Plannerpads.com -- For Paper Based GTD Users

I really like the concept of the Plannerpad, if I can make it work for me. I LOVE the weekly view.

I've been using a Palm Pilot for 6 years, and primarily use the Palm Desktop. It works great for contacts, lists, memos and notes, but like someone said earlier in this thread the urgency of a to-do just never quite has enough of an impact. So in that respect it's not working for me.

I love seeing the whole week format of the plannerpad, and am thinking about switching just my calendar and NAs to the plannerpad, keeping most of my lists on the Palm. (I'd also want to keep my more detailed action/appointment information on my Palm as well. For instance, I often sign up for conference calls and seminars based on email or something online, and do a quick copy and paste into Palm Desktop - there's no way I'm going to write that out again on the Plannerpad. Writing a quick "Such and such call - ref Palm" seems like it would work.)

I work from home and am at my desk most of the time, but as that changes over the next few months it seems like this could turn into a big mess. But, as I'm away from my desk more my Palm won't work as well anyway - as trying to schedule directly on it has never worked very well for me.

Anyone have ideas, suggestions or warnings for using the two in combo?

Thanks!

Kim D
San Jose, CA
 
Plannerpad Planning

I've found it helpful for me to consider plannerpad as my dashboard for the week. I've got my 180 or so NA's and projects in Outlook and I go through them to populate this weeks plannerpad under the categories:

projects
agendas (includes calls, visits, etc)
followup
update
home
read
exercise.

Works for me. Any other ideas out there?
 
How I'm using my plannerpad

"Dashboard for the week" describes it perfectly! That's how I'm using mine too.

I'm on my 4th week with the Plannerpad, but on my 8th week with the concept. (I used a mockup of the pages for a few weeks before I bought it.)

What's working *really* well for me is to keep the top column headings (Weekly lists of activities by categories - the top 3rd of the Plannerpad) the same from week to week. I work from home, so don't need many of the @contexts. My column headers from left to right are:
Left Page
1. Calls/Emails
2. Active project #1 - (right now it's GTD)
3. Active project #2
4. Active project #3
Right Page
5. $ - anything that relates to money/finances goes here (pay bills, invoice so and so, file taxes, sell such and such, deposit checks,etc.)
6. Errands
7. Things to Buy (groceries, tax software, batteries, ergonomic keyboard, etc.)
8. Do at Home (in the Notes column)- this is mostly personal stuff, like move bookcases, clean garage, laundry, prepare for carpet cleaning, etc.

I really like having all my projects on the left side, and other stuff on the right.

In the middle section I'm putting the things I want to do that day, and in the bottom section things that are hard-scheduled for that day. I’m finding that sometimes I don’t have much written in the middle section. For example, today I need to do a bunch of errands, so in the middle section I just wrote ‘errands’, and I know to look at the top Errand column to see the specifics.

Other things that are working well:
- When I complete an action I put a check mark to the left of it

- When I complete everything in one column I draw a light vertical line through it. This allows me to see quickly if I need to read/review that section. It's really helping and saving time as I look back to prior weeks for undone actions.

- When I go to the new week I review the old week (folding down the page per Plannerpad's design), and I circle any undone actions so they’re easy to spot.

- When I delete (decide not to do) an action I draw a straight horizontal line through it

- When I re-write an action (to another week) I draw a reverse (backward) slash through it.

(So something undone from 4 weeks ago gets circled at the end of the week, then if it’s not done 2-3 weeks later I re-write it on the current week and draw a backward slash through it. I feel uncomfortable needing to check back on more than 1-2 prior weeks at the same time. )

- I’m also using post-its sometimes to capture a sequence of NAs that either don’t need to be written in the plannerpad, or that I expect will not be finished this week.

Last, I’m still keeping my lists and contacts in my Palm, so far it’s working fine.

I love the Plannerpad, it's working so much better for me than my Palm did. I highly recommend it!

Kim D
San Jose, CA
 
Paper Planning!

I have found lately, that even though I am working from my computer most of the time, many of my tasks have a paper component (tenders, faxes etc.). I handle everything using some trusty file folders.

I have created full pages note paper for myself title, @computer, @errands etc.. I clip one of these forms to the front of my neatly labelled folder, and write my actions on the form. All of the supporting documentation is safely tucked away in the folder.

