Record of Events/Life/Discussions etc

A

altruologist

0
I have recently moved completely electronic with Outlook and a PDA. I have used paper systems for years. What concerns me is the records of meetings, discussions, etc that I have in my archived pages of my paper systems. With the electronic system I do not understand how such information is re-traceable. I have a lot of meetings and also used my planner to capture notes, ideas and journaling so everything was in one place. It is these elements as well as the ability to go back and review notes etc and what I was doing on partiucular days (appts and tasks) that I miss. Is there anybody out there in this zone?
 
I find myself using paper and pen to capture notes. If you extract out all actionable items into your electronic system, from your written notes you could opt to file these notes into your paper filing system.

I found that the PDA was not a good capturing tool. Old paper and pencil are much better. Even at my desk I will still write notes during conversations then transfer what I need to into Outlook later.

Jason Womack has some good tips on this. Either search his posts on this forum or his coaching tips.

I used to be paper based before GTD. But I tended to loose track of the actionable items. Now I find that I am capturing the actionable items electronically. For my discussions and observations that I want to retain, I plug those into my observation files on the people that report to me or I file the paper notes into a specific folder.
 
Journaling via NoteStudio

I like writing with a good pen and paper. And this is not the way to do journaling and keeping notes in these days. :?

I learned the hard way that I have to do that on my Palm.
First, it has to be a device that I can carry with me everywhere. Well, almost. :wink:
Second, it must be possible to search for any keywords fast.
Third, I often must be able to send ideas, meeting notes, and such via e-mail to anybody, in zero time and with zero effort. Again: well, almost. :wink:

And all that has to be integrated into my GtD system. This is a must when under fire.

I implemented GtD together with journaling using NoteStudio. You can find the template for my system on the DogMelon web page:
http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/Example Note Books.shtml

You can find this template also in the files section of the Yahoo newsgroup GtD_Palm. There are also some sample PC screenshots in case you don't want to install NoteStudio only to get an impression of my system. As there is a desktop version of NoteStudio available, you can run this system on the Palm as well as on your PC, synched.

The usual disclaimer: I am not the owner of DogMelon, just a satisfied customer. :)

Hope this helps,
Volker
 
Re: Record of Events/Life/Discussions etc

altruologist said:
I have recently moved completely electronic with Outlook and a PDA. I have used paper systems for years. What concerns me is the records of meetings, discussions, etc that I have in my archived pages of my paper systems. With the electronic system I do not understand how such information is re-traceable. I have a lot of meetings and also used my planner to capture notes, ideas and journaling so everything was in one place. It is these elements as well as the ability to go back and review notes etc and what I was doing on partiucular days (appts and tasks) that I miss. Is there anybody out there in this zone?
Click to expand...

If you are using a PPC, Pocket word is great for this. Just organize it the way you want. You can write everything on a page each day and use the find feature to search all data to locate whatever you need. You can organize into different folders. I have used a Palm and currently use a PPC. The one thing that the PPC had over Palm when I bought it (quite some time ago) was that I didn't have to add in any software to do what I wanted (Pocket Word & Pocket Excel were already on it) so it made sense for me. Also, it has built in handwriting recognition and so I have the joy of "writing" with the convenience of the PDA.
 
Here is a cut and paste from the gtd_palm that I posted some time ago that I hope will help:

I will take a stab at this one. By reference material, I assume you mean the
stuff you write down on the right-hand page of your planner? I spent a great
deal of time thinking about that one before I decided to put aside my
Day-Timer in favor of the Palm.

In the old days, "Call Jim" would be in my task list, and when I picked up
the phone, I would take notes on the right-hand page. Now, I take the same
notes only in the section of that task. If the task needs some kind of
follow-up, I just change what wording of the task line. Any additional
documentation is made in that same attached note. As I move through the
project, I am accumulating all of the documentation in one place.

Before I check off a task as done, I ask myself if in the attached note
there is any material of "lasting value." If the answer is yes, I drag the
task (in Outlook) over the Notes icon, which creates a new Note. I modify
the first line so that it begins with today's date. I have my autoarchive
set never to archive the Notes, so they are with my on Outlook and my Palm
always.

That gives me on Note for each piece of information. Every couple of months,
I will do some cutting and pasting to combine everything from one month into
a single note.

Hope this helps.

Frank
 
Notes/Reference material etc.

Thanks to all the replies to my post! This is an amazing forum and you have helped tremendously. :Djavascript:emoticon(':D')
Very Happy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top