The Personal Productivity Show #021 – Jason Womack
The Personal Productivity Show #021 (MP3 – 19MB – 56min)
As part of our efforts to get clarity on aspects of the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach, Cameron and I had a chat with GTD guru and staff trainer at the David Allen Company, Jason Womack.
Apart from travelling 200-days a year to present courses and consult on GTD, Jason is a triathlete and clearly a committed husband to his wife, Jodi. He also seems to be a hell of a nice guy.
Knowing that we had spoken to David on a previous episode of The Personal Productivity Show (Episode #003), Jason helped to reinforce many of GTD’s key points and subtle nuances. He also provided the perspective of the guy who does this stuff because he needs to, not because it is easy for him (he does seem to do it well, however).
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did, and we look forward to getting Jason back for a follow up.
And if you dig the show, don’t forget to vote for it on Yahoo podcasts and on iTunes (don’t know how to link to that from here).
January 29th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
[...] The Personal Productivity Show #021 (MP3 – 19MB – 56min) [...]
January 31st, 2006 at 2:28 pm
I really enjoyed this podcast. I listened to it Monday morning when walking and I foudn myself collecting, prcoessing and organising by 10am. Keep up the good work.
January 31st, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Thanks Peter. Appreciate the feedback.
Cheers
Des
January 31st, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Hi guys, really enjoyed the podcast. I hope you get Jason (and David) back on again. I always pick up something new from them for my own system.
Second – keep up the good work!
Mark
Boston, USA
February 1st, 2006 at 2:53 am
Cheers Mark. Thanks for listening.
February 1st, 2006 at 2:59 am
I could barely hear Des but both Cameron and Jason were booming through…
The show was great and I got heaps out and can’t wait for you to have Jason back on again. I think the whole work balance thing is an important part of productivity as it is too easy to be distracted by “all this stuff do do for work” when at home.
I’d be interested if either Des or Cameron has read the book Jason mentioned on mind mapping and how you guys are applying it to your productivity.
Des, I couldn’t quite hear your comments on your “new system” which I think is paper based. Is it a book with the last page being all the action lists and other parts for “inbox” and project lists?
February 1st, 2006 at 5:28 am
Hi Angus. Yes, my sound levels were all wrong. I’ve fixed that (I hope).
I’ve read a lot of Tony Buzan’s mindmapping stuff, and commend it highly. But I personally tend to use mindmapping for brainstorming, design and project planning. I still prefer straight lists for personal organisation.
My new system is using an A5 size Filofax and my O2 XDA IIi PPC smartphone. On the PDA I keep contacts and calendar – the calendar syncs with Notes at work, I keep my lists in my Filofax.
Actually, I keep my lists on Backpack (www.backpackit.com), and then print them up once a week during my weekly review. I then work from the printed lists during the week.
This way, I can always get to my lists if I am not with my Filofax (rare), or if I lose it. At most they are 7 days out of date – still a lot, but still reconstructable.
Cheers, Des
February 1st, 2006 at 7:12 am
Listen to this podcast on 1/31. I get your feed through Newsgator.
Really enjoyed it (as well as your other stuff). Jason is obviously in the right field.
Keep this type of stuff coming thanks! All of our systems can benefit from a good review.
(I won’t mention the sound level issue, sounds like your on top of it)
Best,
Chris
Wilkes-Barre, PA
February 1st, 2006 at 3:13 pm
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February 1st, 2006 at 4:23 pm
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February 2nd, 2006 at 2:55 am
Hi guys,
As usual love the podcast, and please get Jason back on soon!
I did want to make a comment though on your suggestion that the PDA was not a good input tool. I beg to differ. I agree it is at present inferior to paper for written notes because of speed, ergonomics and abililty to easily share notes. Some of these issues will be resolved when when e-paper/e-ink goes mainstream (soon). But I think the PDA is still great for capturing audio notes/dictation (try pocket dictate for the latter). There are still issues though. It’s works great if you turn off the PPC password and disable button lock – that way you only need press one button to record your thoughts – super fast! But as soon as your enable the password and button lock options, it becomes cumbersome. I wish makers of password/button lock programs would realise this and release versions that allow you to enter voice and text notes via a button, but still keep the unit password locked. I would like most buttons locked, but I don’t need the record button locked as beacause of it’s location I NEVER accidentally press that button anyhow. Also if your PDA like mine (XDA mini) has a camera it can also be a useful for capturing input. Upcoming tools such as OneNote for pocket pc, really utilise this by providing functions such as character recognition for capturiong business cards and dumping the info straight into your contacts (although of course people should just be beaming these by now).
