What Capture Tool Do You Carry Around W/ You Everywhere?
- Thread starter HappyDude
- Start date
I generally carry a small moleskine that fits in my pocket along with a pen holder that has a few fountain pens. I use it to write down addresses or whatever I need to refer to while doing errands. I have used it to record meeting notes in a pinch.
The other item that I carry is my blackberry. I can always create an action in it or even send myself or others an email. I don't read my email on the device so it is outbound only.
Since I have my blackberry with me most of the time I will utilize the Jott service to send myself reminders. I really like this service when I am driving and the only hard part is remembering exactly what I want to say by the time I get connected!
I just received my google voice account and may use this instead of jott moving forward.
The other item that I carry is my blackberry. I can always create an action in it or even send myself or others an email. I don't read my email on the device so it is outbound only.
Since I have my blackberry with me most of the time I will utilize the Jott service to send myself reminders. I really like this service when I am driving and the only hard part is remembering exactly what I want to say by the time I get connected!
I just received my google voice account and may use this instead of jott moving forward.
What I use depends on circumstances...
I received my NoteTaker wallet this week. That will always be with me and has proved useful in just the three days I've had it.
If I'm going to a meeting and need to take lots of notes I take a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen which records the audio as well as my written notes for transfer to my Mac afterwards. With the handwriting recognition software I just have to flesh out the notes to be able to use them for sending to others.
If it's not possible to record the audio I'll use the Livescribe to make notes which can then be uploaded to the Mac.
Otherwise it's either a standard pad or a Moleskine and pencil.
And I have my iPhone with me in case of emergencies, and to take photos of things that I want to remember, etc.
I received my NoteTaker wallet this week. That will always be with me and has proved useful in just the three days I've had it.
If I'm going to a meeting and need to take lots of notes I take a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen which records the audio as well as my written notes for transfer to my Mac afterwards. With the handwriting recognition software I just have to flesh out the notes to be able to use them for sending to others.
If it's not possible to record the audio I'll use the Livescribe to make notes which can then be uploaded to the Mac.
Otherwise it's either a standard pad or a Moleskine and pencil.
And I have my iPhone with me in case of emergencies, and to take photos of things that I want to remember, etc.
I would really hope that i have a smartphone that can capture through voices notes and pictures. then i can use Evernote which is a great aggregator of informationi.
unfortunately my work place dun allow me to have camera devices. That said i also have a belt pouch where i put my ipod touch and use it whenever i need to note down anything.
really great. if i have an action item i just swing out my appigo todo and add to the list of things to do.
unfortunately my work place dun allow me to have camera devices. That said i also have a belt pouch where i put my ipod touch and use it whenever i need to note down anything.
really great. if i have an action item i just swing out my appigo todo and add to the list of things to do.
Another advantage of the Digital Voice Recorder
I don't know why this is but....I always get great ideas when I'm in bed with the lights off. Usually, I don't really want to get up, turn on the lights, and write something down. Then I can't get back to sleep.
I just keep my Digital Voice Recorder on my bed next to my pillow. When I get an idea, I can just hit the record button by feel in the dark. A red light comes on so I know I'm recording.
Things I like about audio capture:
1) Can use it easily while driving.
2)Can use it when in bed with lights off.
3)One touch recording
4)Real simple....don't need to deal with Jott or Requall...my system is in house.
5) Cheap $50 and no monthly fees
6) Actually works well.
John
I don't know why this is but....I always get great ideas when I'm in bed with the lights off. Usually, I don't really want to get up, turn on the lights, and write something down. Then I can't get back to sleep.
I just keep my Digital Voice Recorder on my bed next to my pillow. When I get an idea, I can just hit the record button by feel in the dark. A red light comes on so I know I'm recording.
Things I like about audio capture:
1) Can use it easily while driving.
2)Can use it when in bed with lights off.
3)One touch recording
4)Real simple....don't need to deal with Jott or Requall...my system is in house.
5) Cheap $50 and no monthly fees
6) Actually works well.
