[Design] David Allen's Getting Things Done

[Daniel Vareika]

Steven,

I don´t know whether your e mail is in response to me (Daniel) or to Chao.
I must agree to much extent with you, still I would like to leave some door
open that, although structured by another but me, might be a better way of
doing things (even for me).

Let me do an analogy, maybe of help.
When the car was invented, many incarnations came about. Today you can
choose a myriad of vehicles under one common denominator "car", still with
few exceptions all are basically the same, though they all have the basics
implemented the same.
Nonetheless they satisfy different users with different motivators, but all
users have one thing in common, transportation.
Sometimes, conforming to certain norms is good.

What I was thinking later on regarding specifically David Allen (not the
approach but as a mind trigger for myself) is that where to put the focus
on.
Usually we have:

a) e mail programs
b) note taking programs (or the like)
c) web navigators with bookmarking features
d) Instant messagings
e) File Management Systems
f) etc..

I believe Chandlers biggest asset isn´t an integration of all those programs
(and others) into one but the integration of information.
As such I understand the design team at OSAF has this more than clear.
Still I fear that the UI could be e mail centric (one module) instant
messaging centric (another) instead of data - information - knowledge
centric, not because of internal design but because of what is transmitted
to the end user through the interfase. I believe and hope that the people at
OSAF (Mimi Yin between others)  are well aware of this.

Maybe as we understand it today e mail will change or evolve in the future
but not the data.
I am not sure if I am making myself clear or if I am missing something, but
the concept of Chandler is (in my humble opinion) information, and the UI
should reflect that, how in the end data (large amounts of unstructured) no
matter how it comes can become information hoping to become Knowledge
someday for someone.

Yours,

Daniel



Steven Healey wrote:

>> In deciding key features for Canoga, the design
>> team has decided to use David Allen's wonderful
>> book "Getting Things Done" as one of the basis
>> for selecting the key usage patterns that we
>> want to facilitate in  Canoga.
> 
>> As part of this decision, OSAF is sending me to
>> attend one of David Allen's seminar in Dallas
>> this week. For the folks that have read his
>> book, I was wondering if you have questions or
>> issues about David Allen's approach.
>> [...]
>> More info on David Allen can be found at:
>> <http://www.davidco.com/>
> 
> I guess my cynical, jaded observation would be that any approach or method
> which involves a guru, and particularly one espoused at seminars where tapes
> are sold, is very unlikely to be useful or productive in the long run.  In
> 28 or so years of work and academic experience I have seen dozens of these
> gurus come and go, seldom leaving anything of value behind.  Basing a sound
> design for an engineered product/system on a guru's words is, well, like
> building on sand.
> 
> Usually the next step is "Mandatory David Allen training", followed by
> "change management" for the "resistors".  You have been warned!
> 
> sPh
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> 
> Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list
> http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design