Computing, GIS and Archaeology in the UK

So Leif let out my dirty secret, that I regularly carry three moleskines with me, so I thought I’d better come clean about my burgeoning habit.
As all GTDers know, coming up with a system that works for you is an evolving process. I have been through a digital phase (wasn’t free-range enough for me) and several incarnations of an analogue phase. My current system has been stable for a month or so and, you know, it just feels like it works.

Like Kathy at Creating Passionate Users, I’ve gone for a modified PigPog approach. I originally chose a moleskine because I truly believe that if you’re going to stick with a system of any kind then you want good equipment. Personally, I’m more inclined to persevere with something if I’ve made an investment in it. I also wanted something that was robust enough to survive the bottom of a rucksack every day.

So, I’ve gone for the squared notepad, with post-it note tags separating my various sections. My GTD system has been pared down, as I found when I first started out that too many contexts and lists got in the way. First, I have an inbox, and that’s working pretty well as my primary “bucket” for data capture. The squared notepad helps me to maintain a system for writing each item down and keeps it clear and tidy. Basically I start with the date, then a context in the form @C (at computer), @W (at work) or @H (at home). Then there’s the item itself, which can spill onto as many lines as I need to capture the details (and often the project that it’s part of). Finally, if I’ve done the item and am now waiting for someone else to follow it up, it gets a big W in a circle. Sometimes I need to write down two steps to an item (which breaks the golden rule of next actions, I know, but helps me remember the next stage too). Then items get linked with an arrow. When I’m done, they get crossed out, and when I’m down to a few items left on a page the incomplete items get highlighted.

Following on from the inbox section are “Projects at Work” and “Projects at Home”. I use the project sections for free-form thinking about a project as well as next actions. As I start a project page (and only as I start it) I number it, but in the form PW1, PW2, PH9 etc, depending on whether it’s a home project or a work project. This is easier than numbering the whole notebook when you first get it. I often need to continue on to a new page when I get really into a project, but I just reference the old and new page number (eg “continued from PH3″, “continued on PH11″).

Finally, I have a “someday/maybe” section, but I confess I haven’t used it yet!

Additionally, I use the very front of the moleskine to hold Hipster PDA day planner pages. I don’t always use these, but find them very useful when I have a busy day ahead.

Moleskine Two is a memo planner. Originally I went for a vastly over-packed Hipster PDA approach, but found I was only using one or two sections regularly, so I cut down. Moleskine Two now contains spare day planners, book lists, note paper, shopping lists and mind maps. There is some spare space in it for holding, well anything small and vaguely pocket planner sized.

Finally, and least importantly, I have a moleskine diary. I honestly don’t use it all that often, as I have reluctantly adopted a digital approach to this single aspect. I use Google Calendar for pretty much everything I need to put on the calendar because I like the interface and the ability to set email and text reminders.

In summary, I’ve been attempting the GTD approach for about six months now, and it has taken me this long to really find a system that works. I am an avid consumer of GTD and organisational blogs and they have been enormously helpful when it comes to getting a system that works, but in the end it is down to what works for each person to the extent that it becomes as much part of their life as brushing their teeth. I wouldn’t say I’ve got that far yet, but I’m working on it!

Posted from Lancaster

Since they say it’s bad to apologise for not posting, I’m going to try not to do that, but instead ‘fess up to a massive gtd-reversal, wagon falling-off incident, and general deadlines-looming stress. In the next few days, a project that I have been working on for over a year finishes, and a tender has to go in for another piece of work that will start in March if we get it. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I currently have three blue-screening stop-erroring windows pcs to deal with too, and the long days are starting to hurt.

What I’m trying to do though, is take a step back, and examine my reactions to all of this. Am I serenely taking time out each morning to prioritise my tasks for the day, taking my 15 minute break every hour to stave off RSI and insanity, or keeping up with my fun jobs? Am I heck. What I am doing is coming in early and going home late, and working solidly for several hours at a time without a break. I am being irritable with people who come to me with perfectly reasonable requests, and at the end of the day my back, eyes and head hurt.

So- a learning experience! Rather than complain about this- I want to set out my manifesto for dealing with similar problems in future. I figured that if I blogged about it, then it would be out there causing massive embarrassment if I fell off the wagon again. Here goes…

I pledge:

1. To work 48 minutes out of every hour and take 12 minutes off to make coffee/use the bathroom/read my feeds/stretch. I will stick to this ratio and not be tempted to read feeds during my work period;
2. To take 15 minutes every morning when I first get in to plan my day (even if it just says “Work on Report” all day);
3. To follow GTD/Time Management for Sysadmins principles in prioritising any further tasks;
4. To be nice to my fellow people, particularly my hubby and my dog when I get home!

I’ll let you know how it goes…

About three weeks ago I decided to give my Sharp Zaurus a well-earned rest and try going back to a paper-based approach to project planning and time management. Well, I say “going back” but in all honesty I’ve never tried the paper-based approach, it’s simply that I have never managed to find exactly what I want in a PDA to-do list/calendar, and there is always that low-level worry of data loss and breakage.

