Legal Andrew has an interesting post regarding the use of Post-It Notes as a collection tool for GTD. He cites their size and portability as obvious benefits, as well as how nice they are for quick reminders when “switching contexts”, so to speak.
While I definitely understand his affinity for everybody’s favorite sticky yellow thing, I personally have a much easier time with index cards in many of the roles he described. Not to split hairs, but I don’t always want my notes to be sticking to things. I do find Post-Its to be very useful for reminders (stick one to the inside of my Moleskine Memo Pocket/Wallet/Hipster to remind me to perform some action the next time I open it, for example), but I don’t always process my work in-basket while at work (nor my home in-basket at home). I’ll routinely pack up all of my unprocessed items (which is typically 90% index cards), shove them into my Moleskine and do my processing the next time I get the chance, usually at home.
I always keep a pad of small post-it notes on my desk. I love the 1.5? x 2? variety, since they are a great size to jot a quick note. Plus, the small size prevents you from writing too much.
This is something I hadn’t really considered. I guess I’d always treated collection as a way to jot down little memory hooks that would remind me of the greater issue when I went back to review them. For example, I need to get the wiring harness in my car replaced, so on the index card I’d scrawl something like “wiring harness”. Nothing about the fact that it needs to be replaced, as I know the next time I look at that card I’ll remember what I need to do with the wiring harness. Limiting yourself to a very small space to write in would definitely teach you to make your notes/reminders as short and concise as possible.
Anyway, I always like to hear about different folks’ methods of collection and processing, especially the ones people really like and trust. Are there any other Post-It fiends in the gallery?
Technorati Tags: gtd, analog gtd, post-it, paper, productivity, notes
Written by Brett Kelly
GTD