Using Agendus for PalmOS

[mruseless]

Anyone out there using Agendus for PalmOS?

I've been using it for a year now, and I really like it for a couple reasons. Mainly that it can link a Contact to an NA (Todo). Then, when you check off the NA as complete, Agendus will automatically log the text of the NA into the notes for that Contact.

However, it cannot link a Memo to a Todo, and I keep my projects as Memos.

Recently I've toyed with the idea of listing projects as CONTACTS, in its own category. This way, I can link a NA with a project, then when complete it will automatically log the NA into the notes for that project. Then, when I do my weekly review, I can see all the NA's that have been done for this project.

Any comments? Any one else tried this?

Eric in Denver

 

[mcogilvie]

Projects as Contacts in Agendus

Anyone out there using Agendus for PalmOS?

Recently I've toyed with the idea of listing projects as CONTACTS, in its own category. This way, I can link a NA with a project, then when complete it will automatically log the NA into the notes for that project. Then, when I do my weekly review, I can see all the NA's that have been done for this project.

Any comments? Any one else tried this?

Eric in Denver

Lots of people have tried the projects as contacts ploy, in Agendus and with other problems. I have used Agendus for this several times, but it can become unwieldy. You may want to use a special character to mark the beginning of contacts that are actually projects. A space actually works well. That way, an initial space will call up just your projects as choices from your contact list.

 

[Nikita]

That's a good idea, the special character for the projects.

I've been using Agendus for over a year. I couldn't be happier with it for everything--except managing projects.

I'm a big fan of keeping things as simple as possible (legacy of trying the complex routes for many years). But I still have problems developing projects in more than a cursory way with Agendus exclusively.

At the moment I'm testing OneNote for taking notes, delineating steps in projects, collecting info needed related to projects. I have a lot more elbow room. Today I'm investigating how to link Agendus and OneNote. So I look forward to seeing comments from other Agendus users.

 

[mruseless]

Well the special character idea is interesting but probably not necessary (for me). When I try this idea, I'm going to create a "Projects" category within my contacts, and just put them there. Most of the time when I look through my contacts, I'm looking in specific category anyway.

 

[TuscanEvenings]

I too use the "contacts as projects" ploy. As I am a heavy Outlook user, my solution is to create another outlook folder that only contains these project entries. Within that I use categories, such as "Live Projects", "Prospects", "Some-Day Projects" etc.

In the notes section of each project I list the NAs. And when I need to create a task use Actions>Create Outlook Task for Contact. If you go to the activities tab, you'll see all the associated tasks and contacts and even email if designated.

I sync everything on my Treo using KeySuite. It not only syncs the separate "projects" outlook folder, but also keeps the categories separate from my main contacts folder.

The best thing about KeySuite is that the link between the task and the "project as contact" is maintained, and you can even view and edit the link. Useful for a quick glance on the next steps or simultaneous actions that need doing.

 

[StuGib]

Here's a little trick I've just done, which I think will help my use of 'projects as contacts' in Agendus.

Firstly, I use the contacts feature for projects ONLY - I've not got many contacts so I've moved them all to the memopad (incidentally, if anyone knows of a Palm address book app that maintains a separate database to the standard Palm PIM databases please let me know). If you mix contacts & projects within the contacts app this may be of no use to you.

Anyway, you can pretty easily change the Agendus applications (both Windows and Palm versions) so everywhere it says 'Contact' it will instead say 'Project'. To do this you need a hex editor - I've used XVI32 (see http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm)

*** Disclaimer: Make backups of both the AgendusPdEd.exe and ActNames.prc (look in your username Backup folder) before changing these files. ***

1. Start XVI32 and open the executable file (PRC or EXE)
2. Choose Search|Replace
3. In the dialog type 'Contact' in the 'Find' box (Text string option)
4. In the dialog type 'Project' in the 'Replace with' box (Text string option)
5. Select 'Replace all' - will tell you how many replacements have been made (about 180)
6. Save the changes (File|Save)
7. Repeat with the other file (PRC/EXE)

With the PRC you'll have to re-sync it back to your Palm.

Ok, it's not earth-shattering, but it does make a little difference seeing 'project' instead of 'contact' when you're using it for that purpose - makes it all seem a little more GTD-specific. I haven't managed to replace the 'head & shoulders' icon yet though.

If you're tempted to make more changes along these lines, please be aware that you must replace text with other text of EXACTLY the same length - e.g. if you try to replace 'Name' with 'Outcome' it will corrupt the file.

Stuart

 

[Red1Six]

Currently using Agendus

Hello all,

I've been using a combo of Agendus and NoteStudio, but I use Agendus for MOST of my GTD system.

With the latest version of Agendus (9.06) there is an added functionality of the To-Do's to sort them in a Hiearchy that works great for projects & NA's.

I have my To-Do categories set-up as:

PROJECTS
@home
@computer
@phone
@errands (etc.)

So, I list my categorize my projects as such, but categorize my NA's according to location (@home, @phone etc). Using the hiearchy view, I then nest the NA's under the appropriate projects, while keeping them categorically seperate.

Additionally, you can view the To-Do's grouped by category to get an overview of everything.

The only thing I use memos for (right now) is Agendas. I have a category named agenda and a seperate memo (linked to the contact) for each person.

 

[BigStory]

Separate Contacts db

StuGib, if you use KeySuite, as mentioned above, it uses its own database for Contacts. It is completely separate from the Palm db. Others have done somethings similar, although they have used KeySuite for the Projects-as-Contacts, since you can then used the identical linking feature on both Outlook and on your Palm.

Regards,
Gordon