Source: The Economist.com

Late addition!!!

Thanks to a reader comment, my memory was jogged and I remembered a GREAT article on the future of the book by Raymond Kurzweil in Library Journal January 1992.  The article is about technology life cycles (Precursor, Invention, Development, Maturity, False Pretenders, and Obsolescence, highly recommended!), but it illustrates technology phases using books.   There are three articles in the series, you can find the other two from the above article.

Introduction

“Ohhhhhhh, I get  it!  … I read therefore I am.” That is what my UM-St. Louis student Jim (how would you like some kook-aid) Jones said as he walked into my office for the first time.  I am a reader: a voracious and omnivorous reader.   My three sons are readers (all three finished the Hobbit and Trilogy as eight year olds). So, I think it is in the genes.

I have always loved books.  As an undergraduate I made a decision that my office decor would always be made up of books and book shelves.  For thirty five years of adult life, I have read and read and read.  I believe reading will continue while I have any cognitive functions intact.  However …

Books now look like clutter to me.  :-(

The floor plan of my 14′ x 12′ office is simple.  Clear desk at the west end of the room.  And bookshelves along all the other sides.  So, I’m now shadowed by three walls of … it pains me to say … clutter.

This post is part one of the RestartGTD approach to reading.

How I am reading today?

Here is the story.

The short answer is: Kindle.  No not the Kindle device.  Kindle for Mac.

When I landed the job teaching at Concordia University – Portland in 2010, I bought and iPad and a Kindle DX (2nd generation).  I figured that by January of 2011 that most of the faculty and students would be using Kindle to read text books and pretty much everything else.

Wrong.

When I arrived, I was surprised to see that students, though they use texting for interacting with all their friends, loved email.  This was a pleasant surprise because email is my Milieu, my most preferred form of communication.  But, it was a negative omen for iPads and Kindle devices.

Students loved email, but 1 in the first year of my teaching, had an iPad.  Ninety percent of students have either an Android smart phone, or an iPhone.  Very few have a Nook or a Kindle.  Those who had these devices were using them only for reading with their eyes.  The best thing about a Kindle device for me was being able to listen to books being read while commuting.  So, if you have a Kindle device, google how to make it talk to you.

So, here I sit broken hearted …

Not to worry!  Having a Kindle DX and an iPad with the Kindle software, was a stepping stone.  I initially would read on the DX.  This was great, buying a book took a minute.  I was able to highlight, bookmark, and annotate as I read (by the way I dog ear, write in, stick post-its, etc., in books as I process them).  The DX is light, it read to me (90% of books seem to have text-to-speech enabled), the built in dictionary was FANTASTIC for my vocabulary (*Aside* If you know an English as a second language person, or you are learning a foreign language, the dictionary function cuts lookup time by a factor of 10).  Nice.

However, once I had tasted the iPad Kindle app, I could not stand how slow the DX was.  So, I moved my reading to Kindle on the iPad.  This allowed all the same benefits except the iPad does not do text-to-speech (*Note* the Kindle Fire also does not do text to speech).  But the sensitivity of the iPad screen was all wrong for highlighting.  And, this point I was hooked on highlighting, because the Kindle software allows you to view just the highlighted parts of a book, so highlighting speeds up re-finding key passages.

But, just for grins, I tasted the Kindle app for Mac.  (Note: You can get Kindle for your PC or Mac by going to http://www.amazon.com/kindleforpc or http://www.kindleformac.com.) Once I started reading via Kindle on my 11″ Macbook Air (MBA) I could no longer stand the slowness of the iPad or the difficulty in selecting text for highlighting on the iPad.  So, how I read books today, has shifted entirely over to my 2.1 pound 11″ MBA.  I now have 174 Kindle books on the MBA and mercifully, it does not weigh an ounce more than when I bought it!

But … but … what about non-book reading?

Interesting you should ask!  My non-book reading is shifting over to … wait for it … wait for it …. Evernote.  Huh?  How can Evernote be a reading app?

Simple I will show you:

 Source: Google Chrome Web Browser on my school office iMac 24″

 While I do have a subscription to the tree-killing Economist magazine.  I actually read the Economist via Evernote.  I web surf to the Economist web site, then read.  When I find an article that I think I may ever refer to again in a conversation or project, I click on either the elephant icon (a.k.a. Evernote web clipper that I wrote about recently), or on the Luxo Lamp icon (a.k.a. Evernote Clearly).

What is Evernote Web Clipper?

Allows me to select text and then clip it to Evernote for later reading.  See previous post here and Evernote’s web clipper page for details.

What is Evernote Clearly?

Let me explain with an example.  Go to PCMAG.com and click on the cover GPS article and this is what you will see:

Clutter anyone?  If you click on the Evernote Clearly (Luxo Lamp) icon while looking at this page, this is what you will see:

Evernote Clearly is like personal digital video recorders that strip out commercials.   Clearly allows you to see and/or cut to the meat of interesting web pages, leaving out Flash animations, advertising, and gratuitous cross linking.

