Notes on Productivity Home Page

Recently, I met with my good friend and client, David Allen, to discuss his participation in our upcoming Lotusphere 2009 presentation. As I frequently do, I recorded the day's conversations in order to capture notes and ideas about key points. (I use a Sony MXD-20 which let's me transcribe at 2-3x speed). I asked David if I could share a segment of our discussion about Lotus Notes, what he finds cool about it, and a number of other topics, rants, and ideas about the way people use (or don't use) Lotus Notes.

There's no real structure here but I've noted a some key points in case you want to jump around:

01:15        Why  Notes?
02:20        But isn't Notes about collaboration?
03:40        David will set up a database for almost any purpose
04:00        David actually programmed in Notes (4.x)
04:30        Many people don't know what a Notes database can do
05:10         How to create your own personal databases in Notes
07:05        The value of a shared database for small ad-hoc collaboration
09:13        The power of Notes Doc links/how doclinks work
10:30        Notes as a transport for MindManager maps
10:43        MindPlan as a mind mapping tool that is integrated into Notes
11:32        The Notes Journal (Notebook in R8) as a tool for personal IM
12:24        The Notes Journal is simply works
12:31        How to drag an e-mail from your inbox into the Journal
12:48        I haven't used cut & paste in a year w Quick Capture/Paste
13:30        Actionable vs nonactionable reference filing in the journal
14:02        Why is there no "Any time this day" functionality in Notes?
15:10        Why is Task Management an afterthought in so many apps?
15:34        Why don't mobile devices get task management?
16:58        Let's do some podcasts between now and Lotusphere
17:21        Don't work around the tool, make the tool work for you!
17:58        To think differently you need an "Extended mind"
18:50        Get rid of the unconscious resistance in your tools
19:20        Is there hope for someone who uses Notes?
20:03        Gotta love the ThinkPad with the TrackPoint for productivity
20:30        Lotusphere is coming up... looking forward to it.

So, there you have it. The rambling of two productivity geeks that use Notes to get things done. We'll have a more coherent presentation to share at Lotusphere and we look forward to answering questions. As I mentioned, I'll probably set up an IdeaJam site to collect and vote on the questions and then we'll pick the top questions to answer during the session. Who knows, I may make it real interesting by giving away something cool for a really great question (or even a randomly selected question.)