Peter Gallant Implementing GTD

SubProjects and Outlook Add-In

Hi Peter,

I just wanted to compliment you on your interview! Thanks for sharing. It's always great to hear how GTD is being practically implemented.

Because of your interview, I decided to give the Outlook Add-In a try as I have been on a quest to get my tracking tasks system tighter. I like the Add-In quite a bit however I have come upon some glitches between synching my Work / Home / Laptop computers and Palm (in a nutshell, the Projects weren't transferring over as nicely as I'd like). I am working on developing a process that will get them all in sync and will display the way I want them to.

Anyway, I was wondering if you use the SubProjects feature at all in the Add-In and if so, would you speak to how you use it?

I have a theory that perhaps adding an additional layer (hierarchy) to tasks wouldn't be the best since I'm trying to synch three computers and a Palm.

Thanks in advance for any info you could give on this subject!
Lleslle
 
Peter,a big thanks to you for your time in responding

Peter -

I just wanted to thank you for your investment of time and thought in your responses here to the many questions. Incredibly useful, well thought out answers. Anyone who has listened to David's interview with you knows that you are very busy. Just wanted to let you know that you attention to this is greatly appreciated.

Dean
 
Peter Gallant said:
Hopefully this addresses Stodge's post as well.
Click to expand...

Peter,

That went much further and deeper than the intial question and was awesome. Thanks very much.

This for me is the benefit of being on the connect service as it enables me to get an in depth view of other peoples systems and allows me to learn from their mistakes.

I have now created an action support folder and it has already been used to good effect this morning when I arrived in work .

Do you have any advice or comments on how you plan and manage your higher altitudes? I am currently attempting to map out my long term goals and am reading the excellent book 'The Power of Focus' which is helping a great deal. However, I would appreciate any insights you have on the 20,000 and 30,000ft levels. I have identified my main areas of focus (20,000ft) but I have trouble linking some of these to the 30,000ft level. I guess that some projects will be driven by higher altitude goals and will not necessarily fall under areas of focus but this whole altitude is hidden in clouds for me at the minute (to extend the metaphor). if I have goals set at 30,000ft should they have an area of focus to cascade projects into at 20,000ft or is it acceptable to miss out 20,000ft and go straight to the project itself at 10,000ft?

I hope that's clearer to you than it is to me at the minute :???:

Thanks again.

Ian
 
Action Support files - review 'em during the Weekly Review...

mondo said:
Hi Peter

Thanks for the detailed overview of how you work in what appears to be very fluid world - your home, office, the coffeeshop, whereever.

I really like the "CS" notation on the end of your NA in your system to show a processed action that has something in the Action Support folder. Closing the loop like this is cool.

As an additional thought, do you dump the Action Support file during the Weekly Review to ensure that theres nothing additional lurking in there? Something that should've been removed, or accidently crept in without being properly removed?

Thanks again

Des
Click to expand...

Des:

It's my pleasure - I'm always keen to share what I can about GTD because of the amazing, positive impact that it's had on my own life and work.

To answer your question regarding whether to include the Action Support file in the Weekly Review - yes, it's absolutely critical. Why? Because although the Action Support folder should *only* hold items that have been processed "into the system", I don't personally consider the review complete without at least a glance through the Action Support folder to ensure that nothing else crept in, or that something in my mobile Action Support folder would be better off living somewhere else - like in my To Home or To Office folders, so I don't have to lug it around. Sometimes, the underlying Next Action has been done, and the support material can be filed or trashed, also good to "lighten the load".

Regards,
Peter
 
You're welcome...

namaste said:
Peter -

I just wanted to thank you for your investment of time and thought in your responses here to the many questions. Incredibly useful, well thought out answers. Anyone who has listened to David's interview with you knows that you are very busy. Just wanted to let you know that you attention to this is greatly appreciated.

Dean
Click to expand...

Dean:
You're most welcome - anything I can do.

To everyone else - do keep the questions and comments coming. It's next to impossible to give a good, thorough description of a personal life-management system like GTD - adapted and personalized - during an hour-long phone interview, even with an amazing interviewer (and even more amazing interviewee) like David leading the process.

