Permanently moving on to Blogger

Unfortunately I’m not that technical or better said technical enough to manipulate WP Blogs so I’m moving onto my Blogger account which is actively being blogged, I’m also blogging for “The Nokia Blog” so you can catch me there as well.

Here is my Nokia Gtd blogger account, click on the icon below

After my nephew is born, hopefully my brother, a network engineer(Bladesystems.net), will have some time to port the www.nokiagtd.com url over to the blogger account.  So see you there.

The Gtd Triumvirate: Nokia S60+ Vitalist + Twitter

The term triumvirate (from Latin, “of three men”) is commonly used to describe a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals as cited in Wikipedia; in this case, the triumvirate is composed of our beloved Nokia S60 phone, Vitalist, and Twitter. Doing the Gtd should be silly simple and most importantly 100% reliable because if our systems are not reliable they will inevitably fail us in their purpose; what’s their purpose, making our lives easier. We have all experienced this type of situation at some time in our work and personal lives; we’re urgently looking for those “important” documents that are mission critical to the success of some project and we know we had the information somewhere but we you just can’t seem to pinpoint the exact location of the papers(Gtd Filing System). So what happens next, you fail at that moment to comply with your boss’s request, thus looking unorganized, inefficient, and not really putting the forth effort that you need. If we extrapolate further, we can make an argument that since we are human beings and its in our nature to only remember the negative things that happen to people, then come review time, you may suffer the inevitable consequence of leaving a sour taste in your boss’s mind for all those moments you could have delivered but didn’t and maybe getting passed over on a position or not getting the expected bonus, etc. Getting things done is a real and we as human beings get judged on everyday on our results and not our efforts, nobody remembers who lost the 1972 Super Bowl but we all remember the Dolphins. So how can we get a rock solid mobile system, easy, setup your own Gtd Triumvirate.

Vitalist , is a Web 2.0 to-do list manager that is based on tenets of ‘Getting Things Done’. Vitalist has everything you want and no excesses, its interface is simply a joy to use, its maneuverability is unparalleled, and it simply just works. Vitalist is easy to setup and free to use but they do have several plans to choose from for those who require more power. I, myself, have a premium account which gives me access to unlimited categories, unlimited projects, unlimited contacts, and basically everything else.

Top Feautures

• It has a mobile site that is easily accessible through your favorite mobile browser ie. Web from Nokia S60, Opera Mini, and Skyfire
• It has ical support which makes it a breeze to import that calendar as ‘read-only’ into guess what, yes Google Calendar and of course other calendars that have ical integration.
• They have never been down or had any weird server issues ever as long as I’ve been using the service.
• They have a Twitter integration, guys and this rocks, I’ll explain later.
• You can receive reminders for your next actions via email and sms as well as a daily digest.
• iGoogle gadget supports, very nice feature

As you can see this application is very capable of handling even the most demanding Gtders.

Twitter , the phenomenal micro-blogging client that has revolutionized the world from all things casual to even major news coverage is a vital part of this Gtd Triumvirate. The Twitter integration from Vitalist is an amazing and ground breaking option that not only augments Vitalist’s usability but also give us an important way of feeding tasks(next actions) into our Vitalist Inbox. Since Twitter has a plethora of internet and mobile clients this integration creates a strong synergistic relationship with Vitalist. How does the Twitter option work ? simple, you simply input your Twitter id in the settings of Vitalist and that’s it, you can start direct messages to “d vitalist” and all your tweets will magically appear in your Vitalist Inbox, isn’t that cool. Some notable Twitter desktop clients are Twirl, Tweetdeck, and Twibble , the latter having an amazing Java mobile client as well, that is fully compatible with the S60 hardware. There is also Twim , another Java MIDP 2.0 application, from software developer Tommi Laukkanen that is also very solid in its integration and usability. In the end your personal preferences will guide you as to which client suits your needs but its great to know that we have tons of options when it comes to this Twitter integration with Vitalist. Another major player joining the Twitter mobile platform is the much anticipated release of MobileWay’s Gravity , a native twitter s60 mobile client that will surely bring tons of functionality.

Nokia Web Browser

Through our s60 browser we can easily access Vitalist Mobile making it really convenient to check our next actions, someday maybe, and projects and as an added bonus you can also use Google Calendar Mobile to access your Google Calendar on the go, create a bookmark call it “Calendar” and map it to one of your soft keys and voila you have 1-click access to your calendar which works via edge, 3G, and wifi and boom you’re always connected.

Bonus Power Gtd Setup

If you want to map your different “Google Calendar” calendars to your native s60 calendar you can use a GooSync premium account along with SBSH Calendar(previously called Papyrus) to color code your calendar; to be continued . . .

