tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59305232011-04-21T21:59:01.939-04:00The MasterList BlogMusings from the creator of The MasterListTMLnoreply@blogger.comBlogger781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-13924086189804312132009-02-13T19:22:00.010-05:002009-02-17T10:47:10.721-05:00COMPLEXITY FIELDSWherever you are, you are on a journey of possible actions. Whatever is near at hand is the field of action you are likely in, have just left, or about to enter. Whatever is far can be rehearsed and visualized, but is not tangible. Close is more physical. Far is more metaphysical.So, being in the now, zen-like means staying with what is close and putting what is far in its TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-35339429279364598502008-12-30T10:40:00.000-05:002009-02-17T10:45:32.417-05:00THE SECRET TO MULTI-TASKINGThe secret to multi-tasking is to create a beacon or marker for all tasks that are not the one that you are currently working on. The reason is that multi-tasking always involves leaving-off where you once were to switch or change to another task. This switching creates the possibility that you will forget, delay, or otherwise not get back to the task you switched TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-44165962092428300882007-12-16T21:23:00.000-05:002007-12-17T06:05:43.949-05:00THE POWER OF ALGORITHMIC THINKINGBelieve it or not. Running the term "algorithmic thinking" on Google, I come up with 10,500 hits. What does this mean? When we discovered mechanics, we became mechanical. We are now becoming computational. Not because our computers are computing for us, but because we are mimicking them in what we do at a personal level. Can we integrate our algorithmic TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-17807991324947842592007-11-15T02:18:00.000-05:002007-11-28T22:31:13.512-05:00THE MASTERLIST IS MY BRAINThe MasterList is a relational database I invented in 1998. For 10 years the idea and the reality of it have been my constant working companion. For 3 or 4 years, my wife Jo-Anne and I successfully sold hundreds of licenses annually to end-users to manage their lives and careers. Because I can't live or breathe without threading my thoughts, ideas, and actions through TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-79523188965630915982007-07-31T06:58:00.000-04:002007-07-31T08:08:09.131-04:00DECISIONEERINGA plan is not a decision. A database is a place to lay out choices, but it is not a decision-making tool. You are the decision making tool. The MasterList helps you make decisions by giving you the ability to organize lists and track task queues by project, category, type, priority, chronology. It allows you to view fields of activities with related knowledge connected in. ThisTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-78180672129696628922007-06-17T09:43:00.000-04:002007-06-17T10:25:13.425-04:00OPEN LETTER TO MICROSOFT: THE PERFECT TO DO LISTThe perfect to do list is a blank piece of paper or vanilla white computer screen, with all the world in order, just the way you want it. Nothing to list.The perfect to do list exists only in the perfect world.The perfect world is one where all actions are balanced out and all end objects of action are perfectly clear. Nothing to do but what is TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1169304742816341952007-01-20T09:30:00.000-05:002007-01-20T10:20:53.246-05:00MY GO LISTUsers often ask us about The MasterList: How Do I Use the Task Tracker button to organize what I do?Here is a good example of how the Task Tracker can cut across all your categorical projects to bring together a special aspect common to all projects, as if that aspect was a single project. I call it My Go List.Here's an actual Example from my Home MasterList database. Among my dozens TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1164192968392648682006-11-22T05:38:00.000-05:002006-12-09T09:39:32.730-05:00THE MASTERLIST IS AN IDEAFirst and foremost, The MasterList is an idea. You can create a MasterList without a computer or a software program and write-it-up in the sand on a desert island.A MasterList is nothing more than a system of integrated project lists, with connections to everything you can think of and want to have notations about, to help you understand any part of it anytime you touch TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1160324093353148332006-10-08T11:55:00.000-04:002006-10-08T12:16:43.286-04:00TAKE CHARGE WITH THE MASTERLISTAll action on projects, cases, or mere PWIP (Personal or Professional Work in Process) involves a direction,with flow, through a continuum of potential action choices, which are focalized assemblages of actual, visualized, or conceptualized possibilities. Taking charge of the direction, flow, and choice of potential actions in your project, case, or PWIP environmentTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1157300352357333152006-09-03T11:53:00.000-04:002006-09-04T08:40:57.776-04:00PWIP: HOW TO EFFICIENTLY MOVE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL WORK PRODUCT INVENTORY (WORKLOAD) TO CLOSUREI call work product an actual or potential action for which incept has been recognized and which requires work (sequence of behavior routines) to reach closure (DONE vs. still in the process of getting it done, or thinking about getting it done.) I call work product inventory the sum of all my TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1156770513595141892006-08-28T08:50:00.000-04:002006-08-28T09:13:37.386-04:00QUESTIONS ON INCREMENTAL HANDLINGq: Sounds like you are writing poetry and your message is not clear. What does incremental mean?a: An increment is a unit of action. To increment means to break into pieces or steps. Usually pieces in steps. Sequenced action in small bites. The Japanese call incremental improvement Kaizen. Alan Lakein talked about "swiss-cheesing" large projects in small TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1156602446691581912006-08-26T10:16:00.000-04:002006-08-26T10:36:04.136-04:00THE PRINCIPLE OF INCREMENTAL HANDLING OF ACTIONAction can be handled. Action can be incremental. But, it is the handling of it that provides the increments. Action is a flow or flux that is non-stop. The crush of a river cannot be stopped. But, you can dig a ditch and shunt the river another way. Then, you build a dam over the great precipice. Later there are steps to gate the ditch and TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1154811974726178012006-08-05T16:20:00.000-04:002006-08-05T18:08:50.636-04:00HOW I OPERATE IN MULTIPLE FIELDS OF ACTION, USING THE MASTERLISTThe future is a field of possible actions, some of which are too many to calculate, some of