John
Unless I am talking to someone face-to-face, I enter new tasks and notes on the spot into my HTC smartphone, from which they will be "synced over" into Outlook. While in a conversation at a lunch or while mingling, I prefer to jot down notes and tasks on a stack of indexcards I always keep in my jacket pocket. I keep about ten cards in a stack, held together by a binder clip.
David
David
I use a staples small accel notebook for personal stuff which has pockets to hold things and a simple legal pad for work.
Gerry
http://simpletimemanagement.blogspot.com/
Gerry
http://simpletimemanagement.blogspot.com/
A couple of capture tools that are free or cheap and very easy:
1) Instead of a note-taker wallet, I cut index cards in half and carry a few in my regular wallet- they fit on one half of the fold and are big enough for a substantial note when I don't have a small notebook with me (which is most of the time.)
2) Fisher bullet pens are great for the pocket but are expensive- Zebra makes much cheaper compact pens, the F-301 compact, at about $2 each; an expandable pen at about $7, and mini pens (available at jetpens.com) for a few dollars.
3) For voice recording, I LOVE Braincast- just google it- it's a service that you set up with your cell phone. You call the number- I have it programmed as a speed dial- and it records your voice and sends a Quicktime audio file to your email.
So you record notes on the fly, then when you're back at your computer, play them one at a time and jot down what you recorded. Brilliant.
4) Finally- I know a lot of GDT'ers like perforated or tearable notebooks. One trick with center-stapled pocket notebooks , like the very small Rhodia notebooks which fit great in a pocket, is to write from the center pages outwards on either side of the center sheet, then tear at the staple, it tears cleanly down the middle.
that's my tricks.
great thread
Neal
1) Instead of a note-taker wallet, I cut index cards in half and carry a few in my regular wallet- they fit on one half of the fold and are big enough for a substantial note when I don't have a small notebook with me (which is most of the time.)
2) Fisher bullet pens are great for the pocket but are expensive- Zebra makes much cheaper compact pens, the F-301 compact, at about $2 each; an expandable pen at about $7, and mini pens (available at jetpens.com) for a few dollars.
3) For voice recording, I LOVE Braincast- just google it- it's a service that you set up with your cell phone. You call the number- I have it programmed as a speed dial- and it records your voice and sends a Quicktime audio file to your email.
So you record notes on the fly, then when you're back at your computer, play them one at a time and jot down what you recorded. Brilliant.
4) Finally- I know a lot of GDT'ers like perforated or tearable notebooks. One trick with center-stapled pocket notebooks , like the very small Rhodia notebooks which fit great in a pocket, is to write from the center pages outwards on either side of the center sheet, then tear at the staple, it tears cleanly down the middle.
that's my tricks.
great thread
Neal
matsuru
0
Matsuru's Uct
hi guys~! i'll share 1 of my UCTs.
Basically it's a small notepad with recycle paper I cut into 9x5cm. Working great for small captures. Even my colleague was impressed with how many things I can fit into the tiny paper. )
I have another UCT which is my ipaq 210 PDA
(i need paper because I can't hand over my PDA to people when I want to pass on information. with paper, i can just jot, tear and hand over.)
hi guys~! i'll share 1 of my UCTs.
Basically it's a small notepad with recycle paper I cut into 9x5cm. Working great for small captures. Even my colleague was impressed with how many things I can fit into the tiny paper. )
I have another UCT which is my ipaq 210 PDA
(i need paper because I can't hand over my PDA to people when I want to pass on information. with paper, i can just jot, tear and hand over.)
Hi GTD'ers,
At work I've always a pen and a A4 notebook at hand or A4 sheets held together with a binder clip.
I also carry on me, in my shirt pocket, an A4 sheet folded down to A6 as a backup – I tend to use one per day and at the end of each day, it's unfolded and goes in the inbox. The pad is the main capture device, the folded sheet mainly a backup for the unexpected!
For personal/mobile capture I'm using an HTC TyTn II Windows Mobile Phone and I've created a Word document called “!inbox.doc”
This document is mapped to a hardware key on the device and shortcuts on screen too.
