Comments on: Order from Chaos 2a – “Before You Begin”

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:12:27 +0000

@thnidu: Yes, that is one of my bigger misgivings…I, too, have become used to the portability of the Palm and its ilk. However, both Marc and I have noticed that the more recent the model, the more prone it seems to being buggy.

That said, if I end up liking her system enough, I will probably use it, but keep the Palm as a backup.

I know from experience over the years that I am very good about making sure my Palm and paper devices have the same info, and I will definitely keep the Palm phone I currently have until it dies. However, I am not sure what I will do after that happens. It probably depends, to a large degree, on if I adopt either Ms. Davenport’s system, Ms. Morgenstern’s system (which I am planning to try after Ms. Davenport’s), or some combination of them with the Palm as the focus.

By: thnidu

thnidu — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:41:27 +0000

I just followed your link to Amazon’s page for the book and read the opening pages. I am in real need of organization, and I would like to see how you do with this… but I may not wait till you’ve gotten through the last step.

I find Palm too convenient to be without. I’m on my third PDA now, having started with a Handspring Visor, then moved my files to a Palm Tungsten T when that died, and a couple years ago to a T|X. And I back it up through HotSync every day.

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:43:56 +0000

@ Rebecca Laffar-Smith: According to Ms. Davenport, the concept of the Cockpit office is that you have the things you use on a daily basis within hands’ reach, the things you use on a weekly basis; the things you use weekly, within arms’ reach; the things you use monthly, in your office; and the things you use less frequently, outside your office.

I will be trying it, but not this week, since there are two small chapters preceding it.

I have read through the book once, and decided it is a system that sounds like it will work for me, so I am trying it, in the order she presents it.

I have one or two points I’m not sure about, such as her insistence on a written planner as opposed to the PDA I’ve been using for a decade and a half, but since I have been becoming disenchanted with Palm’s inability to make a machine that functions for more than a year or two, it seems reasonable to try the paper route again.

So, the short answer is that, yes, I will be trying her system, and I’m also looking forward to seeing if it works as well in real life as it does in her book!

And I promise to keep everyone posted as I go along!

By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Rebecca Laffar-Smith — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:30:59 +0000

I’d love to know more about her “cockpit office”. Can you break that down and paraphrase it so we have some idea what it means? Are you giving it a try this week? Will you put into action the steps she suggests as you read or are you reading the book before putting it into practice?

Sounds great so far and I’m looking forward to hearing more about this book and the guidance it offers.

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:32:06 +0000

@ Joanne: Heya, and welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere!

Before you rush out to grab the book, let’s see how I do with it. It looks rally good so far, but you never know if/when a snag will raise its ugly head. Don’t want to steer you to it until I’ve thoroughly checked it out.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:16:24 +0000

Given the “miles and miles of files, pretty files” taking up my space now, I think I need to get my hands on this book. Thanks.