Curt Sardeson's Blog - GTD

GTD on iPhone

nospam@example.com (Curt Sardeson) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:30:00 -0400

I finally gave up on Windows Mobile phones when the new iPhone 3GS was released. I had been using my wife's 3G for some time and found the interface and the interoperability of the applications to be way ahead of Windows Mobile. Since my company was already setup for Exchange and Exchange Anywhere, getting the iPhone connected to my corporate e-mail was so simple it was done while waking down the street from the Apple Store - no kidding.

Of course I knew I was going to be in trouble when it came to using GTD on my iPhone since Apple did not integrate the Tasks in Exchange to the iPhone.    However a quick trip to the App store and the first application I tried worked great.    Since I use categories in Outlook Tasks to make my GTD Lists such as @Anywhere, @Office, @Home, etc., it was critical to find a Task application that could sort and group by Category. Fortunately RERLSoft iMExchange did this just fine (https://sites.google.com/site/rerlsoft/imexchange).

RERLSoft offers 4 apps, one for Notes (iMNotes), one for Tasks (iMTasks), one for view only (iMLite), and a combo application for Notes, Tasks, Out of Office, and access to your Contacts including the Global Address Book (very handy for distribution lists!).    Since I also use Notes and I thought the OOO control would be nice (however this does not work for me for some reason), I purchased the more expensive iMExchange.

I must say I've not enjoyed accessing my electronic Action Lists (Tasks) this much since I gave up my Palm Treo with Palm OS.   I find it super easy now to check my lists on the go and to make use of little free minutes of time here and there.

I know there are other Task managers that work with Exchange on the iPhone and I really should give them a try. But perhaps I'm just lucky to have hit the jackpot on the fist try. For now I plan to keep using iMExchange and eventually I'll figure out how to get the Out of Office control to work too.

GTD Works for Go-Lives!

nospam@example.com (Curt Sardeson) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:13:29 -0400

I do complex software implementations for a living. For those of you who know what a “go-live” is like, you know they get crazy, stressful, and chaotic. I was very curious to see how well the GTD and Inbox Zero systems (and habits) would hold up for me under a go-live. The results were amazing!

Using Inbox Zero (a GTD-like system for your e-mail) I never had over a dozen e-mails to “process” in my Inbox. I did end up deferring about 25 items in my Action Needed folder until after the go-live was over. But the important thing is I never let anything fall through the cracks.

My physical inbox (paper, mail, etc.) did get about 4.25 inches high during the 2 week period where I worked 12 hours a day, every day. However it took less than 2 hours to process the Inbox and get current again.

I rely on Outlook Tasks to track my Next Actions lists and other lists. Those were wonderful to have during the go-live as I could do also do mini-weekly reviews whenever time permitted using Outlook or my Windows Mobile phone.

Something else that I did was to purchase some Staples 4X6 inch scratch pads to capture actions and projects as they came in. This was just faster than using Outlook Tasks due to the rapid nature of information coming in. One of the other team members noticed how “organized” I was using this low tech paper system to keep track of things. I handed out extra scratch pads to several of the team members the next day.

I was very interested to see if I could keep up with GTD during a go-live. I’m happy to report that this system is capable of working under stressful and chaotic periods. In fact I believe this system was a major contributor to my ability to rise to the occasion and stay relaxed and calm (most of the time!).

GTD Continues to Impress Me

nospam@example.com (Curt Sardeson) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:55:57 -0500

I’ve been using David Allen’s Getting Things Done framework for organizing my personal and professional life now for over 6 months and it continues to impress me in ways that I did not expect. Recently I was over committed to multiple projects both personally and professionally and I let me weekly review sessions slip for 4 weeks. I knew my lists were not up to date and I knew something was wrong because my mind was full of chatter about my projects and commitments. So I took a day off with the only focus on processing my inboxes and getting current with my project list.

The result? I slept for 12 hours and woke up full of energy and creativity. I was seeing solutions to the problems I was having with projects that I was not seeing before. This was proof that David Allen’s theory that you need to get everything out of your mind so you can use your mind for better things is without a doubt true.

Using GTD with Windows Mobile

nospam@example.com (Curt Sardeson) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:00:00 -0500

In December of 07’ our company switched from the Palm platform to Windows Mobile for our mobile devices. I could write pages and pages about the comparisons and contrasts between the Palm Treo 650 and AT&T Tilt – but I think others have done that for me already. The one thing that was absolutely intolerable was the Windows Mobile Task Manager software. If you are using David Allen’s Getting Things Done system you most likely have your Task list in categories (i.e. @Calls, @Home, @Office, @Waiting For, etc.). I was completely lost when I found out that the Windows Mobile task manager was so unfriendly to presenting my tasks by category.

As usual one of my business partners came to the rescue and told me to try PocketBreeze by SBSH Mobile Software. This tool (along with their outstand PhoneWeaver) gave me back the things about the Palm Treo that I felt I lost with the switch to Windows Mobile.

So if you are a GTDer and you are switching to Windows Mobile you need this application. In fact this software with Windows Mobile is better than what I had on my Palm.