I simply turn the device on, press the hardware key to open the Word document and within a second it’s open and ready for capture. I tend to capture all items in this single document, as it's very easy to work through and process later a single document rather than a document for each capture.
It's real quick and doesn’t get in the way of capturing the idea or thought, it just opens up and you can type away.
Often when processing, these captured ideas etc can then be copied and pasted directly as next actions or kept within a project/next action note section. It avoids a lot of the re-entry from written paper notes that I used to do.
The device also gives me the option of recording voice notes and a digital camera too. All items are saved in a folder called “!inbox” on it’s integral MicroSD memory card.
When back at the PC, I can insert the MicroSD into the PC, open the “!inbox” folder and process the “!inbox” word document, any voice notes or digital pictures etc.
I’m also using DeveloperOne's AgendaOne, for GTD on this device, and have another shortcut that creates a new task item already set with the category of “!inbox”.
Again, a single shortcut will create and open a new task with !inbox as the category – I tend to use this for smaller/more specific capture and use the word document for more free flow/mind sweep capture.
The cool thing with the !inbox task method is that when you view items on the device or in Outlook on the PC - the !inbox items are visible at the top of the task list and it's clear you have items to process.
I’ve tried to avoid using a single specific piece of software such as Evernote etc – I’m preferring to simply use a folder structure (folder called !inbox) and save into that any items captured; voice notes, !inbox.doc and anything else that comes my way for capture; PDF’s, saved web pages, screenshots, text files etc.
This way I’m not dependant on a single piece of software to hold it all together and keeping items as separate files (rather than embedded within Evernote etc) I can process them on almost any PC or Mac – without any specific software being installed first.
Great thread by the way – makes very interesting reading.
Cheers,
Andy.
At work I've always a pen and a A4 notebook at hand or A4 sheets held together with a binder clip.
I also carry on me, in my shirt pocket, an A4 sheet folded down to A6 as a backup – I tend to use one per day and at the end of each day, it's unfolded and goes in the inbox. The pad is the main capture device, the folded sheet mainly a backup for the unexpected!
For personal/mobile capture I'm using an HTC TyTn II Windows Mobile Phone and I've created a Word document called “!inbox.doc”
This document is mapped to a hardware key on the device and shortcuts on screen too.
I simply turn the device on, press the hardware key to open the Word document and within a second it’s open and ready for capture. I tend to capture all items in this single document, as it's very easy to work through and process later a single document rather than a document for each capture.
It's real quick and doesn’t get in the way of capturing the idea or thought, it just opens up and you can type away.
Often when processing, these captured ideas etc can then be copied and pasted directly as next actions or kept within a project/next action note section. It avoids a lot of the re-entry from written paper notes that I used to do.
The device also gives me the option of recording voice notes and a digital camera too. All items are saved in a folder called “!inbox” on it’s integral MicroSD memory card.
When back at the PC, I can insert the MicroSD into the PC, open the “!inbox” folder and process the “!inbox” word document, any voice notes or digital pictures etc.
I’m also using DeveloperOne's AgendaOne, for GTD on this device, and have another shortcut that creates a new task item already set with the category of “!inbox”.
Again, a single shortcut will create and open a new task with !inbox as the category – I tend to use this for smaller/more specific capture and use the word document for more free flow/mind sweep capture.
The cool thing with the !inbox task method is that when you view items on the device or in Outlook on the PC - the !inbox items are visible at the top of the task list and it's clear you have items to process.
I’ve tried to avoid using a single specific piece of software such as Evernote etc – I’m preferring to simply use a folder structure (folder called !inbox) and save into that any items captured; voice notes, !inbox.doc and anything else that comes my way for capture; PDF’s, saved web pages, screenshots, text files etc.
This way I’m not dependant on a single piece of software to hold it all together and keeping items as separate files (rather than embedded within Evernote etc) I can process them on almost any PC or Mac – without any specific software being installed first.
Great thread by the way – makes very interesting reading.
Cheers,
Andy.