after much delay I am getting back on the gtd wagon..again

[macgrl]

I have read the book many times and am now following the implementation guide that I have purchased from this site. I am planning on using omnifocus - I think I remember that there was a similar simple guide to setting omnifocus up specifically for gtd but I can't find it - does such a guide exist?

Should I play around with and get used to / set up omnifocus before following the gtd implementation guide?

Many thanks

 

[kelstarrising]

Here you go:

https://secure.davidco.com/store/catalog/OMNIFOCUS-AND-GTD--p-16580.php

 

[macgrl]

That's the one! thank you so much

 

[ScottL]

Contrarian view

If you are just getting back on GTD wagon you are shooting yourself in the head with a VERY large caliber gun if you are trying to both A get back on/stay on GTD habits and B. get up to speed with software which is a complicated as I gather omni is. Till you are firmly on GTD wagon, I would suggest paper, outliner, things, anything but some complicated piece of software.

my 3c (inflation).

 

[macgrl]

If you are just getting back on GTD wagon you are shooting yourself in the head with a VERY large caliber gun if you are trying to both A get back on/stay on GTD habits and B. get up to speed with software which is a complicated as I gather omni is. Till you are firmly on GTD wagon, I would suggest paper, outliner, things, anything but some complicated piece of software.

my 3c (inflation).

Thanks so much for your constructive reply! You are of course so right! I have a habit of trying to do too much too fast and then find it very hard and give up. This was going to be another example of that. When I first tried gtd a year or so ago I used things as it was clean and easy. I don't know why I didn't want to use it this time - I think that I studpidly thought that as omnifocus is more complicated it would be "better" for me to use - another case of me trying to run before I can walk.

Are there any guides for things and gtd / anybody just use things and find that it is great and does everything that they need - do you have any tips.

Thanks again

 

[mcogilvie]

If you are just getting back on GTD wagon you are shooting yourself in the head with a VERY large caliber gun if you are trying to both A get back on/stay on GTD habits and B. get up to speed with software which is a complicated as I gather omni is. Till you are firmly on GTD wagon, I would suggest paper, outliner, things, anything but some complicated piece of software.

my 3c (inflation).

I think that might a bit of an exaggeration- omnifocus is more like a power tool or (my favorite analogy) a big truck. I think it can be used casually, but that seems like a waste of its power (and its cost). What a person uses successfully depends on that person's habits, job, mindset and geekiness quotient. While I personally find Things a bit simpler to work with, it's not so simple that there aren't wrong turns to be made in setting up gtd lists. However, Things is now in beta for true OTA sync, so I'm not sure that this is the best time to jump on board.

 

[Oogiem]

Should I play around with and get used to / set up omnifocus before following the gtd implementation guide?

I'd get the GTD guide and set up OF in a very simple way first and then as you get more confident about the SW start adding features to your GTD implementation. I know lots of folks will suggest paper and it might be good to try it but don't be discouraged if you don't last more than a few days attempting to do GTD on paper. I know I can't handle paper for even a full week before tearing my hair out.

Sure Omnifocus is powerful and feature rich but that doesn't mean you can't do a simple implementation initially and then edit it later. .

 

[ScottL]

1.

Sure Omnifocus is powerful and feature rich but that doesn't mean you can't do a simple implementation initially and then edit it later. .

I have no experience with omni so if a simple implementation can be set up

****without much learning or many pitfalls and it is easy to use that way***,

it might be worth a try.

I toyed with things and easytask for iphone both of which have little learning curve (at least for the easy parts) with some minor exceptions.

2. I will say that for many people (myself included) despite the drawbacks of paper, items written on paper are "somehow more real" and that can be very heflpful.

3. "I have a habit of trying to do too much too fast and then find it very hard and give up. "
As the Zen to do guy points out GTD is a whole bunch of habits which can be overwelming to try to master all at once. There are a number of threads here on starting GTD or getting back on the wagon and it is difficult to be more helpful without knowing what your particular issues are.

If you can give us some details on what things if any you have continued to do and what you find the most difficult about GTD perhaps we can be more helpful.

I was over the top with my comment about omni, but you need to make this as simple as possible untill you get the GTD habits ingrained and the temptation to tinker with software or get lost in it (I've been there) is a big one.

If you can force yourself to do the weekly review it can be a big help and keep you on track.

 

[macgrl]

Hello all. Thanks do much for the replies. I think that I will spend a little bit of time playing with OF and things and see how I feel. Are there any gtd guides for things as there are with OF?

 

[Oogiem]

I have no experience with omni so if a simple implementation can be set up

****without much learning or many pitfalls and it is easy to use that way***,

it might be worth a try.

If I was trying to learn both GTD and Omni at the same time here is a way I think I'd try it. I'd create the contexts I think I want. I'd create one single action list for the odd ball stuff. Then during a weekly review I'd put in as projects JUST the active projects I have and a SINGLE next action in the appropriate context. No Someday/Maybe projects, no playing with sequential or parallel, no subprojects, no flags, no folders, no start or due dates, or anything else. Try that for a while and then decide what, if anything, you need to add. As you are working with it during weekly review if a project become inactive put it on hold and go on. Use the OF review function to look at all remaining projects during weekly review.

