Agendas?
Similar to Reference I think, but where do Agendas go? e.g. if I'm working a project I will have specific people on it, and need a way to track agendas for discussions with those people.
I figure a "Reference" section would cater to this well - the ability to put a Reference item into a project/area/tag so lists of info can be retained in the right place.
I'm now using Evernote, but good as it is for storing notes, it's not so great for agendas, which really need keeping in Nirvana so they are in the right area/project.
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32 Posted by Glenn on 24 Apr, 2010 10:16 PM
Cool Elbert. I'm hoping I won't have to wait till next Easter for my next surprise. : -)
33 Posted by westis on 25 Apr, 2010 06:25 PM
Very interesting topic! Just a question, why use both @agenda and the name? Why not simply use the name to have one tag less to add and search for?
Although I'm looking forward to a more dedicated solution :)
34 Posted by Terminado on 25 Apr, 2010 06:51 PM
". . .why use both @agenda and the name?"
That's a good question. I have used just the name in the past, and added @agenda for the Smart list but right now, I can't think of a reason why this is needed (unless you want to look at all of your agendas for some reason).
Anyone want to chime in on this?
35 Posted by roddyt on 25 Apr, 2010 09:55 PM
I've had nothing to do with this topic yet, but I'll chime in anyway :)
You create as many tags as it takes to collect the information you need. In this example, if you felt a need to create separate tags for "agenda" and names, it might be for these reasons:
1) You're collecting agendas for more than one person, and you're interested in viewing all agendas regardless of the person.
2) You might tag tasks with the person's name for reasons other than an agenda.
36 Posted by Glenn on 25 Apr, 2010 10:10 PM
I agree 100% with Roddy's #2. I plan on using tags with a person's name other than for an agenda, so using 1 tag would be insufficient to pull out the information I need.
37 Posted by Terminado on 26 Apr, 2010 01:52 AM
Yep, that's the reason!
38 Posted by Proximo on 26 Apr, 2010 12:59 PM
GTD is about what works for you within the Methodology. I think we all want certain features with Nirvana to make things work to our specific GTD needs. Like Elbert says, we need to put some thought into this in order to not stray from the simplicity of what GTD is but still give the users the flexibility they need to make it work for them.
Great topic.
39 Posted by Rich Ashby on 29 May, 2010 07:00 PM
First of all, congratulations and thanks for producing such an awesome tool, this is EXACTLY the GTD app I've been searching for!
On the topic of Agendas...
I'm a project manager, so I'll be on the phone to someone or in a meeting, when people will say "Is there anything else you need from me?". At this point I currently open my Waiting For and Agendas lists, and filter by that person, and go from memory to flick through my Projects List to see if that prompts me for something else. This works out ok for me.
So really all I need in Nirvana is a way to associate Projects and Next Actions with a Contact (much like the current Tags functionality) and the ability to set up an Agenda Item per Contact. Then when I hear "is there anything else...?" I just filter by Contact and I have everything I need: Agendas, Waiting, Projects, Next Actions.
This is possibly as simple as adding an extra field "Contact" that works in the same way as Tags does now, but uses saved Contacts.
40 Posted by sim on 30 May, 2010 07:38 AM
For simplicity, you can always add a note (as a shortcut) to refer to certain part in your reference system, be it in Evernote or in a File Structure where the actual agenda file is kept.
41 Posted by Proximo on 01 Jun, 2010 02:10 PM
@sim,
Great suggestion.
I know some people already do this to include the Nirvana team with Back pack, but it's always good to remind others who may not realize they can do this.
I need reminding myself. :-)
42 Posted by themcfadden on 09 Jun, 2010 05:53 AM
This is an awesome product. It is completely intuitive - I haven't had to refer to any sort of help, which is the way it is supposed to be.
Here's my thoughts on Agendas -
I'd like to see Agendas on the same level, and have the same form as Active Projects.
