[pmwiki-users] Ideas for PIM, GTD (Getting Things Done)

Bob Sanders rsanders at sgi.com
Tue Mar 6 14:54:03 CST 2007


Sandy, mused, then expounded:
> Several here have expressed an interest in using PmWiki for
> work-life-time management.
> 
> Check out http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/GTD.shtml
> 
> The page talks about using David Allen's Getting Things Done system on
> a wiki. (Specifically NoteStudio, which, unlike PmWiki, runs on a Palm 
> and hotsynchs to the main computer.)
>

While I like the idea of what's presented.  Both using a Palm and hotsyncing
are nowhere on any list of mine.  I gave up on Palms after the third one died
years ago.  Moved off Windows in general, thus hotsyincing anything with Linux
is always less reliable than rsyncing a USB stick.

And while the ideas on the web site are interesting, I find the teeny, tiny, type
an impediment to even reading the site.

All whinging aside, I like what you've presented (except the Palm thing...).
I can carry a complete and functional OS on a USB stick that can run on
any x86 or x86_64 pc, thus can carry the webserver with me.  But, again,
simply rsyncing the data would probably satisfy most needs, or at least
my needs.


Bob
 
> In short, and translated to PmWiki:
> 
> Groups are:
> 
> - Homepage.
> - Contexts. More details later.
> - Projects.
> - Calendar.
> - Due. aka Tickler. Possibly combined with Calendar.
> - Reference, Archives, all the other usual stuff.
> 
> The system makes extensive use of (:pagelist link= :)
> 
> All the notes for a project go on a page in Projects. Project is very 
> broad. It can be an accumulation of little things, or a
> big project. The key thing is that everything you need to do gets into
> the wiki, no matter how big or small.
> 
> 
> Each project gets at least one Next Action (NA). To be an NA, the action
> must be doable. Getting the car serviced is a project, telephoning the
> garage is an action. Reading the odometer so you don't feel like an 
> idiot when the service rep asks for it is the NA. Every project gets an 
> NA, otherwise you'll never be reminded to work on it.
> 
> "Wait" is a valid NA. Often these NAs will also have a Due.abc link, so 
> you don't wait too long.
> 
> Some people have an additional group called Someday/Maybe, to collect 
> things you don't want to call projects but may want to work on.
> 
> Each NA gets a Context, which is where you are when you can do it. 
> Assign contexts by adding a link beside the NA. So, assuming you have 
> the odometer reading, your NA is:
> Call garage. [Context.Phone].
> 
> Only assign contexts to NAs; no sense reminding yourself to do step two 
> if you haven't done step one.
> 
> The main page has (:pagelist link=Context.*:). Now you have a single
> page showing all the things you have to do, sorted by where you can do 
> them, and without all the actions that you can't do just yet. And you 
> don't have to manually maintain a list of phone calls to make.
> 
> Beautiful, isn't it? (Yep, the Context group is a lot like the Category 
> group.)
> 
> Calendar. If you need one. PmCalendar works. Or just a page listing
> appointments. I'd (:include:) the current day (week?) on the site
> homepage, I'm sure there's a way to do it.
> 
> Due. This one is a bit trickier. Decide up front how finely you want to
> divide things. For each action with a deadline, add a link to Due.Date
> (or Due.Month, or Due.Hour). Then on Due.HomePage (or Main.HomePage) put
> (:pagelist link=Due.* order=#title :)
> 
> As with Calendar, I'm sure there's a way to include the next week's 
> worth of Due on the Main.HomePage.
> 
> I wonder if you can add (:pagelist link=Due.ThisDay:) to each entry in 
> the display-by-month?
> 
> You might not want to bother distinguishing between Due and Calendar. 
> Depending on your schedule, you might not even need a proper month view. 
> Just use (:pagelist link=Due.* order=#title :).
> 
> No more flipping back and forth between calendar and project page while 
> planning, just stay on the project page and add a link to Due.Date. Then 
> go to Due.HomePage to see the schedule for all your projects combined.
> 
> Note: The GTD system does not assign times to things unless absolutely 
> necessary. It uses Contexts, which are more flexible. It reminds you to 
> make the call while the computer's down but your phone's still working, 
> even if you hadn't planned on doing it for another few days.
> 
> I remember talk about adding a feature to (:pagelist:) to include a
> few words on either side of the link. This would save having to look up
> each link for more details.
> 
> References, Archives, Diary -- all the usual suspects. Wikis are 
> searchable. All the pagelist commands above can include or exclude these 
> groups.
> 
> You can probably do most of this by searching for keywords. I like using 
> backlinks because it's more forgiving of typos. If you misspell 
> [C.Telephone], you'll still see it in the list of all pages linking to 
> members of C.*, but if you'll never find it if you search for "Telephone".
> 
> +++++
> 
> The GTD refresher
> http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/GTD.shtml
> is well worth reading for philosophy and examples. (I still prefer 
> Covey's system for deciding what you to do, but GTD is better for 
> actually getting those things done.)
> 
> The rest of the stuff on the page, about how to use a wiki for GTD, is
> movies. Skip the one about customizing it, and have something else to do
> while the rest play. (I hate tutorial movies of any type, except cooking 
> shows.) They use the first letter of the page name where I've used 
> groups; the wiki they use doesn't have groups.
> 
> The templates they talk about are here:
> http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/Resource%20-%20Downloads.shtml
> They're in XML format; lots of codes to wade through to see the actual 
> content. Each XML file is a book. You can run the demo of NoteStudio 
> without a Palm if you want to read the full GTD manual.
> 
> If PmWiki ran on the Palm and hotsynched to the desktop, wow!
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Sandy

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