Any Mac users out there?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jane M.
  • Start date Start date
Re: Mac User, new to GTD, looking for Filemaker template...

Victoria said:
If anyone does know of a Filemaker template, that'd be greaet.

Thanks much for the discussion.
Click to expand...

VoodooPad has continued to work well for me (now going on two months), but I use Filemaker extensively and I too would be interested if anyone discovers any templates.

As an aside, have you noticed how many views this thread has? Speaks well for Mac users, no?

Brian
 
Mac users OSX

Jane I had a learning curve with osX but now I love it. Sherlock is fantastic. I tunes is wonderful, and Office 2004 with the Entrourage project center which syncs wonderfully with palm and links all documents, contacts, tasks, events memos etc etc was the missing key to be a list manager and my case manager. Once you get used to using the finder in panther everthing is right at your finger tips. And my G5 is sooo fast!
Mardo
 
Filemaker templates

Has anyone looked at the Filemaker Inc.'s application Tasks for GTD suittability?

I am personally anxious to see the Work Requests application they are releasing this month. The two (Tasks and Work Requests) can be linked together and with your contacts database.

You can learn more here: http://www.filemaker.com/applications/
 
I have used this as a basic template for a task list database:

Name --- Project Name
Log --- Document # auto assign
Brief Description --- What is the goal or issue/step
Status --- open/close/inprogress/delay/defer/cancel (picklist)
Priority --- Red/Yellow/Green (Hot/Normal/Cold etc)
Open Date --- Date/Time item was opened / logged
Originator --- From whom did this request come from.
Assigned To --- Task delegated to (Picklist ?)
Due Date --- Date/Time for reply/follow-up
Last Updated --- Date/Time of last status
Additional Cost --- What is cost?
Progress --- Memo, details etc.
Team Assigned --- If needed (normally blank for me)

This of course does not have any reports etc (since it would be different for each and every database application -- used askSam under Windows or MQSQL under Linux for testing).

Food for thought.
 
Re: Mac-based GTD

GUIDO said:
Llamagraphics' Life Balance is women-owned and coded, and was originally developed for the Mac/Palm platform, (it's now available for Windows).
Click to expand...

As far as I know two of the programmers are men (if it matters) and it was orginally coded for the Newton.
 
Mac & the perfect GTD tool

As Mardo mentioned, if you're using Mac and you like to apply GTD, don't look further. Office 2004 has everything you need in one single piece of software > Entourage Project Center. no add-ons, no complicated setup or integration of different tools, but just one simple & intuitive interface for managing your projects. i tried different applications (also the Apple iApps) but i never found a tool that was really simple and powerfull at the same time. i like to focus on my actions and want technology to help me, not to hinder or distract me.

another big advantage of Office 2004 is the Project Palette. a nice feature that you enables you to access your projects at anytime in every MS Office application (Word, Exel, PowerP) and link the docs to your respective projects.

i'm using the Project Center since a couple of weeks now and decided to use it for the rest of my staff (we're an advertising agency and everything is organized by jobs & projects). i'm sure it will improve our productivity with at least 10% ;-)
 
LifeBalance is way better than office 2004, imho

As far as planning out your project outline, listing and completing action items in specific contexts, I think LifeBalance is a much better and more sophisticated program than project center in office 2004.
 
Shadow Plan Desktop beta for OSX

Visit http://www.codejedi.com/ and check out the new desktop beta for Shadow Plan. It's a pretty fine beta. I'm glad to see my favorite GTD app appear on the scene for OSX. I can use it both at work (Windows) and home on my eMac, giving me a great deal more flexibility.

Check it out.
 
It did literally two hours ago - looks like it's been pulled by their host :(
 
A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Yes. I can confirm. It works for me too :D . It was "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" of the Internet :wink: .
TesTeq
 
Re: Mac & the perfect GTD tool

BillG said:
As Mardo mentioned, if you're using Mac and you like to apply GTD, don't look further. Office 2004 has everything you need in one single piece of software > Entourage Project Center. no add-ons, no complicated setup or integration of different tools, but just one simple & intuitive interface for managing your projects.
Click to expand...

I'm a 6-year PC user (since I've been out of college) and also I die-hard Outlook user. But lately (as a design professional) I've been considering a switch over to the new Mac OS X system, since I hear rave reviews about it and not just from designers anymore. I like the specs (and look) of the G5 and its components but have been concerned about the transition from Outlook to Entourage. I also use a Palm T2 synced to both home and work. If I switched to Mac it would be home only.

But it sounds that BillG and possibly a couple other people have found the newer Entourage software addresses their GTD system as a whole. I use strictly Outlook for my GTD system and would expect to use ONE software program on the Mac OS as well.

I'd like to hear from other users who have recently made the PC to Mac switch, and also those who like Entourage and Project Center as their GTD system.

