Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog
In the HD BizBlog store I have now loaded the new GTD Calendar for 2008. The calendar is sized at 5.5″ x 8.5″, and the various fields are pre-populated with the Monthly information, and dates. Designed in a 2-page-per-week format, all 12 months are available in one PDF that you can download and print out.
There is also an undated, letter-sized (8.5″ x 11″) version, in 2-pages-per-week, at the new shop.
In the next couple of weeks I will be developing one-page-per-day versions in full- and half-sheet. All of the GTD Calendars feature the “figure=F” reading format (read more about the “figure-F” here).
Thank you all for your support, the response has been tremendous. Click on the image above to see the new store and register to be an HD BizBlog affiliate.
Today Productivity in Context rolls out two new features - a forum and e-shopping.
There are a lot of links here, so stay with me…
The forum is open to all (registration is required) and is designed to foster a discussion about the future of GTD. What should it look like, how should the workflow be edited, etc. The idea of a next-generation productivity system has been bouncing around in the back of my head for a while, so now I have captured it! Bookmark the Knowledge Management Forum and post your thoughts on personal knowledge management, productivity, digital vs. analog, you-name-it.
I would like to announce that the “GTD” Calendar project has come to the conclusion. The calendar pages, as well as the Review Workbook product are available for download in the Productivity Shop. Please support my work here by shopping there!
This is my current Organizer, as it looks at the end of the two-month beta-test of the custom Calendar Pages -
My strategy behind this design is to create a system for managing the Hard Landscape with a tool that is just as conducive to planning (putting information into the calendar) as it is to implementing (getting information from the calendar). Each section is deliberately placed, as follows:
The header text on the new version will have the current month at the top left and a meta tag for the appropriate Errata [commenter Chris suggested to me that another word would be more appropriate, so let’s call it an Addenda page] page at the top right.
“Big Rocks” are listed first, at the top of the left-hand edge of the page. This is where our eyes generally go first, and spend the most time. The goal is that we will look there first while planning, and while executing.
Just below the Big Rocks is a section for notes, short quick-capture info that can be transferred to a more appropriate spot later.
Appointments for the day go across the top of both pages, in the daily boxes. This is the second place our eyes will scan, giving us an “automatic” quick-review of what is coming up, and what has been accomplished. There is room in each daily box for the time and the name of the Appointment. Further information or an agenda will be found in the second Tab (Addenda).
The shaded section of lines in each daily box is for listing those Next Actions that must get done on that day.
The middle of the left-hand page leads the eye to an area for focusing on open Next Actions in their proper @Project contexts. This acts as a guide for our eyes, again to be able to review which Next Actions are outstanding. There is a field in each box for the Context, and room for some notes. This space is for tasks that need to get done this week, but may not have been assigned to a specific day.
This field also happens to be 3″ x 4″, which is just the right size for the Post-it mini cards.
The small calendar in the very bottom left is dated for July in this example, the final PDF version will have a sheet for each month, with the appropriate calendar. I hi-light the current week, and draw a red line through the past weeks. Using the colors gives me a visual cue when I am looking for information like “what day is it?”
The top half of the right-hand page is for planning Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
The middle of the right-hand page contains a prompt for Weekly Review notes to be entered. Here is where I capture ideas that I want to think about creatively, information that I want to be sure to review, or a Tag/link to another page in the Organizer for meta-data or addenda.
This calendar is available as a PDF download at the HD Bizblog Shop .
The organizer itself is split into tabbed sections for planning and capture:
Tab #1 is the calendar itself, with pages printed for this month and next month. There is a single blank page for each month for the rest of the year. This blank page is for capturing notes and appointments.
Tab #2 - Addenda: this is where I capture information that is related to entries in the hard landscape, such as directions to an event, the agenda for a meeting, etc. This is generally a larger amount of information that will just clutter up the calendar page yet may be useful for quick reference during the week. I made the Addenda page with the DIY Planner widget kit. I printed it on colored paper, and it has grown on me.
Tab #3 - Next Actions: one page for each context, currently @Work, @Computer, @Read/Review, and @Blog Posts. Again, the colored paper is a visual cue as to where I am.
Tab #4 is for the @Waiting for list.
Tab #5 - This tab is now home to blank forms for filling in the other sections, and for blank notes and agenda pages.
“Once you know how to process your stuff and what to organize,
you really just need to create and manage lists”
~David Allen, Getting Things Done
Call it an organizer, a day planner, a calendar, a diary, or just a capture notebook; the paper organizer has lasted through two or three generations of productivity systems. In the last few years, digital organizers have become wildly popular as they can synchronize a portable unit with your desktop computers at work and home.
Managing your lists
One of the core practices of Getting Things Done is making a list of your Next Actions, the base unit of your productivity. Whether you are working on a large project or simply running errands you need to know what actions you should take in order to accomplish your goal. As you organize and process your life, you will be creating a series of lists that need to be collected and readily accessible. I submit that an organizer of some sort is the best way to collect these lists, which will consist mainly of your Projects, Next Actions, and a Calendar. (Your calendar is a special kind of list, laid out in a chronological fashion.)
Additionally your organizer can contain lists of longer-term goals, life principles, a “Waiting For” list, and Reference material. All of this information can be contained in anything you like, from a simple, spiral-bound notebook from the dollar store to the ever-popular Moleskine. My personal favorite is a Levenger Circa notebook, 5.5″ x 8.5″, divided into the appropriate sections. I have used a Palm Pilot in the past, but I have found that it just does not have the flexibility or tactile quality of a paper-based system. Read the rest of this entry »
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November 13th, 2007 by Stephen
In the HD BizBlog store I have now loaded the new GTD Calendar for 2008. The calendar is sized at 5.5″ x 8.5″, and the various fields are pre-populated with the Monthly information, and dates.
Designed in a 2-page-per-week format, all 12 months are available in one PDF that you can download and print out.
In the next couple of weeks I will be developing one-page-per-day versions in full- and half-sheet. All of the GTD Calendars feature the “figure=F” reading format (read more about the “figure-F” here).
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