OneNote and OneNote Journal Power Toy

I’m grateful to the Yahoo GTD group for turning me on last fall to OneNote Journal Power Toy, a OneNote add-in from TabletDev.  Through a single click or by pressing Windows-J, you can create or access a OneNote page with today’s date on it, organized in a notebook by month.

I’ve never been one to keep daily journal-style notes, but the convenience of this power toy has made me rethink how I approach note-taking and using Outlook.  Every day, I launch a daily notes page using the power toy.  As I take notes all day -- from calls and meetings, from stuff I’ve read, or as thoughts occur to me --I jot them down on the daily notes page.  This turns my daily notes page into a “virtual” inbox, where I can capture everything from that day. 

Here's a sample of notes from this morning (changed to protect identities, of course):

Combining OneNote and Outlook makes it easy to process and track my notes.    When I complete the note, I also "tag" it with an icon that associates it with a  specific client.  Later, by going into "Show tagged notes," I can pull up all references to any specific client or category, regardless of date, creating a handy way to revisit notes during a weekly review or flag stuff as reference.

If I have time after I make the note, I process it immediately.  Depending on what it is, I can create a "project page" in OneNote (which links to my projects list in Outlook) or I can create new entries on my next actions lists in Outlook.  (Pressing CTL-Shift-K in OneNote creates a linked task in Outlook.) 

If I don't have time to process the notes immediately, I flag the entry with a custom check box I've created with the name, "Process."  Just as I can sort by category or client tag, I can also pull up all items marked, "Process," which gives me a way to pull up all things I still need to process on one screen.  It also helps me ensure that I don't forget to process something as I move from day to day.

By turning on the Tags Summary, I can get a quick view of all the items I've tagged:

If I want, I can even toggle a few options and collapse some categories to show only incomplete items on my "To Process" list and/or incomplete items I've sent to my next action lists in Outlook:

All of the items in the Tags Summary box are clickable, so I can jump directly to the original note where I created them.  By clicking on the red flags in the tasks, I can open the item in Outlook or mark it complete via OneNote.  The "Process" check boxes are interactive, so I check/uncheck them, as I complete processing.

(BTW, the list of tasks above does not reflect the wording of the next actions as they appear on my NA lists.  I usually tweak those to make them true next physical actions when I put them on my NA lists, but OneNote and Outlook don't sync that change.)

One thing I'm still trying to adapt in a more seamless way is integrating daily notes with Windows Mobile.   I found a Power Toy on the OneNote Power Toys blog that lets me send any OneNote page to OneNote Mobile, which is a handy way to keep daily notes current on my Windows Mobile phone.  But, I haven't found a great way to get note FROM my phone back to the daily notes page.  I can type notes in OneNote Mobile and sync them through ActiveSync, but I typically take handwritten notes in the WinMob Notes app.  Right now, I'm emailing myself the notes I take, pulling them up on the desktop, and pasting them into my daily page.  It's more than a little clunky, especially since OneNote 2007 doesn't read handwriting from WinMob.  (Stupid move, Microsoft...)

Back after a quick refresher...

Heading back to work after giving myself a few days off during the Thanksgiving break.  Well, almost "off"...

• Computer shopping again...Looked at a couple of possible computers to get my mother for Christmas. (Browsed online, of course. Not a chance I'd go near a store during the Black Friday mayhem...)  I haven't found a better buy than the Acer I bought myself last month, so it looks like I'll be getting another. My plan is to get it, load it with the appropriate software, test it, and pre-load it with her files, which I'll snag remotely via Hamachi.  She'll have a computer ready to go, tested, and customized the way she likes it.  (Don't tell!)

 

• TV shopping, too...I also looked at some of the super-cheap flat screen LCDs that are on sale for the holidays, since I'm thinking of getting a new set for the bedroom.  Haven't seen anything I'm ready to jump for yet, but looking at a few models gave me an idea:  I ought to think about getting a set that allows for a computer-in, as well as HD and other TV ports.  With relatively cheap computers available (including those with Media Center options), it might be worthwhile to consider getting a small CPU to stow in the bedroom.  It could replace my Tivo, act as a PVR, run Slingplayer, and extend access to my network, the Internet, and all my media files.   My Tivo already does a lot of that, but this definitely would extend my capability.

