On what do you write notes

[Paul@Pittsburgh]

I couldn't think of a succint title for my question.

During the day I make a lot of notes - phone call conversations, notes on thoughts, actions, follow ups, planning etc. I don't seem to have a good system for this though and it's something I want to improve. So I am looking for feedback on what others do -

Do you use loose paper (legal pad) and use a new page for each record and then file it or toss it after it is processed

Do you keep a chronological log where everything goes in in sequential order - and you just process it and maybe cross reference and keep for archival purposes.

Do you have some other system.

As my GTD implementation progresses I think I will be doing more action/planning/listing electronically or with Mind Maps, so the extent of paper notes for this will reduce. But paper is a great medium for making quick notes with phone conversations and meetings.

Thanks

Paul

[pbs]

I look forward to reading the responses to this question because I too am having major difficulty with this issue. I think I must be too much of a perfectionist and spend too much time worrying about the "perfect" method instead of just doing something!!!!! Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting your responses.

[hnortonil]

I keep a bunch of jr legal pads around the house and I write one idea/thought on each one and dump it into my inbox.

At work, I have a top-spiral notebook, and I just write notes as they come and then throw the page into my inbox and go through it later line-by-line.

I keep a small (2x3") notebook in my purse and use that to write notes, and have a small (levenger) receipt folder as a 'purse inbox' to keep them and dump them when I get home.

And then finally my clie has a voice recorder, so I record stuff there in the car as well.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I've found this to be one of the best things about GTD. As a fellow perfectionist I used to spend hours trying to come up with the perfect note-taking system (not to mention the perfect notebook -- shape, size, colour, weight of paper...)

But for me the "collection bucket" principle has removed all the stressfulness from this issue. You no longer need to worry about coming up with one fantastic note-taking system -- you can have as many different notebooks, pads of paper, whatever, as you like, and as many different systems for taking notes, just as long as they all end up in "In" and then get processed.

(Of course, now I'm an obsessive perfectionist about having a really cool "In" wallet, but that's another story)

[Paul@Pittsburgh]

I realized in reading the post that this is a capture related question. Thanks for the input so far.

Thinking back to the initial implementation of GTD where David encourages us to sort through all our open loops - he mentions putting an action item, short note whatever, on a single page and then tossing it into an inbox to be processed later. I guess this is a related issue to on-going catpure which makes me wonder if a single page loose leaf approach is better and what I should then be doing is making sure I can handle those single loose leaf pages in a better way. In some ways maybe my wondering about a notebook where all the pages are together shows that I don't trust my system yet.

I also see that most of the other people responding here have several capture mechanisms.

So this has helped me clarify - this is fundamentally about capturing open loops and trusting my system to manage them accordingly.

Thanks

Paul

[spring]

I work with computers, which means I have an infinite supply of 8 1/2" by 11" scratch paper with mistakes printed on only one side of it. :-) I imagine you could find a similar quantity of scratch paper for yourself by a two-minute inspection of the recycling bins at a copy store.

Using this saved-from-the-recycle-bin paper is important for me emotionally. I have tried using new, blank paper to write on, but I find myself worrying whether a note is good enough to deserve the paper I'm writing it on. Silly, I know, but who needs the hassle? I have a hard enough time just writing my ideas down without having to worry about paper. By using "wasted" paper, whenever I write a note, I can feel virtuous about my frugality and get on with my life.

I keep two fat stacks of this scratch paper. One is on my desk at home, and one is on my desk at work.

At work, I also have access to a paper cutter, so I will occasionally chop up a stack of full-size sheets into six slips each. These little slips are a nice size for taking phone messages or leaving notes for my co-workers.

In fulfillment of a childhood dream, I bought myself a spike for my desk at work. These smaller slips are a perfect size for spiking. As a short-term alternative to putting an action into my GTD lists, I will sometimes write down an action on on a slip, then spike it when I complete it.

Spiking an action you have just completed is incredibly satisfying. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Freud would have a field day, I am sure.

When I am not at either of my desks, I carry a 3" x 5" index card in my back pocket, folded in half. It fits perfectly there, and if I don't write anything on it that day, the card stock is thick enough to survive several days of being sat upon until I have something to write on it.

And what do I do with all these papers once I've made my notes? The same thing I do with everything else: at my first opportunity, I drop them into my Inbox. The notes get processed just like all the other things in my Inbox, like my incoming mail and buttons that have come off my shirts and notes from my young lady and the cat. It all goes into the top of David's Inbox processing flowchart, and it all winds up in one of the collection buckets. (Remember, "trash" is a collection bucket too.)

In short, notes aren't special. Put them in your Inbox, and let the process work its magic on them.

[jeffrey.irby]

I travel all of the time and work in different contexts, so I have developed a system that allows me to caputure notes according to context.

1. In the office on computer -- Outlook (tasks, calendars etc.)
2. At client site (leather bound notebook with fancy paper from Franklin Covey) -- provides a level of professionalism
3. At dinner -- pocket brief case with note cards
4. Utility Back up: Note pad -- long meetings, lecture halls etc.

The trick then is to process them in the "in-box" to capture the action items. Most items captured on my computer go directly into the GTD system.

Week in review I catch any action item that hadn't migrated into the GTD system during the week. Otherwise the notes are either disgarded or placed into my reference file.

