Digital Tickler Setup

[alex143]

Hello,

Is there a GTD recommended way to setup a digital tickler system? I thought that the setup guides would provided guidance on setting up a digital tickler file but each one just has an asterisk saying to see the GTD book for more information. I have the older edition of Getting Things Done so maybe the newer version has recommendations on a digital tickler file. Would someone be willing to check for me?

If there isn't an official guide from GTD on setting up a digital tickler system, I would like to hear what the community recommends. From what I can gather, some people use their calendar for a digital tickler system and take the items from there and put it into their normal system for next actions. Another route I have considered is creating a Tickler list in Reminders (where I keep my next actions, projects, waiting for, and someday/maybe lists) and put a day/time on each Tickler reminder so it shows up when I want it to. When it shows up, I can remove the day/time and put it into the appropriate next actions context group.

Any and all thoughts on a Digital Tickler system is much appreciated! I will also go back and look at previous threads in more detail. Thank you all for your help!

 

[DKPhoto]

I use my Calendar or start dates in my list manager, that way things show up on that date.

It’s easy to defer them as well. For instance I have a reminder pop up every Monday to go and see an exhibition in London, which I will do if I am going to London that week. If not i can easily defer it to the next week.

 

[Lucas W.]

I do not know any official guide for digital tickler but your methodology with Reminders seem to be ok – please just be sure that you are not mixing your tickler items with due date items and be aware that tickler is for incubation.

Based on my experience I would say that it is welcome to use software with additional start date and also to keep tickler as a separate list. I have found it too messy to keep tickler items, must-do items and daily-info all as the calendar all-day events. Similarly it was too messy for me to use software without separate start dates – sooner or later I have been mixing them with due dates.

 

[mcogilvie]

I use start dates in Things 3 for lots of purposes, including ticklers. I used to have a separate Tickler tag, but it turns out to be better for me to have an action, even if it is a question like “Pick up flowers?” or “Cook Brisket?”. In some sense the Upcoming view in Things is my tickler file. It shows everything with a start date after today, sorted by date, and can be filtered by tag. Using a calendar for ticklers is too much work for me, and more error prone.

 

[Roger]

I suspect it's an intractable problem, at least for my needs, and the current and foreseeable state of technology.

Here's an example of what I mean:

I recently received the shingles vaccine. The current medical recommendation is that it should be good for at least 10 years, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get it again at that time.

So I'd like to put that into my system as a bring-forward item for 2034.

My level of trust that any digital system is going to do that for me is very low. Even systems that I have a lot of control over, like anything installed on my current laptop.

Other people may have solutions that work for them in this sort of scenario, though.

 

[RuthMcT]

At the moment I too am vacillating between Reminders and my calendar. For a long term item e.g. over a year I tend to use the calendar, and anything less I use Reminder. At least with something like the Google calendar, there is a reasonable likelihood that I will still be using some sort of electronic calendar in 10 years, and will have migrated the contents if the software has massively changed. (like moving from my trusty PalmPilot PDA to my android smart phone calendar). I think this one is a matter of personal choice, as long as it gets it out of your head and it will turn up when you need it to.

 

[René Lie]

I use a combination of my calendar and a separate tickler list, where I set due dates which are linked to my calendar.
The latter is for items further into the future than my usual weekly review goes, but I still want to be reminded of (and the most distant item is in 2032).

 

[Oogiem]

My level of trust that any digital system is going to do that for me is very low. Even systems that I have a lot of control over, like anything installed on my current laptop.

Other people may have solutions that work for them in this sort of scenario, though.

My solution is that my digital tickler system consists of plain text or markdown notes organized in folders. One for each month in the year, and then one for "next" year. Into that goes all the things (there aren't very many) that need to come forward in another year. Filling my monthly folders for the current year is done when I review everything in the next year folder at the end of the year. I have plenty of confidence in text files lasting. Some of my current notes were original plain text files from over 40 years ago. See this link File over App

 

[mcogilvie]

I suspect it's an intractable problem, at least for my needs, and the current and foreseeable state of technology.

