GTD & the Cloud

Whenever I’m on a plane and we fly through a cloud, I can’t help but think “Oh man, I hope this isn’t the one that has all my data in it…” Tony_D on Twitter.

Eric Mack recently interviewed David Allen on his use of Lotus Notes, eProductivity and cloud computing.  Hear what David thinks of working in the cloud and where he’d love to see things go…

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For more of these videos, stay tuned to the Notes on Productivity blog.  We’ll also post some of them here too.

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7 Comments

  1. I totally agree that ‘bigger’ is the way to go with computing and working on our digital stuff.

    Dual monitors has almost become the new norm.

    I like DA’s quote on small devices leading to small thinking…

  2. Hey David,

    You raise some good points, but I tend to have a different way of thinking when looking at smaller interfaces. I think, when built properly, smaller interface help people focus on essential things they need to focus on, and hence let them loose all the noise around them, and get the task done.

    I forget who said this, but “if I had more time, I would use less words” is something I think we should all strive towards.

    Marc.

  3. Hey,

    Several points there… First of all, yes GTD is a way of thinking, technology doesn’t really matter, what matter is that you find YOUR trustable system to store your next actions.

    Then, coming to “the could”… To me using this way to store / secure your data from anywhere (does work from the plane too if you use the good tools such as “Google Gears” for instance). One very important thing with your truastable system is to be able to access it from anywhere and to trust it. If you take any computer device, you are never on the safe side when it come to data integrity. Hard disk crash,, house on fire, thief… If everything is store in on place, then there is a risk. I have been experimenting it some times… so here the “cloud” technology can help. Having your data accessible from anywhere (mixing it with local temporary storage), synchronizing it live. So you are not afraid anymore to have your computer stolen or your hard disk crashed… This is a real relief.

    Finally, thinking about the “minority report” fantasy way of dealing with your stuffs on a wall or even up in the air (add the third dimension), yep… of course I would love it too. It is possible, just a bit expensive now. To make is more basic, this is why I use mind mapping as a support for GTD. It allows me to add another dimension to my creativity (through non-linear thinking mixing with GTD. That is raising my productivity to a next level.

  4. This post reminds me of what I once did with an empty wall and a stack of post-its. I put every current project on the wall, and started grouping by area of focus.

    To have such a big canvas gave me a huge feeling of control. Plus, it’s harder to clutter a wall than it is to clutter your physical or digital desktop, clipboard or any horizontal surfaces 🙂
    The only drawback was that I didn’t want to go to 30.000 feet every time i entered the room. With a digital wall, that’s no longer a problem (although clutter might be).

    I notice David Allen using his hands a lot in this video. I’m thinking that once you get to idea generation, not only the size of your ‘space’ is important but also being able to use your hands and arms instead of just your fingers and wrists. I’d rather write (with an electric pen) directly on the wall than use a keyboard. And i’d rather drag stuff around by hand than use a mouse.

  5. Our company and my clients all have security requirements that restrict what I can put in my system if it is out there on some unknown server, which is what all the current ‘cloud’ solutions are.

    If my system can’t hold *anything* I want to put in it, then it is incomplete and useless. I don’t understand the whole idea of putting my stuff out there in the cloud where I would have to put terse reminders instead of rich information.

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