Regards,
Peter
 
Use of Sub-Projects with the GTD Outlook Add-in...

lleslle said:
Hi Peter,
Because of your interview, I decided to give the Outlook Add-In a try as I have been on a quest to get my tracking tasks system tighter. I like the Add-In quite a bit however I have come upon some glitches between synching my Work / Home / Laptop computers and Palm (in a nutshell, the Projects weren't transferring over as nicely as I'd like). I am working on developing a process that will get them all in sync and will display the way I want them to.

Anyway, I was wondering if you use the SubProjects feature at all in the Add-In and if so, would you speak to how you use it?

I have a theory that perhaps adding an additional layer (hierarchy) to tasks wouldn't be the best since I'm trying to synch three computers and a Palm.

Thanks in advance for any info you could give on this subject!
Lleslle
Click to expand...

Lleslle:

Thanks for your question. I agree that syncing multiple computers, etc. can be a nightmare (though there have been some suggestions made on how to do this elsewhere on the Connect forum - so it may be worth spending a few minutes searching). Early on, I decided to eliminate this issue entirely by going to a reasonably powerful laptop plus a PDA-cellphone combination (the Treo 600). I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

As for the question of sub-projects and the GTD Outlook add-in - I personally decided not to use the sub-projects, for 3 main reasons:

1. The sub-project functionality is not as robust as the project-level functionality in the add-in, and sub-projects aren't recognized by that neat little custom project form that I use (and mentioned elsewhere in previous forum posts).

2. Sub projects would mean fiddling with additional pull-down menus when filing or processing emails into Next Actions (read: Outlook tasks). Ugh.

3. I prefer using the Project name field for a kind of "hard coded" heirarchy. For example, I use project names like:
$Project:Personal:Home Improvements:Re-Tile Floor in Downstairs Bathroom

So, when I pull down the project lists to add items to them, or to go through them during my Weekly Review (critical!), then all of the items are implicitly grouped together in a kind of a heirarchy.

Hope this makes sense.

Regards,
Peter
 
Peter,

Just listened to your Connect interview and found lots of great pointers! Thanks so much for spending the time to help motivate all of us "soon-to-be" blackbelts!

You mentioned your use of the Palm Treo. I wonder if you could expand on what Palm program(s) you use with GTD and also if you use any specific software during the sync. I hear there is a limit in the number of categories a Palm can accomodate. Have you found this to be the case? I just bought at Palm TX and have used Datebook in the past to replace the built-in calendar/tasks program. I wonder if this is a good solution. Interested to hear how you are capturing your NAs on the Palm.

Thanks!
 
Read/Review Question

Since your being so open with the details... ;-)

I have stuff (mag articles, whitepapers, etc.) that I would like to read during downtime - while waiting for the doctor as you say. These go in my Read/Review folder.

Stuff that needs my more immediate attention to read/review/approve but will take more than 2 minutes I put in my Current Action Support folder and enter the NA in my trusted system.

Just wanted to see how this jives with what you do... don't need an elaborate response.
 
The higher altitudes...

Stodge said:
Do you have any advice or comments on how you plan and manage your higher altitudes? I am currently attempting to map out my long term goals and am reading the excellent book 'The Power of Focus' which is helping a great deal. However, I would appreciate any insights you have on the 20,000 and 30,000ft levels. I have identified my main areas of focus (20,000ft) but I have trouble linking some of these to the 30,000ft level. I guess that some projects will be driven by higher altitude goals and will not necessarily fall under areas of focus but this whole altitude is hidden in clouds for me at the minute (to extend the metaphor). if I have goals set at 30,000ft should they have an area of focus to cascade projects into at 20,000ft or is it acceptable to miss out 20,000ft and go straight to the project itself at 10,000ft?

I hope that's clearer to you than it is to me at the minute :???:

Thanks again.

Ian
Click to expand...

Ian:

What a truly excellent question. I wish I had a good answer, and often struggle with this one myself. From a systems perspective, I think that GTD does the "Runway" (Next Actions) and "10,000 foot" (Project) levels extremely well, and newcomers to GTD are well-served to work through the methodology and get really, really good at managing at the Project and Next Action level first.

