Getting things done mobile system

							I started my GTD workplace in the classic way as advised by David Allen – one at home and one in the
office. As I am a frequent traveller I missed to have my cockpit any time at hand.
For this being I started to play with organizers’s and alike. With using iPhone the personal productivity went
down dramatically. It is not the fact that the technology is weak or error prone on the contrary it’s an
advanced piece of technology that is too appealing – draining your concentration and time like the grey men
in Momo.
Therefore I started to think up a more suitable solution for me.
I came up with the following requirements a solution would have to fulfil.
- incorporating the main elements of ‘Getting things done’
- easy to use
- extendable (new lists can be added on the fly)
- usable in rural areas without electricity
- rugged design
- visual appealing
- durable

I started experimenting with various products and ended up with the A4 binder from ADOC system as the
basis for my mobile GTD system.
The ADOC 9286100 Clear is a robust design. It is
broader than just A4 which has the advantage being
able to host vinyl packs that will be basically my in-
and outbox.
This filing system is very flexible and you get a lot of
different filing papers and special packs.
I don’t like the ADOC System indices. Therefore I
switched to Post-it Index.
After a certain time those indices get worn-out – so
just remove them and take new ones. You have to
take a good water proof pen to write on these
indices. Best is to take one with a fine pen.

                                                           Picture 1 ADOC 9286100 Clear filer
Let’s look at my implementation. On the picture below you see my index. I separate business from private –
basically my two offices.
Additionally to the usual GTD system lists I added a section for meetings. This comes in very handy if you
have a lot of recurring meetings for which you want to keep track of. For me it’s therefore no problem to go
back on the outcome of previous meetings. At the end of the meeting I reconcile and transfer all tasks and
projects to the corresponding lists.
I noticed that meetings become much more productive…
Picture 2 Applied Post-it indices                                        Picture 3 Post-it Index

The Inbox and Outbox are in my mobile system are simply vinyl packs. I just collect the hard stuff. All I get in
a binary way like Email is on my GTD Email system.
As soon as I am back on my home or office base I check the Inbox and process the stuff.




Picture 4 In- and Outbox of the mobile GTD system
I have been using the mobile system now for more than one year and I recommend it to everybody who has
to travel a lot and does not have the time to idle around with the iPhone or some other electronic gadjet.
Below you see the complete system.
Picture 5 Complete GTD mobile system
Hopefully you’ve found these ideas useful and will come up with a even better implementation of a mobile
GTD system.

In case of questions just contact me at gisler@gginfo.com.


Gregor Gisler-Merz, 19.11.2009