The GTD bundle has been upgraded, with a new detailed BUY command and a basic language syntax that allows the bundle to play better within TextMate. If you try it, please let me know what you think. Thanks
Alaskamike
Mike,
I like the fact that you are now working from your own scope "text.plain.gtd", so the tab triggers no longer kill my other stuff ;)
The major point I am not happy with your version is that it does not use contexts; what we have now is a rather pimped TODO-List generator. Very useful, but not "gtd" yet… don't get me wrong, I am bay far no gtd apostle nor do i try to kill any good idea.
As I have mentioned before, I am trying to see if "My fiendish master plan" is useful. And what this one does is it takes an input text file, reads each line to see if it starts with ^context and then moves that todo item to a separate text file for that context.
So what I would like to see in that gtd.bundle is:
a) a means to work with contexts b) some way to keep project files, but also extract next actions from those projects c) an easy way for getting stuff IN the system d) maybe some assistance for the weekly review
Since I am not really up-to-date with my programming skills (I would like to pick up ruby and ruby on rails… any good pointers for reading?) I have no solution yet, but I am willing to help out.
It is, in a way, just a question to see whether I will try to roll my own or if you are interested in moving the bundle from todo-lists to a nextaction-and-project-based approach?
Dan
On Jun 9, 2006, at 11:14 AM, Daniel Käsmayr wrote:
Since I am not really up-to-date with my programming skills (I would like to pick up ruby and ruby on rails… any good pointers for reading?) I have no solution yet, but I am willing to help out.
Ok, I guess a bit off topic, but I would recommend the "pickaxe" book (aka "programming ruby") and the "agile development with rails" from the pragmatic programmers (http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/shopsite_sc/ store/html/index.html).
I strongly recommend ordering directly from them. This way you have the option of getting just a pdf version if you prefer, and most importantly almost all your money goes directly to the authors. And they are really good in their service. (at least as far as my experience with them goes) You get the pdf version within 15 minutes of placing your order.
Of course a place to start is the old (free,online) version of the book which can be found here: http://rubycentral.com/
Though the new version is enhanced in a number of considerable ways.
Haris
On Jun 9, 2006, at 11:14 AM, Daniel Käsmayr wrote:
Since I am not really up-to-date with my programming skills (I would like to pick up ruby and ruby on rails… any good pointers for reading?)
A great place to start is:
You can also learn quite a bit working through the problems or browsing the solutions at:
Obviously, I am biased on the last recommendation though. ;)
James Edward Gray II
Dan -
Thanks for the input. Here are some quick thoughts.
First, on contexts, I thought that "TODO", "CALL", etc. were contexts (in my mind, I use TODO for a physical action or something that doesn't fall into another context). Maybe I'm missing something here. And maybe I need to explain how I use the GTD bundle betetr. I created a GTD project in TextMate where I add a *.gtd file for each project, e.g. "stuff to do around the house," "paint the living room," etc. Then I add tasks, using the TODO, CALL, etc. contexts. Finally, to use what I've done in context, I do a "view GTD tasks" (control-shift-T) to group my tasks by context.
I wrote to Nick Fagerlund (FMP creator) and he has given me permission to include FMP in the GTD bundle. I think that FMP is a great tool, but it works the opposite of how I think. I like to "think in projects, execute in context" where FMP is designed to take a text file with more-or-less random categories and split it out into separate lists.
My plan is to put the functionality into the bundle, and see where it goes. Again, thanks for the feedback!
Mike
On 6/9/06, Daniel Käsmayr daniel@kaesmayr.net wrote:
Mike,
I like the fact that you are now working from your own scope "text.plain.gtd", so the tab triggers no longer kill my other stuff ;)
The major point I am not happy with your version is that it does not use contexts; what we have now is a rather pimped TODO-List generator. Very useful, but not "gtd" yet… don't get me wrong, I am bay far no gtd apostle nor do i try to kill any good idea.
As I have mentioned before, I am trying to see if "My fiendish master plan" is useful. And what this one does is it takes an input text file, reads each line to see if it starts with ^context and then moves that todo item to a separate text file for that context.
So what I would like to see in that gtd.bundle is:
a) a means to work with contexts b) some way to keep project files, but also extract next actions from those projects c) an easy way for getting stuff IN the system d) maybe some assistance for the weekly review
Since I am not really up-to-date with my programming skills (I would like to pick up ruby and ruby on rails… any good pointers for reading?) I have no solution yet, but I am willing to help out.
It is, in a way, just a question to see whether I will try to roll my own or if you are interested in moving the bundle from todo-lists to a nextaction-and-project-based approach?
Dan
For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
Mike,
First, on contexts, I thought that "TODO", "CALL", etc. were contexts (in my mind, I use TODO for a physical action or something that doesn't fall into another context). Maybe I'm missing something here. And maybe I need to explain how I use the GTD bundle betetr. I created a GTD project in TextMate where I add a *.gtd file for each project, e.g. "stuff to do around the house," "paint the living room," etc. Then I add tasks, using the TODO, CALL, etc. contexts. Finally, to use what I've done in context, I do a "view GTD tasks" (control-shift-T) to group my tasks by context.