So, once you clear the article of clutter, you read it in your browser, and if you don’t have time to finish, or if you know you’ll want to refer back to this article and web page, you clip the article to your Evernote reference filing system.

I read in Evernote more and more each week as my short term memory is shifting from creating book marks to the good stuff, to clipping and forgetting good stuff because I know I’ve got it in Evernote.  But seriously, Evernote Clearly is worth having just to be able to read web pages in peace.

What does any of this have to do with GTD?

GTD is about organizing and re-organizing one’s informational infrastructure in order to liberate the mind and make the biggest dent in this big old world, possible.  Writing is a big part of this org/reorg process.  And consequently, so is reading.  Casting your reading into electronic technology enables you to:

• Have more of your infrastructure with you at any given time.  For example, Bill Jelen’s most excellent Excel 2010 In Depth in Kindle form.  Is on all three of the computers I use along with Excel.
• Use more slices of otherwise wasted time, to read and refresh your mind.
• Travel much lighter.  The days of 50# backpacks in grad school are over.  Now I’ve got my world in the 2.1 pound Macbook Air.
• Increase the naturalness and expressive power of your work.

Source: Desicolors.com

Just saw “Confessions of a recovering lifehacker” on Hacker News (best cross fertilized informational site I have found) yesterday and it has been ringing my bell ever since.  What are we doing GTD for?  When does GTD shade into being OCD?  What do I want from the big picture of my life?

Check it out!

bill meade 

Source: blog.jokeroo.com

Wow, school is out for summer!  W000t!  Now I’ve got a little more time to play with GTD.  This post is about some frivolous organizing infrastructure.  Hit delete now if you are not in the mood to smile!

Ran into a couple of Umbra products on Amazon that made me laugh.  First, the Umbra drinking buddy.  Which will allow guests to use identical wine glasses without sharing viable saliva.  Always a good thing!!!!

Source: Amazon.com

Second, was the Umbra double-barreled invisible magazine rack, which seems ideal for the only room in the house where an 8 year old boy can have any privacy.

Source: Amazon.com

And as I was tripping over these two Umbra products, I realized that I already own a third umbra product, Umbra’s invisible bookshelf.  I used these book shelves to add more capacity to my office library shelves.  I have stacking foldable bookshelves in the office that are attached side by side.  I attached the invisible shelves perpendicular to the sides of the folding shelves.  Books of special honor go on the invisible shelves: Peter Drucker, Guy Kawasaki, Geoffrey Moore, Steve Blank, Eric Ries.

Source: Amazon.com

Have a great day … now that school is out, don’t forget to enjoy summer!!  It is so summery in Portlandia, that it is almost not … raining!!!

bill meade

Source: Pyzam.com

Just added a short page to the howto which explains what I had to learn in order to successfully drag files into Evernote.  A surprisingly large number of people who try Evernote, run into this speed bump.  Exasperation early in trying a new software package, defeats many software packages.  Evernote is not perfect, but once you know the drag and drop *trick* you have smooth sailing while you add your documents.  

bill meade 

Source: back2basics.hubpages.com

New article on: (a) why install Evernote’s web clipper and (b) how to install Evernote’s Web Clipper … in Google Chrome on the RestartGTD howto pages.  

Source: Evernote.com

Source: Purchased from ShutterStock.com

Hey! 

FYI, I just added a static page on How Tos, where the first how to is on scanning business cards.  This page includes a link to a home made restartgtd.com YouTube video of the business cards moving through the ScanSnap scanner.  In my Getting (re)started with GTD classes, when the students see how fast the duplex scanning operates, they immediately flip the mental bit related to being able to catch up with paper.  If paper (or business cards have you down) you may want to check out the video.  

Resistance is futile, you need to buy a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner to get paper assimilated!  

bill meade 

Source: Office Design Gallery

Introduction:

A little more snooping around the internet has produced the polar opposite of “No money down GTD.”  These are real offices that are tricked out in spare no expense creativity.  

GTD Friendly? 

The idea I like the best is the IL CONTE OFFICE (scroll to the bottom of Office Design Gallery’s web page).  Why? 

• Because the environment is mostly white, and does not have pictures of people, or clutter, directly in front of the work stations. 
• I think the fake tree branches provide a sense of separation.  They are not vegetable barbed wire by any means, but still, there is a sense of separation providing autonomy of thought in these work spaces. 
• Desks are big. 
• IL CONTE just looks like an office that is “mind like water” friendly. 

GTD missing? 

• 3 Tray in-box.  The surface of the desks are so clean, it seems like a 3 tray in-box would have to appear from out of the wall, or pop up from the surface of the desk.  But, it definitely needs the in-box.  
• Project folder infrastructure.  The 3 drawer floating sideboard might be enough to store project folders in, but I doubt it.  
• Monitor arm to get the iMacs up in the air so that 100% of the desk space can be used for arranging cards.  

Why look at all these desks and offices?

