Getting Things Done
For the last couple of months I’ve been into a personal Getting Things Done project. My challenge is to keep track of all the little tasks, the ones that someone mentions by the coffee machine or you suddenly remember when walking on the street.
For these little tasks I need a perfect system; a system that doesn’t fail, and is always with me. For the last month I’ve been trying out a small notebook in the A6-format, and I’m quite satisfied with it. While out in the field I’m using the notebook to write down all tasks and appointments that’s tossed at me during the day.
Still I need to bring my notebook with me at all time, and synchronize it with my electronic calendar and task manager. Since I bought this notebook, I’ve been wondering: What is the only thing I’m carrying at all time (and I mean all time)?
The answer is quite simple; my cell phone!
I know that the standard T9 is not an optimal way of writing, but it’s the only thing that I’m always carrying around. I feel like such a nerd realizing this, but it’s a fact.
Therefore I’m writing a PHP and MySQL driven web application that will handle e-mail sent from my cell phone (as it has an e-mail client). E-mails from my phone will be added to a list with the following information:
- ID
- Subject
- Description
- Created date
- Due date
- Category
Of course, fields may be added or modified as I’m writing this around midnight, and I’m seriously tired.
The subject and the description will be sent from my cell phone, and the rest will be auto-generated by the server-side application.
Still there will be a need for maintenance of the tasks, like the due date and the category. The tasks will be available for moderation through a webpage that can be password protected. The same interface will also be used to mark tasks as finished.
The webpage will of course be available for handheld clients, such as my cell phone (as it’s running Opera for handheld devices). Further on, there will be an options page where the owner can specify password, e-mail addresses allowed for posting tasks, default category and other possible parameters needed. The tasks will be sorted by due date and then ID.
If successful, the source will be released under GPL.
And of course, any good suggestions for functions I might have missed can be posted as a comment.
I’d almost forgotten about this site untill now and I read this post with great interest as I have started with much the same as you’re talking about here.
There was a friend of mine, Martin who asked me if I knew of any websites or open source projects to keep track of events. Online calender if you like. Well; honestly I didn’t know of one so I told him that I had been on the same thought myself. Not long after that I decided to make one.
In about two days the project was up running and is used by approx. ten people on a daily basis. This system has been tailor-made for Martin and his friends so it may not be exactly what everyone else is looking for, but it works.
Currently working on translating it from Norwegian to English, and then back to English (using gettext).
It’s a fun project and with more than one user the joy of making it is even greater as are the expectations to it.