Eric Mack On-Line

Something wonderful happened in church today. The projector bulb burned out - on both projectors.



This meant we could not read the sermon notes on the screen.

Continue Reading "Don't let what you see distract you from your vision" »

If you're like me, you've probably paid the price, perhaps more than once, for a missed meeting, call, or appointment. If you've been into GTD for any length of time, you know how sacred the calendar is for mapping out the hard landscape. But what if that landscape suddenly shifts?

Are you aware that a new Daylight Savings Time (DST) law that went into effect on January 1, 2007 that will affect your personal or group calendar and any PDAs or smartphones that you use?

Beginning this year, the United States and parts of Canada will extend the period covered by Daylight Savings Time.  DST will begin the second Sunday of March (three weeks earlier than before) and continue until the first Sunday in November (one week later than before).  This document refers to the weeks that are affected by the change as “extended DST weeks”.

A very real possibility exists that some calendar entries, such as meetings and appointments that have been scheduled to occur during the extended DST weeks will appear one hour later and will need to be adjusted by one hour.

Continue Reading "How will the new DST laws affect your productivity?" »

My daughter, Wendy, recently made a post in the GTD Connect forum about how our family is learning about GTD at the breakfast table. [If you're a GTD Connect subscriber, you can read the posts and respond there.] I thought I would take a moment to share my own thoughts and experience here, too.

Over the years, I've often ask my children to help me test new software and programs. I find that they approach software from a totally different perspective and I always learn new insights as a result of their efforts. (Even Microsoft found benefit in this approach; they distributed Amy & Wendy's podcast on OneNote Shared Sessions to the OneNote design team.) Anyway, back to the GTD breakfast club...

In December, I decided to ask my wife and children to test some prototype features for my productivity software for using Lotus Notes with the GTD methodology.  (Little things, like linking projects to actions, switching contexts, and a tickler to calendar system.) In order for them to be effective helpers, however, I knew that they would have to distinguish between the methodology and technology of the productivity equation. I decided that this would be a good time for me to set up more formal GTD instruction for my family.

Continue Reading "The GTD Breakfast Club " »

February must be the month for career moves.  Last week, Hobie Swan announced that he was leaving MindJet to work at Healthwise.  A big loss for MindJet, and a certain gain for Hobie and Healthwise.  Hobie's been a great champion of mind mapping and MindManager and he's also been strong supporter and sponsor of our US First Robotics team. Knowing Hobie, I'm sure we'll hear from him - the inner blogger is hard to keep quiet. Hobie, I wish you the best.

Last night, Michael Sampson called me to share that, after much consideration and prayer, he decided to resign from Foldera. Foldera's loss will be a big gain to the collaboration community. Like so many, I have missed Michael's regular in-depth insights on collaboration and technology during these past nine months.. I look forward to seeing (or reading) what's next for Michael.  [If you have time, read some of the comments on Michael's blog.]  Best of success to you, Michael!

Yesterday, I complained to my friend, Bruce Elgort, about the lack of new Taking Notes podcasts. Bruce promptly sent me a link to this weekend's Taking Notes podcast, an outstanding interview with Thomas Gumz. Apparently, I was behind the times, having just returned from a few days working with David Allen and the GTD delivery staff in Ojai. (More on that later.)



This afternoon, I loaded the podcast in my new iPod shuffle - the one with the engraved words "Eric loves all things Mac(k)" - courtesy of Michael Sampson, and headed out, snow shovel in hand, to clear my driveway and locate my car.

If you are in any way involved with the Lotus Notes Admin/Developer community, you owe it to yourself to check out Taking Notes. Bruce and his partner, Julian Robichaux do a great job with their interviews; always interesting people and interesting topics. And, the quality of their podcasts is improving with each episode.

While I'm on this topic, I'd like to publicly thank Bruce and Julian for their dedication and contribution to the Notes community. Their tireless efforts to promote, educate, and build a community resource is greatly appreciated.

Taking Notes is one of the few podcasts on my iTunes list.

Link: Taking Notes Podcast

I'm delighted to see David Allen on the front page of CNN's technology section, this morning. I remember meeting with David and a group of advisors under the Oaks, in 1997. David share his vision to positively impact the world. I'm thrilled to be able to play a very small part in that and to have enjoyed a front row seat for what's proven to be an exciting adventure.
 
For those of you already familiar with David Allen and GTD, there's nothing new in this article. For those who read my blog who've not heard of either, you need to read it.

Congratulations, David!  I'm proud of you and delighted to be a part of your team.

Many of my eProductivity clients use the Treo 650 for phone and PIM applications. With the hype surrounding the new EVDO network devices I recently conducted several tests to help me determine if EVDO would indeed provide the performance benefits claimed by the respective networks. Note that I was not trying to determine the better network, simply whether the cost to upgrade to a Treo 700p could be justified on the basis of improved productivity.
Continue Reading "Treo w/EVDO - a worthwhile productivity upgrade" »

Chuck Frey, of The Mind Mapping Software Blog, is doing another Mind Mapping Survey as part of his research in the area of mind mapping software. So far, over 300 people have responded to various questions about how they use (or don't use) mind maps in their day to day work. Since these surveys often influence mapping software designers, this is also your opportunity to share the features you most want to see.

Chuck shares useful Mind Mapping information on his blog; please consider helping him with his research.

Here's a link to Chuck Frey's 10-question survey.

I enjoy reading the comments and private email from people who read my blog. The number of people who post or send email is relative small, however, compared to the number of people who visit the site daily or subscribe my RSS feed. I've maintained communications with several people who have posted on my blog and a few friendships have developed as a result.

I was intrigued by Inspired by Roger Johanson's post on 456 Berea Street in which he asked his readers who they are and what they want to read about. So, borrowing from Roger's 5 questions, I'd like to ask you, my loyal readers, the same five questions:

1.        Who are you (name and occupation)?
2.        Where are you from?
3.        How long have you been visiting this site?
4.        Have you posted a comment here before?
5.        What would you like to read more (or less) about here on Eric Mack On-Line?

Answer the questions you feel like answering. But please do post a comment!

Following on from David Allen's Mind Mapping Webinar, where David discussed various ways he uses MindManager as a brainstorming tool, I 'd like to share how I use GyroQ and MindManager maps to support my GTD process.

I first learned about Gyronix GyroQ early last year when my friend, and mind mapping expert, Nick Duffill (of Beyond Mind Mapping) called me to tell me about his latest project. I was intrigued with the idea of a memory-resident capture tool that I could use to collect my thoughts to a map where I could see them organize them easily. I couldn't wait to start working with the product.



GyroQ captures ideas and actions quickly, without breaking your concentration - a kind of "interrupt management" solution. This supports how I use the GTD methodology helping me stay focused, and separating the capture of ideas and interruptions from their processing. A MindManager map can be a great place to process and review, and decide on whether something should become an action. But opening up MindManager or Lotus Notes just to add something to a list is a risky strategy, as there is every chance that I will become involved in the map again and start re-thinking, as my brain will have had time to incubate things since my last visit.
Continue Reading "GyroQ brings GTD and MindManager closer together" »