Agendas in Nirvana
I know this has been discussed some time ago, but I would like to hear from others here how they manage Agendas within Nirvana. If you have several people that you wish to maintain agenda items for the next time you meet with them, how do you set this up in Nirvana?
Thanks!
-David
2 Posted by Chris Webb on 05 Jan, 2012 04:41 PM
Hi David,
Whenever I think of something I want to ask or discuss with someone I just create a task in Nirvana, use the 'agenda' context and add their contact tag to the task as well.
That way, whenever I'm due to meet up with people I just filter by name and all the relevant tasks pop up.
I did try to have a task for each person (i.e. Discuss the following with xxxxxx) and then add the items in the notes field but as I do a lot of my 'capturing' via Captio on my iPhone it's just easier to have a task per item and then I know I won't miss anything.
Cheers,
Chris
3 Posted by david-drake on 05 Jan, 2012 05:09 PM
This is great, Chris. Thanks!
-David
4 Posted by Mark S on 06 Jan, 2012 05:11 AM
+1 to what Chris said. Sometimes I find I need to discuss something with my VP or a colleague regarding a project so I can't have a separate task outside of the project for agenda items.
Just as Chris does, I tag tasks with the @agenda context and their contact tag then it's easy to filter by their name when I'm with them so I can see the points I need to discuss.
5 Posted by Geert on 11 Jan, 2012 12:29 PM
I also use a contact tag for every person that I have regular meetings with, and want to keep an agenda for.
Things I have to ask or tell them, are kept in Next (I still have to do the action of asking or telling them), things I have asked them (and delegated to them, if you want), I move to Waiting.
This way, if you click a person's name in the tag cloud, you see both the Next and Waiting actions for this particular person, and you have your agenda ready for the meeting.
One thing I don't understand is, as Chris and Mark say they do, why you would create an extra '@Agenda' context if you already use the contact tag to filter ?
6 Posted by Mark S on 11 Jan, 2012 01:39 PM
I guess part of it is being GTD-retentive :) in that I like all tasks to have a context.
The only ones that don't are those in the Waiting list as the context is defined by the list in that case (and as a Waiting task isn't actionable by me there isn't really a context anyway).
The other part is that sometimes when we have a strategy meeting there are multiple people there that I need to ask certain questions to so it's easy to first select the @agenda tag filter and then if I need to drill down further for agenda items for specific people I can hold CTRL and click their tag filter.
Another CTRL + click their tag filter brings me back to the main @agenda view..
Works well for me anyway.
HTH,
Mark
7 Posted by Geert on 11 Jan, 2012 01:57 PM
Hi Mark,
Thanks for explaining why you have the extra @Agenda context.
I mostly talk to people in one on one meetings, so I never had the need to group agenda tasks.
8 Posted by Chris Webb on 11 Jan, 2012 02:58 PM
What Mark S said! :-)
I use this in the same way so when I have bigger meetings I can select all the "agenda" items I have that relate to the attendees of that meeting.
9 Posted by Folke on 11 Jan, 2012 09:34 PM
I do it just like Geert (post 5). This means I can always find all outstanding issues with a particular contact, regardless of context.
If I know I am going to meet somebody in particular, say at a meeting or conference or one-on-one meeting, I sometimes (often) make a special task for for that containing some carefully selected agenda items I want to bring up during that particular encounter (especially if it somebody I see quite seldom), and then also a checklist in the task of the various preparations and material I must have with me. I do this kind of preparation also for bigger meetings with more people. I keep this task for the more 'open' (multi-person) meeting separate from the task preparing for the 'one-on-one' talk (to be had perhaps during a coffe break).
10 Posted by james on 21 Jan, 2012 02:05 AM
I cam across this thread because I was also wondering about agendas. But my search also led me to these threads:
http://help.nirvanahq.com/discussions/questions/15-agendas
http://help.nirvanahq.com/discussions/suggestions/621-another-way-f...
It would appear this is one of the reasons for the tag cloud - checkout the picture posted by Elbert in the first link (post 46). If you click on a tag in the cloud, it will show everything against that tag - be it in Next, a project, waiting for etc. ie you get EVERYTHING about that tag ...and if that tag is a contact, you have their agenda!