FV and FVP Forum > using index cards to implement...
Mark said that FV would be fine on both paper and electronic. I would take the liberty and generalize from that and state that it is platform-neutral. Of course the only way really to know is to test it.
(Am I the only one having trouble with Capcha? I know that is a ridiculous question, because if you were having lots of trouble you could not post to say you were, and if you were not having trouble, you could easily post a message saying that.)
(Am I the only one having trouble with Capcha? I know that is a ridiculous question, because if you were having lots of trouble you could not post to say you were, and if you were not having trouble, you could easily post a message saying that.)
March 15, 2012 at 12:09 |
moises
moises
I can see vertical index cards working very slick. Vertical because it works like playing cards. Grab a bunch, fan through, pull out any good ones, and dump the rest face-down.
Captcha: if you log-in bottom right, it doesn't come up.
Captcha: if you log-in bottom right, it doesn't come up.
March 15, 2012 at 12:21 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
moises,
You are not alone in struggling with Capcha.
Alan,
Thank you, thank you, thank you <sobs brokenly>
You are not alone in struggling with Capcha.
Alan,
Thank you, thank you, thank you <sobs brokenly>
March 15, 2012 at 12:27 |
Will
Will
thanks guys for the responses.
I use my index cards vertically in a pocket briefcase. So far it works great for FV.
Brett
I use my index cards vertically in a pocket briefcase. So far it works great for FV.
Brett
March 15, 2012 at 12:37 |
brettypooh
brettypooh
How many cards? How thick?
March 15, 2012 at 13:35 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Alan,
Relief.
Thank you. I will now log in daily.
Relief.
Thank you. I will now log in daily.
March 15, 2012 at 14:22 |
moises
moises
Alan,
Since I've just started, I'm not sure how many cards. I carry 40 with me at any given time, with 15 lines each. That should be sufficient.
thanks,
brett
Since I've just started, I'm not sure how many cards. I carry 40 with me at any given time, with 15 lines each. That should be sufficient.
thanks,
brett
March 15, 2012 at 14:44 |
brettypooh
brettypooh
I didn't have a problem with the capcha once I got one that I could actually decipher the letters. It was really fuzzy.
Glad to know the new location for the login. I never had looked there since it had been at the top before. I thought it just got replaced by the capcha.
Glad to know the new location for the login. I never had looked there since it had been at the top before. I thought it just got replaced by the capcha.
March 16, 2012 at 3:05 |
MartyH
MartyH
Alan:
<<Captcha: if you log-in bottom right, it doesn't come up.>>
So *that's* where the log-in went! Thanks.
<<Captcha: if you log-in bottom right, it doesn't come up.>>
So *that's* where the log-in went! Thanks.
March 16, 2012 at 6:29 |
Bernie
Bernie
Yes, Alan, thanks! I was having a surprisingly hard time deciphering the Captcha letters.
March 16, 2012 at 6:31 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
brettypooh, I thought of index cards right away, because I too am a big fan. I used to try and try (and fail and fail) to get a good GTD system going with index cards. However, I imagined flipping through them to do the FV preselection, and I still feel like I'd prefer scanning down the notebook—quicker, easier.
It would be perfect if I could preselect in the notebook and then have an index-card elf copy my preselections onto cards and sort them in reverse order, in the blink of an eye.
It would be perfect if I could preselect in the notebook and then have an index-card elf copy my preselections onto cards and sort them in reverse order, in the blink of an eye.
March 16, 2012 at 6:33 |
Bernie
Bernie
Yes, I find the Captcha pretty unreadable myself (in fact I have trouble with all Captchas). I comfort myself with the thought that it's effective in keeping the spam away.
The best method is to keep refreshing the Captcha until you get one you can read.
Whatever you do, don't try the audio version!
The best method is to keep refreshing the Captcha until you get one you can read.
Whatever you do, don't try the audio version!
March 16, 2012 at 7:56 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
On the subject of cards, I can't see any reason in principle why it shouldn't work. As moises says, I have tried to make it as platform-neutral as possible.
March 16, 2012 at 7:59 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
On the subject of the log-in, yes, it's down the bottom of the margin. I would have got rid of it altogether, but I discovered that I couldn't log in myself if I removed it. I'm not quite sure why, because the Esc key used to take you to the log-in. It still does, but only if there is an actual log-in link on the page. Very strange!
March 16, 2012 at 8:02 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
hi all,
I can tell you after 2 days of working FV on index cards that I am very pleased. Frankly, this system has solved many of my problems and I feel it fits my work perfectly.
Good luck all.
brett
I can tell you after 2 days of working FV on index cards that I am very pleased. Frankly, this system has solved many of my problems and I feel it fits my work perfectly.
