Simplicity and the triumph of paper. Maybe.

[Max]

At least for me, the vertical format 2-page per week style works much better than the horizontal format. (In vertical format, each day has a column, and they line up side-by-side: http://day-planner.daytimer.com/content/images/close_up/10231.jpg. In horizontal format, each day has a few lines, and they stack sequentially: http://day-planner.daytimer.com/content/images/close_up/10831.jpg.) Unfortunately, the vertical format is much more difficult to find.

I have been thinking of trying the horizontal format because it is easier to find in a design I like. What do you find better about the vertical format?

 

[kewms]

I have been thinking of trying the horizontal format because it is easier to find in a design I like. What do you find better about the vertical format?

It seems to make it easier for me to take in the whole week at once. A given time will be at approximately the same "elevation" on the page no matter what day it is. This makes it easy to see that, say, my mornings are completely booked until Thursday, but afternoons are fine. In a horizontal format, I find I have to consider each date separately to figure out what's going on.

The disadvantage is that the vertical format seems to provide less space for each individual day, but a two-page per week format is too cramped for real notetaking anyway.

Katherine

 

[Day Owl]

...The disadvantage is that the vertical format seems to provide less space for each individual day, but a two-page per week format is too cramped for real notetaking anyway.

I too use the DayTimer two-page per week format (though in the horizontal format, which works better for me). Like the vertical format, it has little or no room for notes. But my refill set came with 52 pages of something called Diary Record, which is a little shorter than the calendar pages so that the date line on the latter shows above the edge. One of these, placed between this week's pages, is adequate for note-taking on both sides, depending on where in the week I am, which governs which way it flips. I can always add another page if necessary.

An alternative is to insert an ordinary note pad in one of the slots in the front cover.

 

[kewms]

The vertical format also comes with the short-trimmed sheets. I find myself mostly using those for tickler items. Keeping notes in my planner has never worked for me, even when I was using the massive 2-page per day format. Mostly that's because the notes I need to take tend to be either subject or person-oriented, so ordering them by day doesn't help find them again.

That's okay. I have notetaking tools that I like instead.

Katherine

 

[stringdad]

Another way to do Projects as Contexts is with the Ternouth system (Google for details). The aspect of it that is analogous is to have your current papers for a project in a transparent coverslip with a cover page with the project name and a list of NAs and subprojects - a running To-Do List while you are focused on a fast-moving project. When you do a switch to another project or context, you can take a moment to move anything on the cover slip to your real lists if necessary.

As Katherine says, this is best for high-focus projects, but that is a substantial part of many people's day.

 

[smithdoug]

News?

Katherine, it's been about six weeks since you launched this great adventure and a month since the last post. I'm curious. How is it working out? Any new observations or conclusions?

 

[kewms]

Katherine, it's been about six weeks since you launched this great adventure and a month since the last post. I'm curious. How is it working out? Any new observations or conclusions?

I just got back from a week-long overseas trip. That brought me face-to-face with a significant limitation of an all-paper system: portability. It's easy to jam everything you could possibly need into an electronic device (PC or PDA), much more difficult to do that with paper. (Especially when you're going to be gone for a week and fascist security critters are strictly enforcing the one carry-on rule. Grumble grumble grumble...)

Contacts were easy, since I still keep those electronically. Make sure I've synced Outlook to my iPod recently, and I'm all set.

NA lists were relatively easy, since the trip agenda severely limited my ability (or desire) to work on other things. I actually brought my master project notebook along, but could have gotten by with just the NA lists for the two or three projects that I planned to work on. I cleared my @email and @phone lists for the week, so I only had to deal with mail and calls that came in while I was gone.

The calendar was the most difficult. Even though I originally planned to keep using Outlook's calendar, in practice it's turned out to be easier to have just one primary calendar. But, since that's paper and bulky, I didn't want to bring it with me. For this trip, I was willing to work without a net: the conference supplied a written agenda, and I didn't have any appointments outside of it. Even so, not having my post-conference calendar handy was occasionally frustrating. For trips with more complex and independent itineraries, I'll definitely need to work out a better solution. That probably means going back to Outlook more, but I'm still figuring it out.

