Re: Another GTD question.

[Alex Bochannek <alexb@juniper.net>]

Charles, Uwe, Christopher,

thank you very much for your surprisingly diverse replies! It seems
everybody is coming up with a slightly different model and I am
starting to think that using a computer rather than the folders David
Allen proposes maybe gives you *too much* flexibility ;-)

Charles unintentionally gave a great example of what I have discovered
bothers me a bit about the different lists in GTD:

Charles Cave <charles_cave@optusnet.com.au> writes:

>> o Call the bank about personal statements   :PHONE:
>> o Go to post office to buy stamps  :ERRANDS:
>> o Wait for SysAdmin to finish server install :WAITING:
>> o Hang new pictures at home :HOME:
>> o Discuss new development process with boss  :BOSS:
>     (Create a tag for items (agenda) to discuss with your boss
>> o Read through vendor proposal  :READING:
>    (Can this reading be done at home or on your train trip to
>      work? Reading is one of those activities that can be done almost
>      anywhere)
>> o Server Install project at work    :OFFICE:
>> o Install software upgrade on laptop :OFFICE:
>> o Learn more about font-lock in Org-mode :OFFICE:
>
> So when you are at the office, you display the tags for OFFICE.
>
> If you set up a meeting with your boss, you search for :BOSS so you
> get the most out of your meeting with the boss.
>
> When you are reviewing what you are waiting for, use the WAITING tag.
>
> During your lunch break, you search for ERRANDS.

The items tagged PHONE, ERRANDS, OFFICE are pretty much obvious,
although the "Server Install" should probably be on a PROJECT list of
some sort. The READING, BOSS, and WAITING are trickier I
think. The tags are using the list names where most Next Action
sublists are essentially contexts. The Agenda and Reading lists aren't
quite the same though since Agenda is missing the information whose
agenda it is and reading isn't really a context, but an activity,
which is context independent. WAITING (and PROJECT) is even worse in a
way since once I have dozens of those, how do I find out who I am
waiting for, for example?

I have to say that I liked Christopher's example. No messing around
with tags and integration of diary and agenda. I suspect though that
Christopher is spending most of his day in front of a computer and not
a whole lot of time in meetings, for example, where next actions come
up. Is that suspicion correct? Also, do you include personal items in
the lists or is this pretty much just for work tasks?

The way Uwe uses different files as categories and tags as meta info
is something I do as well. Here's the structure I have come up with
and that I would be happy to have critiqued.

I am using my existing Notes.org file now with a #+CATEGORY: Work, a
new Lists.org fiel with a couple of different categories, one of which
is Home, and a Projects.org file for Work with just projects.

Since I keep meeting notes in Notes.org, I have #+TAGS set up to
include contexts as well as the meta info for different technical
areas. The contexts I use are:

#+TAGS: CALL(c) COMPUTER(o) ERRANDS(e) { @WORK(w) @HOME(h) } AGENDA(a) READING(r) 

I decided to make the general lists categories TODO types:

#+TYP_TODO: NEXT WAITING SOMEDAY PROJECT DONE

I am not sure yet that I really happy with this, but at least I can
show my TODO list now and have items listed as:

  Work: NEXT Do software thing :COMPUTER:Software:
  Work: WAITING Delivery of software :Software:
  Home: SOMEDAY Books to Read
  Home: NEXT: Buy Stamps :ERRANDS:

Or something along those lines. I am not really sure what to do with
the meta tags and whether I should attach them to WAITING items, for
example. There is no way to limit a view by tag or search string in
the TODO view, is there? That would make them a lot more useful to me.

Alex.