Yes. First, the question of which application. Then how to adapt it. Then it doesn’t quite work. Etc.

To simplify the process the Palm got dropped. Sits in the cupboard since two years. Not alone in this, I see.

But if we had all just stuck with to-do lists and generic Palm desktop, we might still be able to use our PDA’s!

I disagree.

Firstly, if you have strong grounded fundamentals in the habits of collection, next actions, and outcome focusing and use the GTD method as a delivery system to get organised there shouldn’t be any problem ‘straying from the path’.

Secondly, the ‘play’ factor is important because it increases innovation, creativity and stops you from being so monastic in day to day implementation of GTD. Playing and tweaking with the system in real life organisational moments makes you appreciate the importance of the fundamentals and the GTD delivery system and allows you to come up with your own personal GTD ‘style’.

Like Pat Kane, author of the Play Ethic, said “The trivialization of play was the work ethic’s most lasting, and most regrettable achievement.”

To clarify. Absolutely—experimentation and change is critical. Job 1 for the accomplished alpha geek.

But diabetics need to avoid sugar and drunks need to stay off the juice. And, if you’re hitting rock bottom from a real productivity standpoint, the last thing you need to do is to spend three days re-arranging lists. In other words—your “firstly” is seldom a foregone conclusion, in my experience.

I’m not against play and experimentation at all, but it’s important to distinguish when play is appropriate and when you need to just put your head down and finish your dang work. From where I’m sitting there are a lot of folks who are playing and fiddling with productivity pr0n to the nearly complete exclusion of any actual work. Then they get all frustrated because “the system” is broken, and, well, the music goes round and round. Put differently, a TODO list is only as useful as your capacity to do the items it contains.

As someone who’s frequently accused of feeding that fix for fractal noodlers, I think it’s only responsible for me to also point to resources that help folks reign in their unrestricted dicking-around.

Sort of like the the 1-800 Gambling number in tiny print on your lottery ticket. ;-)

If you’re spending more time tweaking your system than you are actually Getting Things Done, then you have already “strayed from the path.” If you have an urge to play and tweak, then play with the stuff people are paying you for.

(Not that I’m innocent in this regard, of course. Physician, heal thyself!)

I agree about resisting the urge to tweak, though I went at this the other way: I implemented pretty much the whole system, and then pared away the parts that weren’t working for me. Kept: Writing everything down, emphasis on next actions, always having an input device, the weekly review. Gone: Separate categories (e.g. as Merlin has pointed out, “wait for” is just another next action), the tickler file.

Sort of like the the 1-800 Gambling number in tiny print on your lottery ticket. ;-)

Tweak Responsibly.

I’m Michael and I’m a tweakoholic.

I keep fighting the urge to “improve” the system. I recently blogged about this at http://desparoz.typepad.com/onthego/2005/05/methodology_tec.html

Its a funny thing, but I think that there is a mindset that its easier to play with a system than to just do the stuff the system is prescribing.

Playing and experimentation is in itself a good thing - a very good thing. But it needs a time and place, and that time and place is when you’ve really bedded down the methodology, and are using it well.

Next Actions, Weekly Reviews, Waiting Fors and leakless collection habits are all things that need to be second nature before you’ve earned the right to tweak.

At the risk of using another martial arts metaphor, in the karate there is a concept of learning called Shu-Ha-Ri. The first stage, Shu, basically entails rote learning, without asking questions. Just do it the way that has been shown.

The second stage, Ha, entails personalising the system. Modifying it without changing the core principles to suit your individual strengths and weaknesses.

The third stage, Ri, is a natural progression where one develops their own “style within a style”, deeply studying the core principles and modifying them where appropriate to suit your own process.

Shu-Ha-Ri is something that has no set timetable. It is observed, not driven. It happens naturally - when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. But in essence, it generally takes 5 years to move through the Shu stage into Ha, and then another 5 years or more to move through the Ha stage. Incidentally, this means that someone of early black belt level is generaly still in the Shu stage.

I wonder if David Allen’s metaphor of black belt in GTD is coincidental - maybe his message is that people should learn and internalise the basics before getting too experimental. Thats a good thing, IMHO.

