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Mobile analogue or hybrid organisational and time-management system
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Posted by xtabber
Mar 2, 2018 at 02:15 AM
The 13.3 inch screen of the Onyx Boox Max2, with its 2200 x 1650 resolution, displays 8.5 x 11 inch documents at their actual size without the need to zoom or scroll. None of my tablets have 4G, but that is hardly a drawback as I can go online from anywhere using the WiFi hotspot on my Android phone. WiFi timeout on the Max2 can be set from 5 minutes to never.
PC Magazine has a pretty accurate review at: https://www.pcmag.com/review/359330/onyx-boox-max2
It is certainly quirky! The impressive looking user manual (provided as a pdf file), loosely translated from Chinese by a non-native English speaker, is opaque and often inaccurate. I haven’t been able to figure out how to get some features to work, or if they even work at all.
But for my intended purpose – reading letter-sized documents – it works extremely well. The pdf reader is excellent and makes it very easy to markup pdf documents with the pen. A Samsung S-pen and a Staedtler digital pencil also work. Both Kindle and Bookari (my preferred Android epub reader) work flawlessly and sync properly with the cloud, so I don’t need to side-load books. All in all, while I do wish it were less costly, I have no regrets about the purchase.
Posted by dan7000
Mar 2, 2018 at 06:26 PM
xtabber wrote:
The 13.3 inch screen of the Onyx Boox Max2, with its 2200 x 1650
>resolution, displays 8.5 x 11 inch documents at their actual size
>without the need to zoom or scroll. None of my tablets have 4G, but that
>is hardly a drawback as I can go online from anywhere using the WiFi
>hotspot on my Android phone. WiFi timeout on the Max2 can be set from 5
>minutes to never.
>
>PC Magazine has a pretty accurate review at:
>https://www.pcmag.com/review/359330/onyx-boox-max2
>
>It is certainly quirky! The impressive looking user manual (provided as
>a pdf file), loosely translated from Chinese by a non-native English
>speaker, is opaque and often inaccurate. I haven’t been able to
>figure out how to get some features to work, or if they even work at
>all.
>
>But for my intended purpose – reading letter-sized documents
>– it works extremely well. The pdf reader is excellent and makes
>it very easy to markup pdf documents with the pen. A Samsung S-pen and a
>Staedtler digital pencil also work. Both Kindle and Bookari (my
>preferred Android epub reader) work flawlessly and sync properly with
>the cloud, so I don’t need to side-load books. All in all, while I
>do wish it were less costly, I have no regrets about the purchase.
>
Ughh. I think you just cost me $700. Sounds too good not to try.
Posted by Paul Korm
Mar 3, 2018 at 11:28 AM
This thread wandered away into other domains—I’m curious how @Dr Andus is doing with his original request back on day one. If he’s still watching the flow here.
Dr. Andus wrote
>I’d like to invite comments and suggestions on how to design an analogue (pen, paper, notebooks etc.) or hybrid (combined with digital tools) system for personal organisation and time-management that is mobile (can be carried on the person).
Posted by washere
Mar 3, 2018 at 12:51 PM
https://www.youtube.com/results?q=iskn+vs+wacom+vs+bamboo
Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 3, 2018 at 02:57 PM
Paul Korm wrote:
This thread wandered away into other domains—I’m curious how @Dr
>Andus is doing with his original request back on day one. If he’s
>still watching the flow here.
Hi Paul,
thanks for your interest. BTW, I don’t mind at all the meandering, I enjoyed finding out about all these interesting monochrome devices, and if I win the lottery, I will be getting one or two of them.
In fact just came across this today, which kind of fits some of the discussion: Light Phone 2
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2-smartphone-design#/
As for my original problem, I’ve made some progress, though the new system hasn’t been fully tested yet because in the last couple of weeks I was working from my home office, so the mobile needs didn’t kick in yet.
So in effect I have two variations of the system: one for the home office, another one when I’m on the go.
Let me first describe the principles, and then I give details of the two different implementations.
