Introduction / Operating System for Individual Use

[aladdyn]

This is your future. Can you mark Project completed in the future?

Is this " | Σ(+/- Sum Total of Days Worked On Project)" an estimation of time needed to complete the Project?

Perhaps I should mention that I am a writer, and have many projects to keep track of - some of which are immediate - some of which won't be finished for years.

The idea is that if you are not working on some element of your future, it is escaping you.

The moment is beyond grasping and gone before you can finish reading this sentence.

That is why I have the projects at the top.

To answer your question - that number is the amount of days spent working on the project, but perhaps reworking that as an estimation of time needed to complete the project - as you suggested - is better for some projects.

With some of these long-term writing projects, it is difficult to ascribe a definitive time-period, but maybe your suggestion is a better way -

That is - to change 'Sum Total of Days Spent Working On Project' to 'Sum Total Days Left To Complete Project'

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

Going to think about this some more.

 

[aladdyn]

(iReflect) is Past. Why does it contain and (iFuture) to be marked "done" by midnight?

This is where the concept of 'language' and 'words' and 'definition' can get in the way of things, and make this hard to understand -

(Especially when talking about this kinda sci-fi to-do list)

contains element so as to be able to line up your tasks the night before.

This is to help prevent you from waking up the next day and wasting time like:

'o, what do I have to do today? ... let's make that list of things to do and then get started after, and by the way, hope I don't randomly remember something to add to the list that I thought upon yesterday...'

etc. etc.

by 'reflecting' (which as far as Space-Time is concerned, doesn't really take 'tangible' form in past / present / future) on what is to be done for tomorrow, (which is good to do towards the end of the day) you can prepare you tasks to accomplish, load them in the come 'tomorrow,' wake, fire away.

 

[aladdyn]

os362015 and os372015 are file names. Why the "file number" increases by 10000 for two consecutive files?

os - operating system

3 - march

7 - 7th

2015 - current year

but you can name them whatever you like. again, I'm just sharing this and giving an explanation of how I use it. You can do whatever you like

 

[aladdyn]

What you've posted here has nothing to do with GTD. Have you read Getting Things Done by David Allen? I'd recommend starting there for a better understanding of what it's all about.

While there are many powerful software tools designed to help you practice GTD, and more popping up each day, they are not necessary (and in some cases so complex as to be undesirable IMHO). The key to GTD is getting everything out of your head and into a system so easy to use that you won't resist using it. Paper or flat digital lists can serve just fine. If you read the book and think it might be useful, I'd focus on the techniques and principles rather than worrying about creating yet another tool at this stage of the game.

' This stage of the game? '

Do you think David Allen would be willing to embrace evolved technique?

Do you know the importance of checklists? Of to-do lists? http://www.amazon.com/The-Checklist-.../dp/0312430000

Perhaps this is not the best place for this. Does anyone know of a better place or should we continue this here? I don't wish to waste anyone's time, but again, thought to share this when I read the article

 

[aladdyn]

Why?

I don't see a need for any of that.

Instead:
If you want to be on top of your game, day by day you need to know what you need to do, you need to know what you can do right now with the time, tools and place available to you at this instant in time, you need to know what you can't do right now because you are missing some critical component (time, tool or location), you need to know what can wait till sometime in the future (if ever) and you need to make sure you've verified your assumptions about what goes into which bucket on a regular basis.

There really is no need to have any sort of specific order to your day or life, and you most definitely do not need to measure anything unless you are required to by your job or by law.

So again, this has nothing to do with practicing GTD methods to manage your life and projects.

Why? - honestly?

I don't see a need for any of that. - end of argument (i can not make you see)

 

[bcmyers2112]

You posted this exactly three minutes after my post - how long did it take you to type your response?

How much time did you spend thinking about anything that was actually posted?

Do you actually expect me to even read what you wrote in something akin to a serious context?

There's nothing to be gained by getting belligerent. No one here is out to get you. But this is a forum frequented by people who practice or want to learn more about GTD, and your proposed system doesn't appear to be consistent with GTD. That doesn't mean what you're proposing is necessarily bad, but you're less likely to find a receptive audience for it among GTD practitioners.

Again, if you're really interested in discussing and sharing ideas about GTD I would suggest you at least read the Getting Things Done book. If nothing else, understanding GTD will help you decide whether it's for you or not.

The core idea behind GTD is that you get everything that means anything to you out of your head and into an easily reviewable format so you can trust your intuition about what to do in any given moment. All you really need to do that are simple lists of projects (items requiring more than one step to complete), next actions (like "call so-and-so") grouped by the person, place or tool needed to accomplish the action (examples: calls to make, errands to run, actions to do at your computer), things you're waiting for other people to do, and things you may want to do in the future. The idea is to keep your system so simple and easy to use that you don't have to think about it, because if it requires too much brainpower to maintain your system you'll let it go.

