Oct 24
Inspired by Jimmy Yukka’s youtube videos, I have recorded a short clip describing my GTD implementation. Let me know what you think:
James’ GTD Description from James Marwood on Vimeo.
Aug 27
I’ve come across a few references to Ubiquity, a prototype Firefox service that looks very exciting. There’s a cool demonstration video as well.
Ubiquity looks very similar in concept and execution to Quicksilver and Launchy, 2 programs I think are essential for their respective OS. For example, on my mac I use quicksilver to launch pretty much everything, from sending an email to opening a web page.
Whilst I do have a small concern that ubiquity may limit users to just the default corners of the web (Gmail, google maps, yelp, flickr etc.) it does look like a great step forward in making it easy to access content as we want it.
With Option+Space reserved for quicksilver, ctrl+alt+space for Omnifocus and now a keypress to find for this the hardest thing is going to be remembering the trigger commands!
Aug 01
These are various texts I have had on my hard drive for some time. I thought I may as well share them. As far as I know, none are covered by copyright, but if your work is on here and you would like an attribution then let me know. Please note that this page is not a challenge to the copyright or an attempt to seek gain from others work. I have just cleaned up, PDF’ed and otherwise tweaked the work of others. Unless noted otherwise these are released under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa license
The vast majority are, I believe, from scans made by Kirk Lawson, with others from Ralph Grasso and Jimmy Fatwing.
If there are any errors in the files then please let me know in the comments.
EDIT -It was getting confusing to keep 2 lists working. I’ve cleaned all the errors and moved the list to it’s own page.
Jun 25
Inspired by this post on Lifehacker, I decided to give my desk a bit of a declutter. Whislt I am somewhat limited in what I can afix to the walls (I rent my home) I do have the advantage of a good amount of space, and 2 nice desks. The desks don’t match, so they really only work apart, but it does give me space for what I need.
Most of my work is done on my macbook pro. Despite having a sweet 2 monitor set-up on my gaming PC, and my work laptop this is where I find myself most productive.
Previously I had pretty much everything I needed on my desk, and a lot of stuff I didn’t need. My in-box in particualr was forever in danger of being knocked to the floor and I was finding it all a bit to hard to concentrate on. This is what it was like prior to the changes:
I decided to move the laser printer (which is designed to do pretty much everything via the front - thank you HP!), the dock for the work laptop, the sub, the external HD and the USB hub to to the floor, freeing up a fair old bit of space. It also allowed me to tape the chargers for my BT earpiece and my 2 mobiles behind the macbook, so I can access them when needed.
This is my desktop now
Under the desk looks a lot better as well, although I do need to get these ables up off the ground. That box is a custom charging station my mate Paul made for me, and very nice it is too 
I have some more images up on flickr, showing my sadly neglected windows machine, and my Fairy Dust. Oh yes.
This is still very much a work in progress however, so I expect more will be done soon.
May 28
I was chatting with SelimTheGrim a while backand we were talking about notebooks. We’re both inveterate scribblers in such things and I’ve pointed her towards the moleskine via this post from putthingsoff.org. I use different notebooks for different things, which helps me keep oragnised and also indulges my geeky need for things like that sweet &pencil notebook. The notebooks are used for:
- Tesco Finest A4 Notebook - that’s the large plain black one. This has replaced my 10 year old ADOC binder as my main project book and meeting notebook. It is nice to write in, and the little elasticated clip means I can tuck loose sheets inside and be sure they will survive
- &pencil small notebook - this is where I keep my gym notes. I love the design of this thing, I just wish I could find a pen to fit the small version, instead of the pencil
- Paperblanks journal - this is my mad book and journal. A space for me to vomit the more disorganised thoughts from my brain
- Moleskine Reporter - this is my Universal Capture Device, the little book I take everywhere and scribble thoughts, to dos, and references into. Mine is covered in stickers I find amuse me
- Miquelrius ringbound notebook spot4 (a5) - this is my wargaming notebook. I use it to capture things like tactics, army lists and the like.
What notebooks do you use?
May 01
Seth Godin today makes a call on a subject close to my heart. I spend a lot of time in meetings, some days up to 6 hours are spent on this questionable activity. Most of mine are by phone now, meaning I can at least switch to mute and get on with some work whilst people drone on, but they still rob me of concentration, and so productivity.
Today is a prime example. I have had to come to London for a team meeting. That is to ‘meet’ team members, be communicated to and to be seen. This last is particularly important, as the company I am working for prizes ‘visibility’ above most other things. I tried to duck it but was told, in no uncertain terms, that I needed to be there.
Lets break those things down
This meeting has ended up eating about half of my work day once we consider travelling time. Given the number of people attending and the associated daily rates I would expect the cost to be in the region of £10k. That’s £10,000 for very, very little value.
Seth calls on us to boycott 1 meeting a day. I really wish I could. Perhaps next month.
The image up there is from Tim_d on Flickr and is available under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa licence.
Apr 28
I picked up these clips from Staples a few months back and they have sat in my desk since then. They look cool. They look useful. I’m just not sure how. Any ideas?
Apr 25
I’m sat in Liverpool Street station, finishing up my weekly reports and chatting to mates on the interweb, it is interesting to reflect on the things you miss when you work from home.
There are the basics like not having to worry about public transport, the mentally ill who seem to live in stations and the way that Red Ken’s bus ticket machines always eat at least half of the coins you put in them.
At home I usually roll out of bed to my desk via a quick breakfast and the shower. However the first thing I do on waking is check my inboxes and respond to overnight queries. Thus I am probably starting work sometime around 7:30. With the morning commute I am up earlier but starting later. I left the house at 6:45 this AM and it was an hour and a half before I did anything productive. At home I am usually productive within 5 minutes of waking up and have all my morning reviews done well before 9.
However, having 20 minutes to kill I have been watching people rushing past, looking busy and I think the biggest difference between working in an office and working at home is the lack of urgency. I probably work longer hours at home and definitely get more done but it does all seem more important, more urgent with that brisk walk from station to office before starting. I enjoy the relaxed, goal based nature of home working but I wonder if a little urgency isn’t good for the soul.
Apr 21
I spend a lot of time thinking about the mechanics of note taking. I find it a very useful activity, but a struggle to keep my notes relevant and legible. I tend to use a mix of my own symbols, mind-maps and lots of lists. It is far from perfect but it kinda works for me.
It is therefore very interesting see Darwin’s notebooks available online. Cambridge University has put up both the transcriptions and images of his notebooks, as well of versions of his more famous works. How utterly fascinating! On initial inspection he seems to have favoured longhand text, with surprisingly few side notes or diagrams. I wonder if there are more famous notebooks online like this?