[Krackeman]

My work life is filled with impromptu meetings and odd windows of time for me to brainstorm, etc. I use 4 primary capture tools.

Notebook/Journal in my planner - I have a half sheet size journal integrated in my planner. A simple post-it flag let's me know where I last stopped processing. This is primarily meeting notes, and I use a quadrant system to speed up processing later. (3 "zones" - NAs, Open Issues, Everything Else)

Notecards - 3x5 standard issue. At my desk, by my home phone and bed. In my briefcase. In a leather wallet designed to be portable. Quick notes that go to my INBOX.

Tabloid Pad - an 11x17 Pad of paper that can not be beat for brain storming/mind maps/sketches. I will occassionaly break out an easel pad (18x24) if I really want the "no boundaries" feeling. But 11x17 gives you a lot of room. (Levenger sells an 11x17 Oasis pad for the low price of 2 pints of blood, your left eye, and your firstborn ... I have bought cheapish ones at office supply or even bought a ream of paper, and had Kinko's make me glue top pads for next to nothing.)

Legal Pads - sometimes a man needs the comfort of blue lines on a canary field.


My biggest a-ha has already been echoed here. Get it "IN" and it doesn't really matter what it's written on. I use a notebook, so I have a chronological meeting record. If I am taking notes to keep/copy ... a legal pad. But I've processed napkins, envelope backs, and more in my inbox. Note taking media only matters if you are keeping it!

BK

[jrdouce]

The Cross pen people used to have an electronic notebook. It was about as think as a PalmPilot and about the size of a steno pad. A coworker gave me a demo several years ago. It provided the easy data capture of a standard note pad, but it could all be uploaded to a computer. It was a great idea. It did require that you write on an actual notepad with a special, and expensive pen containing a microchip. The pad would capture the pen strokes via the microchip. OCR in those days was primitive, so you have to write very clearly, which slowed me down considerably. If the pen were lost, it was expensive to replace.

I think it was ahead of it's time. I would love to see another incarnation of an electronic note pad\reader. This time, you would write with a cheap stylus and no paper would be required.

Think of an 8X10 PalmPad, where you could write full screen without graffiti. It could have the Palm OS installed also, so we don't need to carry both. It could have built in OCR, the technology is much better these days, you would highlight images to convert to jpeg, and convert the rest to character. Advanced functionality could allow people to share documents in a meeting, propose and accept changes - everyone walks away with all the same data. You could also add "personal Notes" not synchronized to the group. No more new guy\girl sitting in the conference room copying the white board trying to remember the context of each bullet point. The multimedia potential of the large screen is obvious.

The original Cross Pad cost about as much as my first Palm III, so a PalmPad with the basic functionality I described should be much cheaper than a laptop or tablet computer.

What do other people think about my dream for a "PalmPad"?

[Anonymous]

The Cross pen people used to have an electronic notebook. It was about as think as a PalmPilot and about the size of a steno pad. A coworker gave me a demo several years ago. It provided the easy data capture of a standard note pad, but it could all be uploaded to a computer. It was a great idea. It did require that you write on an actual notepad with a special, and expensive pen containing a microchip. The pad would capture the pen strokes via the microchip. OCR in those days was primitive, so you have to write very clearly, which slowed me down considerably. If the pen were lost, it was expensive to replace.

Sounds quite similar in some ways to Logitech's Digital Paper...
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=products/features/digitalwriting&crid=1545&countryid=19&languageid=1
...but the digital paper uses real paper, and the pen reads marks on the special paper.

[Frank Buck]

I capture notes directly in Outlook (if I am at my desk at work) or on my Palm if I am anywhere else.

If I am in a meeting, I start by creating a new task on the Palm and entering the date and tiltle of the meeting in the task line. I attach a note and turn the power off. During the meeting when I need to write something down, I turn on the Palm with the POWER button (instead of the task button) so that it brings me to where I was before I turned it off--that attached note. When the meeting is over, I have all of the notes in one place. When I get back to the office and sync, those meeting notes will be sitting there on the task list and serve as a reminder that I those notes need to be processed. From there, it's pretty much a copy and paste job. When I am done, if the notes themselves are of "lasting value," I drag the task over the Notes icon in Outlook and save the Note.

For short encounters--someone mentions something to me in the hall--I enter it directly in the task list and give it its proper category. (Yes, I am collecting, processing, and organizing all at the same time, but there are lots of times when it's easy enough to do.)

[Jeff]

At the office I keep a black leather looseleaf binder on my desk. The pages are 5 x 8 and are individually dated, one item to a page. The pages are large enough to take whatever notes I need when on the phone, talking with a co-worker, etc., but small enough to fit into my "In" box (also black leather). I like to keep a clean desk with nice accessories. I "feel" more in control when everything is neat. That's part of what I like about GTD: it helps me keep the "feel" right while I am getting the work done.

When out of the office, I carry 3 x 5 index cards in my pocket and (when in a business context) a leather folder with 8.5 x 11 white paper for more extensive notes. Each of these can be cycled through the "In" box when I get back to the office.

As for gadgets, I now limit myself to my notebook computer and carry it everywhere. I gave up my PC as too limiting.

[kirkmc]

Recycled paper! I agree with the poster above who pointed out how it's good for karma to use paper that's been printed on one side for notes.

