GTD Coordinator Quality

webby2001

Registered
I have ordered many things from the David Allen Company--file folders, ticklers, jotters, etc.--and have always been impressed with the quality of their products.

No longer.

The binder for the new GTD coordinator is cheap, cheap, cheap. Now I am sure there will be an "upgrade path" for a nicer leather binder in the future, but I really would have rather had that option from the start, so I don't have to chuck another crappy binder. Or give us the option to just get the refills in a Filofax format, maybe? One of David's central tenets is the availability of "cool tools" that empower you to get things done, but I won't be carrying this around in public! Anyone else put off by the binder?
 

epage46

Registered
Sounds like it's a better deal to go to DIY.com and print your own pages and use the $50 to invest in a "Nice" binder.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
webby2001;62798 said:
I have ordered many things from the David Allen Company--file folders, ticklers, jotters, etc.--and have always been impressed with the quality of their products.

No longer.

The binder for the new GTD coordinator is cheap, cheap, cheap. Now I am sure there will be an "upgrade path" for a nicer leather binder in the future, but I really would have rather had that option from the start, so I don't have to chuck another crappy binder. Or give us the option to just get the refills in a Filofax format, maybe? One of David's central tenets is the availability of "cool tools" that empower you to get things done, but I won't be carrying this around in public! Anyone else put off by the binder?

Although I have not yet seen the product, I think this is a bit unfair. This product is produced by Mead, a large company that produces a range of organizers in plastic and leather. $50 is towards the low end of that range. If the product sells, maybe they will do a nicer binder, but frankly, you can buy better quality binders from sources other than Mead, e.g., Franklin-Covey or Levenger. One of David's "central tenets" is that you can put together a functional paper system for about $15. I think it is great that Davidco is trying to get the simplicity and effectiveness of GTD out to everyone who can use it, consistent with David's stated principles and vision.
 

GTDWorks

Registered
My wife's planner arrived today. It's not bad! The strength of the thing is in the system pages and not the planner cover itself. But even the cover is not too bad.

She's keeping it!
 

fassold

Registered
The Pendulum Swings

Just a thought: maybe all the pushback DavidCo got for the Lamborghini-priced desk set prompted a return to function over productivity p0rn. I've had the Coordinator for about a month now, and I love it. Sure, it's mass market. Mead's not going to get behind an executive-only product, especially in this economy. And if you can afford to buy a gee-whiz high-end binder, you can afford to donate the "crappy" one to a school or nonprofit.

Don't get me wrong -- I salivate over glove-leather folios as much (no, more) than the next guy. The Levenger folks have put their kids through college on my back. But there's something special about the whole Coordinator system that belies the modest skin. I may upgrade the binder, but the contents are state of the art.

Look on the bright side: at least you aren't locked in to a propietary paper size, a la Time Design.

Jim
 

crouse

Registered
Binder Quality

I agree. I purchased the binder from a local Staples. The binder itself is not of the highest quality. The Staples also had the notetaker wallet. I was really disappointed with the quality of the notetaker wallet. I could never see David carrying one of those.

The real value is in the system contained inside the binder. I have been using Outlook tasks but I find myself enjoying the look and feel of paper lists for the last few weeks. Somehow it seems more real especially when I use a nice pen and write my lists rather than print them. Then I get to cross the next actions off when they are finished. I get much more of a sense of accomplishment from crossing an item off one of my lists as opposed to clicking a task in Outlook to mark it complete. :D

The coordinator system is well worth the investment.

Michael
 

visualartgirl

Registered
I don't think I was being unfair at all, I mean for $50 I could have bought better quality of a refill from you know who.

It was just little things like the contacts only being printed on one page, I mean who does that & I don't have a staples by me so I had to do mail order so I couldn't look at it before I bought. And I wasn't spending more money just to send back.

Don't get me wrong I will definitely use it, I just think for $50 I expected more than a pages of directions and then some lined paper. I would rather have paid $20 for the directions and maybe some templates to down load. Especially for as long as it took to come out.
 

mbolick

Registered
Quality is great.

Having worked for many years at FranklinCovey I can tell you first had that the value proposition of a binder is function OVER form. Price usually wins out for the majority of customers. While we here in the forums are uniquely predisposed to ultra-high quality tools, we are the exception (we are a minority...but a vocal one).

I agree with the previous post regarding the possibility that this pricing may in some way be in response to the backlash at the extremely expensive desk set DavidCo introduced earlier this year.

I believe that his new offering is much more in line with rolling out the product and principles to a larger audience...and I support this completely.

<
michael
 

Occupant

Registered
I'm waiting in Thailand for my "Coordinator" - which I ordered from davidco and had sent to my mom's place for shipping over here because I won't be back in the States until mid- to late-February (but that's another story).

