Updating the site

I'm going to be adding a bit more GTD related stuff to the site. Was amazed to find my PDA page linked on del.icio.us. It's sort of the direction I'm going in and since GTD is so hot right now, it's a good way to share.

I'm back to my boring, almost plain vanilla system. And I think it's going to stay that way. I tried Acrowiki but decided that I didn't like it after all. I don't want to get too heavy into linking. I tried using wiki names for my projects and using Palm wiki to pick them up. It's pretty nice. I have a weekly review memo that I can jump from project to project and do a quick review.

It's really amazing when I think of how many Palm programs I've tried. And I've worked up a system on most of them. I think I'll try and put up some suggestions for ways to use programs.

I'm finding that Notatonal Velocity will do pretty much everything I need for a computer based system. Just drop a text file over to a folder that I use for Mac NoteTaker transfers. It will also save as rich text, which means it can work with the Word Smith conduit too. What will I do with all this time, now that I'm not tweaking?? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be DOING stuff!!

Systems

If you've read this blog at all, you've read about me switching back and forth between my memo based system and Life Balance. This morning, I finally had some insight into why I keep doing this.

I am a software generalist. I know a little about a lot of programs. This makes sense, since my job for many years has been software support. One of the things that interests me is what a program is trying to do, how the developer solves that problem, and how easy the interface is to use. Since Palm software is so much cheaper than computer software, I've played around with many programs. I've found that I literally can't use some of the most popular ones. Datebk5 comes to mind. I've looked at it several times and then delete it right off. It simply doesn't work the way that I do.

I started using Life Balance on the Palm, on my TRGPro. It's been a favorite for a long time. In fact, I started using Macs so I could try the desktop. Now, I'm not crazy about the desktop. It does a nice job, is easy to use, and runs flawlessly on my Mac. Yet I can take it or leave it. The Palm program is a different story and that confused me. Both programs work the same and have essentially the same interface. Why do I keep coming back to the Palm version? It dawned on me that there are two reasons for it and both involve animations. I love the way that the pie chart is redrawn on my Zire 71. It just recalculates so quickly. It's interesting to see where I've been focusing and to decide if I really want to focus on any of the things I've been avoiding. The real reason I keep coming back to Life Balance is the llama animation. I like having the llama calculate my priorities. Isn't that silly? It's the one thing that isn't present on the desktop. Life Balance really is amazing and is an interesting program to puzzle over.

The problem with it, for me, is that I don't think in outlines. A "web" of ideas works better for me and that's why I've been drawn to Cyberpoche for so long. The programs I've been using work together nicely. I decided to try Acrowiki, to see if the missing piece for me is a colorful home page. I do know that I seem to get bored with the system and that's when I reinstall LB. Since I have the desktop version, I can just check off the things I've done and pick up where I left off. And that lasts for a few weeks, until I get tired of being told what to do ;)

I feel that any time you can analyze why you are doing something, you can finally move towards changing it. I'm hoping this analysis will help to stick with a single system and not spend so much time flipping back and forth. I know that I'll still miss that llama ;)

Solutions

If you've read this blog at all, you've read about me switching back and forth between my memo based system and Life Balance. This morning, I finally had some insight into why I keep doing this.

I am a software generalist. I know a little about a lot of programs. This makes sense, since my job for many years has been software support. One of the things that interests me is what a program is trying to do, how the developer solves that problem, and how easy the interface is to use. Since Palm software is so much cheaper than computer software, I've played around with many programs. I've found that I literally can't use some of the most popular ones. Datebk5 comes to mind. I've looked at it several times and then delete it right off. It simply doesn't work the way that I do.