Good luck all.
brett
March 16, 2012 at 17:25 |
brettypooh
brettypooh
I've started using 3x5-inch index cards for my task list. I use one card per task. You might think the stack would be way too thick, but I use two methods to keep it thin: checklists and segregation. All my routine activities are on preprinted checklists that get taped once a day to the back of a single colored Daily card (on which I also write appointment reminders on the back, and notes on the front). And I segregate all cards that cannot be worked due to context or schedule. For example, cards for tasks that cannot be actioned when at work are left at home, and cards for tasks that cannot be started until a future date are placed into the Tickler file.
Today I'm following the rules of the FV Algorithm, modified to work with cards. I've written up the instructions, but will not post them until Mark is back online and gives his blessing – I think he prefers that we refrain from posting detailed instructions here, for the time being.
Today I'm following the rules of the FV Algorithm, modified to work with cards. I've written up the instructions, but will not post them until Mark is back online and gives his blessing – I think he prefers that we refrain from posting detailed instructions here, for the time being.
March 26, 2012 at 21:04 |
ubi
ubi
Update on first day of MFFVIC (Mark Forster's Final Version using Index Cards). Three chains completed:
Chain 1 = 5 cards = 2 hours 40 minutes.
Chain 2 = 4 cards = 2 hours.
Chain 3 = 3 cards = 30 minutes.
Got a good (re)start on several languishing project tasks via root-task-forcing-function. Feels pretty good.
Chain 1 = 5 cards = 2 hours 40 minutes.
Chain 2 = 4 cards = 2 hours.
Chain 3 = 3 cards = 30 minutes.
Got a good (re)start on several languishing project tasks via root-task-forcing-function. Feels pretty good.
March 27, 2012 at 6:22 |
ubi
ubi
Ubi, does your method include keeping the cards you can't work on now in some sort of order, so they all get a turn in the magic "first unactioned task" spot?
March 27, 2012 at 13:59 |
Cricket
Cricket
Cricket, I timestamp each card when entered or re-entered. This makes it easy to sort them by date/time if they get shuffled. Currently I'm using a Day#.hhmm format (e.g. 087.1240) which also makes it trivial to see how many days old they are, even across month boundaries.
March 27, 2012 at 20:43 |
ubi
ubi
Update on second day of MFFVIC (Mark Forster's Final Version using Index Cards). Four chains completed:
Chain 1 = 2 cards = 50 minutes.
Chain 2 = 3+1 cards = 4 hours 50 minutes (one urgent card added midstream).
Chain 3 = 5 cards = 1 hour 10 minutes.
Chain 4 = 3 cards = 5 hours 10 minutes.
Unlike yesterday, I started one chain at home, before going to work, and completed the last chain late at home. Time periods shown do not imply that the work was constant. There were many interruptions for breaks, meetings, checklist processing, commuting, etc.
I think I'll stick with this FV 'thang' for a while. . .
Chain 1 = 2 cards = 50 minutes.
Chain 2 = 3+1 cards = 4 hours 50 minutes (one urgent card added midstream).
Chain 3 = 5 cards = 1 hour 10 minutes.
Chain 4 = 3 cards = 5 hours 10 minutes.
Unlike yesterday, I started one chain at home, before going to work, and completed the last chain late at home. Time periods shown do not imply that the work was constant. There were many interruptions for breaks, meetings, checklist processing, commuting, etc.
I think I'll stick with this FV 'thang' for a while. . .
March 28, 2012 at 8:50 |
ubi
ubi
Update on third day of MFFVIC (Mark Forster's Final Version using Index Cards). Three chains completed:
Chain 1 = 4 cards = 1 hour 25 minutes.
Chain 2 = 9+2-1 = 10 cards = 6 hours 30 minutes (two urgent added, 1 out-of-context put back in main stack).
Chain 3 = 4 cards = 2 hours 40 minutes.
Worked from home today, so less context-switching. Got a major desk-drawer-reorg task done; probably wouldn't've actioned it if I weren't doing FV. All is good.
Chain 1 = 4 cards = 1 hour 25 minutes.
Chain 2 = 9+2-1 = 10 cards = 6 hours 30 minutes (two urgent added, 1 out-of-context put back in main stack).
Chain 3 = 4 cards = 2 hours 40 minutes.
Worked from home today, so less context-switching. Got a major desk-drawer-reorg task done; probably wouldn't've actioned it if I weren't doing FV. All is good.
March 29, 2012 at 6:50 |
ubi
ubi
I love the feel of FV. It's intuitive and SIMPLE.
I have a question for Mark and others: I have a proclivity for using index cards. Does anyone see any detriment to using these to implement the list?
For several reasons, I see it could work well:
1. Since the list is taken as a whole, there's no need to work individual cards as a closed list so the length isn't an issue.
2. Once the preselected list is done, I could actually reorder the cards in reverse order per the 'queston'.
3. Once I work the list, I could reorder them in numerical order (card 1, 2, 3) and add any items to the end of the list without any sort of issue.
what do you guys think? Particularly, I'm interested if anyone thinks this will take away from the algorithm or functioning of FV?
thanks,
brett