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- Johnny.Decimal University
- Task and Project Management
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- Task and Project Management
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@johnnydecimal not sure if this is the right place - but what are your thoughts about Things Areas for organization (either instead of, or in combination with projects)?
I do touch on them later in the course. I use Areas to separate my JD systems, i.e. personal vs work.
I don’t use them as JD areas as I just don’t find it necessary. But if you’d like to, nothing will break. Other than dividing up the sidebar they don’t otherwise interfere with anything in my system.
Time to Be a Better Human and review the course “Task and Project Management with Johnny Decimal”!
No seriously, if you want recommendation blurbs and all let me know. I don’t do Google Reviews.
This course is not just another technical run-through of how to push tasks around so you feel like you’re in control, though it does walk you through the nitty gritty of a coherent system for keeping track of all the things. It is centered on the Apple-only app Things, so if you’re not in that ecosystem you’ll need to do some translation work to apply the techniques to your own environment. But more than that, this course is a personal exhortation from a fellow human whose real concern for your well-being in the overwhelm of task management shines through. Watching the videos is not just instructive, but also heartening and encouraging. On more than one occasion, I had to go for a walk to let the deeper message sink in.
The system as presented contains some timeless principles combined into a streamlined daily workflow, as well as several novel tweaks that gave me a fresh sense of control, especially in the area of prioritising and triaging.
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To be a bit more specific, what I got the most out of is the P1/2 — P3/4 split. Both on the level of how to look at the big pile of things, and the challenge of being honest about what gets to go on the day’s list! Very thought-provoking.
I don’t have that many questions at the moment, mostly because I don’t use Things and so the details are wildly different. Maybe that is my one suggestion, eventually add a bit summarizing how to implement this if one doesn’t use Things … if you feel like it (Edit: I see on the course description page you discuss this). Maybe fellow users can give feedback on that front? I’ll try to keep notes myself.
Thanks for the kind words. I might extract a sentence or two when I get round to building a ‘testimonial wall’ if that’s okay?
Maybe that is my one suggestion, eventually add a bit summarizing how to implement this if one doesn’t use Things
For sure. I started out intending to do that as I went, but got caught up in the main track of the thing. Which I think is how it has to happen: you just need to hyper-focus to get something like this finished.
But now that it’s done and I can step back, it’s kinda clear what the essence of the thing is. So maybe I can put together a high-level list of … requirements isn’t the right word. Like, what does [insert name of todo app] need, minimally, in order to work with my system?
You know what, I’d probably go back to plain-text for this. Is @ellane here? Let’s see if she’s got email notifications turned on. Because if you can see a way to do this using plain-text, you can do it with anything.
Yup, email notifications are on! I’ve started the course but am not too far into it yet. Which means any comments I make at this stage may fall short of the mark.
I can say that I have a system I’m pleased with that works entirely in plain text, with a bit of Markdown (and my version of todo.txt) to make it easier to navigate. Looking forward to seeing what the JD course adds to my perspective and approach.
The premise of managing my tasks is the question “When will I act on this?” I focus on time rather than priorities. Once I’ve gone through the JD and course I’ll come back and comment further. Looking forward to seeing what it adds to my perspective and approach.
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Of course.
I use a plain text system too. So I’ll share my experiences after a bit.
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I think we’ll get along.
For those who don’t already, Ellane’s site should be in your RSS feeds.