Well, it always depends. For me contexts are such things like "@lab", "@home", "@online" - where I can have TODOs, EMAILs or phone calls, as I don't really like to mix my private life and my work(s), it does make much more sense to actually split by location based contexts. I am not sure if it would be necessary to have these contexts be changeable as easily as FMP does (which creates new txt files for new contexts, beware spelling errors). I do like your approach to projects, this is somewhat similar to what I am doing, but I haven't really found a way I am really happy with (yet). What I have in my project.txt files is much more than just a list of nextactions, but also my motivation, the expected outcomes, brainstomring and notes as well as those nextactions and dones (a.k.a. as "Log"). And in this sense the FMP does not work as I would need it to scan all my project files and then compile the context based nextaction files. However your approach to list everything is also too much for me. I would need something in between, such as some way to actually create .txt files that are context sensitive, but do collect all my project's stuff. And I would love to have "done" states transferred back to the project.txt files as well, just to the corresponding logfile section. And I also don't want to have all future nextactions there, just some form of subset for the "really" next actions… (together with some form of metadata from its project, maybe also with some form of time stamp when it was created or when it is due…). In some way this may be too complex to be done, but maybe not. I will take a look ;)
I wrote to Nick Fagerlund (FMP creator) and he has given me permission to include FMP in the GTD bundle. I think that FMP is a great tool, but it works the opposite of how I think. I like to "think in projects, execute in context" where FMP is designed to take a text file with more-or-less random categories and split it out into separate lists.
Yeah, FMP tends to enforce context over anything else. When you integrate it into the bundle, are you going to make it "versatile" via TM Environment variables? I have it running here now, but with hard coded paths as this was the easiest at the moment and I had no clue yet if I actually could use FMP. (which I know now does not nearly help as I thought it would.) FMP, I believe, almost requires you to use Quicksilver for task creation (…it was created for this purpose, i think?).
Let's see where additions to the bundle will take us and keep the discussion alive. At least I will probably learn enough about programming as well as gtd by just reflecting more and writing about it ;) And, as we all know, things will get done in the meantime… ahh, the gtd geekness has this affinity for the meta-level, where not "getting things done" but "getting getting things done" becomes the issue… lol.
Daniel
Dan -
Please see inline comments...
On 6/9/06, Daniel Käsmayr daniel@kaesmayr.net wrote:
Mike,
First, on contexts, I thought that "TODO", "CALL", etc. were contexts (in my mind, I use TODO for a physical action or something that doesn't fall into another context). Maybe I'm missing something here. And maybe I need to explain how I use the GTD bundle betetr. I created a GTD project in TextMate where I add a *.gtd file for each project, e.g. "stuff to do around the house," "paint the living room," etc. Then I add tasks, using the TODO, CALL, etc. contexts. Finally, to use what I've done in context, I do a "view GTD tasks" (control-shift-T) to group my tasks by context.
Well, it always depends. For me contexts are such things like "@lab", "@home", "@online" - where I can have TODOs, EMAILs or phone calls, as I don't really like to mix my private life and my work(s), it does make much more sense to actually split by location based contexts. I am not sure if it would be necessary to have these contexts be changeable as easily as FMP does (which creates new txt files for new contexts, beware spelling errors). I do like your approach to projects, this is somewhat similar to what I am doing, but I haven't really found a way I am really happy with (yet). What I have in my project.txt files is much more than just a list of nextactions, but also my motivation, the expected outcomes, brainstomring and notes as well as those nextactions and dones (a.k.a. as "Log"). And in this sense the FMP does not work as I would need it to scan all my project files and then compile the context based nextaction files. However your approach to list everything is also too much for me. I would need something in between, such as some way to actually create .txt files that are context sensitive, but do collect all my project's stuff. And I would love to have "done" states transferred back to the project.txt files as well, just to the corresponding logfile section. And I also don't want to have all future nextactions there, just some form of subset for the "really" next actions… (together with some form of metadata from its project, maybe also with some form of time stamp when it was created or when it is due…). In some way this may be too complex to be done, but maybe not. I will take a look ;)
What I have done in the past, and couled easily do here, is make "work call" and "work email" contexts. I haven't done so yet because I only use TM at home (I wish I could use it at work!). To a lesser exent, you can already see the locations in the rollup view. Maybe I should add this to the GTD sort function?
I wrote to Nick Fagerlund (FMP creator) and he has given me
permission to include FMP in the GTD bundle. I think that FMP is a great tool, but it works the opposite of how I think. I like to "think in projects, execute in context" where FMP is designed to take a text file with more-or-less random categories and split it out into separate lists.
Yeah, FMP tends to enforce context over anything else. When you integrate it into the bundle, are you going to make it "versatile" via TM Environment variables? I have it running here now, but with hard coded paths as this was the easiest at the moment and I had no clue yet if I actually could use FMP. (which I know now does not nearly help as I thought it would.) FMP, I believe, almost requires you to use Quicksilver for task creation (…it was created for this purpose, i think?).
I think that FMP is a great "inbox" for thoughts. As such, I think I can make it work as part of this GTD system.
Let's see where additions to the bundle will take us and keep the
discussion alive. At least I will probably learn enough about programming as well as gtd by just reflecting more and writing about it ;) And, as we all know, things will get done in the meantime… ahh, the gtd geekness has this affinity for the meta-level, where not "getting things done" but "getting getting things done" becomes the issue… lol.