I started using Life Balance on the Palm, on my TRGPro. It's been a favorite for a long time. In fact, I started using Macs so I could try the desktop. Now, I'm not crazy about the desktop. It does a nice job, is easy to use, and runs flawlessly on my Mac. Yet I can take it or leave it. The Palm program is a different story and that confused me. Both programs work the same and have essentially the same interface. Why do I keep coming back to the Palm version? It dawned on me that there are two reasons for it and both involve animations. I love the way that the pie chart is redrawn on my Zire 71. It just recalculates so quickly. It's interesting to see where I've been focusing and to decide if I really want to focus on any of the things I've been avoiding. The real reason I keep coming back to Life Balance is the llama animation. I like having the llama calculate my priorities. Isn't that silly? It's the one thing that isn't present on the desktop. Life Balance really is amazing and is an interesting program to puzzle over.

The problem with it, for me, is that I don't think in outlines. A "web" of ideas works better for me and that's why I've been drawn to Cyberpoche for so long. The programs I've been using work together nicely. I haven't invested in Acrowiki yet, so maybe the missing piece for me is a colorful home page. I do know that I seem to get bored with the system and that's when I reinstall LB. Since I have the desktop version, I can just check off the things I've done and pick up where I left off. And that lasts for a few weeks, until I get tired of being told what to do ;)

I feel that any time you can analyze why you are doing something, you can finally move towards changing it. I'm hoping this analysis will help to stick with a single system and not spend so much time flipping back and forth. I know that I'll still miss the llama ;)

Switcher

I talked to my first Mac switcher last night. There may be some future in being the Mac person at work after all ;) She bought a laptop and said that she was just tired of dealing with the anti-virus, firewalls, and anti-spyware products that you have to run on Windows computers these days. I suspect you will be seeing more of these. There are a lot of folks out there who don't feel comfortable using computers. When you throw on all those extra programs, it's just an added headache. OS X is not the perfect operating system and certainly has its own set of issues. So far, security doesn't seem to be one of them.

I am working on a set of Life Balance templates. I think there is room for a very basic set that does incorporate some of the stuff from Ratz' work. So I moved my existing stuff into the new template and will find out what areas I need to tweak. I actually went back to the memos/linked system for a bit. I really like it and I do think it's a good system. The problem is that I seem to have problems reviewing material when it's spread out like that. I have FindMemos and it does a great job of searching for common items. I just get tired of trying to figure out ways to make the search easier. And, anytime the discussion turns to LB, I miss it. So I've decided to add it back. I'm also still using WordSmith, instead of Mac NoteTaker. If I can convince myself that it will work fine for memos, I might remove PSMemo. It's still a work in progress.

the organizing fever

It's interesting to see the growth in GTD related sites. The GTD_Palm list has been going since 2001. I am constantly approving new people to the list and it's up over 4800 people. Blogs everywhere are talking about David Allen's technique. At the same time, there's a resurgence in interest of paper based systems. (Which may lead to some women telling their guys "I told you so." I see more women using paper based systems than men. Your mileage may vary.)

At any rate, it all boils down to the same thing: what sort of structure to impose on your system. Even with the Hipster PDA, you are starting to see people come up with templates. Same thing with paper binders. This is the same thing that drives people to test different Palm apps. People seem to need a way to organize their thoughts.

It all leads to one of the things that has drawn me to the Cyberpoche method. You impose minimal structure and rely on the Find program to pull things back up. I use pTools, which will save searches for you and will search within the memos for keywords. FindMemos is brillant. You can create a page of links from your keyword search, making it easy to create a temporary link to a group of memos. All it takes on your part is the discipline of using keywords that will help you come up with a unique list of memos. And this also fits in with the current interest in del.icio.us style tags. It's the same thing--the use of words that will help categorize your thoughts and make it easier to retrieve them. It should lead to less structured systems. Instead, it seems to make folks nervous and they try to impose more structure.

The key is the use of Find. It's the biggest advantage that digital has over analog. With paper, you need to come up with some way to index your thoughts. Digital systems make that easy. Become fluent in the use of the Shortcut program (and add Shortcut5 if you use Palm OS5.) You can easily add any set of keywords or formatting to your memos that you'd like, by creating a useful shortcut to automate it.

Most of us have used paper before and continue to use it where appropriate. Don't overlook the usefulness of your Palm. Spend some time becoming comfortable in using Find to pull items together for you. Automate with shortcuts. You'll find it very productive to do so.