That said, I think it's worth giving some serious thoughts to current roles/goals/priorities (20,000 ft) during the Weekly Review, and David gives us all some extremely sage advice when he asks us to consider how these roles/goals/priorties will be changing in the next 12-18 months (30,000 ft). He makes the point on the GTD Fast CDs that looking forward 12-18 months may make some current projects and people more (or sometimes less) important than they may be in the current day-to-day reality.

Invariably, when I put my mind to these higher levels, I get new insights into new personal and professional projects, ideas, someday/maybes, and even new emerging areas of focus in my life. It contributes to keeping my life in perspective, and provides some of the motivation to drive forward.

So, I don't think there needs to be a direct link through 30,000 ft., down through 20,000 ft. - but adding these higher altitudes to the Weekly Review checklist, and occasionally walking a long beach or enjoying some moments of peace to think at these levels as always a worthwhile experience. Of course, have the capture tools - or at least pen and paper, at hand!

Hope this helps,
Peter
 
Palm/Treo, software, and capturing Next Actons...

SJG0526 said:
Peter,

Just listened to your Connect interview and found lots of great pointers! Thanks so much for spending the time to help motivate all of us "soon-to-be" blackbelts!

You mentioned your use of the Palm Treo. I wonder if you could expand on what Palm program(s) you use with GTD and also if you use any specific software during the sync. I hear there is a limit in the number of categories a Palm can accomodate. Have you found this to be the case? I just bought at Palm TX and have used Datebook in the past to replace the built-in calendar/tasks program. I wonder if this is a good solution. Interested to hear how you are capturing your NAs on the Palm.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your question. To new readers of this thread, I use a Palm OS-based Treo 600. Not as elegant a machine as the Treo 650 and the new Treo 700 comes in both Palm and Windows Mobile editions (the 700p and 700w respectively). I'm tempted by the 700w, because I may be able to use more of the task fields (like the Project field - I miss this field on my Palm!), but am trying to exercise some restraint on my normal "early adopter" tendencies to see what else is coming out soon.

So - back to your question - I use the plain-vanilla Palm Calendar and Task lists, plus make liberal use of the Notepad (over 200 entries of inspirational quotes, areas of focus, checklists, and notes-to-self). The calendar does its job well, though I do like the taskpad or Outlook Today-type views that the Windows-based devices offer, but not the end of the world.

The task manager is very basic, and I have been tempted to go out and hunt down some better task-manager software, but since my laptop is my primary interface to my GTD system, I find myself using the Palm in 2 main ways:

1. My primary Ubiquitous Capture Tool - anytime, anywhere. I have the Notetaker wallet as a backup, but 99% of the "on the fly" entries are made via the Palm. More in a second (see below).

2. Next Action viewer - I've re-associated the mail button above the Treo keyboard to bring up the Task list, and view by Due Date, Priority. Countless times a day, I bring up the @Calls lists, @Errands, and the other lists and get things done, and have the instant gratification of checking things off on the Palm as I crank down the lists. Feels great!

Back to #1 - a neat little feature of the Palm/Outlook combination with the Add-In is that items entered on the fly into the palm dont have an Action, but they do have a Category associated. So I have an Outlook view to show all items with no defined Action field, and voila, every time I sync the Palm, this view shows me all new items that I can then "triage" and assign the right Action to if I didn't do that on the Palm, and if necessary either take the action right away or add due dates or calendar entries as required. It's a kind of "inbox" for quickly captured Next Actions that may need a bit of polishing before I admit them into my trusted system.

Sorry for the long, rambling post. Hope this makes sense.

Regards,
Peter
 
Palm Category Limit...

SJG0526 said:
Peter,

You mentioned your use of the Palm Treo. I wonder if you could expand on what Palm program(s) you use with GTD and also if you use any specific software during the sync. I hear there is a limit in the number of categories a Palm can accomodate. Have you found this to be the case?
Click to expand...

Following on to my last post, I missed responding to the question of categories on the Palm. For some reason best known to the Palm developers, there is a limit of 15 Categories on the Palm if you want to use the native Category functionality.

