Update
I am still alive, and I still consider myself a blogger. I know I haven’t written much in the past couple weeks, but I have a big project at work that demands my entire focus. I’m doing fine and I’m not overworked right now, but I’ve fallen into a pattern where I’m either writing code or I’m far away from my computer. Blogging is a hobby, but my job is my job and I have to get this project completed.
This weekend I’m going to allocate some time to catch up on emails, comments, and hopefully some blog posts that have been simmering in my brain.
And by the way, I’m not stressed out and I know everything I have to do. GTD really is saving my life right now. I have a ton of work to complete, tasks to delegate to other coders, emails to respond to, and other clients to do work for, but I’m really on top of it all. Following GTD completely (instead of using Vitalist as a to-do list organizer) has made me into a better person. I don’t know how I handled my job without it!
Tags: [gtd]Comments
High Tech GTD
I’ve been busy lately, working on a number of different projects. One of my projects is finishing “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity” by David Allen. I’ve written before about my use of GTD, my search for GTD software, and my own GTD software program (still in development), but I didn’t really know much about GTD itself. I just saw an easy-to-understand way to organize my to-do lists. I thought I didn’t need to read the book and wasn’t planning to, but for a couple reasons I had to. And I did, and I’m so glad I did. Now that I understand what GTD is about, I see that by skipping major parts (setting goals, collecting, and separating the steps of GTD) I really wasn’t getting the most out of it.
I want to write a post detailing how I use GTD now and how it helps, but today I want to talk about the next great GTD tool that I’ve started using. I still believe that software is the best way for managing and viewing GTD lists and calendars, especially when it comes to switching between contexts, projects, and goals. I don’t think current software meets the needs for collecting items, though. You can’t run to your desktop everytime you think of an idea, right? Well, I found the solution.
I’ve used a couple Palm PDAs in my life, a Palm IIIx and a Sony Clie. Well, here’s a device that beats them all: the Mead Memo Pad!
Check out these specs: 15 Lines per Page, over 50 double-sided pages per pad, and compatibility with all pencils and pens. Vroom vroom! And it comes in multiple colors!
I used to be the guy who would mock the use of paper and pen when there are so many great tech tools, but when it comes to being able to quickly jot something down I still don’t know of a better way to do it. I tried going back to Palm, but even the simplest note-taking programs get in my way. When I have an idea I need to be able to collect it without having to think about using the Palm OS to open the note-taking program.
Am I a caveman? Am I like those ladies that pull out their checkbook in the checkout aisle? Maybe. Somebody, anybody, please find a tech solution for quick note-taking for me.
Tags: [gtd]Comments
dar-gtd begins
I’ve opened a project on Sourceforge to manage my GTD application. I’ve named it “dar-gtd”. The project page can be seen here. I’ve never used SourceForge to manage a project, but I think it could be fun. I’ve also signed up my little brother as a co-developer.
It will take some time before I post any code up to the project page. I’ve split the project into two main parts, and I’m still working on the beginning of the first half. I probably won’t post anything to the project until I get the first section to the point that it is ready for testing.
Tags: [dar gtd, gtd]Comments
jQuery UI
Today is my wife’s birthday, but I’m the one that got the best present today. While catching up on my RSS reader today, I caught the news that jQuery UI had been released. It’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m a big fan of jQuery and have used it in a lot of places. I chose Yahoo’s YUI framework over jQuery only because it has all of the fancy doo-dads (spelling?) that I didn’t want to code myself, and they were all in one package. If there is going to be a simple jQuery package that has all of the things I need (basic drag-and-dropping, sorting, etc) and doesn’t require me to do all of the things Yahoo’s library was going to force me to do, I’ll go with jQuery. I’m not so far along in my GTD application that I can’t start the javascript pieces over. I’ll be an early-adopter.
I’m still around, by the way, I’m just busy. I’m going to have really big news in the next few weeks.
Tags: [gtd, jquery]Comments
GTD application
I’ve written up some initial specs and some basic code to the GTD application I mentioned a few weeks ago. Initially I thought I’d write the application in a similar way to the many I’ve written before, but just in a new PHP framework so I’d learn something. I’ve changed my mind, though, and now I think I’m going to make this site primarily a Javascript / Web 2.0 app. I’ve used AJAX and Javascript a ton at work, but I’ve only built one site that used them as the foundation. Since that site I’ve learned how to use Javascript in much more efficient and logically ways. I’ve often taken the attitude of Javascript as a supplement to a webpage, in that I’d call declare javascript functions and variables on pages whenever it suited my goal. That’s worked for me before, but I think we’re well past the point where Javascript should be coded with the same principles and respect that other languages get.
I think I want the same basic functionality I’ve seen in most GTD applications, but I want to put an emphasis on sharing lists. For example, I want to be able to share my House Chores list with my wife so she can view and add things to the “honey-do” list. Or, if I’m working on a certain project at work, I can send a link that will allow the project manager to see what my plans are for today. I think this functionality exists in other applications, like other applications, but I want to make it work how *I* think is best. And that goes for many other types of functionality. I think there are pros and cons to a lot of GTD applications I’ve tried, so I’m going to look for the pros and implement them in my own way.