I'm a writer, and print out a fair amount of stuff to reread on paper. When I've finished a book, I pile all the one-side-printed paper up and use it either for printing the next article or book, or use it on a clipboard that sits on a low table next to my desk. I can doodle, write notes, record the amount of time I work on projects, or just write ideas on this paper. And I don't feel bad when I dump it for "real" recycling.

[TesTeq]

In some environments it is not possible to recycle single sided printouts for notes because these printouts may contain confidential information :( .
TesTeq

[Anonymous]

I use an Avery 8.5" x 11" 300-page record book. Everything gets recorded in there. It's leather bound and has a professional appearance, so I'm not embarrased to take it out. During my Weekly Review (or more often, if necessary), I review my notes and transfer any necessary information into my system on Outlook.

This works really well for me. If there is something that might have seemed unimportant and I did not transfer into the system, I still can flip back to it for reference.

[Anonymous]

I use a 4150 series HP iPAQ for my capturing while out of the office and Outlook while in. I don't use a lot of paper for scratching quick notes anymore. Digital capture saves me a lot of time that I use for more important things. :)

[beyerst]

I use a notebook for taking notes: at the office, in meetings, ... . A post shows me where I stopped processing. I try to process the notebook first thing in the morning. This allows me to reply to a lot of questions in less than 24 hours (can you forward me that presentation etc...) which gives a good impression. Other things go on the NA-lists.
Processing the notebook on a daily basis made me really trust the notebook.

Additionally I always make sure that I have some empty sheets of paper in my filofax for those moments when it is not practical to have a filofax and an notebook at hand at the same time (airplanes, ...)

[Anonymous]

The Treo 600 is easy to write fast on, because of the built in keyboard.
Then you do not have to rewrite it.

[mochant]

I capture in three places, depending on my context.

At my desk and in meetings, I capture directly into my Tablet PC using a Side Note in OneNote or directly into Outlook.

In the office but away from my desk, I tend to use my Pocket PC to capture a quick thought in Pocket Informant.

When I'm not "carrying" or am in an environment where using one of these digital tools is impractical, I fall back on my trusty NoteTaker wallet. The note goes directly into my Inbox for processing when I return to the office.

I've found that it matters less what you write it down on/in and more that you do it immediately, when the idea is fresh in your mind.

[randystokes]

I am a pretty high-tech guy. I have a Treo 600, plus I am often either in front of my home or office desktop computer or my notebook computer.

But, I still take most "original input" with paper and pen. If I'm "out and about," that often means writing notes to myself on the little pad in my NoteTaker wallet -- it's always with me. If I'm at my desk, at home or at the office, or if I'm in a meeting with clients, I take handwritten notes on 8 1/2 x 11 notepads I buy from Levenger -- the paper is heavy and thick, reducing bleed through and enhancing my writing experience. I also have similar junior sized notepads from Levenger that I keep by my phones at home and at the office for downloading voicemail, taking quick notes for others, etc.

I try not to mix a bunch of different notes on the same page, because I like to tear the notes off and throw them into my in-basket for appropriate processing and, where appropriate, filing. Thus, all the notes from one meeting go together, but when the next meeting or call starts, and go to a new page. I date everything, and where the notes from a meeting, call, etc. move on to more than one page, I number the pages sequentially. (The Levenger pads provide boxes at the top of each page for that purpose, as well as boxes for topic and filing info -- that's especially useful when the notes must be kept for "official" office filing purposes, as it makes it easier for my assistant to know where things go.)

As I said, I am a pretty high tech guy, but still like to take low tech notes. This is a matter of personal preference. I feel my mind engages more when the hand is in motion, at least during meetings and telephone conversations.

It doesn't mean I'm "double-dumping" either. I take notes by hand, then throw them into my inbox. I later process those notes, and identify projects and next actions -- those I type into my Palm Desktop software on my computer, which syncs to my Treo 600, so I always have my action and project lists with me, but I seldom do original input on my Treo.

Again, this is personal preference, and others may do things differently. It's not right or wrong -- do whatever feels most comfortable to you.

Randy Stokes
randystokes@cox.net

[Anonymous]

I thought I would share a very handy tool with those interested. While at the office I use a notepad and post-it notes without problem, the challenge has always been jotting down notes outside of the office.

I discovered that the IPaq handheld, running on PocketPC allows me to write in longhand, on the screen, notes of (almost) unlimited length. So now, when I want to jot something down, I use the stilus as a pen and write on the screen, almost at full speed. I find it amazingly easy, I always have a notepad handy, without having to stuff one more item in my pockets and I always have all my notes together. (Not to mention backed up on the computer, when I synchronize.)

I think it's great!

[Anonymous]

For notes I have found the legal pad to always be good. 8) A better tool I have used however is 3 1/2 x 5 note cards kept in a leather wallet using my favorite fountain pen. Captured notes go in a sleeve on the rear of the wallet for processing and there is always a clean note available in the front for a new note.
The plus in note cards is the card is easy to hand off to subordinates in cases of delegation. I have even "colorized" the system with the addition of a hot red card for must process/respond/ handle actions.
I will also use the note pad of my Zire 72 if it's available and set an alarm to remind me later to process. :lol:

Cheers
George
Baltimore

[mondo]

At work, I have on my desk a pile of pre-loved paper. Its A4 size (we don't use letter in Oz), cut into 4. The stack is held together by a small clip.