Daniel
Well, I've tried building my "dream" GTD system in Rails, python, bash, Excel, CoreData, Keynote, and probably a couple of others that I don't remember. I used to write calculator programs as a way to learn a language, not it seems like I create GTD systems to learn!
Mike
I am on the hunt for the perfect GTD system (who isn't ;-)). I have been looking thru the GTD bundle and I think I have a few questions. My interpretation of the GTD bundle is that each file is a project in the GTD sense. and lines in these files begin with the appropriate word to make up the action to be performed. One of the pieces or the logic that I am not seeing is location. Once you get into GTD it is just not work.. It becomes your world. ;-)
This bundles along with the Blogging bundle have me digging into TM more and more and saving me time.
Keep up the good work. I look forward to your changes.
-Ron
P.S. A couple of feature requests: - Possible editor to edit the labels actions. - integration with either the unix cal program or iCal - re-occurring tasks
On Jun 9, 2006, at 3:19 PM, Mike Mellor wrote:
Dan -
Please see inline comments...
On 6/9/06, Daniel Käsmayr daniel@kaesmayr.net wrote: Mike,
First, on contexts, I thought that "TODO", "CALL", etc. were contexts (in my mind, I use TODO for a physical action or something that doesn't fall into another context). Maybe I'm missing something here. And maybe I need to explain how I use the GTD bundle betetr. I created a GTD project in TextMate where I add a *.gtd file for each project, e.g. "stuff to do around the house," "paint the living room," etc. Then I add tasks, using the TODO, CALL, etc. contexts. Finally, to use what I've done in context, I do a "view GTD tasks" (control-shift-T) to group my tasks by
context.
Well, it always depends. For me contexts are such things like "@lab", "@home", "@online" - where I can have TODOs, EMAILs or phone calls, as I don't really like to mix my private life and my work(s), it does make much more sense to actually split by location based contexts. I am not sure if it would be necessary to have these contexts be changeable as easily as FMP does (which creates new txt files for new contexts, beware spelling errors). I do like your approach to projects, this is somewhat similar to what I am doing, but I haven't really found a way I am really happy with (yet). What I have in my project.txt files is much more than just a list of nextactions, but also my motivation, the expected outcomes, brainstomring and notes as well as those nextactions and dones (a.k.a. as "Log"). And in this sense the FMP does not work as I would need it to scan all my project files and then compile the context based nextaction files. However your approach to list everything is also too much for me. I would need something in between, such as some way to actually create .txt files that are context sensitive, but do collect all my project's stuff. And I would love to have "done" states transferred back to the project.txt files as well, just to the corresponding logfile section. And I also don't want to have all future nextactions there, just some form of subset for the "really" next actions… (together with some form of metadata from its project, maybe also with some form of time stamp when it was created or when it is due…). In some way this may be too complex to be done, but maybe not. I will take a look ;)
What I have done in the past, and couled easily do here, is make "work call" and "work email" contexts. I haven't done so yet because I only use TM at home (I wish I could use it at work!). To a lesser exent, you can already see the locations in the rollup view. Maybe I should add this to the GTD sort function?
I wrote to Nick Fagerlund (FMP creator) and he has given me permission to include FMP in the GTD bundle. I think that FMP is a great tool, but it works the opposite of how I think. I like to "think in projects, execute in context" where FMP is designed to take a text file with more-or-less random categories and split it out into separate lists.
Yeah, FMP tends to enforce context over anything else. When you integrate it into the bundle, are you going to make it "versatile" via TM Environment variables? I have it running here now, but with hard coded paths as this was the easiest at the moment and I had no clue yet if I actually could use FMP. (which I know now does not nearly help as I thought it would.) FMP, I believe, almost requires you to use Quicksilver for task creation (…it was created for this purpose, i think?).
I think that FMP is a great "inbox" for thoughts. As such, I think I can make it work as part of this GTD system.
Let's see where additions to the bundle will take us and keep the discussion alive. At least I will probably learn enough about programming as well as gtd by just reflecting more and writing about it ;) And, as we all know, things will get done in the meantime… ahh, the gtd geekness has this affinity for the meta-level, where not "getting things done" but "getting getting things done" becomes the issue… lol.
Daniel
Well, I've tried building my "dream" GTD system in Rails, python, bash, Excel, CoreData, Keynote, and probably a couple of others that I don't remember. I used to write calculator programs as a way to learn a language, not it seems like I create GTD systems to learn!
Mike
For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
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On Jun 11, 2006, at 1:10 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
I am on the hunt for the perfect GTD system (who isn't ;-)). I have been looking thru the GTD bundle and I think I have a few questions. My interpretation of the GTD bundle is that each file is a project in the GTD sense. and lines in these files begin with the appropriate word to make up the action to be performed. One of the pieces or the logic that I am not seeing is location. Once you get into GTD it is just not work.. It becomes your world. ;-)
I kind of use context and location together loosely. For example, EMAIL has to be done on a computer, etc. Based on another comment, I plan to add "WORK EMAIL" and "HOME EMAIL" and so on, for folks lucky enough to be able to use TextMate at work!