Also regarding Cameron’s comment on audio notes adding one extra place you have to monitor. I solve this issue by adding all the daily buckets to empty to my ‘daily planning’ time list in my morning schedule (eg check audio notes, flagged email, desk paper pad, tasks, paper in-tray). It’s an interim solution until the epaper/wearable productivity technology becomes ubiquitous and seamlessly integrates into our lives.
Also regarding the comments on the suitablility of the PDA for lists. I think the List Pro is a great program and MyLifeOrganized (which I’ve mentioned to you before) is the only candidate for hierarchical lists/project/task management that’s worthwhile on the PPC at present. I have realised however that some lists are better on paper. These are the lists that need to be viewed by others or ONLY ever occur in one place. For example, our family’s nightly routine is stuck on the Fridge for all to see quickly and my shopping checklist is still more practical on small printer paper lists. BUT other lists that I want with me in multiple contexts are kept in the PDA.
Cheers,
David.
February 2nd, 2006 at 5:36 am
What a great podcast!
Very informative and Jason is a wonderful teacher – very clear, very concise. He cleared up a lot of things that I think I was doing wrong. Have to check out one of his seminars if he ever comes by my way.
Your podcast is becoming more and more something I look forward to listening to.
Thank you for all the work you put into it.
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:13 am
Thanks for all the feedback so far folks, and keep it coming. We’ll definitely take Jason up on his offer to come back on a regular basis.
David, glad to hear someone else is pro-PDA. I cam THIS CLOSE to buying a Moleskine on the weekend… buy yet again I pulled myself back from the brink (of disaster? betrayal? sanity?) and decided that I just NEED TO GET BETTER about how I use my PDA (XDAII). I’m using a plain vanilla XLS for my task list at the moment. Synchs from my PDA to my DESKTOP. I have a shortcut to it on my PDA desktop so I can get at it with one click. So far I’m finding it simple enough to use.
Love your ideas about button control. Right on! PDA makers take note.
February 2nd, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Wow,
How inspired I am to re-view the material I spoke on last week! Thanks EVERYone for giving me some direction, and some great prompts for further developing the mapping between:
METHODOLOGY
and
TECHNOLOGY
I’m looking forward to the next time I get to “learn on the show!”
Jason
February 21st, 2006 at 11:45 pm
[...] The response from our last show with Jason Womack (which, come to think of it, was our last show full stop) was so positive we decided to get him back on – quickly! Fortunately for us, Jason was happy to make himself available once again. [...]
February 24th, 2006 at 3:25 am
Did you guys update this on iTunes? Since you mentioned that the levels were basically fixed, I’d like to redownload this podcast for future re-listening.
Thanks for the great podcast!
March 13th, 2006 at 10:01 am
[...] I mentioned a few months ago that I’ve reverted to using index cards for tasks. I recently heard Jason Womack in The Personal Productivity Show talking about using the right tool for the right job. [...]
March 16th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Loved this podcast, lots of delicious tidbits inside from Jason even though the sound volume was dodgy at bits with Windows butting in for attention sometimes (like it always does :P).
It was nice to hear another point of view about GTD near the horse’s mouth that has taken the stuff beyond when the book was published with experience in the field.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:26 am
[...] The Personal Productivity Show #021 – Jason Womack [...]
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:54 am
David – I just recently purchased the David Allen vidobook “Getting Things Done.” I would also like to subscribe to your podcasts. Would you please send me info on how to subscribe? Only recently I purchased an iPod and your podcast will be the first one added! So any downloading assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks, Ron
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:21 am
[...] Listening to the Jason Womack interview off of the Personal Productivity Podcast, I was struck by the notion of using the right tool for the job. [...]