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My GTD method in RTM

jpuphill says:
First of all, I would like to say how helpful this forum has been in helping me come up this approach. I have read so many posts and learnt so much about how people use RTM. I wanted to give something back and so am posting how I have mapped GTD to RTM.

Use Lists for Areas of Focus
I use lists to categorise every task, e.g.
Family
Friends
Personal
Work
N.B. Having all work related tasks in the Work list allows me to easily include/exclude work tasks from smart lists

Use Locations for Contexts
I use either the real location or for virtual locations, I use somewhere I would never be, e.g.
calls                - Arctic Ocean (i.e. nowhere you would ever be)
computer        - Arctic Ocean (i.e. nowhere you would ever be)
errands           - Arctic Ocean (i.e. nowhere you would ever be)
home              - Real Location
office               - Real Location

Use Tags for non-Scheduled GTD status
next                - Next Action
wait                - Waiting For
someday       - Someday / Maybe

Use Due Date for Scheduled GTD status
01/05/2012    - Scheduled

Use Tags for Actionable Date
This is my work around for the lack of a start date in RTM
Actionable period is relative to the due date when there is a due date
Actionable period is relative to the added date when there is no due date
Actionable tags use the format:
    anu
where:
    a = Actionable
    n = Number (1, 2, 3, 4)
    u = Unit (d = day, w = week, m = month)
    e.g. a1d = 1 day, a2w = 2 weeks, a3m = 3 months

Creating Projects
1. Create a task with the project name
2. Add project tag to task (#project)
3. Add project specific tag to task which begins with p- (e.g. #p-project-name)
4. Create a smart list which searches for the project specific tag

Creating Tasks
1. Add list to task (e.g. Personal, Work)
2. Add location to task (e.g. computer, office)
3. Add priority to task
4. Add project specific tag to task if required (e.g. #p-project-name)
5. Add GTD status tag (e.g. next) and/or due date and/or actionable tag (e.g. a4d)

Use Smart Lists for Narrowing Focus
All Projects                      = tag:project
All Tasks                          = not tag:project
Classify                            = list:Inbox or
                                            (isLocated:false and not tag:project) or
                                            (due:never and not (tagContains:p- or
                                              tag:next or tag:wait or tag:someday or
                                              tagContains:a1 or tagContains:a2 or
                                              tagContains:a3 or tagContains:a4)) or
                                            ((tag:next and tag:wait) or (tag:wait and tag:someday)
                                              or (tag:next and tag:someday)) or
                                            (tag:next and (tagContains:a1 or tagContains:a2 or
                                              tagContains:a3 or tagContains:a4))
                                            (N.B. This list is used to capture tasks that have yet to be classified or are incorrectly classified)
Completed                      = status:completed
Due Today                      = dueBefore:tomorrow
Due Tomorrow                = due:tomorrow
Due Week                       = dueBefore:monday
Due Week Next              = due:monday or (dueAfter:monday and dueBefore:"next monday")
Next                                = tag:next or dueBefore:tomorrow or
                                            (tag:a1d and dueWithin:"1 day of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a2d and dueWithin:"2 days of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a3d and dueWithin:"3 days of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a4d and dueWithin:"4 days of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a1w and dueWithin:"1 week of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a2w and dueWithin:"2 weeks of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a3w and dueWithin:"3 weeks of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a4w and dueWithin:"4 weeks of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a1m and dueWithin:"1 month of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a2m and dueWithin:"2 months of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a3m and dueWithin:"3 months of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a4m and dueWithin:"4 months of tomorrow") or
                                            (tag:a1d and due:never and not addedWithin:"1 day of today") or
                                            (tag:a2d and due:never and not addedWithin:"2 days of today") or
                                            (tag:a3d and due:never and not addedWithin:"3 days of today") or
                                            (tag:a4d and due:never and not addedWithin:"4 days of today") or
                                            (tag:a1w and due:never and not addedWithin:"1 week of today") or
                                            (tag:a2w and due:never and not addedWithin:"2 weeks of today") or
                                            (tag:a3w and due:never and not addedWithin:"3 weeks of today") or
                                            (tag:a4w and due:never and not addedWithin:"4 weeks of today") or
                                            (tag:a1m and due:never and not addedWithin:"1 month of today") or
                                            (tag:a2m and due:never and not addedWithin:"2 months of today") or
                                            (tag:a3m and due:never and not addedWithin:"3 months of today") or
                                            (tag:a4m and due:never and not addedWithin:"4 months of today")
Next - Personal            = list:Next and not list:Work
Next - Work                  = list:Next and list:Work
Scheduled                    = not due:never and status:incomplete
                                       (N.B. This list's iCalendar (Events) is subscribed to in Google Calendar)
Someday                      = tag:someday
Someday - Personal    = list:Someday and not list:Work
Someday - Work          = list:Someday and list:Work
Waiting                          = tag:wait
Waiting - Personal        = list:Waiting and not list:Work
Waiting - Work              = list:Waiting and list:Work
@Context                     = list:Next and location:context
                                       (N.B. There is an instance of this list for every context)