Here's an example of what I mean:

I recently received the shingles vaccine. The current medical recommendation is that it should be good for at least 10 years, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get it again at that time.

So I'd like to put that into my system as a bring-forward item for 2034.

My level of trust that any digital system is going to do that for me is very low. Even systems that I have a lot of control over, like anything installed on my current laptop.

Other people may have solutions that work for them in this sort of scenario, though.

So you have trust issues. I don’t know your digital system, but I have four current copies synced to active devices. I have backup copies, in a format I can extract information from. In the case of my Shingles vaccination, Walgreens and my doctor have records. In case of a worldwide pandemic- oops, we’ve done that one. OK, in case of a nuclear holocaust I might have trouble looking up my shingles vaccination date. Oddly, I am not troubled by this.

 

[mcogilvie]

My solution is that my digital tickler system consists of plain text or markdown notes organized in folders. One for each month in the year, and then one for "next" year. Into that goes all the things (there aren't very many) that need to come forward in another year. Filling my monthly folders for the current year is done when I review everything in the next year folder at the end of the year. I have plenty of confidence in text files lasting. Some of my current notes were original plain text files from over 40 years ago. See this link File over App

Yea Markdown!

 

[mksilk2]

I have tackled with this tricky digital tickler question too. I use Nirvana and my solution is:
I have created a 'zzTickler Project'. In that project I have scheduled items for the future eg renewing Car Registration and the associated actions that is needed in Australia to keep the car on the road. That is an annual renewal. So a simple recurring task annually with a reminder two weeks out from the due date. We also have dual citizenship, so I have to manage the family's ten passports and their renewal dates. As that isn't recurring, but in 5 or 10 years depending on passport type I have set up a Next Action with a date to remind me to renew the passport 6mths prior to their actual renewal date.

 

[Y_Lherieau]

I have tackled with this tricky digital tickler question too. I use Nirvana and my solution is:
I have created a 'zzTickler Project'. In that project I have scheduled items for the future eg renewing Car Registration and the associated actions that is needed in Australia to keep the car on the road. That is an annual renewal. So a simple recurring task annually with a reminder two weeks out from the due date. We also have dual citizenship, so I have to manage the family's ten passports and their renewal dates. As that isn't recurring, but in 5 or 10 years depending on passport type I have set up a Next Action with a date to remind me to renew the passport 6mths prior to their actual renewal date.

Likewise, I use Todoist with a project named "7 - Tickler" to manage all my essential documents, including passports, IDs, insurances, and contracts…

However, I acknowledge the earlier point that my system isn't foolproof, especially for due dates spanning over 10 years or setting reminders 6 to 12 months in advance of those.

My approach relies on the belief that if Todoist were to ever disappear, I'd likely have transitioned to a newer platform by then and transferred all my data to this new system.

 

[Gardener]

I suspect it's an intractable problem, at least for my needs, and the current and foreseeable state of technology.

Here's an example of what I mean:

I recently received the shingles vaccine. The current medical recommendation is that it should be good for at least 10 years, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get it again at that time.

So I'd like to put that into my system as a bring-forward item for 2034.

My level of trust that any digital system is going to do that for me is very low. Even systems that I have a lot of control over, like anything installed on my current laptop.

Other people may have solutions that work for them in this sort of scenario, though.

In that scenario, I would probably create a Distant Future Ticklers list. I'm not saying that that is in any way guaranteed to work, but since the list is defined as being for that problem, I think the odds of it working are much higher than the odds of success in putting those things in my Calendar or Reminders.

I might even create a Distant Future Ticklers bound physical notebook, to make it totally independent of software changes, though of course still vulnerable to household clutter.

 

[jonkan]

I'm using Things so, like others above, I use start dates for this. They will pop up at the right time and provide the context I need. I just wish Things had a better calendar view so I can browse to an arbitrary date in the future to see both calendar events and actions with start/due dates.

