The Hipster PDA. Yeah, it’s real.

For a long time I have been looking for a good way to track all the things that I need to take care of in my life.  I tried all kinds of electronic systems and daytimers and gave up on those.  Nothing worked, including a Blackberry.  One day a few months ago while reading about organizational methods on 43Folders, I discovered the Hipster PDA (hPDA).  It was novel, it was simple, it was even a bit cheeky, and it could just possibly work for a mild mannered subversive such as myself.

In regards to a Blackberry, apart from making it impossible to leave work at work, I could not find a satisfactory way to use it to keep myself organized.  I would have reminders setup all over my calendar, but then trained myself to ignore them.  Additionally, there was no quick way to jot or find notes or to organize tasks — or, at least, I did not discover it to be useful for that.

I have also tried daytimers and couldn’t find satisfaction with those either.  For one, I could not take a daytimer with me everywhere — they’re generally too bulky.  They’re fine when you’re at work, but what about when you’re out at the bar with friends, or when you’re shopping, or when you’re doing things around the house?  You never have your daytimer on you when you’re doing those things, because they’re too cumbersome.  Thus, when I wanted to write something down I would usually not have my daytimer with me and would hope that I would remember what I wanted to write down when I again had access to it — which I rarely could do.  Thus, a daytimer became nothing more than an appointment keeper.  But organizing oneself is far more than simply keeping appointments.

What sets an hPDA apart from these devices and makes it a successful tool for helping me organize my life boils down to this:

Due to its small size (3″x5″), physical flexibility, and negligible thickness, my hPDA is ever-present — always in my back pocket with a small pen.  This means that I never have to “remember to write something down later” and “subsequently forget”.  The most crucial benefit  — and something I got into the habit of very quickly with this tool because I could — was that I can write things down the moment I think of them.  If I have to remember to write something down later it won’t happen, and any organizational system that forces me to remember quickly loses my trust and fails me utterly.  Since the hPDA is with me all of the time and I can write down everything immediately and quickly, it has truly become my trusted memory bank.  The value of that one thing alone far outweighs any shortcomings in comparison to other systems.

So… what is it, exactly?

I won’t rehash here what the hPDA is about as that information is plentifully available on the net and a great place to start is the link provided in the opening paragraph above.  Suffice it to say in summary that the hPDA is a simply a set of 3″x 5″ recipe cards with which David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” (GTD) organizational method can be implemented and tweaked.

Why recipe cards?  Because they’re cheap, inexpensive, and don’t cost much.  But by far the biggest plus in my books is their size which, as I mentioned, means you can take your hPDA with you absolutely everywhere without a second thought.  Just a little unobtrusive set of cards, a bull clip or ring to hold them together, and a fine line pen are all you need to have a working and ever-present system far superior to any existing electronic device.  What could be easier and faster than whipping out a pen and pad out of a back pocket to jot down a note?  Don’t tell me it’s a PDA or Blackberry, because it isn’t.  Now all you need is a system to make those little pieces of paper function as a unit and help you keep your tasks under control.  That system is GTD — sort of.  I don’t claim to know much about the “Getting Things Done” methodology, but I’ve been able to glean enough from it to make using the hPDA effective in my day-to-day routine.  Whether my implementation of the hPDA is stricly GTD or not is irrelevant.  You may be able to make more effective use of the hPDA by learning more about the GTD methodology, but what I’m going to describe next is how I’m currently using mine.

My hPDA structure

In my hPDA, I have the following kinds of cards arranged in this order from front to back.  I use both sides of my cards so that I don’t have to carry as many, and I use different coloured cards so that I can more quickly find the appropriate section when I need it:

• Action cards, 1 per context (blue)
• Shopping cards, 1 per context (purple)
• Agenda cards, 1 per frequent contact person (green)
• Project card, 1 only (blue)
• Potentials card, 1 only, opposite side of Project card (blue)
• Waiting For card, 1 only (purple)
• Calendar cards, 1 for this month, 1 for next month (yellow)
• Note cards, 5 for general notes (red)

Depending on how your life works you will likely find a different combination of cards that will work for you.  I’m offering my structure simply as an example and now I will explain how I use each of these cards, with references to the GTD methodology where I’m confident about it.

First, a couple of concepts

Context

A context is simply the appropriate situation for executing a task.  The GTD method uses context as a way to break down your monolithic task/action list into shorter, more manageable context-sensitive lists.  Contexts that I find useful are @Errands, @Home, @Office, @Phone, @Varsity, and @Simpsons.  I’m in the business of renovation and those last two are simply references to things I need to do in regards to two projects in which I am currently engaged.  When I’m at either of those jobsites I always check my action card for the @Varsity or @Simpsons context.  For another example, if it’s something that I would like to be prompted to do while running around, such as “Return movies”, then I’ll add it to my @Errands list.  Before I head out to run errands I check this list to see if I can make the trip more productive by knocking off other tasks as well.  You will likely need to come up with your own contexts that work for you.  If you work at a computer all day, then @Computer is likely a very poor choice, as most of your tasks will end up on one list, making that list a bit daunting and hence demotivating and useless.  But if you use the computer only sporadically, then @Computer is probably a good one.

