From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Sven Bretfeld" Subject: Re: What do you use to identify projects (in the GTD sense) Date: 11 Oct 2011 10:16:12 +0200 Message-ID: <87k48c7xkj.fsf@gmx.ch> References: <87ty7ge2p1.fsf@norang.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:43079) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RDXVg-0004H0-Nv for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:16:38 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RDXVZ-0000pm-D9 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:16:24 -0400 Received: from mi.ruhr-uni-bochum.de ([134.147.64.30]:41475 helo=mx6.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de) by eggs.gnu.org with smtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1RDXVY-0000p1-VI for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:16:17 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87ty7ge2p1.fsf@norang.ca> (Bernt Hansen's message of "Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:28:58 -0400") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Bernt Hansen Cc: Org Mode , Marcelo de Moraes Serpa Hi Bernt Bernt Hansen writes: > http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#Projects Wow, that is a WONDERFUL page you shared with us. Thank you very much! It will cost me hours go through it and see what I can implement for my setup. Can't you think about others' time before posting such great stuff? Here is my setup and workflow: I'm quite an orthodox GTD user with one exception: I blended two concepts of ZTD (Zen to Done http://zenhabits.net/zen-to-done-ztd-the-ultimate-simple-productivity-system/) which is a mix of GTD and other systems. What I took from it is the two tags :MIT: (Most important thing of the day) and :BIGROCK: (Most important project of the week). Usually MITs are Next Steps which I do as early as possible during the day, normally there are two or three of them each day. Bigrocks are privileged projects which I return to most often, I usually have one or two of them per week. I use one main org-file. Spheres of responsibility are top level headings containing neither tags nor todo-keywords: ,---- | * Termine (contains only appointments) | * Teaching | * Institute | * Research Department | * Research Consortium | * Personal Research | * Readings | * Home Projects | * Friends | * Someday/Maybe | * Stuff to remember (here for example birthdays are defined) `---- The second level contains projects which are tagged with :PROJECT:. The third level are associated next steps containing a resource tag. ,---- | * Institute | ** Major Book Order :PROJECT: | *** DONE Advertise a position for a coordinator :OFFICE: | *** WAITING Wait for applications :OFFICE: | *** Choose an appropriate person :OFFICE: | *** Call a meeting :OFFICE: | *** Set up delegation project for supervision :OFFICE: `---- As you see, only the first two steps contain a todo-keyword. This is because the second step is running at the moment and cannot choose a person before the position was actually advertised and the application deadline has come. I use triggers to set the next step to the appropriate state when the previous step is marked DONE: ,---- | *** WAITING Wait for applications :OFFICE: | :PROPERTIES: | :TRIGGER: chain-siblings(NEXT) | :END: | *** Choose an appropriate person :OFFICE: `---- So, after the application deadline has come, I mark the WAITING entry DONE and the next entry is automatically set to NEXT. After this is DONE, "Call a meeting" will be set to NEXT. ,---- | *** DONE Wait for applications :OFFICE: | *** NEXT Choose an appropriate person :OFFICE: | :PROPERTIES: | :TRIGGER: chain-siblings(NEXT) | :END: | *** Call a meeting :OFFICE: `---- In this way my agenda view for "NEXT actions at OFFICE" contains only actions which can actually be done immediately. I use to revise my project lists on a daily base. This is the first thing I do in the morning. It takes about 15 minutes. This is not orthodox GTD behavior but only this way a can make my mind free and be sure that I don't forget deadlines and don't neglect projects. I have a special entry for this revision that appears on top of my day-agenda-view: ,---- | Dienstag 11 Oktober 2011 | 8:00...... ---------------- | 9:23...... now - - - - - - - - - - - - | 10:00...... ---------------- | 12:00...... ---------------- | diary: 14:00-15:00 Meeting with Mrs. Smith | 14:00...... ---------------- | 16:00...... ---------------- | Termine:18:00-20:00 Central Asia group meeting :MEETING: | 20:00...... ---------------- | DailyTasks: Scheduled: REGULAR Daily Review [0/7] | HomeProjects: Scheduled: REGULAR Water flowers :HOME: `---- I have a special keyword for regular tasks because I don't like them to appear in NEXT lists. These regular tasks always have a schedule and therefore appear only in the day-agenda: ,---- | ** REGULAR Daily Review [0/7] | SCHEDULED: <2011-10-10 Mo .+1d> | :PROPERTIES: | :REPEAT_TO_STATE: REGULAR | :END: | - [ ] review daily agenda | - [ ] review Waiting | - [ ] review Delegated | - [ ] review Projects | - [ ] review Stuck Projects | - [ ] review Bigrocks | - [ ] make new MITs from | - [ ] OFFICE | - [ ] HOME | - [ ] SCHRIESHEIM | - [ ] PHONE | - [ ] READING `---- For distant projects I have the Someday/Maybe category: ,---- | ** Send documents to tax adviser | NOT_STARTED | *** Start Project | SCHEDULED: <2012-01-02 Mo> | *** Gather documents :HOME: | :PROPERTIES: | :TRIGGER: chain-siblings(NEXT) | :END: | *** Copy documents :OFFICE: | *** Prepare letter :HOME: | *** Send letter :SHOPPING: `---- These future projects contain the keyword NOT_STARTED to prevent them from appearing in the projects list. Starting the project is a scheduled action. When it appears in my day agenda, I refile to project to the appropriate responsibility category (in this case "Home Projects"), give it the PROJECT tag and set the first action to NEXT. The MEETING tag you can see in the daily-agenda view above, has only one function: It is converted to the string [mute] when I do an iCal export which I feed into GoogleCalendar every week (yes, I do have a "weekly" review also). This serves as a keyphrase used to mute my Android phone automatically during meetings (using the App Tasker). This is the main idea of my setup. It contains some other stuff not mentioned above. For example a special file for things captured en route with the phone (MobileOrg), and a first level header "New Tasks" where org-capture material is stored. My wife has writing access to another file shared via Dropbox to inform me about things to do when we are not at home together (I had to give her an Emacs crash course for that). I use to share appointments with GoogleCalendar and use the procedure described on this list several times to synchronize appointments between both. Take what you find useful. Any hints for improvement are very welcome. Greetings, Sven