Does anyone use Outlook via the Virtual PC on Mac?
Is it possible to sync my Palm to a Mac at home and a PC at work without creating chaos?

thanks in advance.
erinn
 
Mac users/Entourage

Erinn, Here is how I use Entourage 2004
My work projects are client centered, so my projects are by client name. When the project is closed I archive it, and as I have recently found when a project I thought was closed, became active, its very easy to open it again.

I have my related email on a project going directly into that projects file. I attach all contacts. I sort my contacts by categories, client, other side, lawyer, broker, financial advisor etc. So when I hit contacts under a project file I have everyone who is involved in a case right there. All my hard dates are in the calendar. I link them to the project. All My tasks use the standard GTD categories @office, @errands @phone and a few that are specific to me and linked. I use the sort functions due today and this week to identify those items that I have to get done on a time certain. I usually use a self imposed due date so I am aware of how long something has been sitting.
All documents that are drafted for a particular project are linked to that project. One clink and you are there. Terrific when a someone calls to review a draft. No running to get the file.
I create one note for each project and that's a running commentary on what I have done, info I need to remember, what's next etc.
I am going to create a check list for each type of project and I will link the appropriate check list as a note.
I also categorize clients by type-business, real estate etc. so that I can send appropriate newsletters etc to the clients. Since we can have multiple categories some appear under several categories.

The Project list doesn't link to the palm. But the older I get the more I like to work on a larger screen. I have the Mac 23 inch screen which I LOVE.
When I am away from the desk I need contacts, calendar, and task lists and all those link very well to my Zire 72.

For me its project support and GTD in one terrific package.
 
Re: Mac & the perfect GTD tool

tulipcowgirl said:
I'd like to hear from other users who have recently made the PC to Mac switch, and also those who like Entourage and Project Center as their GTD system.

Does anyone use Outlook via the Virtual PC on Mac?
Is it possible to sync my Palm to a Mac at home and a PC at work without creating chaos?

thanks in advance.
erinn
Click to expand...

I'm not using virtual PC on the Mac, but I do manage to sync my Palm to Entourage 2004 at work and Palm Desktop for Windows at home. It created chaos the first time but I think that was mainly because I hadn't installed the latest conduit for Entourage.

The Project Center is a convenient way of looking at various project-related items--tasks, notes, e-mails, files--in one place, but not a lot of bells and whistles. As far as I know you can't use it to generate, say, a GANTT chart (though that's not my thing). Projects don't synch to the Palm, but that has been mainly a non-issue for me: the Project Center is not my projects list--it's more of a staging area for project support materials. My projects lists are categorized memos/notes. (Anyone know how I might print out a list of memos/notes from Entourage or Palm Desktop? Both apps only let me print the whole memo, not just a list of memo titles.
 
Entourage

I'm a graphic designer, and have just implemented GTD in my own work. I've been reading these posts with great interest. I like how the project view in Entourage allows you to link everything to one project, but what I'd like to know is does it create a real projects folder? Or is it just a pointer? Ideally, I'd like to be able to save everything, including my graphic files (Photoshop, Indesign, etc.) into one place. It would be great for archiving and burning cds, as well.

As for the memo list print out, as far as I can tell the only way to do it is by doing a print window. Not too elegant a solution...
 
I'm a Mac user, too, and I've just picked up my copy of GTD and looking to implement it.
 
Mac progs used

Try some of these:

NoteTaker by Aquaminds http://www.aquaminds.com

You can actually embed live browsers via urls, and the link is dynamic, as the linked item changes so does the embedded browser in your notebook. It can fuction with GTD easily.

Also consider (http://www.devon-technologies.com) for their DevonThink (pro is in beta right now and should get the final testing in early spring.) The Personal edition can be "trained" according to how you classify data, so with in a week or so just drag whatever to the icon and it will self-classify and sort.

Also learning to use Llamagraphics LifeBalance. They have both Palm and classic and OSX desktops and you can buy the palm/desktop as a bundled unti at discount.

Hope that helps. I don't like Entourage enough to try and find work-arounds. I have gMail but haven't tried to set up GTD with the labels. Frankly, I get all creeped out by them scanning email and posting "custom" targeted ads to the mail page. I will probably drop private email out of google and keep it for storage via DropZone.
 
Getting started

I'm just getting started with GTD. I attended David's seminar in Washington last week which was excellent. I'm excited but a little anxious about making it work.

I have been a Mac user at home for years. I have a new iMac G5 and a basic familiarity with OS X but I have a lot to learn. At work I use Windows and Outlook. I've set it up manually for GTD but I'm hoping to get the add-on.

I haven't moved files over from my G3 Powerbook yet. I was using Entourage for mail and Palm desktop for contacts and calendar. So far I've been using Mail on the iMac.

I bought a new Palm Tungsten E today to replace my ailing Visor Prism. At my last job I synched it with the Mac at home and the Windows machine at work. That worked pretty well except that some recurring appointments would show up multiple times on the same day.

The software that people have described (Life Balance, Daylite, Shadow Plan, Entourage, etc.) all sound like they have very helpful features. I'm not sure how any of them would do working with the Palm and with Outlook. I'd appreciate any insights you might have.

Frances
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top