 

• TV viewing...Speaking of Tivo, how did I live before I got one?  One of my big projects over the last few days has been forced rest -- no computer, no phone, no errands, no thinking, just vegging out on the couch.  As a result, I've caught up on about 10 weeks of fall shows that I had Tivo'd.  It was less than inspiring, but highly conducive to not thinking.  Best tech on TV:  NCIS and Criminal Minds.  I wish my computers ran that fast...

 

• Slingbox online...Those placeshifting fiends at Sling have launched a new service that looks to me like a big winner: Sling.com, where anyone can watch shows (similar to Hulu) and where Sling users can view their home TVs through a web interface. This second feature is especially interesting -- essentially it puts placeshifting "in the cloud" without any software needed.  Previously, Sling users had to use Slingplayer software to watch their programming remotely.

 

• New PDA phone...Last Wednesday, I bought Verizon's new HTC Touch Pro Windows Mobile phone. After five days of use and tweaking, I've got to say I'm unimpressed and frustrated.  Verizon has crippled the phone -- locked GPS to their fee-based service, removed Internet Connection Sharing, reduced RAM to half the levels of the AT&T and Sprint versions, etc. Very disappointing, because this has the potential to be a GREAT PDA phone, with a form factor smaller than the iPhone.  My hope is that the mad modders at PPCGeeks and XDA-Developers will have this puppy unlocked and re-ROM'ed in the next couple of weeks. If not, I have a decision to make before the 30-day return kicks in:  Do I return the phone and return to using my three-year-old PDA phone until a (hopefully) better choice comes out or live with it.  Watch for more details on modding a "phone for all seasons" over the next few days.

 

• Cranking up the GTD machine again...After a mid-week holiday, I always feel a little confused about "what day it is," so I spent some time this afternoon doing a GTD review to get myself back in fighting trim for the week ahead. (Is it a "review" or a "preview?" Hard to tell sometimes...)  Nothing focuses me better, calms me down more, or reinvigorates my thinking more effectively than doing this.  Tomorrow morning when I sit down at my desk, I'll be able to get right into action: I've already figured out my next actions, loaded them onto my lists, and set myself up for getting stuff done.

 

• And, a thought on goals...CNN founder, entrepreneurial genius, and all-around convention-buster Ted Turner was a guest on this morning's Meet the Press, where he offered some typically unconventional wisdom drawn from his new book.  He attributed his father's suicide to reaching his goals in life too easily:  "He set his goals too low, and he suggested to me that I don't do that.  Set goals high enough so they can't be achieved in your lifetime, then you'll always be motivated to keep working and keep engaged."    I love it -- totally sets all the talk of keeping goals "doable" on its ear.

 

I'm refreshed and ready for the new week.

GTD and Maslow

The other day, a client and I were talking about how economic and social uncertainty might affect the way some of our target audiences perceive messages.  The discussion turned to how needs and personal status affect perception and action -- the same ideas that psychologist Abraham Maslow first offered in his Hierarchy of Needs theory.

Maslow envisioned a five-level pyramid that represented how an individual's motivation changes depending on various needs:

1. Physiological -- basic needs, like food, water, sleep, and shelter

2. Safety -- feeling secure in terms of health, employment, personal safety, etc.

3.  Love and belonging -- having friends, family, intimacy

4. Esteem -- confidence, achievement, respect from others, respect of others, etc.

5. Self-actualization -- where an individual is "growth motivated," rather than "deficiency motivated"

As we were talking about some of the traits and needs related to people at various stages, it occurred to me that many of the factors that define self actualization are also good predictors of success in using GTD.

