Category Archives: productivity

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. Please believe me when I tell you that I was unable to. I will try to make up for it by posting some items today. This will be made easier by the fact that Carleton was closed at around 1:00PM today due to the snowstorm currently beating it’s way across Southern Minnesota.

OK, so there is even more to be considered in my current switch to paper. Not only must one consider a proper notebook to use, one must also replace their “stylus” as well. I am currently using a Sarasa Zebra Gel Retractible Pen, mainly because that is the best pen they sell in the Campus bookstore. I usually carry at least two of these with me. One in black, for writing and one in red, for checking items off or annotation. I have been looking for a better and more permanent replacement. First of all, carrying two pens around is a drag. Second, the only ones they sell at the bookstore have a .07 point which is a little to large for me and has a tendency to bleed through the already robust Moleskine paper.

Mike Shea has an excellent review of pens (with a little added lineup of the pens and paper he uses near the bottom) that is well worth a read, even though the one I like is not on there. I am leaning towards the Rotring Quattro Multipen, mainly because of it’s multiple points (Black, Red, Pencil and Orange highlighter) but $50.00 for a pen is a bit out of my price range right now. Even $32.00 for the version without highlighter is a bit much to pay right now. Therefore, I may have to see if i can find a Pilot G2 or two in a .05 size for the time being.

Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with lists. I swear by them. A common refrain I tell people is that if you do not see me write something down on a list somewhere, assume that it does not even exist because, functionally, it does not.

Ta-Da List, from 37 Signals, is very simple, straight forward, web based list manager that lets you create up to 10 lists. You can either view and edit them privately or share them with others. If you need a simple task list that you can access from any computer this is an easy and free way to go. Well worth checking out (being it is free and all).

They also make a very advanced and functional web based project manager called BaseCamp that has gotten much press play as of late. If you have a small team and work together on projects and need a way for everyone, even those in disparate locations, to be able to manage that project – look no further. It has integrated calendar, messaging, file sharing, contact management… The works!

In any case, there is a great interview over at O’Reilly with Jason Fried, president of 37 signals. Seems like a good bunch of folks that are doing some really good stuff and believe in drinking their own Kool-Aid. The way any good software deveoper should be.

Jeremy Wagstaff writes a column for WSJ.com called Loose Wire. Besides being a talented columnist he is also a big fan of the little notebooks I have mentioned here before. Jeremy’s LOOSE wire blog is running a series of posts he is calling “The Moleskine Reports” that are actually the full text of interviews he did in preparation for a feature article he wrote for WSJ.

The Moleskine Report Part One is an interview with Marc Orchant and it struck me the most. Marc said something that really hit home for me:

“I spend a good amount time in the Getting Things Done discussion forums and there seems to be cyclical pattern to the adoption of, tweaking of, and abandonment of electronics like PDAs. I’ve been using a PDA since the original Newton MessagePad and have probably owned at least a dozen different models over the years. Right now (at least), I’m at a stage in my personal cycle where I don’t want to put up with the hassles a PDA presents. Whether it’s battery life, readability in direct sunlight, a cramped and frustrating text entry UI, or the myriad other things that “suck” about PDAs, the Moleskine has none of these issues.”

I could not have said it better myself. Since my post of a few weeks ago, I have been using my Moleskine quite a bit. I love it. I currently have it integrated into my workflow to jot action items down while on the go and to “core dump” other items (i.e. bits of info like quotes, recommendations, addresses, etc). When I have the time I then process these items accordingly. The “action items” end up on myOmniOutliner action list. The “core dump” items end up where they need to be routed to. I am sure I need to tweak this paradigm a little but it is working for now.

Jeremy has a number good posts, especially about using Moleskines. Check them out.