I have a strong interest in personal productivity systems. I have wasted spent many an enjoyable hour investigating new systems, sometimes even toying with the rather shocking idea of changing my long-standing painfully-evolved system(s).
Since I was at school I have used paper diaries. My interest must have been present even then, for I have a collection of diaries in all shapes and sizes marching through my final years of school all the way (almost) up to the present (and that is a looong time). [As an aside I sometimes look at the gaps and … just … wonder … sad, but true!] Looking at them now I can still see (and understand) the system I developed just by doing it over and over and over.
For a long time I resisted (and actively disliked) computer calendaring and task management applications. I thought they were clumsy and crude (and they were in those days), and being a programmer just didn’t seem a good enough reason for me to believe that everything had to be a program.
In the end, though, my circumstances got the better of me. Working in a startup we all agreed on Lotus Organiser (amongst other things, there was more to the startup than that!). I kept my paper diaries, but the process had begun. Resistance was futile. I was to be assimilated.
Now here I am years later with a well developed system using Outlook and the usual lineup of paper support systems. I am well trained by David Allen’s Getting Things Done. I refined my Outlook system using Sally McGhee’s Take Back Your Life. It all seems to work … but I still get the feeling that something is missing.
This rambling began when I was reading some blogs and got pointed in a few interesting directions, and then I came across this … well … smattering of paper-based systems. I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. I was hooked.
So my thoughts are these (sheesh, was all that just an introduction?). I was wondering, which is better? I came up with these points.
Beauty. First and foremost is pure elegance and beauty. Programs can be “beautiful” in many ways, but that is not the beauty I mean. While a cool user interface impresses, I am not sure it is elegant in the way that a fine journal written by a high quality fountain pen can be. Even my motley collection of diaries (27 years worth!) looks an order of magnitude more interesting than the 10 centimetre thick double-sided printouts of my Outlook archive that I dump into old-fashioned document boxes every quarter. Paper wins (and I don’t mean the Outlook archive).
Real-ness. (I know, I know, it’s not a word). The beauty of data is that is is malleable, ephemeral and virtual. The problem with data is that it is malleable, ephemeral and virtual. A journal with written words is real, it is solid. For me I don’t take data seriously. It is too easy. I don’t need to think about it so I don’t. When you write something, well you think about what you write … not for a long time .. but for a moment. You reflect. Data is scattergun. Paper wins.
Hiding. A lot of work goes into user interfaces, with the noble intention of removing clutter. But I want clutter. I was thinking about project lists, and my need to write them out on paper. Currently they are all in Outlook – but they are all hidden inside the text of those little tasks that get collapsed into those endless piles of tasks crowded on top of each other until they scroll off the top and bottom of the screen. I can’t see anything! With paper I am in two modes. Between tasks I have a clean desk. While working my desk slowly clogs up with paper everywhere; I have notes, lists, diagrams, designs, bugs, ideas and on and on, and I have them everywhere, and I can see them all at once. I know what is going on. Paper wins.
The power of writing. I don’t know why, but there is something powerful about writing something. Sure people say you recall better if you write it down. But more than that, I believe that by writing you can tap into strong creative powers that are inaccessible while hitting the backspace key one too many times. Can you doodle with a keyboard? Can you diagram? (To those who say “sure I have program X” please stop reading now). With a keyboard I spend too much time worrying about the keyboard. With a pen I am free. Paper wins.
History and personality. Looking at my old diaries I can see myself sitting down and writing them, because I am looking at the words I wrote, and how I wrote them, and even the little mistakes I made. You can’t do that with keystrokes. They aren’t the same. Even though I use my own system with Outlook, I still use Outlook. Let’s face it, there are only so many unique things you can do with a program. The same with the printouts. They are dull, boring, homogenized and designed. They are information, but they are meaningless to me. I cannot imagine I would ever pause as I passed my bookshelves to take out a few pages of my old Outlook printouts from years ago, and fondly remember those days. Paper wins.
I originally intended this to be a bit more balanced, but I see that lurking inside me is my inner diarist. Computer programs do have advantages – they can be backed up, shared, processed and analysed. You can’t do that with paper. For these sorts of things, the pixels win.
But I see now that this was not really about a careful analysis. It was about something that I was passionate about, that I lost track of somewhere along the way.
Paper based links:
D*I*Y Planner | Paper, productivity & passion
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