Maslow and others noticed some specific identifying traits in people who are "self actualized:"

• They are independent
• They are autonomous
• They don't seek outside approval or validation
• They embrace reality and basic truths
• They are spontaneous and flexible
• They enjoy solving problems
• They transcend their circumstances, rather than merely "coping with" them

 

Sounds like a great description of a successful GTD user to me.

I've seen people comment that GTD is only applicable "for executives" or "for people who can control how they work."  Others suggest that it doesn't have enough innate "motivating tools" or that it isn't "structured enough."

Although I believe these criticisms are off base, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if what GTD's critics are actually getting at is the degree to which a user is self actualized.  After all, if someone is at a point in life where they need approval or they don’t feel comfortable being autonomous, they may not be entirely comfortable with operating in the self-sustaining way GTD requires.

The good news is, using GTD could put someone on a path to self actualization by offering a framework where they can learn to operate in a new way.  For example, it’s a lot easier to “transcend” your circumstances and embrace reality if you’re experienced in casting your activities in terms of “context” and taking action based on current reality.

Similarly, GTD supports spontaneity and flexibility by weaning users off the artificial structures of task scheduling and teaching them to assess their options in the moment. 

I’m curious to know: How do GTD users feel about their own efforts and the degree to which they are self actualized.

GTD and showing up

Woody Allen once said that “80 percent of success is showing up.” I was reading a thread in the Getting Things Done Yahoo group today and thinking that applies to success in using GTD, too.

Getting Things Done (GTD) is the personal productivity system management spelled out in the 2001 book by management guru David Allen.

Allen’s process has users plow through everything in their lives, distilling their commitments and projects (both big and small) down to two questions:

1. What is the outcome I desire from doing this?
2. What is the next physical action required to move forward?

Doing this takes the uncertainty and ambiguity out of the working -- since you’ve already defined how you’re going to do things, you can sail through the work of “getting things done.” It’s also incredibly energizing, since it gives you a sense of having everything squared away at all times.

Allen also offers some guidance to help keep the flow going and leverage efficiency, such as organizing your next actions according to the resource you need to do them (such as having a “calls list” for the phone calls you need to make).

Seems simple enough, and, for most people, it is. But a noisy few complain that GTD’s approach doesn’t work, because of their “unique situation.” They make very elaborate cases for being “different” and sometimes create complex “alternative” or “hybrid” GTD systems to accommodate their “needs.”

A casual observer might be inclined to say that’s understandable, since everyone’s different. But, as someone who has been more than a casual observer for a few years now, here’s the fact: About 99% of these complaints are a total cop-out by people just can’t or won’t own up enough to their own commitments and actions to succeed.

GTD asks users to cut through all the systems, structures, piles, and debris they’ve built around them to confront basic truths about their lives:

• These are the projects and commitments I have
• These are the desired outcomes I want
• These are the resources I have available now
• These are the actions I must take to reach my desired outcomes

Reaching those truths requires a fundamental willingness to face life with “no bull” and an openness to finding out that, when it gets down to bare metal, your desired outcomes may not be what you’ve been telling yourself they are.

Then, once you do sort out your desires and commitments, it’s time to do the work. Since you’ve already identified the resources you need and the actions you’re going to take, you have no excuses for not acting.

I believe that’s why some people are so dedicated to maintaining the myth that GTD’s two fundamental questions – what do I want and what’s the next action – don’t apply to them. Their systems complicate what they do just enough to give them a way to avoid thinking or acting in a new way. Their approaches subtly sidestep facing reality. And, if all else fails, they fall back on blaming David Allen for not (somehow) accommodating them in his book.

So, for those who passionately defend their flawed (and failing) approaches to GTD, here’s some advice: Cut out the all the approaches, tweaked systems, and other nonsense. Just ask yourself what you want and what’s the next action to get there. Then, try showing up.

