Comments on: Programs: Agenda at once http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/programs-agenda-at-once/ A survival guide for the 21st century researcher Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:35:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Julie http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/programs-agenda-at-once/#comment-36629 Julie Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:22:05 +0000 http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/archives/15#comment-36629 Yeah I agree all the calendar stuff has to be handled by an external application, but great ical format. Yeah I agree all the calendar stuff has to be handled by an external application, but great ical format.

]]> By: jose http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/programs-agenda-at-once/#comment-23 jose Tue, 07 Nov 2006 19:00:58 +0000 http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/archives/15#comment-23 Hi Silvia, I just checked thinking rock. Not my cup of tea, since all the calendar stuff has to be handled by an external application (but it is nice that it's ical format). An interesting comment I saw while brosing for it: "the GTD model deals poorly with types of work that require hours upon hours of concentrated effort on a single action. If I'm writing a book or a long article, I need to sit down and write for long periods over multiple days or even weeks ("Write Chapter 1" is not necessarily quick). The overall project may have multiple actions, but if a single action takes a long time, it's entirely unsatisfying to have it in GTD, since it hangs out being uncompleted the entire time. " (tidBits Review). I agree with that comment. GTD seems to help me to do all the little things (it's a pleasure to cross them out) but the large items get stuck in a 'pending' mode for a long time. I'm struggling with this problem myself. Hi Silvia,
I just checked thinking rock. Not my cup of tea, since all the calendar stuff has to be handled by an external application (but it is nice that it’s ical format).

An interesting comment I saw while brosing for it:
“the GTD model deals poorly with types of work that require hours upon hours of concentrated effort on a single action. If I’m writing a book or a long article, I need to sit down and write for long periods over multiple days or even weeks (”Write Chapter 1″ is not necessarily quick). The overall project may have multiple actions, but if a single action takes a long time, it’s entirely unsatisfying to have it in GTD, since it hangs out being uncompleted the entire time. ” (tidBits Review).

I agree with that comment. GTD seems to help me to do all the little things (it’s a pleasure to cross them out) but the large items get stuck in a ‘pending’ mode for a long time. I’m struggling with this problem myself.

]]> By: Silvia http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/programs-agenda-at-once/#comment-16 Silvia Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:21:26 +0000 http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/archives/15#comment-16 I am using TR. So far, the best one for my needs. http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/ I am using TR. So far, the best one for my needs.
http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/

]]> By: academic productivity » Interruptions: one of the costs of maintaining a time-management system http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/programs-agenda-at-once/#comment-15 academic productivity » Interruptions: one of the costs of maintaining a time-management system Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:55:01 +0000 http://www.academicproductivity.com/blog/archives/15#comment-15 [...] These are tiny tasks. The problem is not so much the time it takes to do them, but the fact that they interrupt your flow. (see graph: the times *I* use the program are the green bars; they are spread all over my working day!). I have measured the time I spend on my current time-management tool, Agenda at once. Although it decreased with time of usage, the average is still quite high, at 11 about minutes and a half per day. I have also logged times when I was using MyLife Organized and ToDoList for about the same number of days (let me know if you want to see similar graphs) and the average times where 17:30 and 14:35 respectively. People using paper and pencil may think that they spend less time doing this, but as far as I know nobody has measured the length of the interruption of finding pen, agenda or paper, looking for the right place to annotate the task, etc. [...] [...] These are tiny tasks. The problem is not so much the time it takes to do them, but the fact that they interrupt your flow. (see graph: the times *I* use the program are the green bars; they are spread all over my working day!). I have measured the time I spend on my current time-management tool, Agenda at once. Although it decreased with time of usage, the average is still quite high, at 11 about minutes and a half per day. I have also logged times when I was using MyLife Organized and ToDoList for about the same number of days (let me know if you want to see similar graphs) and the average times where 17:30 and 14:35 respectively. People using paper and pencil may think that they spend less time doing this, but as far as I know nobody has measured the length of the interruption of finding pen, agenda or paper, looking for the right place to annotate the task, etc. [...]

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