Use “A Bit Better RTM”
With the number of lists this approach creates, the "A Bit Better RTM" script is essential to put the lists on the left and to hide certain lists.

Hidden Lists:
Hide always            - Inbox, Sent, Next, Scheduled, Someday, Waiting
Hide at office           - @Home, Family, Friends, Money, Personal,
                                   Next - Personal, Someday - Personal, Waiting - Personal
Hide at home          - @Office, Work, Next - Work, Someday - Work, Waiting - Work
Posted at 2:38pm on June 24, 2012
david.gladstone says:
I like this. I have something similar but perhaps not quite so well developed. I use tags like ..1d to indicate actionable periods as this is easy to type on my phone... Similarly my lists are 'ps' for personal, 'wk' for work etc.
Posted 11 years ago
(closed account) says:
Hi there... this is excellent information... thank you!

I have a question about the hidden lists. I have installed "A Bit Better RTM" but not sure what I do to implement the hidden lists above. Any help would be appreciated!
Posted 11 years ago
jpuphill says:
With the new version of RTM this year, I have been able to simplify my GTD method. I wanted to update this post with the changes, because my previous post is now out of date.

Things Removed From Method
The introduction of start dates and sub-tasks to RTM, along with its UI re-design, have removed the need for the following items from my original post:
1. Use tags for actionable dates
2. Use tags for projects
3. Use “A Bit Better RTM”

Updates To Method
I have made the following changes to my approach:
1. All tasks with sub-tasks are regarded as projects and not tasks in themselves
2. Start dates replace the use of all the tags used for actionable dates

Smart List Changes
To implement these changes, I have updated the following smart lists as follows:
All Projects = hasSubtasks:true
All Tasks = not list:"All Projects"
Classify = list:Inbox or (list:"All Tasks" and isLocated:false) or (start:never and due:never and not (list:"All Projects" or isSubtask:true or tag:next or tag:wait or tag:someday)) or ((tag:next and tag:wait) or (tag:wait and tag:someday) or (tag:next and tag:someday)) or ((tag:next or tag:someday) and not start:never)
Next = not (tag:wait or tag:someday) and (tag:next or startBefore:tomorrow or dueBefore:tomorrow)
Posted 8 years ago
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi jpuphill,

Thanks for taking the time to share all of this! It's awesome to see your GTD set up.

Also, just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner, and we've added a free year of Pro to your Remember The Milk account. :)
Posted 7 years ago
jpuphill says:
Hi Emily,

Thanks very much for picking my post and the free year. Also, thanks for the very good editing to convert my two posts into tip. I hope people find it helpful.
Posted 7 years ago
jitsunet says:
Outstanding ideas, jpuphill. Thank you for sharing.
Posted 7 years ago
wongwf82 says:
Loving this! I added an Advanced Sort as such for my `Alll Tasks` view:

Sort by Priority↑, Due date↑, Tags↑, Added date↑, group by List
Posted 6 years ago
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