If such kind of visual representation of your next actions and projects would make you more productive, and allow to establish trusted system, than other tools, why not.
For me it wouldn't work at all, but I know there are people out there using mindmapping software for GTD.
I think freemind is great for planning out projects because it allows you to see much more easily the relationship and dependency of tasks than an outline or list does.
You can easily use freemind or other mindmap software for GTD: 1) Draw 1 branch as inbox and dump your ideas and thoughts as subbranches. 2) Draw 1 branch for projects, then 1 subbranch per subproject, and detail each project in subsubbranches. 3) Draw 1 main branch per context. 4) Process your inbox by cutting and pasting 5) Select your next actions in the projects and copy and paste them in relevant context subbranches.
You are done with basics. When clicking on main branches you can easily show what you need and hide unecessary information. For instance show only the relevant context. Or expand only the project you are reviewing.
You can use the search function and keywords, for instance to easily find all actions related to one person, one customer...
To go further - if needed - you can: - Create a "43 folders" storage as a subtree - Connect next actions with the relevant project (with a clickable link or a graphic link) - Add dates, priorities, icons... - Add links to relevant files or url to have all stuff in one click when you start an action - Mark done actions as achieved and file them back in their project (visual satisfaction of "having done things" and handy for reports) - Print views of the map, or export them as pictures for your PDA, phone or iPod (handy when you don't have your computer at hand!). - Use it not only for you but as a Group action map (there are tricks for collaborative editing)
Hi, truth be told, I was thrilled at seeing this post and ran right away to your site to download the template.
But I've got some questions for you. How do you deal with project support material? I think for some smaller projects I just put them in the same Projects branch but as the project gets bigger (e.g. a research project on GTD!) it should be moved to a separate mindmap. What do you think about this?
How do you print to hPDA cards. One thing off the top my head is that we can export the map to html, then copy and paste the actions onto some @Context template such as D.I.Y.s
Can you also elaborate on how you implement the 43 Folders? Any other ideas?
I bumped into another question. I don't think I quite catch what you mean by Future Actions in your Fridge branch. Here: http://web.mac.com/ericlodi/iWeb/Orgameth/Orgameth/EA5FA198-B109-4266... You've written this subbranch is used for "differed actions". I'm not a native English speaker but do you mean "defered actions" ? If yes, aren't they supposed to go on the calendar or the tickler files? Another guess I have is that these are future project actions that are potential Next Actions. And they're lying there for their turn.
I'm a newbie to GTD and so any help would be welcome!
> You can easily use freemind or other mindmap software for GTD: ... > You can use the search function and keywords, for instance to easily > find all actions related to one person, one customer... ... > - Create a "43 folders" storage as a subtree > - Connect next actions with the relevant project (with a clickable link > or a graphic link) .... etc
Although I do not myself use FreeMind for GTD, I think FM 0.9 (although still beta) helps a lot more with attributes, values and filters : -> if you make NA a value for Action attribute, each context a value of Context attribute, undone/done values of Status attribute, etc you spare the burden of many subtrees and disgraceful graphical links.
-> -> If you click on a filter like "Action is NA and Status is Undone and Context is Calls", all of a sudden your screen displays a neat <Calls context list> with or without parents (projects activated) or details (NAs' children).
I tested on FM GTD template, it works. Magic !
My hindrance for FM fells : I feared FM (or any Mindmapping soft) was not appropriate for full size real life GTD (hundreds projects !) : But with attributes and filters all become neat, clear and straightforward.
Well, the fridge is a variation of mine on the 43 folders tickler. There you would store future next actions, if I can say so. Using the calendar of Freemind, you can have a reminder to put them to next action at a given date - avoiding the heavy 43 folders. Or you can simply review them in a weekly - or daily - review and decide which are moving to next actions.
The freezer is the "someday/ may be" place for projects-to-be.
Differed was really for defered. I have learnt on that occasion that it does exist but is actually old English coming from French (... and guess what, I'm French!)
Projects: when they get bigger you may move them to another map, but then it becomes more tricky to move or copy actions from one map to the other. From my experience one can manage big projects together on the same map, simply by collapsing/ expanding what is needed. Using the "find" function and tags may also help. For project lovers with some funds, MindManager and JVCGantt (PC) are integrated map and gantt views of the same project, with sophisticated filters. Free trial last about a month.
Printing: I usually don't print and sync useful pictures of the map (particularly the next action part) on my PDA. If I print, it is for instance the tree of a given project to have it at hand.
43 folders: usually a good tool for procrastination, ie moving things around... I prefer the fridge version (see my other post) with or without date reminder.
Thank you for highlighting this, Freemind 0.9 filters are great and allow "dashboard" views of GTD maps (but still a beta). A even better but $ option for more sophisticated project/ task management is Mindmanager with powerful filters, task details, alerts, and Gantt graphs simultaneously sync with JCVGantt (PC). There is a free trial period for both. I use them for complex projects (but here we drift more on project management than GTD), and even transfer to OmniPlan beta on Mac (great) or MS Project.
On the other hand, simply expanding/ collapsing branches, using a couple of icons and "find" already makes a basic "big" map manageable (more visually so than most list management software) without too many parameters to enter. Real life GTD is about hundreds of projects, possibly thousands of actions but hopefully next actions are much fewer - or a weekly review is badly needed... So the daily used part of the map should be manageable on sight (especially when only the current context is expanded) while other parts of the map are only expanded when needed.
The heavier part of the map might be the "43 folders" subtree. In the simple implementation proposed, I suggest to get rid of it, and replace it with a simplier "fridge" using alerts.
As for graphical links on the map, it is also a question of taste, on my part I prefer to keep it simple and only drag actions from projects to next actions without creating any link, and I delete them when done.
> Although I do not myself use FreeMind for GTD, I think FM 0.9 (although > still beta) helps a lot more with attributes, values and filters : > -> if you make NA a value for Action attribute, each context a value of > Context attribute, undone/done values of Status attribute, etc you > spare the burden of many subtrees and disgraceful graphical links.
> -> -> If you click on a filter like "Action is NA and Status is Undone > and Context is Calls", all of a sudden your screen displays a neat > <Calls context list> with or without parents (projects activated) or > details (NAs' children). ... > Jacques > http://avm.free.fr/
> Thank you for highlighting this, Freemind 0.9 filters are great and > allow "dashboard" views of GTD maps (but still a beta). A even better > but $ option for more sophisticated project/ task management is > Mindmanager with powerful filters, task details, alerts, and Gantt > graphs simultaneously sync with JCVGantt (PC). There is a free trial > period for both. I use them for complex projects (but here we drift > more on project management than GTD), and even transfer to OmniPlan > beta on Mac (great) or MS Project.