Phone messages, etc go onto those, and then straight into in.

I carry a legal pad around with me, as well as my Palm TT3.

The legal pad is in a leather folio, and has a compartment where stuff can go into. The top sheet of the legal pad is general NA's, ideas, etc captured. I right one, then draw a line.

In a meeting about a topic, I keep a separate page for each topic (project) so that those can go into a file later. NA's are marked with a *

If I am not going back to my office straight away, I tear off the project related sheet, and then put into the compartment that serves as small IN tray. When I do get back to my office, everything goes into IN, and then gets processed.

I have to admit that for some simple type NA's, I capture, process and organise straight into the Palm. I can't see the point of double handling if I can make that front end decision.

But if I have any doubt, low mental energy or similar, I capture onto paper, and process later.

HTH, Des

[Anonymous]

I use a daily planner with 2 pages per day. I capture phone messages or other items on the Daily Record of Events (FranklinCovey Planner). I also record meeting minutes here as well. I have a stack of 7 hole punched blank paper and when I need more space I simply grab a new sheet and insert it and keep going.

I also keep a small tray of coloured note paper (3 x 3) on my desk. When I have an idea/issue I want to discuss with someone I write it there. I have a file folder in my drawer for each one of my staff and one for my boss. I simply drop the note paper in thier file. I have regular meetings with these people and review the item(s) at our next meeting. If the timing is critical I can put the note in their mailbox or I paper clip it to my to-do list on my Appointment/Task List page. I often simply give them the note paper for follow up or I keep it in the file folder for the next meeting for follow up.

I have a 81/2 by 11 pad of paper in my desk drawer which I grab when I have a big idea or thought or want to work-through an idea but keep my notes for future refernce and this becomes reference material for a project.

I maintain a binder with tabs for my projects - i keep project plans and reference material behind each tab. I use binders with tabs for projects rather than files because I often confuse "project files" with "general reference files". As project grows I may "move reference material to General Reference files (filed alphabetically) or dedicate a binder to the project and create new tabs for project sections.

[Krackeman]

Stephen-

This is more a curiosity thing, but how do you process your right hand page? It seems like a lot of information could get put there (a la Covey) but I have dumped my 2 per day pages because i found it near impossible to maintain a zero base/cleared deck ... there was always something floating out there on the right hand page.

BK

[pbs]

Krakeman:
I also have the right side issue--how did you handle it?
pbs

[Anonymous]

I would handle it during The Weekly Review or the several mini-reviews I do during the week. I wouldn't let too many days go by without reviewing the right hand pages and processing them into my system.

[Ashok Atluri]

When I am on the run and can use my both hands I use my Treo 600. If I am exercising or driving, I tend to use my voice recorder. From voice recorder they go on my rough sheets. I take rough notes while talking on phone, playing my voice notes, random thoughts, etc. on a jumbo block (has about 870 sheets) of 3"x3" sheets. I then pierce them on a temporary sharp holder (my in-box for these small sheets as they tend to fly away on my in tray). And as spring said (very elegantly) in one of the posts above " and let the process work its magic on them.". The capturing and processing as two distinct steps is one of the GTD epiphanies we feel very good about even late into the implementation.

Ashok

[Frank Buck]

Before I went to Palm/Outlook, I was a DayTimer user, so here are my thoughts on the right-hand page:

Since you are going to save your archived pages, you will always have access to what you have written without recopying anything provided you have some sort of INDEX system that will point you back to that entry.

One part of that index system is the use of parentheses. For example, an enter on your action list may be "Call Joe (6/15)." Whatver is in ( ) means "refer here for more information." When I look at "Call Joe," it might not mean a thing, but the 6/15 tells me to flip to June 15 and look at the right-hand page. There I am going to find something like the notes I took during a phone call and I wa supposed to get back to him with some particular information.

The other part of the index system is literally an index that updated at the end of each month (as I took one onths pages out and inserted the next month's pages) I had one word processing document that served as my index. I would type the name of the month and year. Then for each day, I would type of couple of key words for each entry that seemed to be of "lasting value." (This process took about 20 minutes a month.) When I wanted to put my hands on a piece of information, I would pull up that document and use the "find" command to enter a key word. Within a few seconds I would have a hit and know the exact date to go back to in the Day-Timer.

As one example of this, an official from the Department of Human Resources appeared at my office to tell me a complain thad been filed against one of my teachers, not by the parent of the student in question, but by some neighbor who was determined to be the merchant of everybody else's business. As the DHR official began to go give me the details, I vaguely remembered a parent conference I had sat in on some months ago. As he talked, I turned to my computer, pulled up my index and typed the last name of the student in question. The find command hit on the child's name. I pulled the storage binder where I keep archived pages and within a few seconds was looking right at the notes I had taken during that parent conference. It was a situation that began as a misunderstanding but had ended with the misunderstanding clearer up and the parent thanking the teacher. Who would had ever thought the few notes I took on the right-hand page would be important later? When I read to the DHR worker my notes, he was satisfied that there was nothing further to investigate and simply closed the case.

For those who use this kind of system, I would HIGHLY recommend "Time Power" by Dr. Charles Hobbs. I have not read anything where David really addresses this area. Dr. Hobbs really fills that void.

