bioneural.net

As mentioned in an earlier post on using faux Contacts for collecting, managing, and synching tasks offline on the iPhone, I've been reading Getting things done (GTD) by David Allen. I have to say I found the book a difficult, overly repetitive and non-engaging read, despite my motivation to learn from it. If you could get a lot of things done in the time it takes to read 267 anecdote-heavy pages, here's my somewhat condensed take on the bits worth sharing, along with a few Mac-specific embellishments.

This is Part two of a two-part series exploring GTD using a Mac and iPhone. It may make more sense if you review Part one first.

Introduction

I've been hooked on task lists since I first installed Claris Organizer 1.0 from floppy disk (remember those?) onto my PowerBook 100. Organizer incorporated Calendar, Contacts, Notes, and Tasks into a single interface—and I do appreciate integration. That app evolved into Palm Desktop and when I bought a Palm V in 1999 my obsessive list-keeping became mobile and subsequently synchronised via various apps including Entourage, iCal, iSync, and Missing Sync. While recent apps like OmniFocus and Things are rather pretty and more GTD-savvy, I'd prefer to rely the Apple-supplied tools I already have. Doing so is simpler (the less tools involved the better—that's one of Allen's recommendations), less costly, and makes use of the typically well-executed integration between Apple apps and devices.

Reconciling task and time management

Notice I said "typically" well-executed integration. Sadly integration of calendars, tasks, and notes between Mac and iPhone is rather inadequate as of this writing:

• iCal/ Palm/ Missing Sync supported colour-coding of separate calendars: on iPhone the separation is lost, with all synched calendars merged in monotone togetherness (I'm glad to see this is being addressed in forthcoming the iPhone 2.0 software);
• iCal/ Palm/ Missing Sync supported task sync (with attached notes and preservation of categories): on iPhone tasks from iCal are dropped and there is no task manager on the device;
• iCal/ Palm/ Missing Sync supported note sync: on iPhone the Notes app does not sync, although you can work around this by synching e-mail online, or using the notes field in Address Book/ Phone or iCal/ Calendar offline.

I do as I assume many other Mac folk do: create separate calendars in iCal for different "contexts". As a Palm user each calendar would contain appointments or events as well as tasks (the calendar name becoming the task category on Palm). My default calendar "Bruce" received new tasks prior to sorting (entered via iCal or on the Palm), but also served as a catch-all for tasks that didn't fit into a pre-defined context/ project. The default was also used for shared events, since this calendar is securely shared with my wife via WebDAV on Box (no subscription to .Mac or mobile.me required).

The default calendar shares events; other calendars were mainly for tasks

This wasn't going to work on iPhone if I couldn't sync tasks. As part of my rethink I had to completely separate events (all-day, timed, and tasks with a due date) from tasks. My only option seemed to be to ditch task management in iCal altogether and migrate it together with an organizational structure using Groups in Address Book/ Phone as described here.

Address Book and Phone contacts make unlikely sync partners

Getting things done

With a functional framework for time and task management in place as a starting point, what could GTD impart in terms of improved efficiency and bolstered productivity? Less than I anticipated, actually. I was already a list-maker as mentioned, and the methodology doesn't contain any radical new thinking. GTD is essentially a synthesis of common practice and common sense, but so packaged as to force readers to pause and reflect on what they are doing or could do better. Think of GTD as a facilitator, offering you organizational choices from which to cherry-pick according to what suits your personal circumstances. It is by no means definitive and cannot be applied generically, but this does not detract from it's 5-step utility.

Step 1: Collecting tasks

Allen uses the metaphor of "buckets" to describe various containers for gathering anything unfinished that demands your attention now or will do so at some point in the future. I primarily use a dedicated "Collect" task list, an Inbox in Apple Mail, and the NetNewsWire feed reader—none of which happen to be formed out of rounded green plastic containing food scraps for composting.

Other points of collection might be in the physical form of a desktop in-tray, the mail slot in your front door, scribbled paper notes, digital notes on a PDA, voice mail, telephone, etc. or anything not already in physical form but existing only in your head. The point is to get everything out of your head and into physical form in as few places as workable so that you don't have to think about them all the time and know exactly where to consult the totality of things that need attention.

