hipsterPDA

I’m in the midst of moving offices at work—just across the hall, but this is to finally get a window after six years in a windowless cave. I’m seeing this as a good opportunity to fashion a new organized self and have been discarding recycling barrels full of paper these past few days.

As Pica related, last week we discovered the hipsterPDA and the Getting Things Done (GTD) system for productivity. It’s too early to say if the hipsterPDA is a personal reform that will be long lasting, but all signs are good. There are three reasons why I think this is working for me. The first is that it is small and very easy to carry. Any binder-based organizer however compact gets bulky quickly—it’s not something you’ll bring to the ballpark or many other places. The second is that the system is analog. I’ve done enough time with a Handspring Visor PDA to realized that there is a lot of overhead with digital organizers. Finally, the GTD system makes a lot of sense to me. Pica has worked with Franklin Planners on and off for many years and I just can’t see using one. There is too much emphasis on priority setting within a daily calendar. The GTD system is by contrast bottom up—you track projects and next actions, and the calendar is reserved for actual appointments. I’m having fun with all this, which is very promising.