P.S. A couple of feature requests:
- Possible editor to edit the labels actions.
- integration with either the unix cal program or iCal
- re-occurring tasks
I have more or less deliberately avoided using any calendar notation in GTD - in keeping with "the book," any tasks that is time dependent goes on my calendar, my todo items are not (as) time sensitive. Perhaps we can look at a macro, somehow tied into FMP, that creates an appointment in iCal but not on a list? I use Google calendars for input to iCal, so I'm not sure how it would work.
Thanks for the feedback!
Mike - -- "You live and learn. At any rate, you live." Douglas Adams
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On Jun 11, 2006, at 10:50 PM, Mike Mellor wrote:
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On Jun 11, 2006, at 1:10 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
I am on the hunt for the perfect GTD system (who isn't ;-)). I have been looking thru the GTD bundle and I think I have a few questions. My interpretation of the GTD bundle is that each file is a project in the GTD sense. and lines in these files begin with the appropriate word to make up the action to be performed. One of the pieces or the logic that I am not seeing is location. Once you get into GTD it is just not work.. It becomes your world. ;-)
I kind of use context and location together loosely. For example, EMAIL has to be done on a computer, etc. Based on another comment, I plan to add "WORK EMAIL" and "HOME EMAIL" and so on, for folks lucky enough to be able to use TextMate at work!
I do not know how I ever survived before I found TM. I used it to cut my teeth on XML, my shell script writing, and now I actively added using it for posting to my blog. The more I am doing in TM the better. I was talking to a non-Mac person about TM and he stated it sound a lot like Emacs. Without making war in editor land I said sorta but not sorta. I don't have to get carpal tunnel to use TM. ;-). I currently have a .Mac account and I placed by GTD project up there. when done updating I HUP the sync agent to make sure the iDisk is in sync (Sharing information between mini at home and my roaming powerbook).
P.S. A couple of feature requests:
- Possible editor to edit the labels actions.
- integration with either the unix cal program or iCal
- re-occurring tasks
I have more or less deliberately avoided using any calendar notation in GTD - in keeping with "the book," any tasks that is time dependent goes on my calendar, my todo items are not (as) time sensitive. Perhaps we can look at a macro, somehow tied into FMP, that creates an appointment in iCal but not on a list? I use Google calendars for input to iCal, so I'm not sure how it would work.
Thanks for the feedback!
I look forward to your changes and additions to the Bundle. Like the author of FMP stated. "I love the lazyweb". I be interested to if anyone else other than what I have seen in this months thread if they have made any feedback or come up with ideas. I think the integration of FMP will be a great enhancement.
This week has been kinda weird for me. I have found my self utilizing the append to text file feature of quicksilver to generate a grocery list of items I need when I go shopping. in GTD I had an item to go shopping the weekend. What would have been really cool would have been able to link the grocery list to the action item of going shopping. ( I can see it but have just cracked the cover of the Programming Ruby book )
Keep up the good work.
- -Ron
- -- Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com http://www.oneinsane.net
Just a quick note:
I am starting to write a ruby script that builds upon the FMP functionality in many ways, especially targeted on projects and contexts. A short explanation of what the final bundle should do is:
scan inbox.txt as well as all project files and create the corresponding context nextaction lists from these as well as someday/maybe lists or project lists.
I have some ideas on how to make the project files a mix between some custom syntax for easy parsing and human readable markdown.
While i am still in the design phase I would love to collect some "needs" and "wishes" in this field…
Dan
On Jun 12, 2006, at 3:58 AM, Daniel Käsmayr wrote:
Just a quick note:
I am starting to write a ruby script that builds upon the FMP functionality in many ways, especially targeted on projects and contexts. A short explanation of what the final bundle should do is:
scan inbox.txt as well as all project files and create the corresponding context nextaction lists from these as well as someday/maybe lists or project lists.
I have some ideas on how to make the project files a mix between some custom syntax for easy parsing and human readable markdown.
While i am still in the design phase I would love to collect some "needs" and "wishes" in this field…
Awesome! So far all I have is what I have put in this thread. If you need some to bounce off ideas with drop me a line. I am no coder but am good in helping through steps of logic.
-Ron -- Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com http://www.oneinsane.net
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Here are the latest changes to the GTD bundle:
Added new location-based contexts: tw - WORK_TASK th - HOME_TASK ew - WORK_EMAIL eh - HOME_EMAIL cw - WORK_CALL ch - HOME_CALL These new contexts allow users to specify a location for a context, in addition to the non-location contexts.
Modifications. WAIT will now keep the context, as will DONE Added an unwait command (u) to remove the wait context from a task.
Alaskamike
WORK_TASK items are not being displayed when Viewing the list and the Active lists. After seeing this would it be possible to make the locations a vairable (dynammic) instead of hardcoded?
Keep up the good work.
-Ron
On 6/13/06, Mike Mellor alaskamike@gmail.com wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Here are the latest changes to the GTD bundle:
Added new location-based contexts: tw - WORK_TASK th - HOME_TASK ew - WORK_EMAIL eh - HOME_EMAIL cw - WORK_CALL ch - HOME_CALL These new contexts allow users to specify a location for a context, in addition to the non-location contexts.