Allen says we should aim to keep each "bucket" empty. Initially I resisted this—partly due to a hang-over habit of dumping everything into a default calendar in iCal—and partly because I thought it plainly pedantic to categorize (contextualize) everything. With a bit more experience, I'm coming around to his way of thinking that by not assigning a context I'm making such tasks that little bit more difficult to complete. The theory goes that every task has both an appropriate time and place for completion.

Step 2: Processing tasks

There are really two aspects to processing things that need doing: filtering through all the things you've collected and deciding on the next actions for anything you didn't file for reference, drop, incubate on a "someday" list, or do there and then.

There's also some overlap with collecting (Step 1) and organizing (Step 3), which worried me for a while until I realised that while GTD can be depicted as a linear process for the purpose of description, in practice you may find yourself tackling Steps 1-3 in parallel. For example, I need to stain the new picnic bench. Because I happen to know that I have Iris stain and a brush, the next action is "Stain bench" (as opposed to "Buy stain" at the hardware store). But rather than putting that on my #Collect list, it can go straight into the @Home context list for completion "at home" when the weather is co-operating. In one move I've almost simultaneously collected the demand on my attention, filtered it as something to do soon but not now, processed it for the next required action, and organized it into the appropriate physical context.

At this stage you might decide to:

• File it for later reference (e.g. a travel article in a magazine that could come in handy for trip planning). Allen makes a big deal out of paper-based filing systems using 43 labelled folders; we use a Bisley filing cabinet with A4 suspension hangers which is perfectly adequate for our modest needs (organized by subject e.g. Tax 2006-2007, Professional subs, Cat, etc.). If you file digitally (and we do scan some stuff for this purpose) how and where you file it is less relevant today since powerful retrieval tools like Spotlight in OS X negate much of the importance of location. I also have a Project folder on my Mac where I store things that might be useful for current projects. Likewise I use grouped Safari bookmarks to keeps tabs on potentially useful articles I've come across;
• Drop it, if you decide it's not really that important after all and safe to ignore;
• Incubate it by adding it to a list of things to do someday in the future, perhaps (e.g. "Learn to program in Java");
• Do it, right now if it can be completed within 2 minutes—then you're less likely to get freaked out by a long list of trivial tasks;
• Define the next action to be taken on anything left over.

Allen's advice to decide on the next tangible, physical action is probably the key thing I did get out of reading GTD. Being more specific and breaking up larger projects into achievable, bite-sized actions makes them less daunting, and helps overcome the barrier to progress by removing the "I don't know where to start" line familiar to us all.

Step 3: Organizing tasks

Having acquired a collection of individual actions, we now come to organizing these into meaningful lists, including "special" location-based lists collectively known as contexts. It's all about making sensible relationships that fit into the way you work in the real word. For example:

• A set of tasks related by circumstance (e.g. "online" means in the context of being at my desk with an Internet connection)
• A set of tasks related by anticipated outcome (i.e. a named project)
• A set of tasks related by the fact that they may or may not be done at some point (e.g. renting a particular DVD, printing photos to canvas, etc.)

As previously described I use the following notation:

• * is a list item (i.e. individual action e.g. * Trim hedge);
• - is a completed list item (e.g - Repaint side gate;
• # is a list (natural groupings of list items e.g. #Tidy garden is a project list comprised of several actions);
• @ is a context (common location-based list e.g. @Home)

This translates into the following organizational lists:

• #All actions (smart list, manually copied to Group for Phone sync; all *);
• #Next actions (smart list in Address Book only; all * 01);
• #Collect (where I add new tasks as I think of them);
• #Someday (the equivalent of my "rainy day" list);
• #Waiting (not scheduled in iCal as not essential to do on a specific day);
• #Project (a short description of the project—anything requiring multiple steps).

Allen discourages the use of "Miscellaneous" action lists, maintaining that lack of a physical context hampers the "next action" decision. Aiming to keep #Collect empty not only stops it from being a catch-all, but forces you to think about the physical environment in which you will complete the task (that is, the context). However, not all places or encounters are physical in a strict sense, so I'm interpreting "context" as meaning either a place (e.g. @Mac), a person (e.g. @Parents), or even a state of mind/ point in life (e.g. @Career).

