43 Folders

43 Folders feed subscription icon - Shiny!Time, Attention, and Creative Work. After 4 years and a lot of productivity pr0n, we’re shifting gears. Re-learn how to use 43 Folders. Then back to work. [»]

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

GTD in the IT Profession

I was wanting to see what other IT professionals are using for their system. What kinda blends of HiFi/LoFi do you employ? What contexts do you use? What contexts do you have but don't use very well? Are you blending personal with job?

I sometimes struggle with my system because of the REACTIVE nature of my job. I am a 1-man IT Dept. and while I do have projects that fit really well into my system, there are the unpredictables that make me stress out...email is down, cannot print to XXX, and the always important, My system is SOOOO slow today.

My contexts are:
* @Calls
* @Waiting For

* @Work [general context, may leave system]
* @Support [support issues for my users]
* @Servers [anything that has to deal with my 3 servers: 1 prod, 2 test]
* @Network [any network issues]

* @Website [both job website and personal website stuff]

* @Home [general context]
* @Warcraft [things to do in MMORPG World of Warcraft]
* @Payments [Bills I need to pay]
* @Errands [general errands]
* @Reading [things that I am currently reading]
* @Purchase [things that I want to get]

* BrainDump [where I just dump NAs to be processed later]
* Someday/Maybe

Right now I am still using the Tracks, for to-dos and projects, with a Moleskine, for a hard landscape.

But the hPDA seems soo cool...ARGHHH!

I hear a lot about Google (which went live today)...should I replace my Moleskines?!?

I guess I need to stop tweaking and just use it and shut up.

Anyway, I just like to see how others implement GTD in their lives, esp. those with similar interest (or jobs) to me.

Michael


Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Chrome47's picture

I'm working on tweaking mine...

I'm working on tweaking mine a bit. I'm an artist and graphic designer, so my situation is a little different. I'll be following this to see what other people say.

randellt's picture

I'm a fellow IT wrangler...

I'm a fellow IT wrangler and my system is quite close to yours. I use
- Moleskine for note taking in meetings
- 3x5 cards as a mobile capture and in-my-face reminder mechanism
- MyLifeOrganized to receive the data captured on the 3x5s and as the core of ,y trusted system

My contexts are close to yours as well, but I break them down further to get more granular and I split between Home and Work. You can take a look at some screenshots at http://www.flickr.com/photos/trandell/sets/72057594094707412. I use the GTD template developed by the fine people at MLO and tweaked it to fit my needs better.

IMHO MLO is fantastic. It is lightweight, nimble and super-intuitive. Perhaps kGTD/OmniOutliner is strong competition, but since I have a Mac at home and PC at work, MLO wins. Plus I can run MLO completely from a USB key, giving me added flexibility. Download the trial and give it a spin.

Hope this helps.

mcnicks's picture

*...

michaelramm wrote:

* @Work [general context, may leave system]
* @Support [support issues for my users]
* @Servers [anything that has to deal with my 3 servers: 1 prod, 2 test]
* @Network [any network issues

I have to handle a whole range of IT-related tasks as well, but I have tried to resist dividing up my context by activity because it leads to my old 'todo list for everything' approach. By keeping my contexts related to location, I can avoid worrying about a whole heap of things that are physically impossible for me to do (eg. because I need to be in a different building to do them). I find that, if I divide tasks up by activity, I tend to worry or feel guilty because in my head I keep saying, 'I could be doing X just now' or 'I should be doing Y just now'.

Its early days for me so I have no idea if this approach has any tangible benefits: its just feels a bit more intuitive.

michaelramm's picture

That is a good approach....

That is a good approach. We are a small municipality and we have 3 main locations and 3 fire stations with one computer at each.

Of the three main locations, there is a police officer at the Public Safety building who handles most of their IT stuff, even though I am ultimately responsible. He his a good IT guy and has a good handle on the situation there.

At our other building, there are only 4 computers and one 'server' there. They are very low maintenence so I don't worry much there.

At my location, which is City Hall, there are 40 users and one all-in-one 10 year old Novell server. My main project now is transistioning the network from Novell to Windows, which will take the better course of a year to fully implement.

I really have one location to deal with so I decided to break it down the way I did. This will work even better after the transistion because I should be able to do any and all software support from my desk, and only go to the user's workstation when there is a hardware or peripheral issue.

Michael

About michaelramm

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

An Oblique Strategy:
Not building a wall; making a brick


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Inbox Zero

The original 43 Folders series looking at the skills, tools, and attitude needed to empty your email inbox — and then keep it that way. Don’t miss the free video of Merlin’s Inbox Zero presentation.

Making Time

3-part series on attention management for artists and makers. Read Bad Correspondence, The Job You Think You Have, and One Clear Line.