Geek To Live: Getting Things Done with Google Notebook

May 2, 2007 10:30 PM

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Fans and followers of the Getting Things Done personal productivity system have hacked all sorts of ways to GTD in different applications, from Microsoft Outlook to plain text to Gmail. But one of Google Labs' less-hyped applications, Notebook, is very well-suited to instant capture and easy processing of your GTD lists.

Today I've got the scoop on how to manage your inbox, projects, next actions and someday/maybe lists with Google Notebook.

First things first: if you haven't read Getting Things Done,
you're missing out. The fast read is well worth the 9 bucks, and even
if it doesn't turn you into a full-on disciple of The David, it will at
least install the seeds of some new good habits into your cluttered,
distracted mind. For the reader's digest version, check out the Getting Things Done Wikipedia page.

Second:
why Google Notebook? While there are dozens of online list makers,
Google Notebook is flexible enough (ie, not just a list) for you to
work and tweak your GTD system to your liking. It can capture
information anywhere on the web with a mature browser extension and it
comes with Google's signature killer search capabilities. Plus, using
Notebook's collaboration features, you could allow your spouse or
co-worker drop things into your Inbox for you to process later. Sure,
desktop apps like Thinking Rock and iGTD
are cool, but for people who live in a web browser, Notebook
automatically includes links in notes (including individual Gmail
messages) and its contents are available from any computer where you're
logged into your Google Account.

Set up your GTD Notebooks

Ready to give this a try? Log into your Google Account and head over to Notebook.
To get started you want to create 5 new notebooks, representing the
classic GTD silos: Inbox, Next Actions, Projects, Someday/Maybe and
Reference. I like to prepend "GTD" to the beginning of each notebook
title so that I can sort them alphabetically and separate them from
other notebooks I might have set up.

A quick refresher of the purpose of these buckets for those who've fallen off the GTD wagon:

• Inbox.
  Here's where unprocessed thoughts - "open loops" as David Allen calls
  them - get dropped off for dealing with later. Pop-up thoughts,
  half-baked notions and "Oh! I should..." go here.
• Next Actions. This is your immediate, actionable to-do list, a few specific items you've decided to carry out in the next few days.
• Someday/Maybe. Here's where the things you might like to do someday - but you're not committed to right now - get shuttled.
• Projects.
  Big jobs that are made up of a collection of subtasks are not next
  actions, they're projects. For example, the "Clean out the office" job
  is made up of several next actions (ie, "Take out the garbage,"
  "Rearrange the book shelves," "Purge filing cabinet.")
• Reference.
  Research into a topic that you'll need to carry out a next action or
  refer back to for a particular project goes here. For example, this is
  where you'd store links to the hotel, flight information and maps of a
  travel destination.

Once you've got the 5 GTD areas set up,
it's time to move your info in. To add to a notebook (say, "Next
Actions"), click on it and hit the "New Note" button. From there you
can type your item (like "Deposit checks") or add a section header.
Headers are useful for separating information into different categories
in a notebook. For example, in my Next Actions notebook, I separate
items under Context headers (like @Phone, @Desk, @Shopping Center.)