Step 4: Reviewing tasks

Having separated out events from tasks it will be necessary to review both upcoming day and time-specific events in calendar, and pending tasks in your task lists. Several of my existing habits already gel with this GTD step:

• If a task is to be deferred indefinitely, move it to #Someday. If it is merely postponed, schedule a note in iCal to revisit it;
• If a task is on #Waiting and a follow-up is about due (e.g. "I haven't yet received your quote"), schedule a note in iCal to chase it up by a certain date;
• I have habit of writing all-day events into iCal for anything that I might want to be aware of in future e.g. if I get a new debit card, I record the expiry date; when the boiler is serviced, I enter the date next due; I set repeating events eg. cat's annual imms, renewal of insurance policies. I certainly don't want those things sitting on my pending task list for 12 months—but a month ahead on reviewing the calendar I might create a task "Book boiler service", for example;
• We do a thorough rummage through the Bisley annually, tossing out expired policies, old tax returns, etc. Cleanliness is one path to happiness :-)

So how often and when should you review upcoming events and tasks? Allen recommends a regular early Friday afternoon slot, with a solid rationale:

• The events of the week are likely to be still fresh enough for you to be able to do a complete postmortem ("Oh, yeah, I need to make sure I get back to her about...");
• When you (invariably) uncover actions that require reaching people at work, you'll still have time to do that before they leave for the weekend;
• It's great to clear your psychic desks so you can go into the weekend ready for refreshment and recreation, with nothing on your mind.

Step 5: Doing tasks

Of the methods mentioned by Allen, choosing single tasks—or the next actions of Projects—based on context, time available, energy available, and priority made the most sense to me. To this list I would add enthusiasm: for less pleasant tasks (anything involving sanding or painting!) there is definitely a good time and a bad time to attempt them, as different days can sometimes bring surprisingly polar attitudes.

On Palm I used to use the priority setting to reflect both urgency and, in a way, context. For example, "1" could mean this morning in town, "2" this afternoon on the phone, and "3" sometime today at home if there's time. Such sequencing is currently absent from my current Address Book/ Phone method of organization, although the likes of OmniFocus with it's in-development iPhone companion or Things will no doubt provide a more elegant alternative in due course.

Anyway, let's put all that together:

Click thumbnail to enlarge image

The 5 steps to GTD (parallel processing allowed!)

Efficient e-mail management

I agree with Allen who says:

E-mails are best left where they are, because of their volume and the efficiency factor of dealing with them within their own minisystem.

I always keep Inbox empty, using what I've referred to as "deal or delete". Turns out this is very much in the GTD spirit of things. The Inbox can be emptied by the following means:

• If it needs no action then delete from Inbox;
• If it merits a reply now I hit "Reply" and write/ send it, then delete from Inbox;
• If it merits a reply later I hit "Reply" I save as a draft, then delete from Inbox;
• If it's informative and potentially useful as a reference I move it to a suitable "On my Mac" mailbox;
• If it needs follow-up but not a reply I move it to "Pending", an "On my Mac" mailbox that serves the same function as #Waiting.

I use smart mailboxes to track flagged messages and less important stuff that I don't want to manually move.

Local folders complement smart mailbox filtering of IMAP messages

For the moment I don't use Notes in Mail since they don't sync to anything (not iCal, not Notes on my iPhone); I use the notes field in iCal and Address Book instead, which does synch off-air to Calendar and Phone on iPhone.

Efficient feed reading

At lot of information comes to me via NetNewsWire. Some of it is of personal interest (e.g. Mint new referrers), some of it I don't want to miss (e.g. my friends blog posts), and some I have a particular interest in (e.g. anything mentioning "geotag icon" via an automated watch list or Smart List in NNW-speak). As for the rest? It may contain interesting stuff, but I'll only key through the headlines and open a tab for those I deem worthy of a closer look when I get the chance.

My individual subscriptions were formerly organised into over a dozen top-level folders. Taking a cue from Tim Bray I've now formally separated my subscriptions into folders marked "Stream" (more signal) and "River" (more noise). If I'm short of time I can at least review the former and hit the angst-busting Mark All As Read button for the latter.

Addressing the signal-noise issue in NetNewsWire

On iPhone I have Newsgator Mobile saved to my Home screen, which preserves the same structure and lets me keep up-to-date with my reading when I can find WiFi away from home. Rather than read the full article in iPhone Safari at 480 x 320 pixels, if it looks interesting I mark it as a clip. Back in desktop NNW I can review clippings and open a tab to read them. If a clipping might prove perpetually useful, it can be saved as desktop Safari bookmark for ongoing synch between Mac and iPhone.

Clipping for later review is easy in NetNewsWire Mobile

Interestingly, an SDK-based alternative to Newsgator's web-based reader is under development.