I have adopted a stricter time blocking regime (using an external device, rather than my Google Calendar), where I start the day by allocating work in hourly blocks, restricting the time for administrative chores (dealing with work emails), and making sure that high value activities such as research get enough time.
This made me more disciplined and more efficient, as now I must deal with email more quickly to make sure I get it done within the allocated time block. This removed a lot of stress, as there is a sense of relief when I get to switch off email and move onto the next activity, as it gives me peace of mind that I’m doing the right thing. It is some kind of a mental trick by which I delegate control to the schedule, and so it’s the schedule that’s telling me what to do, and as long as I follow its command, things will be alright. I do have to override it in situations of emergency, but that’s fine, and is the exception.
The second principle was the “one thing at a time”. So I try to stick with one task and project and not start another until it is completed or delegated to someone else.
Home office implementation:
1. I do the time blocking and task scheduling for the day in handwriting on my Boogie Board Sync device, which sits on a Fellowes Booklift Copy Holder next to my laptop and two monitors. I still mirror the blocks in Google Calendar, but it’s the BB Sync page that’s the base, GCal is just a digital copy, and archive, once I ticked off tasks by adding [x] in front of them. I also cross out the tasks on BB Sync, and occasionally add more time to a task, if I’d underestimated the timing. But I protect the high value added blocks. The key change is that I no longer use GCal for time blocking, as it was too easy to keep moving blocks as time moves and as I fail to accomplish them. I could in fact just use a piece of paper on a clipboard instead of BB Sync, but it’s easier to prop up BB Sync on the Fellowes stand, and there is the benefit of keeping the digital record, should I want that.
2. I surprised myself by eventually adopting Gingko for the “one-thing-at-a-time” system, to work as a digital version of using a “one index card per major task” method. The trick was to only use just one column, which then turns into a list of index cards in descending order of urgency and importance. The benefit of using Gingko for this is that it is cross-platform, and so even on my iPod Touch I can see the top card in Safari if I need to. It is also easy to rearrange the cards with keyboard shortcuts, to zoom into a single card, and to filter by category (e.g. #research, #teaching etc.).
Mobile hybrid version (I haven’t quite tested this yet):
1. Silvine Ruled Pocket Notebook 143x90mm for doing the time blocking and scheduling. It’s small, it’s cheap, it has a marker ribbon, an elasticated strap to help keep it closed or open, and a fold-out pocket on the inside back cover which can fit 5"x3” index cards.
2. Silvine ruled index cards 5"x3” (127x77mm) in assorted colour to replicate the Gingko index cards, if necessary. I happen to have exactly 5 categories, which can be represented by the 5 different colours (with white cards added separately).
The rest of my system hasn’t changed, i.e. I still use WorkFlowy as inbox for new tasks, archiving completed tasks, and tracking delegated tasks, and I still use Google Sheets to record my daily productive times vs. breaks (you could call these Pomodoros, but I don’t follow a strict timing for the Pomodoros, as I find that these change for me depending on the nature of the task, the day of the week, the location I’m in, and all kinds of other environmental factors that affect my energy and attention levels).
I also keep a daily journal that I write at the end of the day, and the Google Sheets list helps me remember what I had done. GSheets also allows me to track in real time whether my breaks are getting too long or whether I’m being productive enough (e.g. I can record how many words I’ve written per time period, or how many pages I’ve read). It also tells me when to stop for the day or continue, as it gives me the total productive hours of a day, which I can compare to my running average.
As I said, I still need to test the mobile system. But my productivity has improved markedly, I’ve managed to keep a clear email box and stay on top of things, and my prioritisation has improved. It became much clearer to me how much time I have realistically available, and so it’s easier to decline offers now for new projects because I just know I wouldn’t be able to get them done.
I am extremely grateful for all the help and advice I’ve received from this forum. I didn’t have a chance to get back to everyone’s post, but I have read and reflected on all of them, and I very much appreciate all the help, even the commiserations (thank you @Ken :) Needless to say that this is an absolutely amazing community and I am very fortunate to have come across it years ago.