kimwoodward.org

Part of what needs to be done on the iPhone to use Getting Things Done is to define Contexts for the Pocket Informant App. I have looked at several sites and have decided to adapt to their list, along with my own, and that is what I will change to on the iPhone. Note: in some of these contexts, I am using some word for word descriptions which are found at the Sojourn of the Mind blog at http://blog.yuryweb.com/gtd/setting-up-categories/ - These are highly tailored to what I do.

@Church – [Not in GTD Book] – This category I created because I need to refer to lesson preparations that I do for the Wolverton class and items regarding church in general. This would include missionary emphasis and support work for same. Quite a bit of what I do during the week on my own time revolves around this.

@QuietTime – [Not in GTD Book] – This category I created because I need to have somewhere to place items that I want to explore during my quiet time with the Lord. This would include things like prayer for others and subjects that I want to study. I generally have the alarm clock go off at about 4:30 am so that I have about a half hour to 45 minutes before I go to the gym. I keep a list of things that I do at the gym in another application called Gym Buddy.

- Home [dash then space then Home] - This is used together with the next Topic of "– Work" to differentiate if it is a task for Home/Personal Life or for Work. This helps me figure out easily what I would like to do at this time. For example I try not to do work when I am with my family so when I select this through filters later I am able to isolate things for personal/home life that I would like to do at home. This would also include things like chores that I need to do around the house.

- Work [dash then space then work] - See Above.

! Projects – [Exclamation point then space then Projects] - This is used to identify items as a project items. You should always select this if a Task is part of the project. I may have to augment this due to the fact that I work on several projects at the same time; one thought is to have the short name of the project included surrounded by parends.

! Project Cat – [Same format as above] - This is used to mark things as project categories. This is very important, as you need this to be able to filter out items that are just categories from the task list. Make sure when you select categories as part of this item that you also select them as part of “! Projects” or it will not work correctly. Not sure if this is really necessary, I will have to try the system for a while to see if I actually use this.

@Calls – [Page 144 in GTD Book] – This is a To Do to make for making phone calls. I use it all the time, as I am traveling where I can not call someone like on a plane, bus, train, etc. I make a note as to who I have to call and why I have to do it. Then when I have time I go through the list and make the appropriate phone calls.

@Computer – [Page 145 in GTD Book] – This one I use a bit different as I break down the category further later on. This one I use for things that I have to do on computer that does not require Internet access. I can make notes, write articles, even answer E-mail but I can not look something up or download something.

@Computer–Internet - [Not in GTD Book] – This is just an extension of the @Computer above as it is just a way to set-up items that require Internet access to make it easier for me to take a look and see what items I can accomplish at that moment.

@Errands - [Page 145 in GTD Book] – This is for errands when I am out and about the places. For example I only have 50 sheets of paper left and I know that in the next few days I am going to use them up so I will put a To Do in the @Errands category to stop by Staples and get paper.

@Agendas– [Page 146 in GTD Book] – To summarize, your next actions need to either occur in real time interaction with someone or be brought up in a meeting. Hence you create an Agenda’s list. Each item for a separate meeting is put in a separate Agenda and is named accordingly.

@Read or Review - [Page 148 in GTD Book] – The read and review basket is for something that you might want to read in the future but it is not critical at this time. This may include sections out of technical books that need studying in the future.

@Reference – [Not in GTD Book] – This category I created because sometimes I get E-Mails that have some good technical information that I would like to save for later use or to put in my technical file. Since I do not have time to do this at that moment and unlike the information in the book I do not print out stuff to waste trees if I do not have to. I put in Reference to be put in to my personal filing folder which is synchronized with my PDA all the time (More on that later).

@Someday – [Somewhere in GTD Book] – This is for things that I might want to do sometime in the future but not at this time.

@Tasks - [Not in GTD Book] – Since I modified the system somewhat extensively from the book the Tasks folder is something that I have to do at one or another location. It is the combination of @Home or @Office list that I have. For example I want to inventory my DVD collection. That would go in to @Tasks, I also want to convert them in to MP4 format so that I can play them on my iPhone. This action would go in to @Computer because it requires a computer to accomplish.

@Waiting For - [This is page 149 in GTD Book] – This category is very important as it keeps track of all the things that were done and keeps me on top of everything. At least once a day I look over the @Waiting For tasks and decide if I should follow up now on this task.

# Inactive - [Number Sign, space, and then Inactive] – As you start putting things in to your system you are going to notice that you want to do a lot. When you are looking at a paper system you can file things away for later time, but on a computer they are always there in front of you and take up valuable space on the small PDA/Phone real estate. To move those things out of the immediate view that I know are currently Inactive I created this Topic. This allows me to temporarily remove things from view, but still have them in my trusted system. Then during my weekly review, or when I have completed all the tasks (yeah I wish!!!) I can go in and enable things from the Inactive bin.

That's about it, next up is the description of the process that I use with the iPhone, notebook, daytimer, etc.