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Subject:Re: Technical Communication and GTD? From:"Mike McCallister" <workingwriter -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Ed <glassnet -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:58:33 +1800
Ed,
If you're open to a web-based solution, you have a few options:
For simple to-dos, I use www.Toodledo.com. Remember the Milk (
www.rememberthemilk.com) is also good, but Toodledo has a more GTD-conscious
workflow (complete with GTD tutorial). Both have iPhone/iPod Touch clients,
Firefox extensions, and Google Gadgets for integrating with GMail and
iGoogle, which I find handy.
For more random bits of information (especially web research, keeping track
of tips generated from mailing lists like this one, and just plain
notetaking), try Evernote (www.evernote.com). Its goal is to keep track of
everything in your life (though that might get expensive over time). Besides
simple text stuff, it has an OCR tool that does a better-than-expected job
of locating and identifying text in graphics (the idea being you can take a
picture of a sign with your cell phone, store it in Evernote, and pull out
the info later).
Evernote has Windows and Mac desktop clients, iPhone/iPod Touch, and a
PortableApp for use with your USB stick. The Windows client also runs well
on my two Linux systems (one openSUSE, one Ubuntu) under Wine. Data is
stored on a secure server, and syncs with all the clients.
Yet another option might be the open source Chandler project (
www.chandler-project.org). I've only played with it a little, but it is
calendar-based, and still has great potential.
Usual Disclaimer: Not affiliated with any of these projects, just a
reasonably happy user. Be careful what kind of data you store on the Web,
with companies that may go out of business tomorrow, and plan accordingly.
Mike McCallister
Technical Writing Consultant, Compuware
Author, "openSUSE Linux Unleashed" -- at bookstores now!
Notes from the Metaverse: http://metaverse.wordpress.com
On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Ed <glassnet -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 9:14 AM, Eric J. Ray <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com> wrote:
> > I'd be interested in hearing more about how you are implementing
> > GTD (Getting Things Done,
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done)
> > as technical communicators? Have you tried it? Does it help?
> > Do you have other systems/techniques you use?
>
> In 2008 I spent quite a bit of time reading and listening about GTD.
> Implementing the process, or some alternate scheme, took too much time
> when I was fully engaged in document production. I can't change my
> tools, so I am bound to MS Word, Sharepoint, Outlook (web and client),
> and other MS products. It's not a good situation, but it is what I am
> paid to use.
> I have a desktop system, and that is where my Oultook mail and tasks
> are stored. Also have to maintain a PST on my hard drive there, as our
> Outlook limit is 50MB. Yes, I laugh at that too.
> I also work from home system at times, and can only get to email thru
> the web client, which lags every web client experienced by me. This
> morning it took me about 5 minutes per email to read and delete 15
> messages.
> I traveled about 6 weeks last year, and used my linux notebook.
> Problematic at times with wireless, but was able to make do. Company
> notebook not available, and that is fine with me.
> Still looking for a GTD-like solution such as a simple PIM or similar
> utility that I can run from USB memory. The sticking point is what
> utility would be cross-platform, Windows/Ubuntu?
> For now I'm focusing on memory stick, as even the best phone solution
> would require significant personal investment, and would be limited by
> the phone OS.
> --
> Ed
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