[bvkeen]

I talk about task prioritization on my site, with a focus on the David Allen method of going by context (where you are): http://www.dkeener.com/keenstuff/index.html

What seems to work best for me is to use the context-based categorization and to supplement with a week-ahead look, as recommended by Covey, so I allocate some time to the Q2 type tasks, just to be sure that I do not keep putting the important but not urgent stuff off. Worked well for me when I had a Palm and works well now that I am a PPC user. Pocket Informant is great for working with task categories, letting you filter by category.

Just assigning dates to tasks is often more wishful thinking than planning - it's worth doing to some degree, but to really get things done, it's best to work off categories, adding dates to tasks only as really needed.

If anyone has feedback on how I can improve the site listed above, I'd be glad to listen.

[bvkeen]

I talk about task prioritization on my site, with a focus on the David Allen method of going by context (where you are): http://www.dkeener.com/keenstuff/index.html

What seems to work best for me is to use the context-based categorization and to supplement with a week-ahead look, as recommended by Covey, so I allocate some time to the Q2 type tasks, just to be sure that I do not keep putting the important but not urgent stuff off. Worked well for me when I had a Palm and works well now that I am a PPC user. Pocket Informant is great for working with task categories, letting you filter by category.

Just assigning dates to tasks is often more wishful thinking than planning - it's worth doing to some degree, but to really get things done, it's best to work off categories, adding dates to tasks only as really needed.

If anyone has feedback on how I can improve the site listed above, I'd be glad to listen.

[ignar]

Since my tasks are pretty much trivial to do items rather than parts of large plan or projects, I also found specifying start date as well as due date is a bit too much work. But, I made myself getting used to enter both dates since I like to use "Active tasks". I think the simple and easy way how PalmOS handles to do's suits me better though.

[T-Will]

Excellent article, I never even thought of setting up my categories this way, I'll have to add this to my to do list!

[mashtim]

This is one of the reasons that I love Pocket Informant so much: The ability to organize tasks both by subject/location (A-Z fields where I use S for shopping, W for work, E for errands, etc.) AND by priority (0-100 with 0 being most important). I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much time this has saved me over the years. If I have 10 minutes to surf the Net, I simply look up what I have under I0-I3 and get the important stuff done.
Great article!

[bridgecrosser]

I have 481 Tasks on my 4150 iPAQ. Without David Allen's system, it would be nearly impossibe for me to manage and execute them to completion. Allen has really nailed this and I highly recommend his books to anyone interested in making sense of all the "stuff" you have to do at work and in your personal life. And by the way, Pocket Informant really works nicely with Allen's system.

[ctmagnus]

Personally, I use categories for all the stuff Nathan Womack suggests and sub-sort the categories using priorities (or vice-versa depending on the weather, lunar phase, day of week, mood, etc ). All within PI, of course.

[jkendrick]

Originally Posted by azhiker

I think most people do not use the tasks portion well at all. In fact for me making it an appointment with a date and time (with a category) is better than creating a task. It shows up in my appointments instead of getting missed in my list of tasks. I tend to me the tasks if I forget to view them in PI.

Nice article. I use Taskline for making tasks into appointments with complete control. Once they are appointments they sync nice with the PPC, too. Very nice program for Outlook users on the desktop.

http://www.taskline.info/

[cambium]

Thanks for the article - - well done. I really think this is what stalls a lot of people who get a handheld and then try to make sense out of the power it gives them. The PPC IS an organizer, but first you have to organize the thing to make it work for you. MS's "personal" and "business" categories just do not bely the power a little creativity with categories can give you. An article like this can put a lot of people working in the right direction.

Thanks again!!

[baralong]

Originally Posted by bvkeen

I talk about task prioritization on my site, with a focus on the David Allen method of going by context (where you are): http://www.dkeener.com/keenstuff/index.html

What seems to work best for me is to use the context-based categorization and to supplement with a week-ahead look, as recommended by Covey, so I allocate some time to the Q2 type tasks, just to be sure that I do not keep putting the important but not urgent stuff off. Worked well for me when I had a Palm and works well now that I am a PPC user. Pocket Informant is great for working with task categories, letting you filter by category.

Just assigning dates to tasks is often more wishful thinking than planning - it's worth doing to some degree, but to really get things done, it's best to work off categories, adding dates to tasks only as really needed.

If anyone has feedback on how I can improve the site listed above, I'd be glad to listen.

Thanks for the link. I've just read your site and it's great. You render nicely for the PPC as well. I've made it a mobile favourite so I ca sync it to my PPC. It'll take a bit of digesting but it's well worth it.

[Janak Parekh]

Good discussion here. I largely do what Nathan suggested, with one exception: I prioritize based on when it has to get done.

I use categories (e.g., Home, Work, etc.), and under each, I use high-priority for tasks that have a deadline, normal priority for tasks that have no deadline but need to get done, and low priority for long-range tasks that I don't have to think about.

The additional benefit of this is I can get around the fact that Outlook seems to sort task deadlines backwards if you sort by date. If you sort dates descending, they come out in the wrong order; if you sort dates ascending, the "no due dates" come up top. I sort by priority first and then by dates ascending, and get the desired effect.

Outlook 2003 also has some predefined views that are fantastic for managing tasks. The "next seven days" and "overdue" views are fantastic, and while you can create them in previous versions, Outlook 2003 lets you quickly switch between views without using the menu bar.

It's totally made a difference in my task organization. Now, why does Exchange Server Activesync not support tasks?!? That's one serious omission. :evil:

--janak