Discussion Forum > "AutoDIT" versus "DIT + AF1 backlog"
"unfinished TODAY pages simply became a backlog of AF1-style pages"
That's the old failed system. Do you even have unfinished TODAY pages now? I suppose yes, but not so much as then. I think this is the key difference. Rather than commit resources merely because you think of something, you are more selective and only commit what you are committed to. This should mean a more selective TODAY list with better quality items. And it's more doable, and you stop losing important items.
Am I right?
That's the old failed system. Do you even have unfinished TODAY pages now? I suppose yes, but not so much as then. I think this is the key difference. Rather than commit resources merely because you think of something, you are more selective and only commit what you are committed to. This should mean a more selective TODAY list with better quality items. And it's more doable, and you stop losing important items.
Am I right?
December 30, 2011 at 14:09 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Yes, Alan, but it's the CATCH-ALL page that makes it possible to have a more selective TODAY list.
Your idea of putting the NEW / CATCH-ALL stuff on the left, and the TODAY stuff on the right, all on the same spread, is what triggered this current thread. I would expect the TODAY stuff to be totally cleared by end of day, but many NEW / CATCH-ALL items would remain. It is those items which would form the new unfinished AF1 page -- or, more precisely, the new AF1 spread.
Your idea of putting the NEW / CATCH-ALL stuff on the left, and the TODAY stuff on the right, all on the same spread, is what triggered this current thread. I would expect the TODAY stuff to be totally cleared by end of day, but many NEW / CATCH-ALL items would remain. It is those items which would form the new unfinished AF1 page -- or, more precisely, the new AF1 spread.
December 30, 2011 at 15:21 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Namely, a DIT system in which unfinished TODAY pages simply became a backlog of AF1-style pages. If nothing on TODAY's page stood out, you'd cycle through this backlog of AF1 pages, following AF1 rules, till you come back to the TODAY page. Or something along those lines. (I'll refer to this as "DIT+AF1_backlog").
I think at least a dozen of us have mentioned trying to get that kind of system to work -- including Mark Forster -- but we all kept running into various problems.
So, I was trying to think, what makes "AutoDIT" different?
The only feature I see that's different is the "NEW" page -- which might more properly be called the "MISC" or "CATCH-ALL" page.
This is the page that we use for stuff that we don't know what to do with. We don't want to commit to doing it today or tomorrow, and it doesn't really make sense to assign an arbitrary future date to the item. So it goes on the CATCH-ALL page.
DIT+AF1_backlog didn't have anything like that -- urgent items went on the TODAY page (below "the line"), future items with a specific "I can start now" date would go on a future diary page, and everything else would go on TOMORROW. Thus, everything would carry an implicit commitment to take action on a certain date.
The CATCH-ALL page gives you the means to avoid that implicit commitment when such a commitment isn't appropriate. Maybe that's why AutoDIT works better than DIT+AF1_backlog?
Any thoughts?