How many waiting for locations?

[Anonymous]

As a new GTD'er, I'm looking for some help. I have a "waiting for" folder in my e-mail (Notes shop where I can "send and file" into the folder in one step) so I'm covered there as a place for regular review. But I have other things for which I'm waiting that don't run through e-mail. Do I creating a "waiting for" list (using Notes Journal/Palm memo and Notes to-do's/Palm tasks for lists per David's tips article) for those items? Do I send myself an e-mail to be filed in the waiting for folder?

Would appreciate the esteemed lists insights on what works and is sustainable.

 

[beyerst]

I also use Lotus Notus and I also have a Waiting for folder.
For the rest I am paper based (filofax) and one of my lists in there is "waiting for".

Two places to check during the weekly review (latest) but this is tenable. The bulk of my topics run trough e-mail though.

br,
tb

 

[jrichardn]

Hi, lurker - not sure exactly what you're asking, but that isn't stopping me.

I use the GTD add-in to Outlook, but I don't think that's particularly relevant.

@Waiting For is a kind of Action or location for things - like @Home or @Office. I put a Task (not a Note) there whenever I'm, well, waiting for someONE to get back to me. I generally make the Task name something like:

Smith, Joe 9/3/04 traffic counts past station 9

so I can find all the things Joe is delinquent on at a glance. (I'll admit that that format is based on how the GTD add-in does it, but I like it enough that I copy it for everything).

Some of the items in my @Waiting For folder are in fact tasks created from e-mails through the add-in's Send-and-Delegate button. But a lot are tasks I've created ex nihilo just to remind me I'm waitng for something.

When I'm waiting for someTHING to happen, I usually put the item in @Deferred, with a note in the notes/description field about what I'm waiting for, e.g., "Sept. 9".

Hope this helps, Richard

 

[jmarkey]

I use an @waitingfor e-mail folder (usually sorted by the individual to whom my e-mail was sent). For items unrelated to e-mail, I also use an @waitingfor category in the task application of my Palm.