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Waiting For's & Agenda's
Nick | Oct 16 2006
I have a question that has bugged me for quite some time. As background, please know that I use Omni/Kinkless/ICal the way Merlin hooked it up. I have about 12 contexts & agenda-calendar's in ICal that contain my GTD lists. What I don't know is how to keep my Waiting 4's associated with their original agenda. For example, if I have a meeting with John and he is supposed to get back to me re: such & who, my current methodology is to re-direct that todo from John's agenda to Waiting For. Obviously, the problem here is that, that-which-I'm-waiting for is no longer associated with John, but is now in a list of other waiting fo's. How do you, fellow posters, handle this conundrum? Thanks, Nick 13 Comments
POSTED IN:
 "My goal is to have...Submitted by Nick on October 19, 2006 - 9:53pm.
Cpu_Modern;6341 wrote:
"My goal is to have All-Things-Nicky that are moving parts on the Nicky list, so that when I have a face to face or I'm on the phone, it's right there in front of me, in one place." SEE ABOVE. (SORRY FOR THE CAPS!!!) THANKS FOR YOUR CLARIFICATION. I THINK I GET THE GIST OF WHAT YOU'RE SAYING AND I'M SURE I'D AGREE W/ YOU IF YOU ONLY LENT NICKY ONE BOOK, BUT LET'S SAY YOU LENT LOTS OF PEOPLE, LOTS OF BOOKS, DO YOU REALLY WANT ALL OF THOSE WAITING 4'S IN 2 PLACES? PROBABLY NOT, RIGHT? IT'S TOO MUCH THINKING. ONE OF GTD'S EXPLICIT GOALS IS NOT TO THINK REALLY, BUT TO REDUCE THINGS TO WIDGETS SO YOU CAN JUST ACT WITHOUT THINKING. THE THINKING IS IN THE PLANNING AND IF YOU PLAN IT RIGHT, "YOU CAN FIND ALL-THINGS-NICKY" IN ONE PLACE. YOU SUGGEST TO PUT WAITING 4'S IN 2 PLACES. THE 1ST PLACE WOULD BE THE ORIGINAL ACTION IN AN AGENDA AND ONCE YOU DO IT, IT'S NO LONGER AN ACTION, SO WHY LEAVE IT THERE? DAVID ALLEN RECOMMENDS MOVING IT TO A LIST OF ALL YOUR WAITING 4'S... I HAVE FOUND THAT TO BE INEFFICIENT IN PRACTICE. I'M RECOMMENDING A SLIGHT MODIFICATION OF HIS SYSTEM WHICH IS TO LEAVE IT IN IT'S ORIGINAL CONTEXT/AGENDA BUT TAG IT IN SOME WAY TO EASILY DENOTE THE ACTION AS A "WAITING FOR." I GUESS IT SEEMS LIKE A TRIVIAL POINT BUT WHEN I'M W/ A STAFF MEMBER I FIND IT EASIER TO FOCUS W/MINIMAL DISTRACTION AND IT'S DISTRACTING TO BE WORKING OFF OF TWO LISTS. I WANT TO BE "PRESENT" AND ORGANIZED AND IN THE MOMENT AND NOT LOOKING TO GET A FOOTHOLD ABOUT WHAT'S PAST AND WHAT'S PRESENT AND WHAT'S ON WHAT LIST... IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S WAY EASIER FOR ME TO PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY WHEN MY NOTES AND TOOLS AREN'T A DISTRACTION. I'M HOPING TO GET ADVICE ON HOW TO DO THIS IN THE SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION I DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST POST. SO FAR, I HAVEN'T FOUND A BETTER WAY THAN PUTTING PARENTHESIS AROUND A "WAITING 4." » POSTED IN:
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