one inch frame

Doug Johnston is best known around the web for the D*I*Y Planner, a set of templates distributed as PDF that are suitable for building a paper-based planner. In addition to the classic 5.5” x 8.5” size, Doug also produces an A5 size version of the kit, as well as specialized versions of many templates for the Hipster PDA.

I met Doug in July 2005. As much as I loved his work on the planner, my needs fell more towards letter-sized templates. Driven by equal parts of madness and hubris, I fired up the (then new) beta of OmniGraffle Pro and set to work mashing up my own version of the D*I*Y Planner templates to fit the larger page size. When I had completed all the templates that I needed, I sent them to Doug. Doug releases the planner under one of the more restrictive Creative Commons licenses, so I could not release my templates, being based on his, without his express permission.

Doug thought that my templates were pretty good, and what has grown out of my initial desire to ‘set my templates free’ has become considerably more work, and considerably more rewarding.

Doug made me buy Adobe Illustrator and work on “official” letter-sized versions of the D*I*Y Planner kit. Set for release in September 2005, the letter edition, he says, could set the world on fire, as he’s had lots of requests for it over the months.

In addition, Doug’s desire to separate his work on the ‘Planner kits from his blog has led him to work on diyplanner.com, a site for all-things-paper-planning. Originally a wiki, I told Doug that he should look at Drupal for his community-based work, which he did, and agreed that it’s a better choice than a plain wiki for such things. He needed a Drupal guy to help with the planning of the site, and I agreed to help out.

So now the two of us have one of those relationships where we each rely on the other’s area of expertise: Doug is the template master, and I require a lot of his assistance as I translate his excellent work into a letter-sized version. I know Drupal, so he needs me to help him get diyplanner.com off the ground and keep it running smoothly. We plan to roll out diyplanner.com at the beginning of September 2005.

In the few short months of our friendship, Doug has proven to be incredibly accessible, humble, and full of praise. He’s got an eye for details and big-thinking-planning skills that I envy.