(Hmmm…now that I think of it, I wonder if David Allen and Woody Allen are related…)

Using OneNote for GTD Project Tracking

In working with OneNote, I realized that it offers a great solution for people using GTD with Outlook who want to see the status of all their next actions on a specific project, regardless of context.  In fact, it makes a great Project Notes (and project inventory list) resource for anyone.

I created a sample project to show how it could work.  (FYI, I've collapsed a lot of menus, notebooks, and lists I normally keep expanded for privacy's sake.)

First, say I've just been on a call with Bob.  With his permission, I've recorded it in OneNote, which can search audio files for key words.  I've also typed a few notes.  If I click on these notes, it will play the audio that was being recorded when I wrote down any specific word.

My OneNote page might look something like this:

 

So, I process the call.  First, I highlight the due date and add it automatically to the "hard landscape" of my calendar in Outlook as an all-day event.  (In OneNote:  Tools>Create Outlook Item>Create Outlook Appointment).  An Outlook appointment window will open automatically that I can add more info to:

 

 

Then, I go through the rest of the notes in OneNote and process them.  By tabbing as I type, I can automatically create a table of next actions and due dates, if any:

 

 

I can do the first four steps immediately, so I turn them into Outlook Tasks, adding them to my Next Actions lists.  By inserting a cursor just before the text on each item and pressing Control-Shift-K, OneNote will open up an Outlook task that I can customize, adding whatever category/context or additional info I need.

Here's the task I created for Research Acme Industries.  I've added the @computer category, but OneNote and Outlook created the rest automatically.  Clicking on the link in the notes section of the task will automatically open my Johnson briefing page in OneNote.

 

 

As I create the tasks from OneNote, the program flags each item that has a task associated with it.  If I left-click the flag, it will mark the task as complete in both OneNote and Outlook.  If I right-click the flag, I can review the status, delete the task, or open it it Outlook.  If I hover over the flag, it will show the date started/date due info. 

Here's what the list looks like once I've added tasks to all the actions I can take right now:

 

 

Meanwhile, my Next Actions list in Outlook looks like this.  (I've filtered out all my other NAs for these screenshots.  Normally, all my NAs from all projects would appear in their contexts. ) 

 

 

So, I get to work doing these next actions, checking them off in Outlook like any other tasks as I finish them.  The next time I do a project review, I go back to my project page in OneNote, and I can see at a glance that I've completed two of the actions, but I still have two on my next actions list.  If I want to change the status of any of these -- converting something from complete to incomplete, for example -- I just have to right-click on the icon next to the task.  That will also update my Outlook Task list automatically.

 

 

If I want to add more tasks to the project, I can go back into my table in OneNote and add rows or columns, just as in Word or Excel.  Or, I can simply click in the last box of the table and press Enter to add a new line at the bottom. 

I could also create a subproject within a task by indenting within the same box, or move existing tasks into other boxes to create hierarchies.  (Unfortunately, there's no way I know of to link these hierarchies within Outlook's tasks automatically.) 

Within the list, I can create check lists of things that don't need to go on my Next Actions list.  For example, in the list below, I've put check boxes next to the things I want to take with me on the trip.

Once I get into the project and get more of a sense of the steps and dependencies, my list in OneNote might evolve to look something like this:

 

 

Meanwhile, my next actions list in Outlook still reflects the context view of things that I actually work from:

 

That should provide an idea of the extent to which OneNote and Outlook can integrate to support GTD.  Using notebooks, lists, and sections, as well as multiple lists on the same page, those who need a little more project planning and review than a straight list option offers may find what they're looking for.

Is "getting away from it all" the right idea?

I was in a discussion group recently where someone commented that she valued "getting away from the electronics."

This struck me as odd: Why "get away from" electronics? That it would be like saying I wanted to get away from electric lights or modern plumbing. They're all just tools that serve functions, no more, no less. Not having them around means I can do less -- for fun or work.

Although the person later clarified that she meant "get away from it all," not just electronics specifically, I suspect her first thought actually reflects what a lot of people feel: Having electronic devices, especially cell phones, Blackberries and other PDAs, and access to "everything" wherever they are creates stress. Leave the device behind, and the stress goes away.

