

My experience todate has been that people will happily let you write on paper while talking to them, but pull out an electronic tool and they suspect you are multitasking and not giving them your full attention.

My paper based organiser, is set up in fairly standard way,
  • Inbox
  • Next Actions (print out from eProd @weekly revew)
  • Project List (printed @ weekly review from EProd plus personal ones)
  • Agenda
  • Waiting For
  • Calendar
  • Journal
  • Reference

What I have done is change from stationery that came with the planner to paper that works with my Livescribe pen. (www.livescribe.com)

What this means is that everything I write is captured by the pen.
It also allows me to capture the discussion that is going on while I make the notes/draw the pictures.

NB: Always ask people up front before you do that.
I find that "Can I record this next bit of the discussion so I can be sure to capture the idea as compeletly as possible? I can send you a copy if you like" usually gets a yes.


I moved to the Livescribe tool (after trial a few options) intially to solve the problem of How to back up my paper planner.

I have on occasions had planner disappear.

With the current tools the loss of the planner is not such a disaster. Since everytime I am back at my office/home/hotel I plug the pen in & a copy of all that I have written is on my PC.

It also means I can:
1. quickly send a copy of the notes as PDF to anyone who needed to have them.
2. search all my notes for topic/date/person etc. The handwritting reconition is very good, but not as good as evernote.(thats next)

The next big step up came recently with the livescribe team linking with evernote so now I can publish the handwritten notes into my evernote database.

I was already an evernote fan/user and had been sending PDF of my notes to evernote anyway, so now the drag in the process is reduced, its even better.

I use evernote to:
1. Share the notes with various teams with out any rework.
2. Have my the notes/project plans/next actions available to me anywhere I can access the net (blackberry/iphone/netbook/etc).

I tend to use the cornell note taking layout & keep a wide margin & a few lines clear at the bottom of the page to come back and write review/revision notes during the debrief/processing.

The space lets me add Tags that help with searches in evernote/livescribe.
Eg: I use things like:

Nxt_Act - Next Action
S/Mayb - Someday Maybe
Proj:abc - Project Name
Due:mm/dd - Due date Month & Day
W/F:Jim - Waiting for Jim
Agenda:Jim
 
S

ScottL

Registered
HI Joe,

Just wanted to say that I really like your system. I may adopt some parts of it myself.

For those of you who don't know, there is a linkedin GTD forum that has some good info. There is at least one paper thread that might be of interest. You have to sign up for linkedin first.
 
D

debbieg

Registered
Rule of Three

SGTM;84458 said:
I use paper, except for calendar and contacts, which I think electronic does better. I describe my systems on my blog for those that are interested.

www.simple-time-management.com
Click to expand...

Have you actually worked with the rule of three? Is that 3 personal projects and 3 work related projects? What happens when life or work dictate more than 3, how do you deal with that scenario?
 
S

SGTM

Registered
For work , I use the rule of three to limit tasks to three. So I have boiled it down to basically two lists keep in a simple spiral notebook, a capture list, which is everything and a task list. I work most of my time from the task list and replenish it when there are zero or one tasks on the list. This serves to keep my focus on priorities, while giving me the peace of mind of knowing the capture list has all of possibilities and responsibilities captured in one place. As life happens things go onto the capture list and get pulled to the task list as I replenish based on what must get done. I list tasks as specific things that can be done in less than a day, so I move things forward.

In my personal life, I limit major project to three and use a system I devised a few years ago to get the project accomplished. I have found the way to get lots done is to limit project lists to three but get these small lists done and move on. A laundry projects rarely gets done, but if you keep sailing through small lists you accomplish more in the long run. My blog has the system I am using described there and a link to a site where there are excerpts of the goal achievement book for those who are interested.

Thanks
 
D

debbieg

Registered
SGTM;84526 said:
For work , I use the rule of three to limit tasks to three. So I have boiled it down to basically two lists keep in a simple spiral notebook, a capture list, which is everything and a task list. I work most of my time from the task list and replenish it when there are zero or one tasks on the list. This serves to keep my focus on priorities, while giving me the peace of mind of knowing the capture list has all of possibilities and responsibilities captured in one place. As life happens things go onto the capture list and get pulled to the task list as I replenish based on what must get done. I list tasks as specific things that can be done in less than a day, so I move things forward.

In my personal life, I limit major project to three and use a system I devised a few years ago to get the project accomplished. I have found the way to get lots done is
to limit project lists to three but get these small lists done and move on. A laundry projects rarely gets done, but if you keep sailing through small lists you accomplish more in the long run. My blog has the system I am using described there and a link to a site where there are excerpts of the goal achievement book for those who are interested.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks. That helps clarify. If I have more than 3 work and 3 personal projects they would be captured on a project page in the capture section.
 
S

SGTM

Registered
That certainly works. The triple task list is not really a GTD concept as it involves priority. Fro me however it works to think in terms of limiting my focus to three tasks at a time. I try to spend as much time with this list during the day and find it makes me very productive. I use as many categories as needed in the capture section. I find the 80/20 is simply in using it, as I know all I need to think about is in there. Further subdivisions does not add all that much for me compared to just having it all captured in one place.
 
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