It is the original. The simplest. And some will kill their mother insisting it is the best. For me however, I have never managed to get a paper-based GTD to work efficiently and properly.
Now I understand the benefits just fine:
- Lightening quick to get next actions/project down;
- Very portable;
- Infinitely customisable;
- Relatively cheap to implement; and
- Gives you a remit to buy loads of cool stationary.
And I am fully aware of the power of Merlin Mann-style Hipster PDAs or smart tools like David Seah’s Printable CEO series. They look good. They feel good. But they are just no good.
This is no treatise on how wonderful a panacea electronic systems are – they are by no means perfect. In fact, by their very nature you are slave to the programmers interpretation of GTD/To-do systems which often result in you having changing your system to fit their tool. Less than ideal.
So why can’ I get to grips with paper systems? Well, for a start:
- Paper + rain/coffee = goo
- I am already carrying my iPhone around with me – a paper system is one more thing to carry (two if you include a pen)
- Have you seen my handwriting? Seriously, I have real trouble reading it sometimes
- If you have a long list of crossed out tasks it is sometimes difficult to spot those that still need doing amongst the scribbles
- In a fixed-paged notebook like the obligatory Moleskin, you either need acres of pages between sections, or have lists haphazard around the notebook as you fill one page
- Equally in a loose-page system like index cards you are at constant risk of loosing them
- It is not really possible to have a matrix structure – ie a phone call to your boss should appear on your @Phone context, your Work actions list, and your @Boss agenda. Without writing it three times this is not possible with a paper system
- The volume of information you can reasonably handle is low – I have around 50 Someday/Maybe ‘projects’ each with a number of sub-tasks, which just wouldn’t be practical to contain and organise.
Maybe I am just trying to manage a far to chaotic life, but I find it hard to believe that I am anywhere near as manic as many people who GTD (David Allen himself for example). Or am I trying to capture too much stuff – but I thought the point was to free your mind.
Either Way, whilst the speed and simplicity of a paper GTD system really does appeal, the practicalities mean I am firmly in the electronic camp. Unless anyone can persuade me otherwise that is….