So - pick those categories carefully! I posted my list of categories earlier in this thread. Remember that several categories, such as Projects, Someday, and @WaitingFor (I think) are "reserved" by the Add-In and as such there must always be Categories with these names, leaving perhaps 11 or 12 Categories to be defined by your imagination!

Regards,
Peter
 
KeySuite...

ckennedy said:
Peter
Keysuite by Chapura http://www.chapura.com
is an easy way to get Outlook onto your Palm (including unlimited categories). Worth checking the trial out. Next to zero learning curve on it.
Cheers
Craig
Click to expand...

Craig:

Thanks for this! I just installed the trial version of KeySuite - looks great. I especialy like the "Outlook Today"-type application - I love seeing an overview of my day in this view. The Outlook Taskpad view is what I usually work from on a daily basis.

Great stuff!
Peter
 
My pleasure
Small price to pay for the useful ideas I've picked up from both your interview and your subsequent postings. Thanks for your generosity!
-Craig (A Fellow Canuck)
 
High Altitude

Peter,

Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear other peoples feelings on the finer points of their systems and you've most certainly had an impact on the way I do GTD.

Ian
 
Thanks for the feedback!

Stodge said:
Peter,

Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear other peoples feelings on the finer points of their systems and you've most certainly had an impact on the way I do GTD.

Ian
Click to expand...
Ian, Craig, et al.

Thanks for the kind feedback on my interview!

If anyone has any lingering questions - please keep 'em coming - I'll try to reply in a timely way.

By the way, for those of you who have listened to the interview and heard what my company does (E.coli detection) - the recent E.coli outbreak in spinach products has been an example of one of those times when my personal GTD system is being stretched as we respond to customer inquiries for our products...another reason that every entrepreneur should have a complete self-management system in place, either before embarking on a new business, or if currently engaged in a start-up business, don't let another day pass without fully implementing GTD!

Regards,
Peter
 
Interview Feedback

Bravo to David and Peter for an interview that nicely balanced valuable details of Peter's GTD system and a taste of the inspiring work which the system helps make possible in his career and personal life.

I've thought about which sequence works best--GTD stuff first, followed by a portrait of the interviewee's career and life, or the other way around. I think the way you did it in Peter's interview works best, because I was able to connect my own GTD system with his, so much so that I was almost surprised to find that Peter is NOT using it for the same work as I am (RV rambles, arts policy, podcasting, vlogging, and being a good grandfather). Having gained a sense that we are in the same tribe (the GTD Nation?), it made me proud to learn what Peter's doing in the world, and inspired me to aim high in my own life.

So this was a great interview, thanks to you both! And thanks to Peter for your extensive responses to follow-up questions here on the forum.
 
Thanks Len!

LenEdgerly said:
Bravo to David and Peter for an interview that nicely balanced valuable details of Peter's GTD system and a taste of the inspiring work which the system helps make possible in his career and personal life.

I've thought about which sequence works best--GTD stuff first, followed by a portrait of the interviewee's career and life, or the other way around. I think the way you did it in Peter's interview works best, because I was able to connect my own GTD system with his, so much so that I was almost surprised to find that Peter is NOT using it for the same work as I am (RV rambles, arts policy, podcasting, vlogging, and being a good grandfather). Having gained a sense that we are in the same tribe (the GTD Nation?), it made me proud to learn what Peter's doing in the world, and inspired me to aim high in my own life.

So this was a great interview, thanks to you both! And thanks to Peter for your extensive responses to follow-up questions here on the forum.
Click to expand...

Len:

Thanks for your kind words. I do look forward to the day when one of my areas of focus is "being a good grandfather". Alas, that may be a while, as my little guy is only turning 6 next month...but how time does fly.

Your comment reinforces an important point that I think can often be overlooked by people when they first encounter GTD...the fact that everyone on the planet has open loops, someday/maybes, goals, dreams, and a destiny to fulfil. You don't need to be a consultant, self-employed, an executive, or for that matter even employed to benefit from the impact that GTD can have.

For everyone, time is precious...

Regards,
Peter
 
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