I was introduced to GTD exactly one year ago. I swallowed it hook line
and sinker, and have used my version of it daily ever since. I figured
now would be a good time to report in with my results.

This actually started as a response to this thread:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/43Folders/browse_thread/thread/5e...

... by Bryan Villarin. Reading it, I think a good conclusion would be
that each of our implementation of GTD *has* to develop organically.
Everyone ends up tweaking their system to match their way of thinking.

I'd bet that only a small 5-10% of GTD readers follow exactly what The
David suggests. Even he is probably constantly tweaking his own system.
Two years from now, he'll probably be doing it differently.

In the end, here's what worked for me. I could not figure out this
stuff beforehand. It developed organically, as I used it and found what
worked, and what didn't:

---  I started by using everything that The David suggested, just as a
baseline but also because of his years of tweaking. The A-Z thing
quickly died out, it just wasn't how my brain remembered things. Even
the 12 month folders died as well. It's not how my home based business
needs to work.

--- The One Inbox has remained King. Everything gets put into there,
and then everything gets filed, out of sight. "Out of Sight" is one of
the mantras that really stuck from GTD. This concept alone is worth the
price of admission.

---  I created a separate Reference metal filing cabinet and a Current
Stuff metal filing cabinet. The Reference is 8 feet away, and the
Current Stuff is here at my desk.

---  I found out I was big on General Groupings. Most of my manila
folders ended up being generalizations, such as Bills-All, Computer,
Networking, Cash Receipts, Taxes, Large Devices, Medium Devices, Small
Devices. Example: just purchased a new Dyson vacuum. Instead of a Dyson
folder, I filed the manual in Large Devices. I will, though, also break
out certain items into their own folder. Each of my 4 bank accounts get
their own folder, as do each utility.

---  If a new project comes along, I create a new folder, and then
stick it in the Current Stuff file. This works about half the time.
Often I find that I make a new project, and then 3 months later, I'm
looking down into my Current stuff cabinet and see a couple of
"projects" that never moved beyond one piece of paper. At that point, I
just toss it, or file it somewhere else.

--- I live and breathe with Entourage 2004. It is, in my opinion, the
software built for GTD. I completely depend on Entourage's popup window
reminder system (called Office Notifications). I am in front of my
computer for most of the day, and even when I'm not, it's on, and since
I work from my home, I'm always checking it. If I have a commitment in
the future, it goes into Entourage's Calendar (although I'm trying to
use its Tasks feature a bit more, so the calendar doesn't get jammed).
I do this for everything, from Trash Day (a weekly reminder... I'm big
on setting up repeating tasks) to Return Tom's call at 2pm, to Date
Night with Wife (which is every Wednesday whether I like it or not).
Every thing I need to remember is put into Entourage, so that I never
have to remember it. I rely heavily on its Remind feature, which I can
set to 5 minutes before a call, or 3 days before a weekend event, or in
the case of a huge project, I'll set the reminder to go off 7 months
before the due date. I also rely heavily on the snooze feature,
especially in that 6 month example. I'll snooze it for a week, and then
again over and over until the time is right to get to work on it.

That said, I have never figured out Entourage's new Project feature. It
seems like it would be so cool, but damn, it's impossible to actually
implement in any realistic real life way. To date, I've yet to find
anyone that actually really uses it.

--- Again: no January-December folders. I have only one Deal! folder.
This holds anything that needs to be referred to shortly that doesn't
otherwise have its own folder. Nothing goes in there, though, that
doesn't get an Entourage reminder first. In the reminder, I put a short
note, saying, "Grab the XYX out of Deal!"

---  There are no multiple contexts for me, such as @Home, @Work,
@Family, etc. This one took me awhile to realize, but once I did, it
was as if a weight lifted off my contextual shoulders. I'm a @Life kind
of guy. Or a @Workaholic, depending on the viewpoint.

---  To-do lists are handled by a Giant Word Document, set in outline
view. I'm not proud of this fact. But it works ok for now. When I think
of something I need downtown, I hit F3, the GWD opens, I write "buy
gloves" or whatever, and close it. When I need to go downtown, I copy
that into a quick little template and print it up on my DYMO label
printer. Or just quick copy them to a sticky note.

---  I love great technology (dual 20" LCDs, Mac with a ton 'o ram),
but when the HIP PDA came out, I finally released the last vestige of
any thought of ever, ever buying a PDA. Thank you Merlin for doing
that. I always HATED those things, but I was so sure I needed one.

---  I don't let magazines lie around. If there is a mag that I haven't
read, and it's laying around more than a week, I go through it quicky
the first time, and rip out all the articles that I want to read later.
Every one of these get a quick staple through the corner and put into a
simple two-pocket paper folder, then I toss the magazine. This was one
of those "duh!" forehead slapping moments when I discovered this one.
No more stacks of magazines, but more importantly: no more visual
reminder that would flood my body with the chemicals known as
"Cripes-I-Have-Alot-To-Read!" hormone, which for me was really toxic.

That's my 1 Year report from the field.