Frank

[Gameboy70]

I use a Treo 600, a Palm smartphone with a keyboard, which I find much faster than any stylus entry system, but not as fast as paper. I couldn't carry a Palm around at all times before it became integrated with a small enough cell phone, and I naturally had the same problem with paper day planners. Now I can jot things down anywhere.

At work, when I'm at my desk, I use a 4 x 4" plastic sticky, which looks like a Post-It but functions like a mini whiteboard. You jot things down with a dry erase marker, then erase them. It's great not having to waste one of paper after another just to write down a few words or digits, and whiteboards are too cumbersome to lay on the desk. And you can decide whether or not the note is worth transferring to paper.

[Anonymous]

Wondering where to find the 5x7 Spiral Notesbooks with micro-perf pages that David talks about in GTD Fast. Anyone know? That form factor sounds nice and I like the idea of the micro-perf for tearing off the pages.

[Anonymous]

Simple ream of paper, sitting next to my desk. I write a single note on it and then put it in the in-box to be processed. Cheap, and one ream lasts a long time.

[bdavidson]

Wondering where to find the 5x7 Spiral Notesbooks with micro-perf pages that David talks about in GTD Fast. Anyone know? That form factor sounds nice and I like the idea of the micro-perf for tearing off the pages.

I found them at the local OfficeMax. They were Mead 5-star 5x7 notebooks with the handy micro-perf pages. Great tool!

I can't find them online very easily, but they were in the stores with all the other 8.5x11 notebooks.

Brian

[Anonymous]

I use a journal size spiral bound notebook as my Ubiquitous Capture Tool. Is that Allen's term? Or was it coined by a Forumite? I made a pretty cover for it, using a decorative letter "U" from Microsoft Clipart. So it looks official. I have one for "Office", one for "Home." I was fairly good at assigning each notation to a context list, but a comprehensive projects index was a missing link. I guess I'm confessing to not having adopted GTD correctly, but it surely is worth the effort to stick with it.

[Jason Echols]

I am currently shopping around for a beltclip case for my Dell Axim because I religiously take any notes down in the notes function of my Pocket PC.

[Anonymous]

Seiko makes one for Palm/PocketPC and for any paper notepad - called SmartPad and InkLink. I got them at a firesale at CompuUSA for $20 after $80 rebates.
http://www.siibusinessproducts.com/support/discsupp.html
Jay Shah


The Cross pen people used to have an electronic notebook. It was about as think as a PalmPilot and about the size of a steno pad. A coworker gave me a demo several years ago. It provided the easy data capture of a standard note pad, but it could all be uploaded to a computer. It was a great idea. It did require that you write on an actual notepad with a special, and expensive pen containing a microchip. The pad would capture the pen strokes via the microchip. OCR in those days was primitive, so you have to write very clearly, which slowed me down considerably. If the pen were lost, it was expensive to replace.

I think it was ahead of it's time. I would love to see another incarnation of an electronic note pad\reader. This time, you would write with a cheap stylus and no paper would be required.

Think of an 8X10 PalmPad, where you could write full screen without graffiti. It could have the Palm OS installed also, so we don't need to carry both. It could have built in OCR, the technology is much better these days, you would highlight images to convert to jpeg, and convert the rest to character. Advanced functionality could allow people to share documents in a meeting, propose and accept changes - everyone walks away with all the same data. You could also add "personal Notes" not synchronized to the group. No more new guy\girl sitting in the conference room copying the white board trying to remember the context of each bullet point. The multimedia potential of the large screen is obvious.

The original Cross Pad cost about as much as my first Palm III, so a PalmPad with the basic functionality I described should be much cheaper than a laptop or tablet computer.

What do other people think about my dream for a "PalmPad"?

[Unregistered]

bump good reading

[HarborView]

1) I have a yellow folder that stands out labeled meetings
2) On the inside front cover I clip a printout of an outlook week view and on top of that a printout of a daily view with tasks and notes on the right.
3) I have a light blue sheet under which I place the previous days sheets until I capture any associated notes/next actions.
4) On top of the light blue divider sheet I place appointment printouts of each meeting scheduled for the day. I clip to each appt printout any meeting support info that I will want to refer to/pass out.
5) During the course of the day, I write directly on the day view (in the notes section) or on the meeting printout any relevant info.
6) At the end of the day I either capture those notes in my UCT (ubiquitious capture tool) or place them under the blue divider sheet until I can.


A final note: PhatWare has just incorporated auto-scroll in its PhatPad app version 2.2. I now can use it on my PPC as an option to capture pages of meeting notes. It is truly electronic paper for the PPC.

Regards,
R

[Gameboy70]

Whew. Just read my post from August and realised how much has changed. I went from a Treo 600 to a 650, then recently switched to a Samsung i500. The i500 is the smallest Palm smartphone on the market, looks like a regular cell phone, and fits easily in my pocket.

I capture notes with a notetaker wallet (a Wenger pad folio), and the i500's voice recorder when I'm driving or otherwise can't write. The main advantage of my current setup is that everything fits in my pockets, and I never have to lug anything around in my hand, and the geek factor is eliminated.

[kewms]

For phone messages, ideas that come to me while I'm working on something else, etc., I use 3x5 scratchpads. These are super cheap, so I have no qualms about scribbling five words on one, throwing it in my inbox, and tossing it out after processing.

For meeting notes and the like, I use an 8.5x11 pad, preferably grid-ruled. A grid-ruled 8.5x11 spiral notebook is also nice, as I can mindmap on the fly in landscape format.

