I am looking for some feedback and tips from GTDers using Outlook and Palm devices who think this is effective.
I have been trying for about a month and am so frustrated I am about to smash my palm device (Clie) into a billion pieces :? .
I want to emphasize that am not critical of GTD, just the palm/outlook combo.
I just can't get it to be fast enough. Case in point, just now, I made a phone call, I tried to take notes on the clie but I can't write fast enough, I get too many graffitti typos, and my focus was on the clie so I found myself asking the other person to repeat things because I wasn't paying attention in real time.
Now, it turns out the person I called is not the right one to answer my question, but promised to leave a message for him to call me. So, I should whip out my clie (or do I open Outlook tasks), create a new @waiting for and somehow make sure that this doesn't slip my attention at the end of the day amid the roughly 30 next actions I already have(because I really need this question answered today in order to buy airline tickets).
I can't get this to work well.
I tried not using the Clie for notes and collection but then am faced with combing my paper notes for action items and typing them into outlook and then syncing to the Clie.
In contrast, I have a paper notebook and when I use it to take notes during phone calls it is fast enough and I have been writing for enough years that I don't even think about it while I am doing it. I wrote on one line in the notebook, "Rolf will tell Fabien to call me asap." Then I put a big PLUS sign in the left margin which is my shorthand for "pay attention to this, more action required." I keep the notebook open on my desk all day and can glance at it during spare moments (dialing the phone, coming back from getting a coffee, etc.). I know to scan the notebook for PLUS signs near the end of the day.
In the outlook/palm method I never know if I entered something into outlook or into the palm, did I sync the two?, where do I look?, do I have something hiding that I forgot to put a reminder on?, etc.
Does anyone really work this way, or is there just a conspiracy of techno people who want other to think that Palms are really useful and not just cool, convenient toys?
What I do love about having the Clie is that I can take my full action lists and address book with me. In the notebook method, I'd have to write information down from outlook before I left the office.
I read the DA tip on how he has his Palm set-up, but 1) does he use outlook, too, or just the palm? and 2) he doesn't really say what steps he goes through to handle common events like answering a phone call, capturing notes from an informal meeting when someone comes to his office unexpectedly, an urgent action that pops into his head while working on something else, etc.
I guess what is frustrating me is that I can see great potential for the Clie, but can't get a methodology that I trust among the three devices (outlook, clie, paper).
And I can't even think about how to sync these up with my home laptop where I prefer to work on @home actions.
Is there really a method that works?
I have been trying for about a month and am so frustrated I am about to smash my palm device (Clie) into a billion pieces :? .
I want to emphasize that am not critical of GTD, just the palm/outlook combo.
I just can't get it to be fast enough. Case in point, just now, I made a phone call, I tried to take notes on the clie but I can't write fast enough, I get too many graffitti typos, and my focus was on the clie so I found myself asking the other person to repeat things because I wasn't paying attention in real time.
Now, it turns out the person I called is not the right one to answer my question, but promised to leave a message for him to call me. So, I should whip out my clie (or do I open Outlook tasks), create a new @waiting for and somehow make sure that this doesn't slip my attention at the end of the day amid the roughly 30 next actions I already have(because I really need this question answered today in order to buy airline tickets).
I can't get this to work well.
I tried not using the Clie for notes and collection but then am faced with combing my paper notes for action items and typing them into outlook and then syncing to the Clie.
In contrast, I have a paper notebook and when I use it to take notes during phone calls it is fast enough and I have been writing for enough years that I don't even think about it while I am doing it. I wrote on one line in the notebook, "Rolf will tell Fabien to call me asap." Then I put a big PLUS sign in the left margin which is my shorthand for "pay attention to this, more action required." I keep the notebook open on my desk all day and can glance at it during spare moments (dialing the phone, coming back from getting a coffee, etc.). I know to scan the notebook for PLUS signs near the end of the day.
In the outlook/palm method I never know if I entered something into outlook or into the palm, did I sync the two?, where do I look?, do I have something hiding that I forgot to put a reminder on?, etc.
Does anyone really work this way, or is there just a conspiracy of techno people who want other to think that Palms are really useful and not just cool, convenient toys?
What I do love about having the Clie is that I can take my full action lists and address book with me. In the notebook method, I'd have to write information down from outlook before I left the office.
I read the DA tip on how he has his Palm set-up, but 1) does he use outlook, too, or just the palm? and 2) he doesn't really say what steps he goes through to handle common events like answering a phone call, capturing notes from an informal meeting when someone comes to his office unexpectedly, an urgent action that pops into his head while working on something else, etc.
I guess what is frustrating me is that I can see great potential for the Clie, but can't get a methodology that I trust among the three devices (outlook, clie, paper).
And I can't even think about how to sync these up with my home laptop where I prefer to work on @home actions.
Is there really a method that works?