You review the entire system weekly to ensure everything is current and complete.

GTD does cover project planning and longer-range goals, but is much looser about these things than other systems. The idea is to internalize your goals and priorities so you can make intuitive choices about what actions to take at any given time. The theory is that if you have captured and clarified everything meaningful to you, it's easier to trust your choices about what to do and give full attention to what you're doing now.

If I understand what you're suggesting, it involves tracking what you've done in detail and on a daily basis gauging how much time you've spent toward certain goals. It's very contrary to one of the core principles of GTD, which is that you need to remain flexible because the nature of work today is very unpredictable. One email or phone call from your boss, colleague, customer, significant other, etc. can completely change your priorities. If your system is current and complete, you're best able to decide whether to stick to work you've already planned to do or switch gears and deal with something in the moment.

Anyway, what you're proposing sounds more in line with what's known as the Franklin-Covey method. That's fine. I would not presume to say that GTD is be-all-and-end-all. But you're posting into a forum frequented mainly by people who buy into GTD, and want to talk about GTD.

 

[Oogiem]

You posted this exactly three minutes after my post - how long did it take you to type your response?

Less than a minute

How much time did you spend thinking about anything that was actually posted?

Not much at all because it doesn't make sense in the context of GTD. FWIW I typically am reading between 60-90 new books a year and have spent a lot of time learning to read quickly. I will admit that I gave the post only a cursory read through because it is again not really looking at GTD principles and since you are posting in a GTD forum I was assuming that you were trying to get something akin to GTD practice in a different form. Without using the common language it's hard to even understand how this relates to GTD.

Do you actually expect me to even read what you wrote in something akin to a serious context?

You can take or leave anyone view.

 

[Oogiem]

Why? - honestly?

I don't see a need for any of that. - end of argument (i can not make you see)

Yes, exactly Why? What is it that requires you to track stuff at that level? What are you giving up by spending time tracking? What are you avoiding by spending time tracking things to that level? What do you gain by tracking at that level? Do you really need that or is it made-up-work?

I've just been reading Julie Morgenstern's Time Management from the Inside Out and while I disagree with some of the ways she tracks things her initial questions about how you spend your time are really ringing true for me. See what are the time wasters in your life and remove them to gain more time. Obsessive tracking of how I spend my days is a time waster.

 

[Oogiem]

Perhaps I should mention that I am a writer, and have many projects to keep track of - some of which are immediate - some of which won't be finished for years.

The idea is that if you are not working on some element of your future, it is escaping you.

Agreed.

The GTD system is founded on the idea that if you have a really complete inventory of all your potential projects, a list of the one or a few small things you can do on them right now, a decision on those projects or things you can't do right now, a pool of projects that you would like to do in the future and a system of reviewing them on a regular basis that your own innate knowledge will allow you to adapt and adjust to the fast moving world but keep you in line with your overall goals and desires no matter how long term. Within the GTD structure you revisit and evaluate those long term goals on a regular basis.

Another premise of the GTD system is that you cannot know or anticipate what changes will happen daily that will affect plans. So except for things that are really truly only able to be done on a specific day GTD avoids scheduling tasks in general. Sometimes it is necessary to make space in your day by blocking out time but most of the time your location, tools and time available and energy level will serve you better in determining what to do.

FWIW I am a farmer. I am working on projects that were started by peiople who lived before me, and working off ideas that were first discussed in detail for this particular parcel of land over 50 years ago and am developing plans to leave for my successor that I don't expect will come to fruition for another 50+ years. So I am an outlier in GTD because I have projects that span decades and even lifetimes that I am working on regularly. Maybe not daily, that is the nature of farming, but in the season for moving those things forward I am doing the small individual actions that wille ventually lead to completion of those projects. That is one reason my own GTD system encompasses something over 600 projects at any given time of whihc about 250 are active and being worked on.

So some examples:

When I worked as a government contractor we were often paid by the hour. I had to account for all my time on 6 minute intervals. Failure to appropriately track your time could result in loss of revenue for the company or fines or even barred the company from competing for future government contracts. That is a case where a detailed time tracking system is required. Those types of situations are very rare.