I tried setting up my GTD system in Reminders for a bit, which doesn't have start dates. Then I resorted to using a separate tickler list, and treating the due dates in that list as artificial "start" dates. It works fairly well, but I still prefer having actual start dates. I wrote about it here under the heading "No start dates": https://johnny.chadda.se/gtd-in-apple-reminders/

A huge benefit of keeping these in Reminders is that it integrates well with Fantastical, which then allows me to very nicely see my calendar events together with due actions and ticklers in a real calendar.

 

[cfoley]

The best digital tickler I have used can be implemented in almost any list manager.

Start each item in the tickler list with the date in yyyy-mm-dd format. eg:

2024-02-29 Car road tax due soon.

Then sort the tickler list in ascending order and you have a digital tickler file, with the item having the nearest date at the top.

My implementation was a plain text file using one line per item. I used a text editor that can sort lines but if that was not available to me, I could have ordered them manually.

 

[TesTeq]

Yea Markdown!

@mcogilvie I like some **features** of Markdown but I really hate the requirement to leave an empty line between paragraphs. On small screen devices it is a huge waste of displayable area. For this reason I also have mixed feelings about Things' design. A lot of empty space, small number items displayed on the iPhone screen.

 

[gtdstudente]

Hello,

Is there a GTD recommended way to setup a digital tickler system? I thought that the setup guides would provided guidance on setting up a digital tickler file but each one just has an asterisk saying to see the GTD book for more information. I have the older edition of Getting Things Done so maybe the newer version has recommendations on a digital tickler file. Would someone be willing to check for me?

If there isn't an official guide from GTD on setting up a digital tickler system, I would like to hear what the community recommends. From what I can gather, some people use their calendar for a digital tickler system and take the items from there and put it into their normal system for next actions. Another route I have considered is creating a Tickler list in Reminders (where I keep my next actions, projects, waiting for, and someday/maybe lists) and put a day/time on each Tickler reminder so it shows up when I want it to. When it shows up, I can remove the day/time and put it into the appropriate next actions context group.

Any and all thoughts on a Digital Tickler system is much appreciated! I will also go back and look at previous threads in more detail. Thank you all for your help!

@alex143 and all other fellow GTDers,

Bewildered on this end . . . why a Digital Tickler in addition to a Digital Calendar?

What can Digital Tickler do that a Digital Calendar is unable to do?

Thank you very much

 

[cfoley]

You could ask the same of a paper physical tickler file and paper calendar: What can a physical tickler do that a paper calendar is unable to do?

The two sorts of things I want to see in my tickler file are:

1. Things that I don't know what to do with just now that the passage of time may help clarify.
2. Things that I want reminders of.

You could call these "day specific information" and put them on the calendar. I prefer to keep a separation between calendar and tickler file.

 

[jonkan]

@alex143 and all other fellow GTDers,

Bewildered on this end . . . why a Digital Tickler in addition to a Digital Calendar?

What can Digital Tickler do that a Digital Calendar is unable to do?

Thank you very much

I think it’s neat to be able to tick some of these off as I’m done reviewing or handling them.

Thinking about it, there are a few things I do put in our shared family calendar, such as next Thursday when the preschool closes early, when we are traveling somewhere or have people coming over.

 

[mcogilvie]

@mcogilvie I like some **features** of Markdown but I really hate the requirement to leave an empty line between paragraphs. On small screen devices it is a huge waste of displayable area. For this reason I also have mixed feelings about Things' design. A lot of empty space, small number items displayed on the iPhone screen.

I suppose that’s an argument for bigger phone screens or smaller fonts (which Things can do). I find my phone is my least -used device, because the iPad is so much more spacious, and the Apple Watch is so handy. I know I’m fortunate to have so many options. I’ve tried Apple Reminders formatting on all devices, and I don’t like it as much as markdown.