Samuel: Implementation of GTD on emacs (w/ planner) is discussed on my weblog:
http://www.davidcross.us/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/docs/gtd/getting_things_done.html You may find that helpful. Also, GTD is not that bad to assimilate if you get the second book (Ready for Anything), which nicely summarizes the system in an appendix. I find that the GTD system is best implemented in small chunks anyway, and Ready for Anything can help with this, for the book is essentially a collection of 52 very short essays. Best wishes with your project, David Cross "Samuel Wales" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi, I just joined the list. > > I wanted to introduce myself and get some ideas. > > (Normally, I would lurk first, to get an idea of what the > list is like and not be boorish, but I want to get started > or I never will.) > > Like many people, my planning is a mess, and I want to try > to fix it with emacs. I like the simplicity and portability > of plain text. > > But unlike most people, on top of basic disorganization, I > have both serious cognitive issues (including planning and > scheduling, stamina, concentration, short-term memory, etc.) > and serious physical disabilities that make doing anything > (even getting up (I normally lie down) to go to the kitchen > or the bathroom) extremely difficult almost all of the time. > > I can never predict when I will be able to do anything, and > there is very little that I am able to do, yet I have a todo > list that is enormous. Some days I can't do anything. > Other days I can manage a phone call, or write a short list, > or click on a URL. I can almost never do all three on the > same day. > > So I want a planning system that will put in front of me > what to do when I happen to be able to do it. Somehow. My > planning is not simply a mess; it is an extreme mess. > > I looked on the emacs wiki for options, and it had an > overwhelming array of outlining, todo, hypertext, and > planning tools. There was no comparison of them. I was not > able to evaluate all of them. planner.el seems > comprehensive, so maybe it is the place to start, though my > attention span for learning it will be short (not for lack > of desire). (I did look at the FAQ and quick start; I am > not *that* boorish. :)) > > I'm pretty sure I want something that takes little effort to > maintain and visually/cognitively deal with the meanings of > its symbols. I wrote my own indenting functions for making > space-indented outlines, but while it works the way I want, > it can't handle deadlines, dependencies, time windows, > alerts, hypertext, syncing/views, or other stuff. > > I used to be a scientist and a serious lisper, so it's not > ideas that are difficult. Just planning and scheduling and > executing and paying attention and keeping on track and > dealing with obstacles and concentrating and things like > that. > > I have nobody to help me with these things. Some kind of > system that works for me seems critical. I'm just not sure > what would work best. > > Part of what I'm asking is "is planner.el what I probably > want?" And another part is "How would you recommend using > planner.el for me?". > > Please realize that typing is very difficult for me > (notwithstanding this email). So I might not reply > immediately. However, I will read everything and reply when > I can. > > Thanks. > > > P.S. I find that little, seemingly petty things like > formatting can pose an obstacle for me, and any obstacle can > derail a project, so, for what it's worth, here are my > preferences. Can these be done in planner.el? Thank you > very much for listening. > > 1. Outlines: I like outlines that use 8 spaces for > indentation and have no letters or numbers. I realize that > this might create ambiguity between bodies and items (I > haven't thought about it much), but I like seeing stuff > visually indented in a clean fashion so that I can ignore > the nested stuff without having to press keys. > > The default way in outline-mode, using asterisks/stars, > calls attention to the nested stuff, which I don't want. I > am aware of outline-regexp, but I don't know if setting it > to "^ *" or something would work in planner.el. > > Something like this would appeal to me. > > item > ! second level item 1, urgent > ((some text describing second level item 1, > wrapped around, at any level of indentation, still is under second > level item 1)) > second level item 2 > > Or maybe like this, if some kind of symbol is necessary? > > . item > ! second level item 1, urgent > some text describing second level item 1 > . second level item 2 > > I really don't know what is possible. I just know I don't > like those asterisks. Of course I want hidden done items > and so on. > > 2. Hypertext: I like the idea of some kind of two-way > hypertext or syncing, which it sounds like planner.el can do > (project and day pages, at least). > > Although it sounds petty, I don't like camel case or even > capital letters for links. I have [] bound to print () (old > lisp habit :)) so maybe something like ((my-file)) or > ==my-file to be clickable to get to myfile in a preferred > directory? I would prefer that to planner.el's [myfile] or > MyFile, if possible. > > Another option is simply to bind alt-right that I can use on > any word, to open that word in my preferred dir. Then > alt-left can go back to where I was. Of course this is > probably all really easy to hack. Just want to make sure. > > 3. Files: I am happy with having all todo items in a single > file, and ancillary files (letter drafts, grocery lists, > lists of doctors, log files, idea snippets, csv phone book?) > all in a single directory. For just todo, I'd guess that > anchors to go from one todo subtree to another would be > really really great. But I suppose if emacs provides really > good support for multiple files (searching all files > hyperlinked in the current file, or whatever) then multiple > files for todo might work, maybe. Maybe if I experience the > power of planner.el this will all make sense to me. > > 4. Dates, appointments, events, deadlines, urgency, > priority, time restrictions, difficulty, etc. --I have no > idea what I want. But I need it. This is the most urgent > need. > > 5. Hiding. Search to search within hidden items would be > good. Haven't used hiding yet, and might not need it, if > things are visually indented with spaces. > > 6. Please feel free to tell me I am wrong about these > things. I am posting this to get your ideas. > > 7. Systems. At present I am physically (not morally) > incapable of sustaining the concentration to read about > systems like Getting Things Done. But I'm happy to take > advantage of their wisdom as presented by you, if it is > simple enough to begin with and you think it will work. > > _______________________________________________ > Planner-el-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/planner-el-discuss _______________________________________________ Planner-el-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/planner-el-discuss