So have happy Gtding and don’t forget we’re always getting things done in some way, shape, or form so its important to have a nicely integrated system that will not fail us when we need it.

For more Gtd tips you always send your tweets via Twitter to “NokiaGtd “

Getting Things Done with your Nokia S60

Getting Things Done (Gtd) is the brainchild of David Allen. If you’ve been around the World Wide Web anytime within the last 6 years then you’ve probably heard that term thrown around. The ideas and concepts espoused by Gtd have revolutionized the corporate world, the mobile technological savvy and even soccer moms, along with inspiring a plethora of web and mobile applications. What’s the best way to have a Gtd system integrated with our beloved smartphones? The answer is, anyway you want, and thanks to the reliability and stability of the S60 operating system all things are possible.

 

Let us quickly review, the main tenets of Gtd

 

1. Collecting or capturing anything that has your attention personal or work.

2. Defining actionable things into outcomes and specific next actions, in other words, processing on the front end and not in the back end when things blow up.

3. Organizing reminders and information in the most efficient way in appropriate place holders ie. categories based on how and when you need to access them and folks this is really the key to the whole process

 

Key Terms to know

1. Next Actions – anything you have to do personal or work. For example, Pickup dry cleaning at Joe’s Cleaners, this would be placed in a category called @errands, the “@” sign symbolizes the word action meaning ‘action errands’

2. Projects – any outcome you want to complete that will literally take more than two action steps.

 

David Allen has written extensively about Project Management in all his books and in an email exchange I had with him about 4 years ago he clarified a lot of my questions. D.A. basically said “how are you going to remember all the things you want to do if you can’t keep accurate track of them.” Projects are like stake holders in the ground, they are just meant to serve as place holders of a multi-action outcome and as you know we all have a bunch of those. Let us say you have a project called ‘Car Tune Up’ unless you walk outside with a wrench in hand and are ready to get your hands greasy then ‘Car Tune Up’ is a multi-action outcome. 1st Next Action – Call the garage to see if they can take the car, this would go in your @phone or @calls category but wait, do we have the phone number to the garage hmm, I don’t, so I guess I need to get the phone number of the garage first (this would be a BFO as David Allen says a “blind flash of obvious). Upon further review, you remember that Mary your neighbor recommended this garage to you last week as you both watered the front lawn, so I guess you have to ask Mary for the phone number, so this next action would be placed in your @home or @calls or @agenda (this category is great because you can populate it with the names of people you come across with all the time and you have actions that involve them in some way, shape, or form). And the thought process continues and eventually you think about the several actions that need to happen to get this project off and rolling but remember if “Life” happens to come at you at 100 mph and you have to divert your focus to other things, its ok,  because you already have defined on the front end what needs to be done to continue your projects when your ready to go back to them and that’s the beauty of Gtd, having your trusty and reliable system that without fail you can always refer back to and get back on the wagon.

 

Well enough said, if you have not read the book, then I encourage you to read it, it’s a great book. Now let’s move onto the actual operation of this system. What software or applications are you going to need to setup a Gtd system on the Nokia S60 platform? Simple, any Nokia S60, lol, I use an E71 just because I like firing off next actions at the speed of light on a qwerty keyboard but really any Nokia will suffice. Eventually you get so good at this that it becomes intuitive and really the tool just becomes an extension of yourself, so even a non-qwerty device like any N-Series phone will do just fine as well.

 

Applications I’ve used before that are handy for a Gtd system

• Projekt

• The regular PIM functions of any Nokia in combination with Ovi on the web

• SBSH Papyrus

• Handy Calendar

• Google Calendar in combination with GooSync

• Twibble (I love Twitter)

 

Applications I hope to use soon

• Gravity, a native S60 twittering client that’s about to be released this month that supports ‘direct messaging’

 

Some web based systems that work great on the mobile side are Vitalist and Remember the Milk. Again the choices are endless and only limited by your imagination and your software but as you can see there are many shoes in this store and one is going to fit your style. In the coming days I’ll be sharing with you my current setup which uses the following applications:

•  

  1. SBSH Papyrus

  2. GooSync

  3. Google Calendar

  4. Google Sync

  5. SWIM and Ovi Sync

 

I look forward to contributing and enlightening your productivity with getting things done.

Finally transferred my old blog

Wow, I finally transferred my www.nokiagtd.blogspot.com over to this domain. Just a heads up, let the blogging begin.

Free Instant Messaging application contest OctroTalk or IM+

Instant messaging applications are all over the web and all across all platforms but two native symbian application shine above the rest – OctroTalk and IM+ . These two application are full featured IM clients that support multi-platform support. To participate in the contest all you have to do is reply with a comment and let us know many IM buddies do you have across all platforms and which client do you prefer.

