Bonsai by Natara Software on a Palm TX is my GTD engine. I have used
Bonsai for 8 years (2.5 yrs. with GTD) and I'm very happy with it. I am
a math professor at a small college.
My key criteria are that a GTD system must be nimble enough that items
can be entered QUICKLY and robust enough to catch and track EVERYTHING.
Bonsai's features are ideal for GTD. My outlines have life areas/roles
at the top level (I know, sounds like Covey, and you're right) under
which are projects, which in turn are parents of next actions.
I can specify whether I want Bonsai to treat the children separately or
as sequential next actions; this is perhaps the single most powerful
feature of Bonsai that's not in a lot of other outliner applications.
It's then easy to filter into flat do lists by contexts. When I complete
an item, it's the sequential next action takes its place in the filter.
I sort by due date, but Bonsai has built in capability to filter by
today, tomorrow, this week, next week, etc.
When I check off an item, it records the completion date. I can filter
on Last Week (complete, incomplete, or both) which is great for my
weekly review.
I use the built in Palm contacts and datebook, but only by linking to
them via Bonsai to do items. The only thing that goes on my calendar
are places I have to be at a fixed time. If it only needs to be done
next Thursday (i.e. a one day sale) then it's a plain vanilla to do item
with next Thursday as the due date.
Someday/Maybe's are just items in the Bonsai outline that don't have a
due date. Again, I have a filter to bring them up all at once, or by
context.
Items can be configured in many ways that I don't even use. For
example, each item can be given a priority, start date, keywords, a
note, or a contact. All these can be used in filters, for example, to
list all next actions related to a certain client or even just the
software issues with that client.
I've thought about using priorities for Covey's urgency vs. importance
quadrants, but don't want to have to enter that for every item.
I can work on Bonsai either on my Palm TX or on its desktop companion
program, which I have open all day on my computer at work as my
dashboard.
My inboxes are e-mail and a 3"x4" composition book (index cards are too
big; Moleskine & Filoflexes are too pricey for my taste) that I carry
around everywhere for ubiquitous capture when I'm out & about, during
phone calls, etc. At the end of each day I enter into Bonsai whatever's
in my e-mail or the composition book.
Hope this helps,
Mark
--- In GtD_Palm <at> yahoogroups.com, "Jenifer Nelson" <jenmkconsultant <at> ...>
wrote:
>
> I saw a couple postings on B2B & i haven't been able to find anything
> on the web about it. Can you explain what it is & possibly a link to
> the software?
>
> Also: I'm thinking about getting either Bonsai or ShadowPlan to manage
> my Projects & 'lists'. Any suggestions/opinions of the
> positives/negatives?
> My husband just got a Centro (I have a 700p). We want to sync some
of
> our information like calendar & contacts. We would also like to use
> the same application (bonsai/shadowplan/other) & sync that as well to
> reduce duplicates & that way we both can help keep on top of things &
> help each other out. (He will only be using his Centro & project
> planning app for personal/home. I use mine for home as well as home
> based business which he helps me with occasionally.
> Do either of the list/project programs allow for syncing between two
> devices? Any suggestions on doing this?
>
> thanks!
> jenifer
>
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