Getting Things Done in Leopard: Use Notes to Manage Projects

Jeep Project

One of the epiphanies behind David Allen’s GTD process is the fact that you need to break tasks down into “next actions.” For instance, one of my to-dos is the 30,000 mile service on my Jeep. But to do this service I have to do a lot of smaller steps. For instance, before I change the spark plugs I have to research what kind of spark plugs I need, then I need to go to the parts store and buy the plugs.

Apple Mail’s new Notes feature is a great way to manage projects. First go to preferences and change the display font. Marker Felt, what was Apple thinking? After that start a new note with your project name. From here you can brainstorm your ideas of what the project might need. You can even attach files.

Once you have defined some next actions in your Project/Note, select them and turn them into a To-Do. By clicking on the red arrow next to the To-Do you can assign the item to a specific calendar. I have my iCal calendars set up as “contexts” (ie. @Work, @Home, @ Calls, @ Errands.)

When it comes time for weekly review I just down-arrow through all my Notes and quickly review the progress I’ve made. It’s easy to reorganize To-Dos, add new tasks, make notes or do further brainstorming.

The downside to Mail’s Notes feature is that it is easy for links to get broken, particularly if you sync over your .Mac account. I’ve found that keeping Notes and To-Dos in my IMAP account gives me the most stability and portability. Gmail IMAP is troublesome–links break if you move a message into a folder (actually, what you’re doing is assigning a label.)

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