For brainstorming and planning, I use either the same 8.5x11 pad or an 11x17 sketchpad.

I tend to dedicate notebooks to ongoing projects. The exact notebook depends on the project. Moleskines are nice for this sort of thing, but YMMV.

Katherine

[Tspall]

If I'm driving, I use my digital recorder.
For day to day quick note-taking, I always have 3x5 cards in my back pocket. It's especially good for capturing ideas while I'm teaching a class. Quick, easy, and very little distraction to the class.
In general, my main note taking is my Palm.

[Arduinna]

Single-subject notebooks, about 7"X8". Made by National with that green "Eye-Ease" paper, plain kraft-colored covers. Plus I always have a jotter of some sort in my bag, in case I forget the notebook--right now, it's a miniature composition book with B&W marble covers, about 3x4". Also use a digital recorder in the car.

Just discovered something I haven't ordered and don't know that I shall, but thought someone might find interesting. "The Daybook" ("your day in a book"). It's a spiral-bound batch of white "Action" pages, with the bars and boxes constituting a tick list, and every 7 pages there's a yellow "Outstanding Action Summary" page. You enter everything that didn't get done/processed in the preceding sheets on that page, and make those priority items. Seems pretty straightforward as a "next action" holding pen of sorts. No calendar function that I could see.
http://www.daybooks.com/

NFI, etc.

[Brent]

I write down notes on many things: index cards, sticky notes, etc. But this doesn't matter, as everything gets processed into my Someday/Maybe, Projects, or Actions lists. As long as your notes are getting into your system, you're fine.

[SteadyEdd]

I have to go with Brent on this one. Anythings that's to hand gets used. The important bit is remembering to put in your In Box.

Edward

[Mungo]

I use a Hipster PDA (aka index cards) or whatever I have on hand - scrap paper from the printer, old envelopes. My whole GTD set-up is analog: I have a small paper calendar, the index cards, and a small file box with dividers to organize projects, next action reminders, etc. A "list" is all the cards in a given section of the box. I'm a work-at-home dad, so I needed something that was easy to use in the midst of domestic chaos without the risk of the preschooler inadvertantly trashing electronic gear.

[Unregistered]

there are two contexts for notes:

Anything I do at my desk, on my phone, in front of my computer, I type into a Microsoft Word file. The name of this file is <company name> Work Log - <current year>. (I should mention that I'm an excellent typist). Every day, I type the date in bold text and begin my entries for that day.

Everything goes in this file - phone conversations, meeting notes, projects, ideas, quote of the day, contact info, etc. - it's like a giant in-box. At the end of each day, I process what I entered in this file.

Some advantages to this system are: 1.) it has provided a running log of activities that I have used to go back and retrace my steps, 2.) has helped me at performance review time at year-end, 3.) the search feature helps me find things very quickly, should they not get processed correctly.

When I'm away from my computer, I use a notebook. I use whatever is handy in the supply closet. On the cover, I write my name, the name of the company, and the range of dates from the first entry to the last entry (last entry obviously isn't filled in until the notebook is full). I keep all non-computer entries in this one notebook, and continue using it until it's filled up.

I process notebook entries the same as I process my Word file.

I've been using this system for at least 13 years. It started when I was a helpdesk/LAN admin, and I needed to justify to management what it was I did all day (I was the only technical person in a non-technical company, and few people understood the nature of my job). I found it helped me in other types of jobs since then.

After reading GTD, this collection mechanism now feeds my action lists.

[timo]

Hey Paul,

It's Tim (tjisolutions from the AR Bord)

As I recall you are a pda user?

If you are here is the process that works great for me


If my iPAQ is not open or handy I just take notes on any of three notepads on my desk or in my car or at home and jot the note --
- before I go home for the day I process all my notes into my pocket pc into it's proper context. If it doesn't fit anywhere it goes into a daily journal in word

If my iPAQ is handy it goes straight in and follows the same road

- before I leave my car same thing

- before I go nighty night same thing at home


as a side note I was at a business conference over the weekend and took notes exclusively in my pda using the block recognizer it ended up being 9 pages single spaced 10pt. font and I love it.... no bulky notepads and the notes are searchable yayyy :)

Hope this helps

[sjackson_ca]

This issue is the one that I have been trying to refine. I became a Franklin Covey user in 1995 and in 2003 began migrating my time management and organization to my computer at work using Outlook.

For the most part, when an item comes in (phone call, voice mail, colleague comes by the office, or some other request or idea comes up) I record a new Journal note in Outlook. If I immediately know it will become a project, I record it as a Task and categorize it and maybe make a few notes about the next action. But typically, I don't have much time to complete tasks at the moment they present.

I liken the Journal to the right page of the Franklin binder. One of my daily Outlook tasks is to "Review Previous Day Journal Entries" Yes, I'm really a goof...I need reminders like this or I'll forget to do it and it is so much like the old "Planning and Solitude" of Franklin. I use the Advanced find, journal entries created "yesterday", or on or after a certain day if I was out of the office for more than one day. And also with the "Find" capability in Outlook...if it never made it to a task, later on I can still "Find" it and see what action or information I captured at the time it was recorded.