Part of my job entails leaving the office to pick up goods from certain vendors. All of these things go on my @errands list, along with all the info I need for that vendor (maps, P.O.'s etc.). When I'm ready to leave I just grab the folder and go.

Works great.
 
Paper Planning!

I have found lately, that even though I am working from my computer most of the time, many of my tasks have a paper component (tenders, faxes etc.). I handle everything using some trusty file folders.

I have created full pages note paper for myself title, @computer, @errands etc.. I clip one of these forms to the front of my neatly labelled folder, and write my actions on the form. All of the supporting documentation is safely tucked away in the folder.

Part of my job entails leaving the office to pick up goods from certain vendors. All of these things go on my @errands list, along with all the info I need for that vendor (maps, P.O.'s etc.). When I'm ready to leave I just grab the folder and go.

Works great.
 
The planner pad is simple

I am new to GTD, but have been using the planner pad for a little more than a year now. Before the planner pad I have used Palms for about 8 years. The thing I love about the planner pad is the simplicity it brings and the ability it gives me to easily look at my entire week. It also gives me a much greater sense of accomlishment than my Palm ever did. The older I get, the less I like technology. The gadgets add more clutter and stress to my life than the old fashioned paper system. I also use the Planner Pad 3x5 Notes on the Run cards as a Hipster PDA (as discussed on 43 folders.com). The combination works great for me. For stuff I have found on the web or other electronic things that I want to keep, I print out on full-sized label sheets, cut them to size and stick them in my planner pad.
 
Planner Pad

A big thank you to the person who suggested this. It is working well for me.
I did find that the columns were a bit narrow for the things I felt I needed to write. Then the light bulb came on: Use more than one column!
 
Excel Plannerpad?

I remember reading that someone had actually developed their own Excel spreadsheet version of the plannerpad. I would like to request a copy if possible.

Thanks!
 
Planner Pads

I just switched back to Day-Timers after trying Planner Pad for 3 months. Has anyone else been discouraged by the sheer weight of it? Also, it seemed to me that the directive to keep looking back to unfinished stuff from previous weeks was counterproductive, counter-GTD. I like having a very portable notebook as my Ubiquitous Capture Tool, my Project Index, an @Errands clipboard, and my very portable Day-Timers for recording the day-to-day. Not much rewriting or looking back. Also, as a parttime employee, I need to document what time I spent on what, and Day-Timer makes that easier.

I wasn't intending to dis the PP, per se. I put a lot of faith in the people who post to this site -- some of the best Life Advice I've ever read. But for the record, the PP just didn't work for me.
 
It's interesting that Unregistered should compare DayTimer with PlannerPad. I used DayTimer for years in preference to Franklin/Covey - I couldn't stand all those distracting motivational quotations on every page of the F/C, and the clean appearance of the DayTimer was and is very appealing.

The one thing about DayTimer that bothered me was that I could never see beyond the day - or the week after I switched to the 2 pages/week format. Furthermore, I wanted to have an overview of current projects without tying every specific action to a specific day. That's exactly why I got the PlannerPad to start this April, after reading about it on the board here.

I've tried twice to set it up, but I find that each time I go back to my DayTimer because it's what I'm used to and life is so complicated right now that I don't want to stop to learn a new system. I still like the PlannerPad concept and layout, and I will probably phase into it when I get a chance to catch my breath. I think I've just gotten into the habit of looking in certain places on the page for certain things, and the habit is hard to break.

It takes two weeks to develop a new habit, right? I'll check back when I make the transition and let you know how it has worked for me.
 
Planner Pad

Now that I read the response, I have to add, in fairness, that I use a large, month-at-a-glance calendar as my desk blotter, so it keeps the whole month, duh, at a glance. At home, we have the Sacred Activity Calendar to keep us reasonably sane. I'll stay unregistered, I guess
 
New to GTD, Thinking about Circa folios for Paper System

Hi, I am new to the book and GTD system. I am also a dedicated pen/paper person because of the type of work I do. I run a non profit and sit on lots of committees, work with dozens of volunteers, projects, donors, etc. I never could get all that I need down in a PDA. I have used spiral bound notebooks (I will have 3 to 8+ pages of notes a day) and a Daytimer, small enough to slip into my purse. When I began the GTD book, I was reminded of the somewhat fancy folios that Levenger's carries in their catalog-website that are 'create your own format'. Has anyone used these for the GTD formatting or is the Plannerpad the best route to go? Any thoughts?
 