I’d been interested in the Hipster PDA/DIY Paper Planner approach for a while, and decided to give it a go, since the total investment (see below) was less than £20, so if it all went horribly wrong then I hadn’t lost much! So, from Waterstones I purchased a Moleskine Pocket Memo Folder, from my local generic stationers I purchased some 3×5 inch blank index cards, from my local art store I brought a really nice propelling pencil and fine-nibbed biro, and then I downloaded the HipsterPDA DIY Planner template.

Initital impressions:

The Moleskine had too many pockets for the number of cards I wanted initially. To get around this, I cut some of the card dividers out (sorry Moleskine). There is no loss of integrity with this approach because the dividers are separate card inserts, stuck at the sides but not at the bottom. This left me with three large pockets, each of which held a reasonable-sized stack of paper/card (see next point).

Index cards seemed too thick for what I wanted, so I ended up using them for the items that needed to be robust and long-lasting, such as the calendar and important contact details. The rest I printed out on A4 paper, and spent a happy hour or so cutting the individual cards out with a craft knife. Initially I printed way more cards than I needed, and didn’t print on both sides, but when I get around to reprinting I will use both sides (and only print the sections I want).

After a few weeks:

I think I like it!

I find it easier to write ideas down freely on paper rather than on a PDA, even using a sketchpad programme, so am tending to write down far more “speculative”ideas than I would with my zaurus.

There are some great day-planner templates, of the type recommended in Time Management for System Administrators. I’m trying to get into the habit (after reading that book) of arriving at work a few minutes early and planning my day before I even check my email. The only thing I allow myself to do first is change the data backup tape in case I forget later on. The day-planner is a great tool for combing a daily todo list and time planner (hence the name, I guess) and it really works for me. On one side is a list for tasks and spaces to assign priorities (and a nice tick box to check when it’s completed, which is always a bonus) and on the other is the work day laid out in hours, so it’s a small job to map out roughly how the day should pan out.

Other useful templates are the project planner, agenda, notes (obviously), shopping list and weekly time-tracker. This in particular translates very well at the end of the week to my work time-sheet. I haven’t really used any of the others, and consequently when I refill my Moleskine I probably won’t include them.

Is it the be-all and end-all?

Not sure. I find the 3×5 cards slightly too small (and the bigger ones too big), although this may be mitigated by printing on both sides of the page and only including the templates that I really need. I also like having my todo list and calendar integrated, and that’s more of an effort to do on paper than digitally, or online.

Is it the end for my zaurus?

Absolutely not! This frees up my zaurus for other things, like experimenting with other operating systems or software (and filling it up with ebooks and mp3s). It also saves me from the worry of having to ensure everything is backed up, particularly if I am playing around with other packages.

In conclusion, I’m still trying to find the best approach for time/project management and todo lists but this does give me some flexibility and peace of mind that my previous pda-based approach did not. We’ll see…

This morning I took delivery (thanks to the nice people at Amazon UK) of Time Management for System Administrators from O’Reilly. I’m really looking forward to reading it, because I could do with something to help me deal with the many different calls upon my time at work. The trouble with being a sysadmin (in everything but name) AND working on GIS projects is that I find it difficult to focus on any one task when I am constantly being interrupted for assistance with Microsoft Word, printers, changing backup tapes, getting together deployment kits of computers and associated gear for remote sites, etc, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and it’s never dull, but I could do with some pointers on how to keep the plates spinning!

I have been a big fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done approach for a year or so now, though I admit that I fall off the wagon occasionally! I’m still looking for the perfect To-Do list upon which to record all of my tasks though. I have been looking at the myriad online solutions, but what I want (no, need) is something that I can carry around and use offline on my zaurus pda. The browser on the zaurus is somewhat old-fashioned now (Opera 7.25) and it doesn’t really do all of this shiny ajaxy stuff very well, so I’ve been sticking with Ko/Pi, which is a platform independent version of Korganiser. I use that on a USB stick on my desktop, and synchronise it with the copy on the zaurus whenever I remember. At the very least I need to set it to synchronise automatically when I connect the zaurus to the desktop, but I’ve got a Windows XP machine at work, and a Mac Mini and a Fedora Core 4 Desktop at home, so I could do with something a little more slick.

Though, as I said, I do fall off the GTD-wagon occasionally, and have never managed (or needed?) to implement the whole system, I have incorporated several aspects of GTD into my work and home life. The idea of “Next Actions” (What is the very next thing you need to do to move this project forward?) and, following on from that, the “Two Minute Rule” (Can you do this Next Action in two minutes or less? If not, delegate or defer it) now seem absolutely fundamental. They don’t stop things piling up, or stop me procrastinating about a job because I can’t see the way forward, but at least I’m learning to recognise this state of mind and do something about it.

Back to Time Management for System Administrators though. The biggest area of frustration I have in my day to day work is not being able to see projects through to completion because so many other things have got in the way.I’m hoping that this book might give me some clues as to how to get the bigger things done as well as the little things. We’ll see, and I’ll keep posting on this subject. I’m off to FOSS4G 2006 in Lausanne on Monday so I’m hoping to get started with reading it on the journey to La Suisse.