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My Tools @Work

The empty Windows section looked so sad, I thought I'd post something here. Any other Windows users hiding out there? [I can definitely understand the appeal of Macs (some wonderful software out there that's Mac-only, for one), but I've just always used Windows (or, *cough*, DOS) machines.]

Outlook for email, calendar, and a little task management

  • I've created @Action, @Reference, @Waiting, @Reading Material, @Someday/Maybe, @Open Issues (some things seem to fit neither Reference nor Waiting)
  • I flag emails to remind me of the specific action that must be taken; these can also pop up as reminders.
  • I've got it set up so that email from my boss gets flagged for immediate reading, has its own particular color text in the in-box and makes a sound upon arrival. (This would be total overkill when applied to every email!)

Bonsai desktop (for the bulk of my Next Actions, task, project management)

  • I posted about Bonsai in the PDA folder, but its desktop component is just as useful and for the same reasons: categories, filtering, easy to create hierarchical lists/outlines, etc.
  • It's not free, but might be worth the ~$35 price tag to someone looking for a powerful listmaking/outlining tool that seamlessly syncs from desktop to PDA. (I was lucky enough to receive a license to it as a Christmas gift.)

I'm just doing my best to record everything in one of these two tools -- contact information, tasks, projects, lists, etc.

TOPICS: Windows
GTD Wannabe's picture

Windows all the way. ...

Windows all the way. I describe myself as a Windows Baby, although I do remember having a hard time grasping the Windows 3.1 paradigm. What a mind bender after DOS. And then Win95, OMG, the concept of having shortcuts that could be structured in a hierarchy that had nothing to do with where the programs were kept. Oh my. But I got over the shock. And now I maintain that anything my prof can do with Linux, I can do with Windows ;)

My GTD setup consists of :

1. Outlook - primary GTD; hard landscape, NA lists (blog email, but that's it)
2. EverNote - project support material (great clipping from the web, and the concept of multiple categories per note is amazing - what did we ever do before tagging?)
3. OneNote - reference material - best place to store recipes, crochet patterns, interesting news stories that I want to keep for memories sake, etc.
4. Onfolio - inbox for feeds. Was using it for storing reference material, but I never refer back to it there, so that's silly. It would be great, I think, but I prefer the EverNote/OneNote combo.

Here's hoping there's lots of Windows talk here. And not trash talk either!

By the way, I do have a blog where I regale readers with my expertise. Hahahah. Basically, I like talking about the software I use and I share interesting things that I've figured it out.

 
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