Modifications. WAIT will now keep the context, as will DONE Added an unwait command (u) to remove the wait context from a task.
Alaskamike -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (Darwin)
iD8DBQFEjk054oDM7Rgs0h0RAhV5AJ4wjvvtvru98HcwCYQs2vHjqBBMKACgow/Z s2PDahUqYxwvmFHaaFrW22k= =nEWA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
Revising my previous post. Looks like all task items are not being shown.
-Ron
On 6/13/06, Ronald Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
WORK_TASK items are not being displayed when Viewing the list and the Active lists. After seeing this would it be possible to make the locations a vairable (dynammic) instead of hardcoded?
Keep up the good work.
-Ron
On 6/13/06, Mike Mellor alaskamike@gmail.com wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Here are the latest changes to the GTD bundle:
Added new location-based contexts: tw - WORK_TASK th - HOME_TASK ew - WORK_EMAIL eh - HOME_EMAIL cw - WORK_CALL ch - HOME_CALL These new contexts allow users to specify a location for a context, in addition to the non-location contexts.
Modifications. WAIT will now keep the context, as will DONE Added an unwait command (u) to remove the wait context from a task.
Alaskamike -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (Darwin)
iD8DBQFEjk054oDM7Rgs0h0RAhV5AJ4wjvvtvru98HcwCYQs2vHjqBBMKACgow/Z s2PDahUqYxwvmFHaaFrW22k= =nEWA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
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On Jun 13, 2006, at 4:36 AM, Ronald Rosson wrote:
Revising my previous post. Looks like all task items are not being shown.
-Ron
Yep, I forgot to add the new contexts to the view list, and I changed from TODO to TASK. I'll fix it tonight. Thanks.
Mike
On Jun 13, 2006, at 4:36 AM, Ronald Rosson wrote:
Revising my previous post. Looks like all task items are not being shown.
-Ron
On 6/13/06, Ronald Rosson < oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com> wrote: WORK_TASK items are not being displayed when Viewing the list and the Active lists. After seeing this would it be possible to make the locations a vairable (dynammic) instead of hardcoded?
Ron -
Contexts are still hard-coded (that may take a little while). The lists should display properly now.
Mike
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab-activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
On 6/14/06, Richard Sandilands infoarts@gmail.com wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab-activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
That's kind of how I see it. We'll have a basic set of tab commands, and then it's on the individual user to customise beyond that.
Mike
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
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On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
Great start! Here's kind of the format I envision:
#Base Contexts, with built in tab commands TASK | t | 00ff00 # context | tab key | color for list view HOME_TASK | th | 000f00 ... #User Defined Contexts that use a generic tab command (say, "@") + a key combination SCHOOL | s | ff0000 #The user would type "@ s" and then tab to make this work ...
How does that sound?
Mike - -- “Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely” Edward Tufte
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On Jun 14, 2006, at 10:37 PM, Mike Mellor wrote:
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On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
Great start! Here's kind of the format I envision:
#Base Contexts, with built in tab commands TASK | t | 00ff00 # context | tab key | color for list view HOME_TASK | th | 000f00 ... #User Defined Contexts that use a generic tab command (say, "@") + a key combination SCHOOL | s | ff0000 #The user would type "@ s" and then tab to make this work ...
How does that sound?
Like what the doctor ordered. ;-) to me. Since right now I am working full time, going to school four nights a week and still maintaining normal household maintenance and then throw in calls I need to make errands I need to run etc. This is is going to give kinkless a run for its money. While you are refining would it be possible to drop the extension of the filenames when displaying the list and active list. (Kinda beautify it a bit).
- -Ron
P.S. Would it be possible to have a task like "go Shopping" and then link another list to the go shopping list with the list of things you needed to buy.
Just came to me.. Thought I would bring it up.
As a very long-time Outliner GTDer (I was actually using my own very similar system for well over a year before Ethan launched kGTD, and tried Life Balance for 6 months before that, and so on), I like the direction this bundle could go, so I'm excited to see so much early activity.
One thing this latest conversation brings up:
Why should the user have to explicitly specify a list of contexts in a separate file -- why couldn't contexts just be inferred from those the user is already using, like in FMP? They could of course be cached in a .context_cache file for faster access, but it seems to me that having an explicit, separate configuration file is entirely unnecessary.
(As an aside, I really like the @.* tab trigger idea for user-defined contexts, btw -- and that's where I see the cache file helping, vs. having to parse contexts out of each and every project file every time.)
The other complexity I don't yet fully grok is why there is this notion of task-type that's orthogonal to both context and project.
From my own experience, at least, this sort of added layer of
complexity over and above basic GTD (traditionally you just have @email, @work and @home, not tasks vs. email vs. ? | @home vs. @work leading to email@home vs. task@work) always winds up getting trimmed away in the end, and, where the distinction is genuinely useful, it's usually because you actually have a new context distinction (@work-email and @home-email), not because these sorts of things need to be fundamentally orthogonal throughout, complexifying the system even in cases where the location is irrelevant.
In short, I think using the traditional GTD sense of a single, flat notion of context (rather than both location and task-type) is just as powerful for those users who want to have location-specific bins, but it's no more complex for those who don't, or, more generally, most of us who don't *for most contexts*.