For day-to-day work in my office, and for day trips away from my office, I'd say my paper system is a complete success. I trust the system more, yet I spend less time maintaining it. For longer trips, the limitations of paper are clearly evident. I don't travel enough for those limits to be a major problem, but I do need to put some thought into working around them.

I have noticed some project creep on my NA lists, in that I'm reluctant to set up a full blown project for items that only have three or four steps. That was true with an electronic system, too, so it's not a paper-specific problem. I suspect the solution is something like the Cascading Next Actions method (http://www.marktaw.com/blog/CascadingNextActions.html), which I'll be trying during my next Weekly Review.

Katherine

 

[Todd V]

re: Can Your High-Focus Tasks Be Broken Down Further?

I have basically two kinds of work: stuff that requires intense focus for long periods, and stuff that doesn't. The high-focus stuff is almost all project-based, and I think of it as "work on XYZ project," not as "@Read/Review" or "@Write" or @anything else. The low focus stuff is almost all context-driven: I plow through a list of @Phone or @Email or @Home stuff, without reference to any particular project.
Katherine

Is it possible that the "high-focus stuff" are actually projects-in-hiding? and thus needing to be broken down into smaller pieces? I've noticed, for example, that it's possible for reading a book (let's say one that requires a high-level of focus) to look like a simple NA -- @ Home: Read this book. But because it takes greater focus and time, it still "feels" like a project and thus it gets avoided. I've noticed that this affects a lot of my reading material or actions that seem like one action but take a lot of focus and time to complete. If it is possible to break these down further I've found it helpful.

So instead of "@ Home: Read this book", my NA will be @ Home(

 

[Todd V]

Attaching Purpose to Reading

I should also add that I've recently started adding the purpose for my reading because without it I tend to forget why it is I put something on my list to read. The purpose could be as simple as

"@ Read-Review(

 

[kewms]

So instead of "@ Home: Read this book", my NA will be @ Home(

 

[kewms]

Fine tuning

Since I switched back to paper, I've noticed a couple of things.

First, as noted above, I'm still figuring out the best way to keep a portable calendar.

I've also noticed that I've gotten away from two very important keys to keeping the system under control: daily minireviews and time logging. Daily minireviews bring whatever I want to work on today to the front burner, while time logging helps me catch myself being unproductive. My tools for both of these were electronic, and I hadn't yet replaced them in my paper system.

Daily planning and time logging are why the classic planners were invented, but adding daily pages to my existing weekly planner (2-page per week vertical) seems like a lot of clutter for not much benefit. I just don't need that much space for a daily "top five" list and notes like "worked on Fubar Project: 2 hrs." Plus that approach doesn't solve the portability problem.

So I went exploring on the DayTimer site, and found this:
http://day-planner.daytimer.com/Pla.../193F7BBE9874412194A63163AAFD6BB8/False/98015
2 pages per day, but in a pocket format. Not big enough if it were my only planner, but just the right size for a portable "satellite" system and diary. Also small enough to coexist with the main system on my desk.

We'll see how it goes.

Katherine

 

[moises]

. . . time logging helps me catch myself being unproductive.

I have found that it is essential for me to keep a time log for the same reason. I don't use this for billing but merely to keep myself honest. I just keep a lined pad on my desk. I have always used paper for this. I don't keep them; I merely get to see each day what I am doing.

 

[akr95]

About to take delivery of Circa Junior Notebook

I am about to receive my new Circa notebook, a purchase instigated by the positive comments of the Circa system on this and other forums. So now I am thinking of how to set it up.

Currently I have a Moleskine notebook and separate Moleskine calendar. The notebook is divided into the various contexts (about 6), @waiting for, Project list, Someday/Maybe list.

I am thinking of setting up the Circa notebook with the following tabs

@Contexts
@Projects
@Waiting For
@Agendas
@Someday/Maybe
@Meetings
@Project Plans (?)