Project and tasks/actions

There are tasks (or actions) and there are projects.  A project is completed by executing tasks or actions.  How you define a task is absolutely critical to how successful you will be at implementing the GTD system.  I failed to grasp this when I took my first shot at GTD, so pay close attention. A task should be something that you can accomplish at one sitting or in the space of about 20 minutes.  If you create a task that doesn’t fit these criteria, then chances are good that it will never get completed.  Too many items like this and your lists will quickly become flooded and useless, which I recognize now has been a major problem in my past attempts to organize.  For example, “Clean up the house” is a terrible definition of a task.  It’s too big and indefinite.  You will never cross this off your list, because you’ll likely never find time to do such a large task.  “Clean up the house” would be more suitable as a project.  “Vacuum living room” is much better.  It is definite, the results are visible, and it is doable in a short period of time.  Once that task is done, you will cross it off your list (with satisfaction) and immediately define the next — and only the next — task that is required to move the project forward.  Do that task when an opportunity presents itself.  You only define the next task in order to keep your lists as short as possible.  Again, going farther than this will quickly find you drowning in a sea of tasks and becoming overwhelmed at their numbers.  In defining and executing one baby step at a time you will find that you are continually moving forward on projects and staying focussed on the right things.  As another example, don’t define “Write paper on heterogeneous fluids” as a task.  That’s too big.  Break it down into smaller tasks that can be accomplished at one sitting:  “Brainstorm 5 points I want to make about heterogeneous fluids”, “Compose rough outline”, “Write introductory paragraph”, etc.

Card types

Action cards

These are your task lists, broken down by contexts, one context per card.  As mentioned above, I currently use a set of contexts named @Errands, @Home, @Office, @Phone, @Varsity, and @Simpsons.

Shopping cards

There are certain places that I frequent often for the purposes of topping up supplies of various types.  For these I keep “shopping lists”.  My shopping lists are named @Grocery, @Hardware, @Stationery, and @Tech.  When I realize I’m low on milk I whip out my hPDA immediately (because it’s always in my back pocket with a pen) and add milk to my @Grocery list.  If I find I need lightbulbs or a tool, I throw that on my @Hardware list immediately.  If you are a book or music maven, you may find @Book or @Music to be useful lists.

Agenda cards

If you find yourself saying “Oh, I have to remember to ask so-and-so this,” then you need Agenda cards.  These handy devices allow you to write down those things on a per-person basis.  I have one for each of my trades.  This way, when I’m walking around a project I can jot things down as I notice/think of them and the next time I’m speaking to the person I simply flip to their agenda card and make sure I cover off those things that I noted.  I didn’t at first remember to refer to these cards when I was talking to someone, but now that I’m in the habit they are invaluable.

Project card

Not useful for much except to give me a high level overview of all of the things on my plate.  Frankly, I could live without it, but since it’s only one card I’m leaving it in my stack for now.

Potentials card

Also not terrifically useful for me, but the idea here is to record any projects that I might like to engage in in the future.  Sometimes I get a good idea and then forget it later.  This is a good place to jot those things so that I never forget.  I have this one on the reverse side of the Project card.

Waiting for card

This card is useful for noting the things I have delegated to other people and am waiting for an answer on or for status on.  Every once in a while I peruse it to see if there is anything I should follow up on.

Calendar cards

These cards are essential for obvious reasons.  I keep one for the current month and one for the next month as I rarely have to care about anything farther out than that.  Your world may be different.  Use these for recording what David Allen terms your “hard landscape” ONLY.  This means record only appointments and other things that must be done on a certain day.  Leave everything else off of it or you will end up with a lot of noise and lose sight of what you truly need.  One of the ways in which I realize now that I misused Outlook was that I would put reminders in for things that I wanted to be prodded about, but that weren’t actually “hard landscape” sorts of things.  I kept hitting “remind me later” on some tasks for weeks.  I realize now that those tasks should not have been in my calendar.  For one, they annoyed me to no end.  For another, they obscured the truly urgent time-sensitive things that I had in my calendar.  The GTD method of handling the “soft landscape” is to put a task in on one of your action lists or to put a note in your tickler file.  I haven’t talked about tickler files and don’t intend to for the purpose of this article, but a tickler file is another component of the GTD method.  You can read all about them here.

Note cards

I keep five of these at the back of my hPDA.  They’re great just for jotting general information to be used or digested later and are also great for handing information to other people.  Note that there is almost never a concern regarding compatibility with other systems when performing such a transaction.

Review, compact, and purge

Obviously, as this is a paper based system you will run out of room on your cards.  You also may end up with cards that have so many crossed out items and scribbles that they obscure the things that still matter.  To keep your system efficient you will want to periodically get rid of some cards and replenish.  As well, you may find it beneficial to rewrite some cards omitting the items that no longer matter.

Tips

1. If you’re just starting out, I recommend you download and make use of the myriad of free card templates available at D*I*Y Planner.  These were immensely helpful to me, especially the calendars.  As well, by scanning through all of the available templates you may find cards that will be useful in your life that I haven’t even mentioned.  And there are many that I haven’t mentioned.
2. Although a bull clip is the most commonly referenced device for keeping your cards together I found this to be cumbersome.  For one, the clipping and unclipping was surprisingly irritating and for another there was no way to keep your cards always in the same order.  Without keeping your cards in the same order all the time, finding a particular card becomes a frustrating endeavour.  I changed to using a ring, which I put through a hole that I punch in the bottom of each of my cards.  I punch the bottom, rather than the top so that I can spread the cards out in the same manner I would hold a poker hand.  This way the heading of each cards is more readily visible.
3. A short pen as opposed to a standard length pen is ideal.  It will not protrude from your pocket and is thus less likely to fall out.  The Pilot G-2 mini works very well.  I purchased this in a 3-pack at Staples along with the ring and coloured cards.
4. Laminate the front and back cards.  The lamination will provide extra stiffness for writing, but more importantly will give your hPDA much more durability as you repeatedly pull it out of and push it into your back pocket.

Conclusion

While the hipster PDA has been a lifesaver for me, your mileage may vary.  But give it a try before you write it off.  I do think this method of tracking your tasks is simple, efficient, and most imporantly hyper-portable.  It is this last thing that makes the hPDA for me a hands down winner.