For those that are interested, I’m sticking with php/mySql. I thought about going with a PHP Framework, but since the bulk of the PHP will probably be used for security and data retrieval, I’m just going to stick with my own code. When it comes to Javascript, I’m going to try out the YUI library. I’ve been a jQuery guy, but I really like how thorough and solid Yahoo’s libraries are. And if I can get permission, I might SourceForge this project. More details as they happen.
Tags: [gtd]Comments
Goodbye, Vitalist
For the past few weeks I’ve been telling everybody I know about the benefits of GTD and my favorite GTD application, Vitalist. I’ve seen a big improvement in my productivity and (most importantly) my stress levels. Now that I’ve organized much of my personal and professional life into todo’s in Vitalist projects, the “Ok, what am I forgetting to do right now” question doesn’t enter my mind. I owe thanks to David Allen for creating a method like GTD that makes it so easy to organize my life, and I owe a HUGE thanks to the people at Vitalist for creating what I think is the best GTD software application. To be honest, most of what I know is what I’ve learned from using Vitalist.
So, it is with sadness that I have to stop my Vitalist crusade. Today, it was announced on the Vitalist blog that the free service they offer would be downgraded. You can still use it for free, but you will be limited to 5 projects and 5 contexts. For $5 a month you can get that limit moved up to 25 projects contexts, and for $10 a month you can have unlimited projects.
Personally, with the way I use Vitalist I would have to get the $10 service. The projects are everything for me. I use projects to distinguish different goals I have. For example, I have a “Maintain my home” project with a “Handle finances” sub-project and a “Clean the house” sub-project. I have an overall “Work” project and many sub-projects to keep different clients separate. And I have a “New Home” project with sub-projects like “Purchase home,” “Furnish new home,” “Move in to house,” and “Close old lease.” I then assign all of the todos in my life to one of those projects. It’s so simple, but it has made living my life so much easier. And this is just the project aspect of GTD! I won’t get into contexts and how they allow me to organize everything even further.
If I have to start thinking about how many contexts and projects I have remaining in my account, I’ll lose some of the mind-clearing benefits the GTD is supposed to give me. I simply don’t want to waste brain-cycles thinking about such things.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the Vitalist software is great and they are perfectly within their rights to charge people for their services. However, I’d prefer to purchase a product like Vitalist instead of pay for it as a service. Ten dollars is not much a month, but over a year or two it adds up. Maybe I’m cheap, but I’d prefer to pay a one-time amount and not have to think about small drip coming out of my bank account. Once I find a better GTD service I’ll pack up my todo list and move.
But how am I going to find an online application that works as great as Vitalist when none exist? Well, I’ve decided that I’m going to create one. I know AJAX, DHTML effects, and Javascript, and I build websites for a living. Normally it is hard for me to find the motivation to give up my free time to code when I already code most of my day, but seeing how great GTD and Vitalist are is enough motivation to get me to do it. My program won’t have the services I don’t use, such as the RSS feed, files, etc., but it will have the basic services with the same Google-type of layout. And it will have some features that I want but don’t get with Vitalist, like sharing with other users.
Until I get my own application to replace Vitalist finished, I’ll probably pay the $10. That will give me even more motivation! 
This won’t be something that competes with Vitalist, and I’ll probably just keep it to myself and only offer it to friends and family. Or maybe not, I don’t know. I tried writing a software-developer’s blog with a project I tried earlier this year but I lost interest in the project. I already know that this one project will be different. We’ll see.
Tags: [gtd, vitalist]Comments
Getting Things Done
This weekend I started searching for software that will help me manage my growing list of things I have to do. My life used to be simple enough that I could manage it in my head, but after going through the wedding process, picking up some new projects at work, and now I’m buying a house and moving, some things were starting to fall through. And after talking to a house inspector who gave me a list of regular maintenance and checks that I’m going to have to make with my new house, I realized that I had to do something now. During my searches for a solution, I came across a concept called “Getting Things Done,” (GTD) a life-organization philosophy created by David Allen.
I don’t know much about the philosophy itself, except that it seems like it is built on dumping all of the things you have to do from your head into a set of organized list. Once you have a system of managing those actions that you can rely on, you can take all of the energy you’d spend managing your to-do list and focus on clearing out one thing at a time. There is more to it, but the basics seem to fall in line with the “crow epistemology” concept in Objectivism. You can only hold so many units in your head at one time, and using a system that manages your to-do list in a way that keeps things you don’t need to think out-of-sight and gives you a simple list of tasks that you can tackle one-at-a-time.
But the philosophy doesn’t matter to me as much as the software it generated does. I looked around for software built on the GTD ideas. I started with php-gtd software, thinking I could host it myself, but after deleting one project half of the screens were broken. I took a look at the code, and I decided that the software just wasn’t ready for real use yet. I moved next to Remember the Milk and thought it looked promising, but it seemed to be missing some features that I could find in my eventual favorite: Vitalist. Vitalist not only lets you manage your to-do lists, but it also offers RSS and iCal feeds. Now my to-do list is integrated with my Google Calendar, and it’s great. I’ve only been using it for a couple days now so I may grow to hate it, but so far it looks like Vitalist is really going to make my life easier.
Tags: [gtd]