Anyway, just my 2c after watching from a distance for a while. I'm quite interested to see where this goes. -jrk
On 6/14/06, Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
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On Jun 14, 2006, at 10:37 PM, Mike Mellor wrote:
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On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
Great start! Here's kind of the format I envision:
#Base Contexts, with built in tab commands TASK | t | 00ff00 # context | tab key | color for list view HOME_TASK | th | 000f00 ... #User Defined Contexts that use a generic tab command (say, "@") + a key combination SCHOOL | s | ff0000 #The user would type "@ s" and then tab to make this work ...
How does that sound?
Like what the doctor ordered. ;-) to me. Since right now I am working full time, going to school four nights a week and still maintaining normal household maintenance and then throw in calls I need to make errands I need to run etc. This is is going to give kinkless a run for its money. While you are refining would it be possible to drop the extension of the filenames when displaying the list and active list. (Kinda beautify it a bit).
- -Ron
P.S. Would it be possible to have a task like "go Shopping" and then link another list to the go shopping list with the list of things you needed to buy.
Just came to me.. Thought I would bring it up.
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For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
Jonathan, You just thru my thought process in to overdrive. Since this thread has started I have made little notes of how I am doing things with the Bundle and the little caveats I come across that at the moment are not working with my thought process. With what you have added to the discussion below I would just like to thank you. You got me thinking about my process and to see if what I have going is efficient or making a mountain out of a mole hill.
I too wait to see what Mike does with the bundle.
-Ron
On Jun 15, 2006, at 2:04 PM, Jonathan Ragan-Kelley wrote:
As a very long-time Outliner GTDer (I was actually using my own very similar system for well over a year before Ethan launched kGTD, and tried Life Balance for 6 months before that, and so on), I like the direction this bundle could go, so I'm excited to see so much early activity.
One thing this latest conversation brings up:
Why should the user have to explicitly specify a list of contexts in a separate file -- why couldn't contexts just be inferred from those the user is already using, like in FMP? They could of course be cached in a .context_cache file for faster access, but it seems to me that having an explicit, separate configuration file is entirely unnecessary.
(As an aside, I really like the @.* tab trigger idea for user-defined contexts, btw -- and that's where I see the cache file helping, vs. having to parse contexts out of each and every project file every time.)
The other complexity I don't yet fully grok is why there is this notion of task-type that's orthogonal to both context and project.
From my own experience, at least, this sort of added layer of
complexity over and above basic GTD (traditionally you just have @email, @work and @home, not tasks vs. email vs. ? | @home vs. @work leading to email@home vs. task@work) always winds up getting trimmed away in the end, and, where the distinction is genuinely useful, it's usually because you actually have a new context distinction (@work-email and @home-email), not because these sorts of things need to be fundamentally orthogonal throughout, complexifying the system even in cases where the location is irrelevant.
In short, I think using the traditional GTD sense of a single, flat notion of context (rather than both location and task-type) is just as powerful for those users who want to have location-specific bins, but it's no more complex for those who don't, or, more generally, most of us who don't *for most contexts*.
Anyway, just my 2c after watching from a distance for a while. I'm quite interested to see where this goes. -jrk
On 6/14/06, Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then scanned by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
Great start! Here's kind of the format I envision:
#Base Contexts, with built in tab commands TASK | t | 00ff00 # context | tab key | color for list view HOME_TASK | th | 000f00 ... #User Defined Contexts that use a generic tab command (say, "@") + a key combination SCHOOL | s | ff0000 #The user would type "@ s" and then tab to make this work ...
How does that sound?
Like what the doctor ordered. ;-) to me. Since right now I am working full time, going to school four nights a week and still maintaining normal household maintenance and then throw in calls I need to make errands I need to run etc. This is is going to give kinkless a run for its money. While you are refining would it be possible to drop the extension of the filenames when displaying the list and active list. (Kinda beautify it a bit).
- -Ron
P.S. Would it be possible to have a task like "go Shopping" and then link another list to the go shopping list with the list of things you needed to buy.
Just came to me.. Thought I would bring it up.
This just came to me.. An idea for a tickler file where we could put either a date or time or both in the beginning of the line along with the context and have a script with growl support run through this file or files and if it has the dat/time either/or and it is at that time (or a predefined interval in the script) to alert you via growl that this item needs some attention.
Hopefully I completed that thought.
-Ron
On Jun 15, 2006, at 2:25 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
Jonathan, You just thru my thought process in to overdrive. Since this thread has started I have made little notes of how I am doing things with the Bundle and the little caveats I come across that at the moment are not working with my thought process. With what you have added to the discussion below I would just like to thank you. You got me thinking about my process and to see if what I have going is efficient or making a mountain out of a mole hill.
I too wait to see what Mike does with the bundle.
-Ron
On Jun 15, 2006, at 2:04 PM, Jonathan Ragan-Kelley wrote:
As a very long-time Outliner GTDer (I was actually using my own very similar system for well over a year before Ethan launched kGTD, and tried Life Balance for 6 months before that, and so on), I like the direction this bundle could go, so I'm excited to see so much early activity.