For me, agenda items span any number of topics, projects, contexts, but are specific to a person or group. Trying to use contexts or other features for agenda doesn't allow me to easily retrieve, think about, and communicate things specific to that person/group. Also, contexts are troublesome because they span multiple projects and don't allow manipulation the way the tasks with in a project can. Smart lists seem interesting, but I'd rather be lazy and not have to figure them out. :-)
My typical work flow is that I collect items for my boss, staff, and anyone else I interact with regularly. Items are then processed into to agenda lists and when I am preparing for meetings, I view, tweak and refine all the items in the list. I can then use this as my real agenda for my meetings. For ad hoc meetings, I can quickly go to that agenda list and have it all easily in front of me.
For now I have projects (with special names) that I use as Agenda lists. This is working really well, but the GTD purist in me would like to have a separate agenda feature.
43 Posted by Proximo on 09 Jun, 2010 11:14 AM
I control Agendas with a tag or task notes.
GTD is about list that are controlled by context, time and energy.
Agenda list are not how you build around the original GTD methodology
but there is nothing wrong with knowing what works for you.
Maybe with a little teak here and there, you could make this work.
Adding things to the core of Nirvana that stray outside the GTD
methodology is scary.
At the very least, it needs to be considered carefully.
44 Posted by themcfadden on 09 Jun, 2010 03:59 PM
Hmmm... After reviewing the book it looks like I may have strayed a bit from "true" GTD. I guess I'm not the purist I thought I was. LOL.
David Allen does talk about having agendas as lists that are separate from next actions, and I guess I find that very helpful in my situation. Agendas seem to transcend projects and contexts and I like being able to easily filter everything else and view only the items/task to be discussed with that person/group.
Keeping close to core GTD is very important and is the key strength of NirvanaHQ. If my interpretation and use is outside the norm, then I'll be fine with using projects as I do.
Keep up the great work!
45 Posted by Rich Ashby on 09 Jun, 2010 04:43 PM
Some great comments. I agree that the beauty of Nirvana is it's simplicity and adherance to pure GTD. What I've just set up in Nirvana using existing functionlity does seem to meet my needs (i.e. no need to complicate things with additional functionality):
1 Project called "Agendas"
Individual tasks per contact, tagged with "agenda"
Task notes for the agenda items
I also set up an area called "Agendas" just for the project then if I need to quickly filter for Agendas in a meeting I can use the "focus" feature to get me straight to what I need.
Perhaps even this is over complicating things, I'll try it for a week and adjust if needed but I think it works well for me. Thanks for the ideas guys, very helpful!
Support Staff 46 Posted by Elbert McLaughlin on 09 Jun, 2010 04:57 PM
Perhaps a tag cloud to cut across all lists / projects / areas?
I know I know, I'm a tag fan-boy... can't help it.
47 Posted by themcfadden on 09 Jun, 2010 05:14 PM
oooh... nice. When do we get to play with tag clouds too?
You can't go wrong with more tags.
48 Posted by Proximo on 09 Jun, 2010 05:18 PM
Elbert showing of the top secret version of Nirvana again. :-)
I am not a tag fanboy because I don't want to select 4 tags to filter something that should be much easier to find. I find it hard for me to exceed two tags for any one task.
This is why I am big on adding Time and Effort to the task details which then could be used to filter with smart list.
Hmmmm. I wonder how Agenda's could fit into this?
P.S. I hope that tag cloud can shrink with the script created by Vin Thomas. I use this script to make the left Navi. thinner.
Support Staff 49 Posted by Elbert McLaughlin on 09 Jun, 2010 05:23 PM
@proximo -
yes yes... so here's the question: is a three-state Small / Medium / Large (ala smartytask) good enough? or are we looking for more granularity? perhaps user-defined levels? (ugh)
be careful how you answer this cuz I'm on FIRE today.
might just include this in the next release if it's not too challenging.
50 Posted by Proximo on 09 Jun, 2010 05:30 PM
I have not used SmartyTask outside of the demo video. Not sure what Small/Medium/Large refer too. :-(
I plan on doing the trial to at least see some of their ideas and maybe trigger new ones that can be used here, but It's not something in my Today list yet.
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 02 Feb, 2011 06:12 PM.