The thing is, that's a terrible strategy.

Sure, we all need time to think, to disengage, and to relax. But, cutting off access to "the electronics" is really nothing more than "shooting the messenger." The pressures and responsibilities don't go away, it's just that you've removed your ability to manage them.

Ultimately, that's not a work/life balance, that's a crash diet. And, like a fad diet, you might see some benefits for a week or two, but when things return to normal, you're in thicker than ever.

One of the things I've learned from using David Allen's Getting Things Done approach to personal management is the skill of "opting in" to focus on something, releasing my focus, and refocusing on something else. It happens on a micro level with ongoing interruptions, and on a macro level, when I chose to devote my time to doing one thing over another.

As technologies make the old boundaries of time and location even less relevant for determining where your focus evaporate, developing an ability to chose your intentions -- without having to cast off your tools -- is going to become an even more critical skill.

To my mind, this means learning more about how to "get to it all" in all aspects of life, and less about getting away from any of it.

OneNote is starting to blow me away

Although I've had Microsoft OneNote on my computers and my PDA phone for years, I've been slow to the party getting into this program. Every time I opened it I thought, right, it's blank paper that I can organize with tabs. Great. Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

The fact that I came upon OneNote, which syncs to PDAs only manually through ActiveSync, just as I had moved to hosted exchange service to sync all Outlook info wirelessly, didn't increase it's appeal.

The lack of handwriting recognition or even writing -- features that had been in earlier Windows Mobile versions, but are fading fast -- was another strike against.

Now, though, I think I'm finally starting to get it. Here's what's making the difference:

1. Audio/notetaking synchronization -- OneNote automatically syncs audio recordings with the notes you're taking, whether by typing or in writing on a tablet PC. As someone who does endless interviews and has spent hours transcribing and re-listening to tapes, this is useful beyond belief.

2. Audio search -- Similarly, OneNote will index audio recordings so that you can search for phrases or words you SPOKE, as well as wrote. No speech training required.

3. Integration with Outlook Tasks -- Outlook Tasks is my life -- My whole GTD system resides there. OneNote gives me a way to create tasks in Outlook directly from notes I take in a single click. Processing could not be easier.

4. Wireless synching -- It's not quite the same as hosted exchange, but by creating a peer-to-peer network through LogMeIn's free Hamachi service (more on this in the future), I've been able to take advantage of OneNote's PC synchronization features through the Internet. I can write on my tablet PC's screen and what it appear almost in real time on my desktop PC's copy of OneNote.

5. Handwriting recognition -- I miss the excellent handwriting recognition and "Transcriber" functions in the old Pocket PC platforms. (Why are they gone? Dumb, MS, dumb...) But, OneNote's ability to transcribe handwriting is pretty stunning.

I'm still figuring out uses for OneNote, so I'm eager to hear how others are using it. Please send ideas my way!

Amazon info on Allen's new book

Late last year, Amazon and other book-buying sites started showing placeholders for, "Making It All Work," a new book by Getting Things Done author David Allen that is coming out on December 30. Now, Amazon is showing a few more details, offering what appears to be a "back cover flap" description of book:

Now, David Allen leads the world on a new path to achieve focus, control, and perspective. Throw out everything you know about productivity-- Making It All Work will make life and work a game you can win. For those who have already experienced the clarity of mind from reading Getting Things Done, Making It All Work will take the process to the next level.

David Allen shows us how to excel in dealing with our daily commitments, the unexpected, and the information overload that threatens to drown us. Making It All Work provides an instantly usable, success-building tool kit for staying ahead of the game.

Making It All Work addresses: how to figure out where you are in life and what you need; how to be your own consultant and a CEO of your life; moving from hope to trust in decision-making; when not to set goals; harnessing intuition, spontaneity, and serendipity; and why life is like business and business is like life.

December 30. Doesn't give me much time for a new David Allen-inspired life by January 1...