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My RTM setup for GTD

jeff.rhine says:
When I first came to RTM I was a bit confused/overwhelmed by the flexibility and dynamic nature of tagging/smart lists. Reading the Idea forum and seeing how others used RTM really helped me get my personal system setup. So, on the off chance that my setup my help/inspire some other RTM n00b, here it is:

Tagging Legend:

.(action)
+LocationContext
@Context
_ProjectName

---------------------------------

My Tags:

+homedepot
+groceries
+errands (note: this is my "out and about" context)
.bugfix
.nxt (note: this is my NextAction tag)
.research
@fyi
@meeting
@online
@phone
@waiting
_Project1
_Project2
_SoftwareSystem1
_SoftwareSystem2
_HomeProject1
_HomeProject2

---------------------------------

My Lists:

Inbox
Archive
Personal
Work
Sent

---------------------------------

My SmartLists:

!!_ALL (all .nxt items regardless of personal or work)
!Personal (all .nxt personal items)
!Work (all .nxt work items)
!Zap (all items that can be done in less than 15 minutes)
+Groceries
+HomeDepot
+Errands
_Project1
_Project2
_HomeProject1
_HomeProject2
»BugList (.bugfix items for work)
»Research (.research items for work)
√ Worklog (all items completed for work this week)
⊕ NeverDue (items I haven't yet assigned a due date)
⊕ Waiting (items I'm waiting on)
⊕ Tickler (Items in a recurring tickler file)

------------------------------------------

Thanks,
Jeff
Posted at 2:44pm on February 5, 2009
mason.green says:
Nice, I'll have to try this out! Thanks.
Posted 15 years ago
sevenupcan says:
I like the !Zap list, for things you can do in under 15 minutes, great!
Posted 15 years ago
(closed account) says:
I like it, particularly the Zap list. Good ideas here!
Posted 15 years ago
gui.azurdia says:
Looks nice but I must admit my lack of expertise in GTD. Any chance someone out there could help with some additional description of the concepts and symbols (!,>>,@) utilized in this impressive outline?

I thank you sincerely
Posted 15 years ago
gui.azurdia says:
Re my previous post, a little GTD for beginners would also be highly appreciated
Posted 15 years ago
maseratij says:
Here is the beginner info.

http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/beginners-guide-to-gtd/

Posted 15 years ago
jsoule says:
I discovered RTM the other day when I decided to drop Mail.app for 100% Gmail and needed a way to stick with my GTD methods.

I since I have several clients, I use a slightly different legend:
-(action)
@(context)
.(client)-(projectName)

For Lists, I only kept the inbox/sent, and used smart lists to work in. so for example:

I use this one to find any task that does not have a context set, or no project, or not tagged at all.
SanityCheck: Searched for: NOT tagContains:@ or NOT tagContains:. OR isTagged:false

this is another check that I use to catch up since I tend slam items in from gmail just to get them recorded and tag them later.
2BTagged: Searched for: isTagged:false

For client related projects I save searches like this one for my phoenix client. This way something like .phoenix-page-layout and .phoenix-setup-captcha all show up:
.Phoenix: Searched for: status:incomplete and tagContains:.phoenix

And of course I have saved searches for my action tags like -next and -waiting, and -someday

So far this is working pretty good. Saved searches are very powerful!!!
Posted 15 years ago
(closed account) says:
I use a similar Sanity Check though mine also includes not having a due date (I always try to include one if only for estimation purposes)

the ideas here are lookin' really solid!
Posted 15 years ago
raymond.bergmark Power Poster says:
jsoule: No need to include status:incomplete in searches, it makes no difference. Also, the 2BTagged is also trapped by your sanity check (if you want to keep the number of smart lists down). Just some friendly advice ;-)
Posted 15 years ago
jsoule says:
Rajjan: Good point on the extra smart list. using only the sanity test simplifies things.

Oh and thanks for the pointer on status:incomplete. ;-)

vjcamarena: I may adopt your method of always setting a due date. It would add additional accountability to all my tasks.
Posted 15 years ago
(closed account) says:
Nice tip on the !Zap list. I'll try that for myself.
Posted 15 years ago
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