In economics a distinction is made between “search goods” and “experience goods“.  Search goods are products or services that you can observe characteristics that you need before purchase.  For example, medicines.  You know the milligrams of each medicine you need, so you can buy a generic that is equivalent to a prescription drug.  

At the other extreme are experience goods where the characteristics of value are difficult or impossible to observe before purchase.  Experience goods split wants from needs.  Especially in new technology areas, at first people can only tell you what they want, not what they need. After people go over the learning curve with a new product category, they can articulate what they need.  But, not until.  

Example experience good: Jamba Juice.  

One day while my wife and I were in Jamba Juice and Beth was in front of me in line to order.  She was taking a long time deciding what fruit-mulch drink to choose.  I heard myself say “Honey, these are experience goods, you can’t compute the best one to choose.  Just start at the upper left hand corner and work you way down each time you come!”  Beth was not offended, and we still enjoy discussing how to choose experience goods, from the top left or bottom right of the list.  

So what? 

Offices are experience goods.  Desks are experience goods.  GTD is an experience good.  Each GTD sub-component is an experience good.  You have to try each of these, try satisfying a want, in order to gather the information on what your true needs are.  Wants are stepping stones to needs.   

Economics also talks about “credence goods” where it is difficult for consumers to ascertain the impact of the good.  Lawyers, doctors, dentists, etc. all tend to be credence goods.  

Is GTD a credence good?  

I don’t think so.  Since starting GTD I’ve *felt* my productivity increase, then plateau as I figure out how to plug leaks in my system, and then rise once the leaks are plugged.  After the initial rise-plateau-rise pattern, I’ve plateaued as I experimented by swapping out components (Evernote for paper reference filing).  

I’ve also felt my level of stress reduce.  Of course what I did with that was to take on more work so that my level of stress rose back up to historic levels.  But at least I was getting a bunch more done for the stress!  

Here are the tiny-poll results to date on the ways GTD improves productivity for other restartGTDers: 

Enjoy! 

bill meade 

I stumbled into a great apartmenttherapy.com article from 2008 that was looking back at desks designed in 1996.  All these designs and designers are new to me.  They form a kind of traveling desk zoo for the enjoyment of restartgtd.com folk.   

Source: apartmenttherapy.com

This sports fans, is a 35 meter desk!  A single desk!  Now THAT is space to spread out into!  Called the “carte blanche love table” by designer  Edouard François

Source: en.bulo.com

Source: en.bulo.com

Fun Facts: 

• The cacti are called “vegetable barbed wire” and were incorporated to create a sense of private property and distance
• Everyone works at the same table, but each person has their own space Genius!!!!
• en.bulo.com has a bunch of other cool 1996 desk concepts in a collection called Carte Blanch 

Carte Blanche Collection High Points:

 For example: Bram Boo’s OVERDOSE

 Source: en.bulo.com

 Annabelle d’Huart’s Studiolo

Source: en.bulo.com

 … and …

  Source: en.bulo.com

 Source: en.bulo.com

Bulo’s motto is “LOVE YOUR OFFICE” and the above desks were developed around the following theme:  

The basic idea behind the Carte Blanche concept, created in 1996, is to invite creative people to express their vision of the ideal workplace, free from any constraints.

Enjoy! 

bill meade 

Taught my “Getting (re)started with GTD” class last weekend.  One student needed to apply GTD without cash out of pocket.  So, I’ve been thinking about how to get started with GTD without spending anything.     

So, below please find the GTD office available for no money down (but you have to drive to pick everything up, so alas, there are time and gas costs included) available in Portland on 2012/04/25.  *Note* the links to Craigslist don’t live long, but they worked when I wrote this post.  More important items have the picture that was up with the post.  

An office, for free?

Step 1: Get a desk.  Portland’s Craigslist is a treasure trove of free desk options.  For example:

Source: Portland Craigslist Free

Source: Portland Craigslist Free

Source: Portland Craigslist Free

Source: Portland Craigslist Free

Step 2: Get organizing supplies like:

• hanging file folders (Urban League of Portland)
• home fax machine (Sharp plain paper inkjet fax from Vancouver WA – home of HP inkjets!) 
• A wood credenza to boost your desk space up to 30 square feet and give you some drawers and cabinets to organize with

• Office chair (on the first page of Freecycle there were 4 chairs and 3 desks with chair on offer)
• Day Planner/Organizer: Freecycle:

  “American Tourister day planner/organizer. 3-ring binder inside. Will hold a full notepad. Still has the calculator and a sharpie type pen inside. Inside pocket is torn on the bottom but is still very usable. Full-outside zipper.”

• Desk Organizer
• HP Laser Printer or Dell All in one printer
• Stackable Paper Trays
• Paper shredder 
• IKEA lamps
• Pads of paper for lists, and phone notes
• Old (but fully functional) Apple iBook (Barbie design)
• Briefcase/Laptop carrying bag 
• HP ScanJet 5550c scanner (never used)
• File cabinet  
• Manila file folders