One thing this latest conversation brings up:
Why should the user have to explicitly specify a list of contexts in a separate file -- why couldn't contexts just be inferred from those the user is already using, like in FMP? They could of course be cached in a .context_cache file for faster access, but it seems to me that having an explicit, separate configuration file is entirely unnecessary.
(As an aside, I really like the @.* tab trigger idea for user-defined contexts, btw -- and that's where I see the cache file helping, vs. having to parse contexts out of each and every project file every time.)
The other complexity I don't yet fully grok is why there is this notion of task-type that's orthogonal to both context and project.
From my own experience, at least, this sort of added layer of
complexity over and above basic GTD (traditionally you just have @email, @work and @home, not tasks vs. email vs. ? | @home vs. @work leading to email@home vs. task@work) always winds up getting trimmed away in the end, and, where the distinction is genuinely useful, it's usually because you actually have a new context distinction (@work-email and @home-email), not because these sorts of things need to be fundamentally orthogonal throughout, complexifying the system even in cases where the location is irrelevant.
In short, I think using the traditional GTD sense of a single, flat notion of context (rather than both location and task-type) is just as powerful for those users who want to have location-specific bins, but it's no more complex for those who don't, or, more generally, most of us who don't *for most contexts*.
Anyway, just my 2c after watching from a distance for a while. I'm quite interested to see where this goes. -jrk
On 6/14/06, Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 7:18 PM, Ron Rosson wrote:
On Jun 14, 2006, at 6:10 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
Having a text file of customisable contexts that was then
scanned
by your bundle woudl be the ultimate for me - watch out Kinkless GTD!
I suppose the user would then have to set up their own tab- activated snippets for each context if they wanted them but that is a small price to pay.
Now you got me drooling. ;-). What if it took the first character of the context and combined it with the action required for that item. ie....
tw == work task tm == mac task th == home task etc etc.
Just throwing out ideas
-Ron
Great start! Here's kind of the format I envision:
#Base Contexts, with built in tab commands TASK | t | 00ff00 # context | tab key | color for list view HOME_TASK | th | 000f00 ... #User Defined Contexts that use a generic tab command (say, "@") + a key combination SCHOOL | s | ff0000 #The user would type "@ s" and then tab to
make
this work ...
How does that sound?
Like what the doctor ordered. ;-) to me. Since right now I am working full time, going to school four nights a week and still maintaining normal household maintenance and then throw in calls I need to make errands I need to run etc. This is is going to give kinkless a run for its money. While you are refining would it be possible to drop the extension of the filenames when displaying the list and active list. (Kinda beautify it a bit).
- -Ron
P.S. Would it be possible to have a task like "go Shopping" and then link another list to the go shopping list with the list of things you needed to buy.
Just came to me.. Thought I would bring it up.
For new threads USE THIS: textmate@lists.macromates.com (threading gets destroyed and the universe will collapse if you don't) http://lists.macromates.com/mailman/listinfo/textmate
Jonathan -
Lots of good points. Let me try and address some of them.
On 6/15/06, Jonathan Ragan-Kelley katokop1@gmail.com wrote:
Why should the user have to explicitly specify a list of contexts in a separate file -- why couldn't contexts just be inferred from those the user is already using, like in FMP? They could of course be cached in a .context_cache file for faster access, but it seems to me that having an explicit, separate configuration file is entirely unnecessary.
FMP is pretty much the opposite of the current bundle, more of less. As I understand it, FMP allows a user to add tasks into a single list, which is then used to create separate context based lists. What I am trying to do with the GTD bundle is to enter tasks into project lists (separate files) that can then be used to create context based lists (right now it's a single list view, organized by context).
Having said that, the purpose of the contexts.gtd file is to allow a user to create user-specific contexts, e.g., @MOM'S_HOUSE. There will be a base set of contexts that are already in the bundle (TASK, CALL, EMAIL, etc.). If there is a way to build it into the bundle without a separate file, I'd be glad to use it. The separate file is based on my limited coding skills and knowledge of TextMate.
The other complexity I don't yet fully grok is why there is this
notion of task-type that's orthogonal to both context and project.
From my own experience, at least, this sort of added layer of
complexity over and above basic GTD (traditionally you just have @email, @work and @home, not tasks vs. email vs. ? | @home vs. @work leading to email@home vs. task@work) always winds up getting trimmed away in the end, and, where the distinction is genuinely useful, it's usually because you actually have a new context distinction (@work-email and @home-email), not because these sorts of things need to be fundamentally orthogonal throughout, complexifying the system even in cases where the location is irrelevant.
I think this actually meshes with the first part, based on what a user wants. I'm pretty happy with just TASK, EMAIL, CALL, BUY, etc., but a few folks want to be able to create more detailed contexts. I think this method supports both preferences.
Anyway, just my 2c after watching from a distance for a while. I'm quite interested to see where this goes.
Thanks.
Mike
On 6/16/06, Mike Mellor alaskamike@gmail.com wrote:
There will be a base set of contexts that are already in the bundle (TASK, CALL, EMAIL, etc.). If there is a way to build it into the bundle without a separate file, I'd be glad to use it.
Why have any base contexts at all? Why hard code any contexts? Why not leave it up to the user like Kinkless?
