As I work through GTD, I thought I should document the system that I’m attempting to use, both as a reference for my future-self as well as anyone else that might be interested.
After going [[What about writing my own gtd system?|back and forth]] on whether I should write my own software or use another piece of software to implement my GTD system, I’ve discovered what I think is the perfect system for me.
Paper.
I’m using a zippered, 2” three-ring binder from WalMart ($10) and pre-punched paper that we keep in stock in the lab. I’ve created some templates based on Douglas Johnston’s excellent D*I*Y Planner, and I’m using those in this binder as my system.
The tabs I have are:
before the first tab, I keep a “Contact Information” sheet should by beloved binder turn up missing, along with a 5-week planner (I hate monthly planning, documented elsewhere) and some weekly planner pages.
Contact Logs. Here I keep a page on everyone that I need to communicate with (right now, work only). So my boss and collaborators each have pages in there. When I have something I need to discuss with them, it goes on their page. When I actually talk to them, I date it (and, if appropriate, mark whether it was mail, phone, or face-to-face), and mark any follow-up that I might have, just to spur my memory (the actual followup would either be another entry in a contact log, an entry in a Waiting For list, or an entry in one of my Next Action lists.
, , and context tabs. Right now, “Sysadmin” and “Programming” are the major hats I wear (remember, this is only at work). The first page in those tabs is a Next Actions sheet, where all my actions go. Following that are Project Details, Project Outlines, and Project Notes pages, documenting everything. This is a combination of the project reference and project list ideas put forth in the book. The last page in the tab is a Waiting For list. So I keep all my projects, all their outlines, and all their notes in one place, organized by context. That breaks with the canonical system, and I’ll have to see how that goes. I can see myself needing to break some of the bigger projects into tabs (or even whole binders) all their own, but I’m not to that point yet, and this seems to be working. I only have 15-20 projects per context right now, so there’s not a lot of paper.The difference between and the others are those tasks which just don’t quite fit into the other two contexts, mostly fire-fighting at the user level, and adminstrative tasks like filling out timesheets, keeping my several work areas tidy, and attending meetings.
the next tab is blank, where I keep some blank Project and NA forms.
Lists. Here I keep several Checklist forms, documenting stuff like “Things to learn about” and “Movies to see/rent/buy.”
Someday/Maybe. I have two kinds of templates in this tab, a “Quicklist” with a few lines for quick notes, and a full-blown “Project” form where I can go into great detail about a project that’s too good to ignore, but not something I want to get into just now.
Software Issues. I’ve developed a custom template that I can use to work through the bugs/tasks/features that come up while I’m . Right now, I’m keeping them seperate, but I can see them being attached to the project in the context eventally. This is an early revision, and is still quite malleable.
Machines. Another set of custom templates that I’ve developed for tracking the many computers that I’m responsible for when I’m or . The front of the page contains metadata, and the back is a log sheet where I document each time I visit a machine, what I did, and whatever might be a followup. Basically, treating machines like “contacts,” above.
The next tab is blank, where I keep some generic “Notes” pages.