Getting Things Done

A fresh Tinderbox application on the Tinderbox Wiki: Ryan Holcomb on Getting Things Done. (This has been a big week on doing unexpected things with Tinderbox!)

"The simple premise behind "Getting Things Done" or GTD (as best I can paraphrase after reading the introduction) is that a project consist of actionable items and you DO the actions, NOT the projects. Additionally, ala Covey, you rank projects and actions according to importance rather than urgency. Allen also urges the maintenance of an ongoing Action List as opposed to a constantly renegotiated to-do list. And that seems to be working well for me. "

Holcomb makes two key points that shouldn't get lost in the technical details:

• It's important that the ToDo list make you feel good. It's easy for the list to become a nag list, a catalog of things left undone that you feel you ought to have done. A ToDo list that you can't bear to look at is not much help.
• Automating away small details -- sorting things, timestamping them, assigning them suitable priorities, calling your attention to the right notes -- can save you lots of time because you use this tool every day. Tinderbox gives you an interesting combination of ease-of-use and flexibility. It's not as easy as using a pre-made application, but you can make it work just the way you want -- and that can save you a lot of time over the long haul