Listpro?

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
 
As I have not found a satisfactory solution between OUtlook on the desktop and Pocket Informant on the Pocket PC, all my GTD stuff is in Listpro. - which I synchronise with the desktop.

Now the following is just my implementation, and is not an ideal solution due to some limitations of listpro (ie i cant filter just on the "! " part of the project name). But you did ask, so here it is.

I have a separate GTD file for home, and another for work, but both are very similar. But each contains the entire set of GTD features - projects, next actions, contexts, and even the tickler - in the one list.

LIstpro has hierarchial tasks, so;
all projects are grouped together eg
..!! Projects -Home
.....! Back doors are painted BACKDOOR
.....! Cat is vaccinated CATVAC

all the actual next actions are in contexts
..@ SHED
.....Sort out the sandpaper. BACKDOOR
..@ PHONE
.....Ring vet for appt CATVAC

note that "BACKDOOR" is a separate field, that is a shortname for the project, and is the way I filter and associate proejcts and tasks together.

Three are other fields, such as Date Added.

Each item also has two other binary fields,
One is to identify whether it is a project (blue) or an action (white) - So I can easily filter and look at only projects or only actions.

Another field is Green for current and Red for Someday maybe.

This system does not automate changing the actions to someday/maybe if I change the project to someday/maybe or vice versa. - This is where a weekly review is neccessary (from a mechanical perpsective - that each project has an action etc and that the red /green flags are consistent for the project.

Since I have a number of current (green) projects and actions, I use the standard flag to indicate a priority task, and there is a filter button right on the toolbar for this.

TICKLER
There is another field/flag I filter on, - a PINK triangle if it is a tickler item, - So I daily filter on this flag , change the flag on anything under that date, refilter to WHITE triangle, then move the items to the correct context.
eg
..@TICKLER
.....1
........Request info for the monthly report
.....2
.....and so on
.....JAN
........! Ferret vaccinations are done
.....FEB

Cheers
Eowyn
 
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.
 
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