If I didn't resolve it in 2 minutes the previous day, then I task it. I simply drag the Journal item over to the Task icon, make a few notes, record the next action and set a follow-up date. I use categories to, but most stuff remains in the "uncategorized" category.

This all works beautifully when I'm sitting at my desk, but the problem was elsewhere (meeting, hallway, in the staff area, at home or church.) I have a Palm, but I hate writing on it. And I miss my Franklin Binder; it was like a little security blanket... My idea was the same as what has come up several times in this thread. The 5x8 spiral notebook in a nice cover. Have one available (just one at at time) anywhere I am. I throw it in my work portfolio or in my purse on weekends. I incorporate reviewing it with the "Review Previous Journal Entries" from the Journal in Outlook. This way it stays on one computer when I sync it to my Palm.

I don't mind typing in Outlook from the written notes because I type really fast. (One skill God gave me that makes up for a whole slough of other shortcomings!) The notebooks with perforated sheets are great. They can be torn out and put in a project folder or given to a staff member or colleague. By putting dates just before the first entry of a new day on the pages that aren't torn out, I can reference in the electronic record back to the notebook if really necessary. (Doesn't happen much- remember the 5/6-2...yea, yea, I know...old Franklin throwback stuff) These can be kept for long term retention with the dates on them.

If I remember something driving on the road, I leave a message on my work voice mail and then make a journal note or task while reviewing voice mail.

[niall]

I have tried digital entry via pocketpc's tablets etc but I have reverted to paper.

I use a pocket notebook for lists by context and for adhoc notes. This is with me all the time.

I have a larger journal in the office for meeting notes the next actions get taken onto lists everyday.

Being office based I am trialling using separate notebooks for larger projects or standing meetings to keep the flow of information in one place. These then site in the relevant project files with other hard copy notes, project plans etc.

One reason paper works better for me for notetaking/planning is I'm an avid mindmapper and I find paper more flexible for my often disjointed thought processes!

I am in the process of setting up a blog to journal my experiences in finding the solution that works for me..feel free to look and comment (there's no ads or commercial angle purely a personal journey)

http://gtdjourney.blogspot.com

[WayneT]

The link to David's website is missing a "d" and directs to another site. Just a heads up.

[LeonGTD]

I usually print out the free grid paper from PDF, and do mind mapping and note making on the paper. It can let me produce very neat notes.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/free-online-graph-paper-grid-paper-pdfs.html

[arthur]

Here is my post from another discussion...

Hello everyone, I wanted to share my relatively new, index card filing system. Actually, it is for small slips of paper that contain thoughts, or personal ramblings and can be used for practically anything. It is also a speed system which you can easily access important information.
I started out with a 3x5-paper system but graduated to a 4x6-paper system that I now use. I found the 4x6 scratch pads more useful, mainly because they are larger and easy to expand your thoughts on. The main idea here is a paper system that is mostly on 4x6 scratch pads. It allows for easy access and superb organization.

I look at this 4x6 system as being an addition to a normal manila or a Tickler File system. It’s great for bibliography information, random thoughts, school, writings. I use mine for major subject areas in my life that are very important. For example, (from the picture) my files are listed as such:

TO DO – For un-filed slips of paper
Trash – To be reviewed for thoughts I may want to keep after I throw them away
Business – self-explanatory
Creativity
Quotes
Stories
Negotiation
Writing


Let me comment briefly on the pictures below. You can see my extra scratch pads in the rear of the box. You may also see I have 4x6 index cards in the box, these are only for spacing and I do use them for flashcards in school. A 4x6 system like this is nice because you can also use 3x5 scratch pads if you want. I prefer the larger pieces of paper. The whole system is easily contained and takes up little desk space. I find it a great smaller system as compared to a large filing cabinet. The printable Avery tabs are inexpensive and print very readable and small text. They work spectacular.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-9/1075073/Image011.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-9/1075073/Image026.jpg


Here are the three –exact- items to build your own miniature filing system. Robert Pirsig was right.

Office Max 4x6 scratch pads
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536896594&prodBlockOID=52757

Globe-Weis® Recycled Index Card Storage Case
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=939769&uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=Globe-Weis+storage&x=0&y=0&An=text

Avery Index Tabs - 16221
http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=product.Details&catalogcode=WEB01&node=10210880&productcode=16221

[GTD Wannabe]

In response to jrdouce's comments about electronic notetaking...

I've recently purchased a Mobile NoteTaker (see http://www.nexconcepts.com/products/mobile_notetaker/index.html). Basically, it's a calculator-sized thingy that you clip onto ANY piece/pad of paper. And a fancy pen. Write on the paper, and the image is captured in the thingy. Upload to computer. Voila.

I've used it for monster meetings - you know, the ones that last 6 hours or more, because you all live in different countries and get only get together every quarter. I end up taking minutes of the meetings and it is so much easier for me to just scribble for 6 hours than to type out 6 hours worth of minutes. In addition, the minutes can be full of drawings, scribbles, arrows between concepts, etc. etc.

I've also thought about using the notetaker to brainstorm, but I find I prefer either mindmapping on computer, or scribbling a mind map. I find that I don't actually like the pen that comes with the notetaker, which actually does affect how much I want to use it!

