I have been having the exact same dilemma as you're experiencing. I'm now working out of my house, so my home and work are one and the same. The computer is always available, so that doesn't change.

Here's an idea that I've been playing with, that perhaps you could add to. Instead of separating tasks by location, how about less tangible aspects. For example, I have @Social context, for when I feel like talking to people. Some days, I truly never feel like having much of a conversation, but on the flip-side, once I start talking, I tend to get on a role. In this way, I'll make all 5 phone calls that need to be done all at once.

Another could be @mindless for tasks that require a bare minimum of brain function. As an example, right now I have about 9 months worth of personal financial records to correctly categorize and balance. When done 10 minutes at a time, its not too difficult. Luckily, it also doesn't require much thinking, so it can be done at 2am when I can't sleep. Compare this to another actual item on my lists which is "Make draft business card". The second needs to be done while alert and functioning. I personally have @low-concentration and @high-concentration, but since I find those names boring, I'll be changing them soon.

Another option that I have not tried but have seen tossed around is breaking down the list by anticipated time. Is it a 10 minute or 45 minute task?

Some food for thought, and I'd be very interested to hear further thoughts on the subject.

2 x (o),

I like the 10 minute, 45 minute idea. Maybe @10, @30, @60, @2+ hours? Not sure. I'll toy with that a bit.

I've been tinkering with the idea of a few lists and then project lists.

@supermarket : For food, laundry soap, cat litter, etc. as I come across things I need.

@weekend: For things like do laundry, drive across town for pet food, clean the bathroom

@someday/maybe

and then project folders for all my projects, be they work or leisure.
- work: Mantis up & running
- work: research Operation Anaconda
- work: beta test COTA
- leisure: media PC
- leisure: CSO research
- leisure: BJ's MBX
- leisure: I-bExS
etc.

Each of the project folders will have a list of steps that need to get done with the next action at the top of the list.

I also have AD/HD, so I need to also integrate this with some kind of time management system. (I will forget to brush my teeth if it ain't on some schedule. Honestly.)

I also need to tell a neighbor to slap me upside the head with a Calphalon if I don't do a weekly review.

I know what you mean, TJ, but I've found that it helps to seperate paid work at the office, work on my own projects at home, and other playing on computers. The distinction is about when I -should- be doing something. If something's on @WORK, I should do it 9-5, if it's @PC I should be doing it at home, etc.

I've computerised all this, so at work all I see are my @WORK items; when I go home, @WORK can be filtered out, which is a nice way of seperating work and play.

Just as a point of reference, my contexts are; @SHOP, @WORK, @HOME, @PC (home pc) , @WRITE (near writing equipment), @PLAN (something needs to be planned), @SOMEDAY, @PHONE, and @WAIT. Seems to be enough to filter out things I can't do, which is the benefit of GTD for me; letting me forget the vast mass of stuff I have to do when I have no ability to act on it.

Tinjaw, I agree that was one of the weakest points of GTD - Sometimes it seemed like it was written solely for self aggrandizing dotcom middle management (actually, looking at the first printing date (2001) they probably were a key demo.)

I think the biggest things for me are the Workflow, (and since I'm super ADD my self-made, rainbow-colored Workflow Diagram.) having a review framework so stuff doesn't fall through the cracks, and having places to record/store information. (like the @lists and the idea of keeping everything in one reference store rather than in 50 billion places.)

I also liked the concept of projects (right now my lists are Projects-Home, Projects-Work, @Work, @Home, @Errands (broken out by where (e.g. Target - shoerack, Supermarket - peanut butter, etc) and @Waiting. I also have matching folders in my e-mail and have really taken to heart only having a page of e-mail in my inbox (hard to do - I'm an e-mail admin but it's been totally worth it. It's the single biggest thing I've done to keep from feeling overwhelmed.)

And if you'd like to add generate tons of additional items to track (sending e-mail, phone calls, etc.) check out "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi :)

I use a similar technique to break down computer related tasks into types of work, such as HTML, programming, etc. For me, programming takes much more "cycles" than most other tasks. If I'm not very focused or need a break, I'll switch to making phone calls, graphic design or work on HTML tasks instead.

My current context list is...

@Admin
@Agenda
@Consulting
@Research
@Tech Support
@Design
@HTML
@Programming
@Phone
@Home
@Office
@Errands
@Delegated
@Waiting On

I'm also reading "Never Eat Alone" as well. I highly recommend it.