I wonder if we’re not to a third level of problem. I have seen several things recently about how we’re tweaking our systems too much. Well, maybe we’re writing too many articles and comments about how we’re tweaking too much. Then we’re commenting on blogs about the article about the too much tweaking not enough stuff getting done problem. We’re getting further from the stuff by the second. Maybe Merlin is making a living off this thinking about the tweaking, but most of us should be getting stuff done. What the hell is wrong with me? If it’s bad to waste time and energy tweaking my system, how much worse is it to waste time criticizing the tweaking, and how freaking screwed up is it to waste even a second commenting about the criticism of the tweaking. I’m four freaking levels away from the stuff I’m supposed to be doing. I’m outta here.

Atta boy, Smelley. Fight the good fight.

shuffles back to ‘making a living’ writing free blog content

I totally agree with what BigNose Uglyfellow said.GTD is supposed to help us improve productivity. It is the MEANS to an END, not the END in itself which is what it has become for most of us. I tried implementing all sorts of systems including installing (and uninstalling) software on my Treo and PC, but at the end of the day, my most effective solution has been to use a simple notebook and my lotus notes calendar, with plenty of alarms as reminders. On top of that I use the coloured slip covers that you guys recently discovered (how could you have gone without it?). This allows me to do what i need to do rather than worry about the system. From time to time I read the posts here for inspiration, but if I find that it takes too long to implement or if it gets too cumbersome, I just get back to basics. Now all I need is a Moleskin (they don’t sell those babies in Thailand - :( )

I think that last comment is very apropos whether or not it was intended to be. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole ‘GTD/Moleskine’ obsession so prevalent amongst the early-adopters and hipsters of the moment. now don’t get me wrong, I love Moleskines - they’re good quality, well-made, nicely proportioned little notebooks - but when it comes down to it, they’re really just notebooks, one brand of many. Sure, there’s the elastic band and the little pocket, but that kind of thing is so easily retrofit. I think it’s just because they’re European and kind of illicit looking. But I’m going to blow all of you guys’ minds when I bring out my (wait for it) Mead Five Star hipster PDA!

Hey Ella, I’ll go you one better on the Mead 5-Star.

I’m too big-boned to be happy with anything on my hips - hipsters, cell phones, (shudder) fanny packs all make me cringe.

My life-system is two sturdy pockets in every pair of pants and skirt that I own. (I even put pockets in my wedding dress, not kidding.) In one pocket are paper and plastic: driver’s license, money cards (debit, credit, gift), actual money, any receipts or notes that I’ve collected since my last dump. The other pocket is metal: keys and coins and jangly things.

My note system has to fit in the credit card pocket, and I have not found any notebook that small (although I haven’t been to the Hello Kitty store yet).

Instead I am using adding machine tape. I fold it accordion-style to the same size as the width of the credit cards. (Not the length of the card - the tape is slightly wider than a credit card, and that would not work because it would get ragged.) I make about 20 folds, and end up with 42 2”x2” notespaces, a little pile of paper almost the same thickness as a credit card.

I write from both ends - one end is usually a grocery/stuff to purchase list and the other is for everything else. As I do things, I just tear off that sheet (unless it’s in the middle, then I cross it out). Or if it’s involved I can tear it off and put it with the appropriate project paperwork.

When I get near the end I just start using another set. It’s not a problem to have two sets in my pocket at once.

I found a little collapsing pen - Zebra, two for $5 (about 10 feet from the snazzy $20 Ion pens) and it is also just about the length of a credit card, so it has the honor of being the only metal thing in the credit card pocket.

I have a little setup on my desk so that in odd moments I can sit and fold a few sets of tape. It’s a therapeutic little bit of handwork. This is the best way I have found of having pen and paper constantly with me and easy to use.

Back on track again

It’s so easy to surf the net for new solutions, new software, new ways of working. Instead of just reading the slogan of your old Nike-shirt: Just do it. Merlin has excellent advice - again. 43 Folders is my first-read…

Endless Tinkering

43 Folders has a great post on this type of endless tinkering with your system that we GTD’ers are prone to. It?s hard to avoid, especially for us geeks, who always want to find the perfect piece of software (or often, write it ourselves).

Shu-Ha-Ri and GTD

This blog post is a bit of a re-write of a comment I made to the post Fractal Implementation, or, On the Dangers of David Allen’s Finger over on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders site. Its a funny thing, but I

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Es ist entweder Enttäuschung aufgrund des gestern Bekanntgewordenen oder es handelt sich um richtige Mac-Hasser (die es in Frankreich zuhauf gibt, wie ich selber festgestellt habe), was zur iToilet geführt hat. Es könnte schlimmer kommen: Gmail kön…