Talk supports

Always on connected to Google Talk/Jabber with MSN, AIM, ICQ and Yahoo transports

• P2P Video Conferencing

• Complete VOIP product. Access to PSTN.

• Supports Low Bandwidth Codec (even works with EDGE/GPRS/CDMA).

• Streamlined UI. Optimized for one-handed operation. Today Screen on Pocket PC. Home Screen support for Smartphone.

• Extremely fast P2P file transfer. Quick picture messaging.

• Low CPU usage

• Secure and Encrypted connection to GoogleTalk. Google Talk messages are encrypted using industry standard TLS/SSL.

• Message Archiving in your GMail Account.

• Share files with your buddies (automated file transfer).

• Access your computer remotely. Install OctroTalk for Windows on your desktop, and share a folder with OctroTalk on your Mobile.

• Support for GroupChat/Conferencing. OctroTalk lets you create/join Jabber conference rooms.

IM+ supports

• No cost per message, only standard payment for wireless data transfer.
• One-Time Purchase License: all further updates included.
• Smileys and avatars support.
• Message History. View correspondence with your contacts even when you’re offline.
• Search in contact list and chat history.
• Template Messages. Send a messages using templates. Create your own templates for your messages
• Voice messaging and file transfer. Excellent alternative to MMS, send files and photos over GPRS.
• Full presence status support. Set your own status to give your contacts an idea of your mood.
• Contact list management functions including add/delete features.
• Layout aware. Screen renovation during the orientation change (portrait and landscape).
• Set up melody alert. Select the melody for messages received. Select the melody when another user gets online.
• Multiple dialog windows. Don’t miss a moment, chat with several buddies simultaneously.
• Exchange messages in any language installed on a phone.
• Integrated help function. Easy to configure and easy to chat.

Miraculously missing from both these applications is chat support. As of now only Ebuddy supports Facebook Chat and it works like a charm. I’ve confirmed both Octro and Shape Services are exploring the possibility of adding Facebook chat support soon, so let’s keep our fingers crossed we get that gift soon.

The E71 is the King . . .

After having the N85 for 21 days, I can honestly say its a great device but I felt that I was really missing the qwerty keyboard, Twibble seems like a breeze now, texting OMG what a breeze and lets not mention the incredible power of the 1500 mah battery. My phone trialing/switching is now over and now its time to concentrate on a Gtd System.

Coming soon

An indepth look at Vitalist

Vitalist the best Gtd online Web application

Guys, just wanted to share that I’m back with my trusty Nokia E71, after having the N85 for 21 days I can honestly say I missed the qwerty keyboard, I found myself making less entries and relying on igoogle and other methods to input my next actions, so its good to be back in the game again.

Now onto a more enlightening revelation, Vitalist, I’ve been with Vitalist for a number of years, I took a sabbatical from them for about 1.2 years. As a Gtd geek that I am, I’m always thinking of better ways to manage my workload, so I kicked off Safari and went back to Vitalist to see if anything had change and boy was I glad. Vitalist has evolutionized to an impeccable application, enough for me to switch my entire gtd setup into a trustworthy application. I’ll be detailing my transtion back to Vitalist in an upcoming series of posts, so keep your eye out, its gonna be worth it.

Making It All Work. David Allen’s most recent book

David Allen’s last book, Making It All Work, I have not read it yet but I’ve read all his other books so I’m sure this one will also be a best seller as well. You can download a podcast here its about an hour and it make a great companion on a long walk as an introduction to the book, I listened to it yesterday and it was awesome.

You can also buy the book at Amazon.com by clicking on this link

My Favorite theme

This is by far my favorite theme, its so clean and it looks great on my N85, I’ve had since my N82 days, definitely give it a try, its by Taieb, pick it up here

The Micromanager/Implementer by David Allen

This is an excerpt from David Allen’s new book “Making It All Happen”

If as a rule you operate with a high control factor but lack perspective, you will likely place an inordinate emphasis on structure, process, and system — the characteristic traits of a Micromanager. You will have a tendency to overorganize, trying to maintain more control than is really necessary to get where you’re going. Form, in other words, will overtake function. This is the natural domain of the proverbial bean-counter, the financial guy who, if he wields too much power, strangles a company by cutting off investment in innovation, design, and research. At some point there will be no more beans to count. Publicly traded companies always risk long-term growth and survival when they are too focused on controlling their stock price by managing only toward the next quarterly earnings report. Another typical example of this sort of thinking is the person who spends a large portion of his day building systems for replenishing paper clips at the expense of the bigger game he should be playing.

You can read the rest of the article by clicking here its a trackback from BNET Business Network