A 'task' context is redundant for me - everything is a task that gets done in a context and I'd love total freedom to set those contexts how I choose.
I'd prefer to use this than Kinkless - anything that keeps me in TextMate gets my vote.
Richard
On 6/14/06, Ron Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
Like what the doctor ordered. ;-) to me. Since right now I am working full time, going to school four nights a week and still maintaining normal household maintenance and then throw in calls I need to make errands I need to run etc. This is is going to give kinkless a run for its money. While you are refining would it be possible to drop the extension of the filenames when displaying the list and active list. (Kinda beautify it a bit).
I'll add it to my list for tonight.
P.S. Would it be possible to have a task like "go Shopping" and then link another list to the go shopping list with the list of things you needed to buy.
Just came to me.. Thought I would bring it up.
I think that's a great idea. It's one of the things I like about the GTDTiddlyWiki. Having said that, it also sounds like it's way beyond me. I'll add it to the list, though.
Mike
On 6/13/06, Ronald Rosson oneinsanedotnet@gmail.com wrote:
WORK_TASK items are not being displayed when Viewing the list and the Active lists. After seeing this would it be possible to make the locations a vairable (dynammic) instead of hardcoded?
This would be a great feature - I think that we all have different contexts. I'll look into it. Thanks for the feedback.
Mike
This is looking great! Well done.
I second the call for customisable contexts: I am very used to working with @mac, @out and about, @web, @offline etc etc
Making GTD work for oneself I think depends on the ability to have fine-granied control over what contexts your work fits into.
You can see the detail with which Merlin Mann sets his contexts in this post here: http://www.43folders.com/2006/02/27/contexts/
I don't think any gtd solution can shoehorn its users into predefined contexts.
Anyway, I'm along for the ride with the GTD bundle - keep up the good work!
On Jun 13, 2006, at 5:15 PM, Richard Sandilands wrote:
This is looking great! Well done.
I second the call for customisable contexts: I am very used to working with @mac, @out and about, @web, @offline etc etc
Making GTD work for oneself I think depends on the ability to have fine-granied control over what contexts your work fits into.
You can see the detail with which Merlin Mann sets his contexts in this post here: http://www.43folders.com/2006/02/27/contexts/
I don't think any gtd solution can shoehorn its users into predefined contexts.
Anyway, I'm along for the ride with the GTD bundle - keep up the good work!
I'm going to fix the view tonight. I'm thinking about ways to customize the contexts for individuals. What I think I need to do is to have a "contexts.gtd" file in my GTD project that lists the various contexts that I want to use. Any have a better idea? Thanks for the feedback.
Mike -- "Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive, and probably wrong." Richard Feynman
Haris -
I am reading Learning to Programhttp://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/fr_ltp/index.htmlby Chris Pine. Not very deep, but well written and a good intro to Ruby.
Mike
On 6/9/06, Mike Mellor alaskamike@gmail.com wrote:
Dan -
Thanks for the input. Here are some quick thoughts.
First, on contexts, I thought that "TODO", "CALL", etc. were contexts (in my mind, I use TODO for a physical action or something that doesn't fall into another context). Maybe I'm missing something here. And maybe I need to explain how I use the GTD bundle betetr. I created a GTD project in TextMate where I add a *.gtd file for each project, e.g. "stuff to do around the house," "paint the living room," etc. Then I add tasks, using the TODO, CALL, etc. contexts. Finally, to use what I've done in context, I do a "view GTD tasks" (control-shift-T) to group my tasks by context.
I wrote to Nick Fagerlund (FMP creator) and he has given me permission to include FMP in the GTD bundle. I think that FMP is a great tool, but it works the opposite of how I think. I like to "think in projects, execute in context" where FMP is designed to take a text file with more-or-less random categories and split it out into separate lists.
My plan is to put the functionality into the bundle, and see where it goes. Again, thanks for the feedback!
Mike
On 6/9/06, Daniel Käsmayr daniel@kaesmayr.net wrote:
Mike,
I like the fact that you are now working from your own scope "text.plain.gtd", so the tab triggers no longer kill my other stuff ;)
The major point I am not happy with your version is that it does not use contexts; what we have now is a rather pimped TODO-List generator. Very useful, but not "gtd" yet… don't get me wrong, I am bay far no gtd apostle nor do i try to kill any good idea.
As I have mentioned before, I am trying to see if "My fiendish master plan" is useful. And what this one does is it takes an input text file, reads each line to see if it starts with ^context and then moves that todo item to a separate text file for that context.
So what I would like to see in that gtd.bundle is:
a) a means to work with contexts b) some way to keep project files, but also extract next actions from those projects c) an easy way for getting stuff IN the system d) maybe some assistance for the weekly review
Since I am not really up-to-date with my programming skills (I would like to pick up ruby and ruby on rails… any good pointers for reading?) I have no solution yet, but I am willing to help out.
It is, in a way, just a question to see whether I will try to roll my own or if you are interested in moving the bundle from todo-lists to a nextaction-and-project-based approach?
Dan
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-
Charilaos Skiadas -
Daniel Käsmayr -
James Edward Gray II -
Jonathan Ragan-Kelley -
Mike Mellor -
Richard Sandilands -
Ron Rosson -
Ronald Rosson