With setting up one tab for @Contexts I was thinking I would have a separate page for each context list (@calls, @email, @errands etc), same principle for @Agendas.

@Meetings, @Project Plans would have each on a separate page.

@Projects, @Waiting for, @Someday/Maybe would all be a single list behind each tab.

For those of you that use the Circa notebooks, does this make sense. I guess I am asking from the perspective of the ability to move the Circa pages about - is what I am suggesting the best option?

Any suggestions would be welcome. Katherine, is this how you have your Circa set up? (Sorry to single you out but you seem to have your head around they GTD principles and the paper based system pretty well and your posts always seem to clarify questions that I have - thanks for the time and effort you put into this forum)

Thanks

Kim

 

[kewms]

I actually have two notebooks. One contains my Next Action lists, one page for each context. (And *only* one page. If the list outgrows the page, it's time to prune.) This one is small enough to be portable. I take it with me when I'm out running errands and such.

The other contains my Project and Someday/Maybe lists, together with more detailed plans for those projects that need it.

I don't use Waiting For, Agenda, or Meetings lists.

Katherine

 

[Claudia Volkman]

Great post!

I literally checked this forum this morning with the specific thought, I want to see if Kathryn has posted anything new about her paper system - thanks for sharing; this has given me some food for thought. I love aspects of both paper and iCal/Treo, and end up having an uneasy alliance with both. I'm experimenting with Circa. Any pics you could post would help - I'm trying to visualize what you describe.
Claudia

 

[Aspen]

No idea if this will help anyone else here but with regard to time logging, I use one sheet to log for the entire week and then review it at my weekly review.

I use a simple 168 block grid (all the hours available in a given week), use the the background format button to color code the amount of time I expect to spend in each of about 8 categories...housecleaning, work, volunteer, studying, relationship, learning a new language, sleep/getting ready, etc. And then I log it through the week by marking actual time spent in the colored blocks of the categories on my printout. I assume this could be done very easily electronically, or could be used to only log work hours, or could be tweaked in a number of ways.

At my weekly review I can see how effective or realistically I planned my week. Also, when I have a crisis come up and one category needs a lot of attention (last week it was an extra 12 hours for work), I try to decide at the time what other activity it will have to be pulled from. Still working on the implementation, but it is definitely revealing unproductive time and also unrealistic planning time so far.

 

[Trish]

Aspen,
Do you plan the amount of hours only, or do you plan the amount of hours WITH the times you are going to do these things---like a schedule? Thanks, Trish

 

[Aspen]

Time logging vs Schedule

Trish,

On the 168 block time log I only put in how many hours I expect to spend in the categories, and then I go back and using the same sheet I write in the blocks what I did...for example if I had 40 hours blocked in for sleep and getting ready, I would then go back and fill in the blocks with an "M" for the hours I spend in those activities on Monday. It is mostly a log of how I am using my time vs how I expected to.

I keep this in my paper organizer which has my schedule in a 2 page per week vertical format. So yes I do have a schedule although rather than scheduling a lot of time and date specific actions, I block out hours for certain activities or types of activities on certain days and then work on my next action for that context or project. It gives me a framework to keep me on track without locking me down too much.

Hope that is not clear as mud

 

[MikeyLa]

Inspired to move towards more paper

Inspired by this thread - after four years of digital GTD I’ve decide to move to a “more” paper based system. It's an attempt to reduce some of the processing and organizing overhead in my current system. Thank you Katherine “kewms” for documenting your journey.

I ordered the Circa gear today. Here is my first attempt at the new system.

Continue to use Outlook / Palm for Calendar and Trigger Lists (Projects, SomedayMaybe, Checklists, List Lists).

Use a Junior Circa Notebook with blank white paper and eight tabs for all @nextActions (@Agendas, @Anywhere, @Calls, @Computer, @Errands, @Home, @Office, @WaitFor).

Wish me luck!

 

[Barry]

You're going to love it. I'm back to paper also. If the paper NA lists work well for you, next try printing out your calendar two pages per sheet and keeping them in your notebook.