Now my days are often changed entirely by the needs of the flock. About a week ago I went out in the morning to do chores and found a very expensive future breeding ram down and straining. Dealing with trying to determine what the problem was, multiple vet visits including minor surgery, multiple mail orders of feed supplements and medicines and twice daily hands on to verify he was urinating meant that all my plans for the week got totally thrown out the window. But my GTD system still has them all in place and now that he is improving I can turn my attention back to the projects that I ignored this past week. I didn't lose my place. I had no need to know that this was a priority. This ram is one of only 3 of his bloodline in North America at this time. I have him here because he is scheduled to have semen collected and frozen next fall for storage in the national gene bank. The entire project serves a major goal of ensuring that all bloodlines of Black Welsh Mountain sheep are in the national repository. It also serves one of my main purposes in life, "I develop & implement sustainable systems to breed rare & endangered livestock & plant species, breeds & bloodlines. " So the low level tasks of keep the ram alive, feeds directly into successful completion of major goals and life purpose. But I didn't have to track that by noting how many minutes or hours or days I spent dealing with the problem. I knew it in my heart because I review my goals and projects regularly. I knew what I had on my plate that was going to get pushed off to the future due to his illness. I was also able to quickly reschedule some items to free up space to handle his needs.

That is the power of a relatively unstructured system like GTD.

That doesn't mean it's the only way, some people thrive and do better with extremely detailed time slotted tracking of their time. If that is you then go forth and prosper but don't try to make that system into GTD.

 

[TesTeq]

os - operating system
3 - march
7 - 7th
2015 - current year

but you can name them whatever you like. again, I'm just sharing this and giving an explanation of how I use it. You can do whatever you like

Thanks. I will never learn this ridiculous date standard. And probably this is THE advantage of the US economy: if you can understand the mm-dd-yyyy logic, you'll certainly will understand all the advanced topics of business and finance. ;-)

 

[aladdyn]

alright, thanks guys.

want a better chance to read over some of these responses, but from what I can tell, it seems that this 'os' method of doing things is peculiar to my routine.

In any case, appreciate the time you've taken to answer.

jon

 

[aladdyn]

After reading the posts, it seems to me that the GTD is something definitely worth learning more about.

However, for keeping organizing with an array of computer-oriented tasks, I believe the OS can be very helpful.

If anyone is interested in seeing updates, I from time to time post them on my website at blondyn.com.

If anyone still has questions, feel free to ask.

jon

 

[Fomax]

Nice try to do something new helpful for users , keep going with your try will assure your success .

 

[aladdyn]

Nice try to do something new helpful for users , keep going with your try will assure your success .

Hey thanks for that awesome tip.

Just for that, i will share something more.

[FONT=Nimbus Mono L, monospace][/FONT]​

[FONT=Nimbus Mono L, monospace]+/- | idea | (ponder)[/FONT]​

[FONT=Nimbus Mono L, monospace]+/- | memory | (capture)[/FONT]​

[FONT=Nimbus Mono L, monospace]+/- | learning | (lesson)[/FONT]​

[FONT=Nimbus Mono L, monospace][/FONT]​

so this is something that is somewhat unique (and potentially valuable) about the OS -

located in the portion of the OS, this element is where three areas (or any 'x' number) of focus can be categorized.

for instance, my element includes a 'string' for recording an idea, a memory, and a learning of the day.

each day, i make it a goal of mine to record at least one of these things.

in a sense, this is self-directed training for focusing on these three areas of my life.

for example, if i have an idea, i put it into the (ponder) field as soon as i have the chance, and then carry on with my day.

at night, i will reflect on it, (and most importantly, won't forget it) and if it worth thinking on beyond the day, will continue thinking on it until I can decide what to do with it.

the 'memory' string is for recording memories. i know i know - why would you record memories - the idea is to remember memories.

well the thing is this - i can be very forgetful, and sometimes its interesting to look back three weeks on 'x' day and see what has been recorded.

but in addition to this protocol - a bonus - by engaging this practice - i am consciously engaging my brain to look for something memorable.

fun, right?

the learning string is for recording a lesson that life taught you.

we all make mistakes.

unfortunately, i've experience in making the same mistake twice.

why?

because i did not do a good enough job reiterating the actual lesson learned from the mistake.

this is due largely to the nature of my own 'knack' for recollection, as i'm sure there are many that can call to mind past situations and extract similarities / 'lessons learned' that would prevent repeat disasters...

the consensus, tho, (at least in terms of i) is that there's a lot of past happenstance out there, and since its so, i know from experience that certain, more subtle learnings are best reflected on in a concrete and conscious-minded fashion.

the 'learning' string helps me to reiterate whatever the lesson may be.

and these are three areas of focus of my life that i consider worthy of taking time to reflect upon.

if anyone has any improvements to the syntax / or categories (idea, memory, learning...) worth adding (without over-complicating) feel free to share.

jon