Follow-up on PlannerPad experiment

Continuing my message from 4/18/05, I did try the PlannerPad. In fact, I tried it a couple of times. The concept is fine, but it just didn't work for me. I felt hampered by the limited writing space, the absence of a page marker (the kind DT and FC have), and the requirement that I either copy things down from previous weeks or page back to them (which seems counter-GTD, as someone else has already noted).

So now it's back to my familiar old Day-Timer. I still feel the tension between week-on-two-pages (love the overview, but writing space is limited) and day-on-two-pages (can't see the week, but there's more room to write, and the right-hand page is a dandy UCT). Presently I have the week-on-two pages. In 2006 I will go back to day-on-two-pages but use a half-page insert or a large sticky note to keep the week's focus in front of me. And I'll have the tabbed sections to use for the recommended GTD sections, with their labels modified to suit me.

I appreciate all the posts by DT and FC users; they've been a big help.
 
Pouch pagefinder

Day Owl said:
In 2006 I will go back to day-on-two-pages but use a half-page insert or a large sticky note to keep the week's focus in front of me.
Click to expand...

Would a FranklinCovey "pouch pagefinder" work for your weekly focus? The FranklinCovey "Classic" size is 5.5 x 8.5 inches, which I think Day-Timer calls "desk" size, and the holes match.
 
Weekly Compass Cards

flexiblefine said:
Would a FranklinCovey "pouch pagefinder" work for your weekly focus? The FranklinCovey "Classic" size is 5.5 x 8.5 inches, which I think Day-Timer calls "desk" size, and the holes match.
Click to expand...

I like using it. They have Weekly Compass cards that go in the pouch pagefinder. It has space to put one or two items for each of your roles in life. You want to just put your most important goals (or projects, etc.) that you want to accomplish that week. It is one of the ideas from Covey that fits well into a GTD system.
 
Thanks, flexiblefine. When I used the FC system several years ago, before switching to Day-Timer, I did have the pouch pagefinder but was not too keen on its construction. As a low-tech person (I regularly visit diyplanner and pencil revolution after checking in here) I am quite happy to use long narrow sticky notes to maintain a weekly focus. At least, I think so. If I discover otherwise, a month or two into 2006, you'll be the first to know.
 
gtd with circa

MaryT said:
Hi, I am new to the book and GTD system. I am also a dedicated pen/paper person because of the type of work I do. I run a non profit and sit on lots of committees, work with dozens of volunteers, projects, donors, etc. I never could get all that I need down in a PDA. I have used spiral bound notebooks (I will have 3 to 8+ pages of notes a day) and a Daytimer, small enough to slip into my purse. When I began the GTD book, I was reminded of the somewhat fancy folios that Levenger's carries in their catalog-website that are 'create your own format'. Has anyone used these for the GTD formatting or is the Plannerpad the best route to go? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Mary, I am currently using the Levenger Circa folio. I use the junior notebook with the leathr cover. I upgraded to the 1" rings and incorporated part of the circa agenda into the notebook as well. I use the plastic dividers(purchased separately) to section my notebook as DA outlined in his paper-based planner PDF.
* Notes In
* Calendar or Agenda
* Action Lists
* Project/Goals
* Agendas by person or meeting
* Project Planning
* Reference & Catch-All
I feel using the circa system gives me the most flexibility for the way I work. Also, a big side note: I use a Palm T2 along with my notebook. The Palm is used mostly for my ongoing and ever-changing project and task lists and for portable reference. I am a big Outlook dork, so my paper system doesn't need to be that detailed. But I think with the circa system you can make it as detailed or simple as needed.

The one aspect that I really like about circa is the ring and paper system. We have weekly team meetings and I talk about all of the 5-10 projects that I work on at one time. I can take notes for each project on an individual sheet. When I get back to my desk I pull (not rip) the sheet out of my notebook and put it with that project's notes after I am done processing. The same idea works with most systems, I just love the design of the rings.

How you implement GTD I find is such a personal thing. There are so many great tools out there (FC, DT, T/D, PP, etc...). You have to find what works for the way you work.
 
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