Comments on: Questioning My Assumptions: Switching to Paper-Based Task Management

By: Febi Guibo

Febi Guibo — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:38:21 +0000

Thank you very much for this post… I have actually tried this and so far, it’s working great. I think there’s a lot of value to keeping the thinking / planning tools separate from the production tools.

Fyi: I bought the filofax guildford extra slim POCKET size planner… it works great with 3×5 cards (very excited about this).

By: J-Mo

J-Mo — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:48:30 +0000

I use paper–a simple desk calendar I get from work. I much prefer it to electronic systems, because I don’t have to stop what I’m doing and look at a million different devices to get my schedule in check. It’s all written down in my calendar.

My cell phone contacts are in my cell’s phone book, but full addresses, emails, and other vital, off-line info is all ina simple, spiral-bound notebook by my land line phone.

I prefer to keep things simple.

~J-Mo

By: augmentedfourth

augmentedfourth — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:16:40 +0000

I've been using a hybrid paper/electronic system for a while now. I use SimpleGTD to manage my full action and project lists, but I print the next (starred) SimpleGTD actions on to index cards separated by context. The printing is done by a custom shell script I wrote to pull down the SGTD lists, parse them into separate files by context, and print them on 3x5 cards. I keep the cards in a $10 Buxton Note Jotter (basically a Levenger Shirt Pocket Briefcase without the hefty price tag). During the day, I review, check off, and write new actions, manually "synchronizing" back to the Web service during my daily review and printing new cards if the old ones are too defaced. I also keep a few blank cards in the visible portion of the Jotter for ubiquitous capture and note-taking. My Weekly Review is initiated by my personal server shooting an email to my work address with a checklist. It's basically the one provided in this blog's Pattern Language series, but I modified it a little to suit my own needs. However, based on this post, I think the fact that I do the bulk of that review in front of the computer might provide me with too much distraction. I'll have to think about what I can do to keep myself in Review mode and not keep dropping into Do.

By: Andre

Andre — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:53:54 +0000

Tim O’Reilly once remarked about how memory seems to have declined since the demise of oral cultures. It wasn’t uncommon for people to memorize poems that were hundred of lines long. Books have largely replaced that type of memory.

Over time we gain abilities and lose faculties. So we can track 40 projects by keeping them out of our heads and putting them into an external system, but we lose the ability to recall everything we have to do. I think it’s a net positive exchange, like losing some agility in arithmetic in exchange for using calculators that allow you to focus on mathematics.

By: Vered

Vered — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:22:51 +0000

I often wonder if people will eventually lose the ability to handwrite. Evolution could make it happen, if we keep relying on technology so heavily.

It’s a scary thought.

By: Andre

Andre — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:58:44 +0000

As long as you can recognize your handwriting, it’s not a problem. Amazing that we’ve reached the age where we’re actually discussion the capacity for handwriting recognition in humans!

Personally, I love to write longhand, but it’s not necessarily for everyone.

By: Vered

Vered — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:15:05 +0000

This is interesting.

My handwriting is so bad now, because I hardly write anymore. Managing stuff on paper instead of electronically? I can hardly imagine that. :)

I will need to think about it!