More thoughts on todo.

Having got some feedback from the previous post, I’ve started to think that there is a fundamental difference between what I’ve been thinking of as task management and project management. This different could just be purely representational, I’m not sure yet. I like to think that there is a way to rationalize these different views. Especially for the agile methodology folks. There seems to be a closer connection between them and the GTD way of organizing things. It was pointed out to me that I should keep the two software development methodologies in mind: the waterfall — lots of upfront planning, and the agile crowd with an iterative style.

One interesting fact I’ve discovered is that most of my peers are not using any digital tools to help manage their time. A common theme was that it was more work to use a tool then not. This begs the question, do they just need an easier tool? Another theme was the use of paper lists, which, i guess, is about the easiest tool you could have! Keeping the paper lists in sync with the digital was also one of the complaints. I recently tried iScrybe, a newish web task manager. The standout thing about it is it’s great printouts. It uses the pocketmod style. I found that printing out a new list every day or two was enough, and updating the online part more frequently. One gets the satisfaction of physical crossing items of the list and all the advantages that the digital world brings. Also, for the first time, I always had paper and a pen on me for those random notes that pop into your head and need to be written down now.

As a total aside, I wrote this using Dasher, a cool alternative input … thing. Watch the Google video, and check the website. I like it, but, interestingly, although my speed is getting up there, and my error rate is probably lower then my regular typing, i found using the mouse all the time was actually harder on my wrist then typing. But that could also be because my current desk setup is less then ergonomic!