philosopherdog said:
I notice Listpro comes up a fair bit as a program of choice for managing lists. I'd love to hear your tips and tricks for using GTD with Listpro. Thanx,
PD
I'm very much a GTD newbie, so I'm still experimenting a lot.
My company uses Lotus Notes, so the GTD Outlook add-in doesn't help me at all. ListPro is better for me because I can type on my PC or PDA. I generally use my PC for most of the data entry and use the PDA for reference during the day. Sometimes I will use the PDA while I'm in an airport or waiting for a meeting.
The real beauty of the PDA for me is that I can pull it out of my briefcase anytime an idea strikes me and capture it.
Here is how I have set things up:
-
Next Action List (Folder)
-- Current actions (this is a modified To-Do list)
-- Waiting actions (modified To-Do list)
-
Project List (folder)
--
Work Projects (folder)
----
Work Project 1 (folder)
---- Task List for Project 1 (To-Do list)
---
Work Project 2 (folder)
-----Task List for Project 2 (To-Do list)
....
--
Personal Projects (folder)
--- Task List for Project 1 (To-Do list)
--- Task List for Project 2 (To-Do list)
--- ...
-
Someday/Maybe (folder)
--- General collection (To-Do list)
--- Before I move again (To-Do list)
I have my work projects folder divided into sub-folders so that I can more easily find each list. This isn't really necessary, but makes it easier for me to quickly hone in on what I want to find.
My personal projects list is more simple. Just a high level project list. Sometimes I create another list-- like a shopping list and it also goes there. For example, I have a project that is a home repair. I'll create a new list of things to buy to do the repair. The shopping trip becomes a short term project.
I created a custom version of the To-Do list that has fields called "Where", "Status", and "Category". I use this template for all of my project lists. If I find something on a list that has become a Next Action, I just cut & paste it to my Next Actions list. I make sure to fill in the context ("Where") field when it becomes a NA, if that hasn't already been done.
There is one problem using ListPro this way...
My NA list is not directly linked to my project list at all.
Ideally, I like to review a project and see what is relevant to that project, and currently sitting on my NA list. I would like this to be linked so that when I mark it done on my NA list, it also shows as done on my project to-do list.
My best solution for now is once an item goes to my NA (or Waiting) lists, it stays there until done.