 

[macgrl]

If you have a list of actions that you have planned out for a project do they all go onto the next actions list or else where. Do you literally just have one next action on the list for a project / a situation where the one action is just what you have to do (I.e. not a project)

 

[Suelin23]

After planning all the actions for a project you need to decide which ones are the next actions. You must specify at least one, but certainly can have many next actions for each project. Any actions that aren't next actions are project support. Some tools like Omnifocus allow storing of future actions as well as next actions, so it is up to you whether you want to put the future actions in a list as well as the next actions. If you are just starting again then having only next actions in your list manager is simpler and less overwhelming.

If a situation only requires one action then it is not a project and only goes on the context list.

 

[macgrl]

Thanks so much for your reply. Can you have more than one context assigned to an action like @calls @home

If I have one next action on my list for a project would I then gO to project support to see what the next one is if I have it pre worked out or plan more if I don't? - I just have to make sure that I replace that done actiOn with a new one right? Even if the next action is "do plan" / work out next action ?

 

[Oogiem]

If you have a list of actions that you have planned out for a project do they all go onto the next actions list or else where.

What I do now is go ahead and put all actions in, but that is an advanced form of using Omnifocus. I'd save that for later, it's really easy to get caught up in project planning and the various features of the OF tool. Right now you need to focus on the GTD practice and keep the tool simple. So my suggestion is to store those other next actions in a separate project support file somewhere out of omnifocus for now.

Once you are back in the GTD groove then consider adding more of your project planning to your Omnifocus system.

 

[Oogiem]

Can you have more than one context assigned to an action like @calls @home

no, any given action has a single context.

 

[macgrl]

Thanks for that reply. That makes sense and clears that up

One thing I am confused about is how to deal with things that I am waiting for - projects often have a few strands of actions, If my next action is to email someone and I do that do I put that I am waiting for a reply just on l waiting list or also under that project?

I was also thinking that for something that I needed a reply for within a week by a specific day I would put a reminder on my calendar that way it will act as a tIme sensitive reminder too. Anything longer than that will be swept up by the weekly review

Edited - I have had another read of GTD and have now decided that I will just put a waiting for on @waitingfor and not also under the project list...I suppose there is also no need to put on diary either - just review @waiting for everyday would do and keep diary clear?

It is the project with many stands and independant actions that I think I struggle with. Is it ok to have things mapped out in a project plan, have one next action on the next action list and then have the next next action as "see plan" or is that just a cop out?

If I email someone and can't do anything until I hear back from them. I would have this noted on my @waiting for list. Would I then have the fact that I need to plan / decided on my next action after I get their reply noted on the next actions list i.e next action is to decide / plan or would I have it in project support.

I am a bit confused. Sorry.

 

[cwoodgold]

Personally, I don't understand the GTD "waiting fors". Why review them all
regularly? What I do is, I consider each "waiting for" to be either an action I
need to take, or nothing in my system at all. I decide at the beginning how long
I want to wait before reminding the person or taking any other action in case
they don't get back to me, and I put a reminder in my tickle file for that date.
Sometimes at that time I'll change my mind and decide to wait longer.
If I would do nothing in case the person doesn't get back to me, then I just
forget about the whole thing, and when the person does get back to me then
it gets back into my system at that time (e.g. I might put in an action to reply
to the person again).

If a "waiting for" comes up in my tickle file and I've already received whatever
it is, I'll remember that, and just remove the item from my tickle file.
That way, I only need to spend time looking at that "waiting for" once.
If I was concerned that I wouldn't necessarily remember, then I could
cross-index in order to remove the item from the tickle file when I receive
the reply from the person; again I would only have to deal with it once.

What's the advantage of doing it the GTD way? I would think it would
foster a feeling of impatience rather than mind-like-water.

 

[ScottL]

Personally, I don't understand the GTD "waiting fors". Why review them all
regularly? What I do is, I consider each "waiting for" to be either an action I
need to take, or nothing in my system at all. I decide at the beginning how long
I want to wait before reminding the person or taking any other action in case
they don't get back to me, and I put a reminder in my tickle file for that date.
Sometimes at that time I'll change my mind and decide to wait longer.
If I would do nothing in case the person doesn't get back to me, then I just
forget about the whole thing, and when the person does get back to me then
it gets back into my system at that time (e.g. I might put in an action to reply
to the person again).

If a "waiting for" comes up in my tickle file and I've already received whatever
it is, I'll remember that, and just remove the item from my tickle file.
That way, I only need to spend time looking at that "waiting for" once.
If I was concerned that I wouldn't necessarily remember, then I could
cross-index in order to remove the item from the tickle file when I receive
the reply from the person; again I would only have to deal with it once.

What's the advantage of doing it the GTD way? I would think it would
foster a feeling of impatience rather than mind-like-water.

That is a perfectly valid way to do it.

 

[Oogiem]

Personally, I don't understand the GTD "waiting fors". Why review them all
regularly?

For me I like seeing a separate context of @waiting for because I have so many waiting for's. My tickler is day specific, a waiting for is rarely defined to be reviewed on a particular day and having them come up in the tickler is irritating to me. I review them weekly to see if I need to poke on them in the coming week.

 

[Oogiem]

In Omnifocus I put the action that was e-mail X re Y with a context of @computer internet to the context @waiting for and in either the action itself or the notes for that action I put the date I sent the email. I leave it under the project.

For example I have a project right now of Sheep Shearing 2012. The next action was e-mail David re arrival and departure days for shearing. It was in the @computer internet context but once I sent the e-mail asking for arrival and departure dates I edited the action to be in the @waiting context. When I do get a response I'll update my calendar because it's day specific and also then start on the rest of the project, which will be to get ads in for shearing to the newspaper and start calling the regulars to schedule their shearing days.