GTD and Onenote

Larryf

Registered
I recently started a computer and networking business. In an effort to try and stay on top of it I read the GTD book. I have done the capture process and and set up a working physical filing system. The next step for me was to set up OneNote and Outlook. I purchased the reference material available in the store, then set up my notebooks using the guidelines. Create one notebook for Projects & Actions, and another for Reference, and the recommended sections. I have a couple of questions I could use some help with.
  1. A customer calls up, emails, or texts me, and I will ask them a standard set of questions about whatever issue they are having. Device, Operating System, description of problem, and so on. I set up an appointment with them. If it's a common problem I have a checklist that I will take to the appointment. If not, then I will research causes and solutions before the appointment. When I get to the appointment I use my checklist, take notes about what I did, other problems they need fixed and so on. Where do you put all this information? I Is the customer a project, an agenda item? Are my notes reference material? Should I create a separate notebook just for my customers? I am a little confused about how to make this flow work. Any suggestions?
  2. What to do with projects like "increase customer base". I have several things I am trying and tracking. I have other things I would like to try. I am not sure of the right way to lay this out as a project.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Larry
 

TesTeq

Registered
A customer calls up, emails, or texts me, and I will ask them a standard set of questions about whatever issue they are having. Device, Operating System, description of problem, and so on. I set up an appointment with them. If it's a common problem I have a checklist that I will take to the appointment. If not, then I will research causes and solutions before the appointment. When I get to the appointment I use my checklist, take notes about what I did, other problems they need fixed and so on. Where do you put all this information? I Is the customer a project, an agenda item? Are my notes reference material? Should I create a separate notebook just for my customers? I am a little confused about how to make this flow work. Any suggestions?
You can have a checklist template in your business' general reference, treat each customer as a GTD Project and copy this checklist to the Project's reference material.
What to do with projects like "increase customer base". I have several things I am trying and tracking. I have other things I would like to try. I am not sure of the right way to lay this out as a project.
"Increase" is not measurable without any specific number so I would never know if I reached such Project's Successful Outcome. I would rather create an Area of Focus ("Customer base" or "Marketing") and define specific Projects for weeks or months - for example: "3 new customers acquired in April".
 

Larryf

Registered
You can have a checklist template in your business' general reference, treat each customer as a GTD Project and copy this checklist to the Project's reference material.

"Increase" is not measurable without any specific number so I would never know if I reached such Project's Successful Outcome. I would rather create an Area of Focus ("Customer base" or "Marketing") and define specific Projects for weeks or months - for example: "3 new customers acquired in April".
Thank you! That makes sense.
 

AFG

Registered
Although I am also comparatively new to using OneNote intensively for GTD, I have been using OneNote for many years.

USEFUL TRICK: instead of creating a single notebook for all projects, I often create separate notebooks for active projects. Or at least "big" active projects.

REASON: OneNote maintains a "current position" for each notebook. If you close a notebook, and then return to it, you will be taken back to the same place. This can be useful if projects go big. Although it may apply more to the project support material, than to the actual tracking.

Whereas if projects are sections or section groups in the same notebook, there is no "current position". You have to click around each time, unless you are organized enough that you always want to go to the top or bottom of a section.

EXTRA REASON: Since I use OneNote to collect project support and reference material, I often get to thousands of pages. Enough that I start worrying about OneNote file/database corruption. Notebooks are natural "error containment" boundaries. I started using more separate notebooks when one of my "few big notebooks" got corrupted, and I lost quite a lot.

BUT: OneNote does not support hierarchies of notebooks. So, once a project is wrapped up, I may create a section group in an ARCHIVE notebook, move all of the project notebook stiff into that section group, and then delete the original project notebook.

OneNote only really makes it easy to manage a dozen notebooks at a time. So, not all of the 100 or so GTD projects - but just perhaps the biggest and most active ones.
 

ggray50

Registered
I have one Project Support Material Notebook and one for A-Z reference. I group similar projects into Section groups, which correspond to my work related areas of focus e.g. events, my staff, policy development, etc.

I've never considered data corruption though. From now on, I will make a fresh back up at the weekly review.
 

AFG

Registered
I've never considered data corruption though. From now on, I will make a fresh back up at the weekly review.

Q: how long do OneNote backups take for you?

For me, they are quite slow. Probably because all of my OneNote notebooks live on cloud drives, either personal or work.

Slow => much more than one cup of tea. Often several hours, overnight.
 
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