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Hi All!

I'm giving some consideration to using OneNote (still learning the basics of the software) and wanted to get some feedback from other users regarding their likes/dislikes incorporating Getting Things Done into OneNote. 

Do you prefer the digital use versus hardcopy systems?  How are you currently using OneNote as it relates to Manager Tools processes (e.g. one on ones, reviews, calendar keeping, etc.)

Regards,

Shawn

mmann's picture
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Shawn,

I like OneNote for my Career Management Document.  I travel too much for it to be practical for GTD. 

 

--Michael

gpeden's picture

I have been using Evernote to with decent results.  I like the ability to post scanned documents / PDFs like O3 notes.  It lackes a few nice to haves like sub notebooks.  

 

George

DiSC 7412

medphred's picture

I've been using OneNote for about 3 months now.  Some pros & some cons.  I like its ability to capture random thoughts, to be able to put all info into one 'binder', including web clippings, etc.  Also been using it for team mtg agendas & notes/minutes. 

One the downside I can only use it on my laptop.  If I dont want to bring my laptop home then I can work on any of these docs.  I'd have to get another license for home to be able to open docs from a usb stick.  So not so practical there.

There are things on my list that I may work on at night or on the wkends, but its not worth it for me to have to fire up my laptop just for this. Consequently I dont use it for GTD or a repository for my tasks.

Rather, I use Remember The Milk for my task list.  Free, online, there's are iGoogle and iPhone apps, etc.  Work well for me.

JakobPedersen's picture

I tried to get to grips OneNote last year, but it didn't fit that well with the way I work, since I often switch computers throughout the day.

Today I'm using Evernote for my notes and Nozbe for task lists.

So far it has been working very well, but I'm not doing "real" GTD, so your milage may vary.

jclishe's picture

I've been a heavy OneNote user since 2003 and I have 7 years of archived notes. I've tried hard, but I simply haven't been able to use as a GTD system.

As you know, the key to GTD is having a reliable inbox. I've tried lots of different "inbox's", from my smartphone to various Levenger index card systems, to other things. The only thing that I can rely on to be by my side nearly 100% of the time is my phone, so I've come to the conclusion that my phone needs to be my inbox. That said, I've tried numerous apps on my phone, from OneNote Mobile to Evernote to the simple Outlook Tasks app. All things considered, using Outlook tasks won out over eveything else. It's just the easiest, most reliable way for me to capture tasks, assign categories and due dates when I'm mobile, and then since I live in Outlook when I'm at my PC anyway, anything I do on my phone will sync to Exchange and show up in Outlook. And the great thing is, since Outlook allows you to link objects to OneNote, if I have a task in Outlook that I need to capture rich notes and details for, I can simply link the Outlook task to OneNote, do all of my detailed note taking in OneNote, yet keep the master task on my Outlook dashboard. 

I've found that if I use OneNote or Evernote as my GTD inbox, that I often lose sight of tasks. For example, I'll switch to a different page in OneNote to take notes for a conference call I'm on or something and I won't see tasks that are due. Or, I'll be in a situation where I have onsite customer meetings first thing in the morning and I'll jump on Outlook real quick to blast through some emails before I leave the house. With my tasks in Outlook I can easily see what's on the agenda for the day, but if they're in OneNote or another app and I'm in a hurry I may not think to launch OneNote to check tasks before I leave.

So for me, Outlook tasks on my PC and phone is simply the easiest and most reliable way for me to capture items that need to be in my inbox and required the least amount of change to my personal workflow.