...I think it is near impossible to build a trusted system out of Lotus Notes, which is why my assistants print everything out. We just can't trust Lotus Notes as a bring-forward system. I often find myself writing down the important stuff to do today on a piece of paper because there is no way in Lotus Notes to capture "this must be done today if possible". It is just too cumbersome to effectively review the lists.While I agree with Doug, that vanilla Lotus Notes Tasks can be cumbersome to use, Lotus Notes (or Outlook, or whatever product) is only a tool to support the work process. One of my clients, The David Allen Company, has a number of people that use Notes quite effectively to manage their projects and actions. For them, Notes is their trusted system. So, there must be more to this than just the tool....
Doug had a lot more to say and so do I. I have posted the rest of his comment along with my response, and an offer for Doug here, on my Notes on Productivity blog.
Discussion/Comments (3):
I hope it can be done, I am about half way done with implementing it myself with vanilla Notes. I bought the GTD doc, adopted it, changed my Welcome page, tried GyroQ, don't think it fits for me now that I have found the right click and create anything link on the Bookmarks in Notes (I have not used my Workspace since). Am now trying to gets Noteslinker to work, not easy and ResultsManager is coming to life!
Posted at 12/19/2007 10:48:09 by Justin Withers
Sure Notes (even Vanilla) Notes can work as a trusted system. I'm a 2 yr GTD'er and about a 5 year Outlooker who "had to" convert to Notes as my trusted system when I took a position with a new company this year.
I was heavily into a groove with Outlook and the NetCentrics add-in, so I wasn't ecstatic about migrating my system to a new platform.
I basically used the David Allen whitepaper with a few tweaks (basically I use a set of simple PROJECT TAGS which I include in the comments sections of my tasks to enable seeing next actions by project).
Is the implementation as slick as the Outlook with Netcentrics? Honestly, no. Most of my complaints are around the lack of customizing views / printout formats etc and the somewhat kludgy nature of the tasks by project. (Our IT department doesn't give us access to the Template and View designer application.)
But it works, and I am staying on track.
Your mileage may vary.
Posted at 12/20/2007 15:38:47 by Jeff Davis
Thanks for sharing how your implement GTD in Lotus Notes, Jeff.
I agree, it's the process that matters most; that said, some tools lend themselves more readily to an optimal GTD implementation.
You may wish to sign up at http://www.eProductivity.com to get on the preview list for eProductivity.
Eric
Posted at 12/26/2007 15:54:48 by Eric Mack
Discussion for this entry is now closed.