TJ, definately feel where you're coming from.
I'm a work-at-home slog, myself, and am trying desperately to find a way to implement GTD in my life.

I'm darned near computer-dependant, to the point of always having a desktop, or laptop within reach. Of course, a lot of that is the fact that I do online sales (website and eBay), so it pays to stay in contact. My problem is figuring out a good computer-based way to implement GTD on Windows.

Amazingly, I think I came up with a way to do just that, using any e-mail client that supports folders (and, in my case, IMAP). I'm pretty sure it'll work out.

I think the biggest problem is information overload. On a whole, us compugeeks deal with so much information, that categorizing it via GTD just seems to overwhelming. I know it does to me. I can easily create a couple of contexts, but danged if they don't fill to the brim and overflow, before I've had my morning coffee. It's the paring that down further that makes my mind boggle.

If you come up with a plan, please, for the love of all that is holy and beeps, let me know. heh.

-Eric

My personal life and work are more easily divvied up, but I have a similar problem defining work categories. I *really* like the "@mindless", etc. categories suggested by two.olives!

My categories at work are
@Desk (usually paperwork or notes-purging)
@Web
@Computer (non-web)
@[Field Site]
@Phone
@Reading
@Errands (on-site, e.g. credit union, library)
@WaitingOn
These are all maintained in a big Excel spreadsheet (24" monitor layout).

The @Web distinction is handy because once I open up a browser I tend to get distracted. I am a programmer at heart and sometimes when I get started on a programming item, it is hard to break out of that and go back to other necessary tasks that require the computer. So @Computer is a single category to keep me from using "context switch" as an excuse to ignore non-programming tasks.

Do you work from 5-9 at home? Try stopping that habit :)

The non-work lists are
@Home (around-the-house things, e.g. "gather up books for donation" and "paint lamp base")
@Brighid (my PC, which I don't access from work -- photos and financial records)
@Online (bill paying, looking things up, Netflix, i.e. NONwork)
@Errands
@Phone
@WaitingFor
and a bunch of project lists.
These are all maintained on 3x5 cards.

Cleaning chores are actually done as-needed, and I roughly follow a schedule using 3x5 cards in a system I learned at www.shesorganized.com.

PS -- Eric, I had context overflow problems, too, until after a couple of months when I admitted that a large number of items were really "Someday/Maybe" items (especially the easy but low-priority tasks). These were lingering for weeks and even months in my regular context lists. When I moved them into Someday/Maybe it became easier to focus on the higher priorities.

I disagree. I find that the good thing about GTD is that it works for grunts, too.

For background, I'm a senior network administrator. I look after systems at 22 sites from Japan and Australia across to the UK (via India, China, Dubai and so on). I have a schedule that's about 90% to-do and 10% meetings, and spend 90% of my working days in my own office.

My contexts are basically

@Home
@Home-Waiting
@Home-Pending-Wife
@Home-Pending-Others

@Work
@Work-Waiting
@Work-Pending-Boss
@Work-Pending-Others

I dynamically create other pending and waiting lists for specific people when needed. The software I use (www.mylifeorganized.net) lets me place things in multiple categories. So, for example "Order ink from www.noodlersink.co.uk" goes on both the @Home and @Work lists. the -Waiting are the ones where I need to chase people if they don't get back to me (Weekly review). The -Pending are things to talk to someone about (OK, I actually use people's names in reality), but aren't urgent enough to go and talk to them right away. So, for example, an urgent need to talk to my Boss about something stays on "@Work". The status update on a lower priority item goes on the "@Work-Pending-Boss" list, which is my agenda for the meetings I have with him on a regular basis.

I need to add a good way of dealing with an @Errands list, since it became a "thing to ignore". Perhaps I should designate 1-2 lunch times as "Errand Day" to do these.

Andy

An alternative method to GTD for computer geeks might be the new O'Reilly book Time Management for System Administrators. The link here includes a PDF of the first chapter of his system: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/timemgmt/

I have no compassion for you. :-)

If you don't think your tasks fall into enough catagories, my guess is that you just haven't yet found the key to dividing up your tasks. Your life sounds like mine minus the pets, and I've found that I have lots of catagories to divide my tasks into, usually falling along a spectrum of technical skill, from applications to users to infrastructure. And don't forget project lists.