[cornell]

I think that you can use whatever you like, as long as each thing goes into your inbox (collection). I wouldn't worry about dating individual items, because in the processing phase (done every day or two) you'll be going through each one, deciding what it is, and what needs to happen because of it (next actions, someday/maybe, etc.) Then you can throw the notes away or file them as needed. I personally found it very refreshing to be able to toss meeting notes after 'harvesting' next actions from them. Before implementing Allen's techniques those notes would be floating around and in the way because I couldn't quite figure out what to do with them. (Note: I *do* date my meeting notes because there might be time-sensitive next actions, or I may need to keep them for reference. But I don't do so for individual items or mind sweeps.)

Regarding the specific tool you use, Allen is pretty agnostic, as long as you always have something with you to quickly capture thoughts as they occur - get them out of your head ASAP so that you can focus on the moment. He calls this a "Ubiquitous Capture Tool" (UCT) and it can be anything portable. My boss carries the one davidco sells via Levenger, but you can use: your palm, an inexpensive small notebook, index or business cards, a folded up piece of paper, blank pages in your planner, etc. I prefer the latter because I carry my planner everywhere I go, and I like having everything integrated (more at http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2005/08/fare-thee-well-hipster-pda-i-barely.html). Good luck!

matt

http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/

[davidnl]

Check this out for quick, easy notes:

http://www.pocketmod.com/app/index.html

[alisa]

I couldn't think of a succint title for my question.

During the day I make a lot of notes - phone call conversations, notes on thoughts, actions, follow ups, planning etc. I don't seem to have a good system for this though and it's something I want to improve. So I am looking for feedback on what others do -

Do you use loose paper (legal pad) and use a new page for each record and then file it or toss it after it is processed

Do you keep a chronological log where everything goes in in sequential order - and you just process it and maybe cross reference and keep for archival purposes.

Do you have some other system.

As my GTD implementation progresses I think I will be doing more action/planning/listing electronically or with Mind Maps, so the extent of paper notes for this will reduce. But paper is a great medium for making quick notes with phone conversations and meetings.

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

Some time ago i had the same problem. It's hard to keep track of all my activities and all the notes i make through the day. But i discovered a great way to keep me organized. It's very easy to use and you'll have quicly access to your notes. You can keep track of anything that crosses your mind ;)
I hope this will work for you too. The application is called SunnyNotes and you can see what is all about on the next address:
http://www.sunnynotes.com

alisa

Life is simple if you are organized! Use SunnyNotes to make it simple!

[treelike]

I obssessively believe in the value of information being in electronic form wherever possible because of the ease of searchability, compactness, copy and communicability. Having said that, I have found no better method of making notes than on a spiral notepad. I use the notepad as the major part of the inbox and score off items once I have processed them. The speed and flexibility of writing on paper is a huge advantage when recording incoming items which are sometimes fired at you in quick succession, and also when you're planning out the details of a complicated project.

[Richard Love]

This thread addresses notes as input, but they can also start as or become reference material. I use Mindmanager maps to capture & store notes used in this way.

[jpm]

I obssessively believe in the value of information being in electronic form wherever possible because of the ease of searchability, compactness, copy and communicability. Having said that, I have found no better method of making notes than on a spiral notepad. ...

I've been using a logitech digital io2 pen with their basic spiral notebook for just that purpose. Processing my io2 documents is part of my inbox activity. The OCR is reasonably good considering that sometimes I can't read my own writing...

Once I've completed the OCR process notes generally go into DayNotez so they are searchable on the palm, though I'd really prefer to be able to load them into Outlook Journal items. Unfortunately pocket journal for the Palm OS is no longer supported or available, and I've not found anything that will sync to the palm from Outlook Journal....

[JeffB]

The logitech actually works? I was looking to use it and dump notes into word.

Jeff

[jpm]

The logitech actually works?

Yes, It works fairly well. The OCR is the hard part. I get about 60% recognition which may or may not be good for you. However, my hand writing is pretty bad and about 30% of the time I can't even read it. The better your penmanship the better the OCR.

[ommoran]

I wanted to find something simple to record notes on, but something that lets me easily put the notes in "In", and something that looks professional, but doesn't cost a lot. Lots of folks online are raving about the Moleskine notebooks, and I've looked at them, but I don't find they have enough size for the notes I tend to take. So, I have found the Blueline A9 (http://www.bluelineinc.com/vw/fs/p014.htm) notebook, which is hardbound, and costs about $8.50 CDN. Each page has a spot at the top for the date, the bottom for Page #, and is perforated to be easily removed from the notebook and tossed into "In".

I'm finding it works well for me. YMMV.

[BulldogTN]

With the use of the "In" box, the question for me was not what to take notes on, but rather how to save notes for later perusal.

I use a memo pad sheet per day for general notes, and use meeting agendas for meetings, 3x5 cards in my back pocket for notes out and about.

All these go into "In" and are processed for projects, action items, new contacts, someday/maybe, reference lists, etc. I then scan them into OneNote and tag them with categories like "Context" (meeting, phone call, etc.), "Contacts" (meeting attendees, who the call was with), "Project", and any other tags I feel are useful.

I can then search OneNote for these tags and pull back any notes relating to those tags.

[kewms]

For those looking for The Perfect Notebook (tm), I can recommend Book Factory, http://www.bookfactory.com. Custom covers, custom pages (and page size), custom printing on each page, all for about the same as you'd pay retail for similar quality.

The downside is the minimum order of 50. I give them away to clients, but YMMV.

Katherine