I did have some major concern - since confirmed - when I saw the pictures of the planner and noticed 6-hole paper in a 3-ring binder, which led me to wonder if there was miscommunication between the two companies or what?

Right now, I'm using a Staples - or maybe it's an Office Depot - 1" 3-ring binder, and college-ruled paper with clear vinyl divider tabs set up ala GTD, and I'm finding that a persistent problem is pages being ripped out of the rings.

(I understand that a 6-ring binder would be far more stable than a 3-ring binder.)

Still, I'm looking forward to the GTD "guides," and perhaps the college-ruled paper I'm using is too flimsy.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
Occupant;62928 said:
I'm waiting in Thailand for my "Coordinator" - which I ordered from davidco and had sent to my mom's place for shipping over here because I won't be back in the States until mid- to late-February (but that's another story).

I did have some major concern - since confirmed - when I saw the pictures of the planner and noticed 6-hole paper in a 3-ring binder, which led me to wonder if there was miscommunication between the two companies or what?

Right now, I'm using a Staples - or maybe it's an Office Depot - 1" 3-ring binder, and college-ruled paper with clear vinyl divider tabs set up ala GTD, and I'm finding that a persistent problem is pages being ripped out of the rings.

(I understand that a 6-ring binder would be far more stable than a 3-ring binder.)

Still, I'm looking forward to the GTD "guides," and perhaps the college-ruled paper I'm using is too flimsy.

The holes are punched to be compatible with both the familiar 3-ring binder, and a more secure 7-ring binder, which has 4 additional holes. This 7-ring design is used by companies like Franklin-Covey and Day-Timer for their 8.5x11 and 5.5x8.5 size binders.
 

Occupant

Registered
I love it!

Just after my post, I went home and my GTD-C was waiting form me. I'll have no problem carrying this binder around "in public" - cheez!

Thanks for clarifying (I think) the 3-rings issue. Before I read your answer, I also reflected more about the number of holes in the paper vs. the number of rings in the binder, and thought, well, maybe 3-rings was more economical in fact, in that it would save having to buy a six-hole punch to put other papers into the binder.

I'm still wondering, though, why 6-hole paper...

The opening/closing mechanism is not the best, nor the rings, but I am most pleased with my GTD Coordinator. Thanks.
 

mindy66

Registered
Diy?

Are you saying that DIY has free downloads of the pages within this binder that y'all are talking about?/

By the way, wondering if any of you might be so kind as to post pictures of your new binder and all of it's parts and pages??

Thanks lots!
Mindy
 

GTDerEvan

Registered
mindy66;64200 said:
Are you saying that DIY has free downloads of the pages within this binder that y'all are talking about?/

By the way, wondering if any of you might be so kind as to post pictures of your new binder and all of it's parts and pages??

Thanks lots!
Mindy
Yes, I second this!

Thanks,

-Evan
 

Linada

Registered
DIYplanner is a website dedicated to paper planners. I am guessing this was meant rather than diy.com, which is a hardware store chain.
They don't have official templates, rather they offer a wide variety of various planner templates, from normal calendar and to do pages to rather exotic stuff. You download the file, and print it at home. I believe there are also instructions on how to make your own. You do of course still need something to contain all these pages.
 

Jon Walthour

Registered
ahheck01;66549 said:
Yes, I second this!

Thanks,

-Evan

I hesitate to do this simply because I think the DA folks would be miffed if one knew the entire layout in all its details and could, thus, reproduce one via DIYPlanner, other sources and one's own word processor. If I'm mistaken, then, with permission I'd be happy to post pics of mine. In the meantime, if it would suffice, I'd be happy to describe the layout here.
 

GTDWorks

Registered
I love my GTD-C but have put the pages in an old leather Day-Timer binder. Looks better and can hold more than one pen or pencil.
 

Liz_Harward

Registered
Permission granted!

Jon Walthour;66552 said:
I hesitate to do this simply because I think the DA folks would be miffed if one knew the entire layout in all its details and could, thus, reproduce one via DIYPlanner, other sources and one's own word processor. If I'm mistaken, then, with permission I'd be happy to post pics of mine. In the meantime, if it would suffice, I'd be happy to describe the layout here.

Hi,

Happy to have you share those photos, discussion is always good!
We have had a free article in our on-line store on setting up a paper planner for years now, it is here:

https://secure.davidco.com/store/catalog/Paper-Organizer-how-to-set-one-up-p-16162.php

The educational pages for our GTD Coordinator as well as the tabs came from this article, it is very easy to set up and what we have been recommending. It is the first year for the GTD Coordinator and was tested at Staples stores, the binder will be modified and there are so many options personally I don't want to offer anything, folks can go to Levenger and get a beautiful leather binder! Mead is going to make some improvements based on all the comments. Thanks so for all the feedback.
 
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