which are completely unknown, some of which we are bound to like slaves, and some of which have roots and causes that bind us to them for reasons we are not even clear about. There could be other possible reasons or explanations for future TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1138071154556203742006-01-23T21:35:00.000-05:002006-01-23T21:59:58.893-05:00HOW TO HANDLE THE POSSIBLEThe MasterList takes a practical approach to applying a relational database to bring any action into context with any other action. This commonality of context is called a "project". When it comes to action, the past is prologue. All meaningful action is either already irreversible or it is potential action. The MasterList deals with potential action. Potential action TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1137041741067628642006-01-11T23:29:00.000-05:002006-01-12T00:02:18.533-05:00MINDING THE ACTIONFor purposes of action management, in professional or legal environments, a problem is a phenomenal disturbance in a field of composed elements.The job of the professional is not only to compose complex fields that function in the real world towards some purpose, but to manage the disturbances that affect the "composure" of the field.We maintain that the secret to maintaining TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1136738202464955632006-01-08T09:26:00.000-05:002006-01-08T16:52:20.236-05:00THE MASTERLIST WORKS WELL WITH FIREFOXOne of our older computers still has Windows 98 as an operating system and, accordingly, an older version of Internet Explorer. Lately, many newer and updated websites are too complex for this older version of Internet Explorer to handle. So, we switched this computer to Firefox.Voila! Much faster screen pull-up of internet links. The best news is that TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1132486788392824092005-11-20T07:36:00.000-05:002006-01-08T11:47:57.246-05:00THE MASTERLIST IS A LEAN TOOLThe MasterList is a lean tool for organizing the process of personal and professional time and task management. Without any tool, all that remains undone and piling up around us is chaos. Tools like Outlook only take you one level up from chaos. Not enough. The MasterList applies relationality to chaos (unorganized time and tasks) by providing an organizing system orTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1132484095481018692005-11-19T07:50:00.000-05:002005-11-20T06:47:11.206-05:00WHAT IS THE MASTERLIST?*The MasterList is a software system for getting things done.*It is a project-centric to-do manager.*It is a step-up from a PIM (personal information manager) in that it organizes calendar, to-dos, and contacts by project; and, adds in notes and linking tools.*It even relates project email to project task screens.WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THE MASTERLIST?*It provides an TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1131287280666976502005-11-06T09:26:00.000-05:002005-11-06T10:02:06.463-05:00SUPER-PRIORITIES: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW TO USE THE MASTERLIST TO IDENTIFY THEM AND WORK THEMHOW THE MASTERLIST STRUCTURE SOLVES THE PROBLEM OF JUGGLING PRIORITIESWhen priorities get bottle-necked at a single day, we refer to this as a "queuing issue". It's what's responsible for all those piles on your desk, the backed up email, and the mental stress. The MasterList system is designed to attack TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1130727607734211652005-10-30T21:58:00.000-05:002005-11-06T09:30:10.600-05:00A NEW INSIGHT INTO APPLYING PRIORITIZATION TECHNIQUE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF TO-DOS WITH THE MASTERLIST. In the past, I have used this Blog to hype The MasterList, to explain its key features, and to advocate how the design might be changed to make it work and fit in the Virtual World of the Future. But, I have never explained, in any real depth, how I personally use The MasterList, for what TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1130076052105455302005-10-23T09:58:00.000-04:002005-10-23T10:39:22.023-04:00THE TO-DO LIST IS THE FULCRUMThe To-Do List is the fulcrum of a personal or professional organization system. Everything else centers on it. A calendar is a subset of a to-do list with mandatory requirements as to time.If you understand how people really do things, then you can attempt to create a software system that is harmonious with personal and professional management reality. The to-do TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1127660291809033372005-09-25T10:54:00.000-04:002005-09-25T11:28:06.796-04:00BEST TO-DO LIST SOFTWARE ON THE PLANETWHAT IS A TO-DO?A To-Do is a proposed action that has linear direction to an objective (object, target, goal). A To-Do may be singular or complex. Getting a cup of coffee may involve walking across the room and picking up an already brewed cup on the table. Or, it may involve going to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee (and what to-do while it is brewing?).TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1127053524093283402005-09-18T10:24:00.000-04:002005-09-18T14:42:18.863-04:00A JUST IN TIME ANALYSIS OF THE LITIGATION PROCESS DEMONSTRATES WHY THE MASTERLIST IS A TOOL, GENERALLY, FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENTJust In Time (JIT) Inventory is a method for timing the delivery of assembly components to a manufacturer from a supplier so that the manufacturer does not have to maintain a warehouse of "stock" components, but gets them delivered directly from the manufacturer only when TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1121909807617767482005-07-17T21:27:00.000-04:002005-07-20T22:06:10.253-04:00WORKING LEANThe MasterList is a tool for working lean. We have previously written about The MasterList and triage, The MasterList and the "pull" system in the Toyota Way, and The MasterList and prioritization.Most lean tools are applied to streamline system-wide, enterprise-wide processes to improve labor productivity. However, there is one service process that continues to elude systemization.TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1120822111304204522005-07-04T07:27:00.000-04:002005-07-09T08:01:05.533-04:00BOXING THE PROJECT We all know about thinking outside the "box". What does it mean to think inside the box? Indeed, what is the "box"? When Des Cartes wrote "I think, therefore I am", he was defining the Mind vs. the world vs. his physical and instinctive behavior as the "box". An action to arise to the level of a potential project must not only engage your physical and behavioral self and TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1112359728280775492005-04-02T07:37:00.000-05:002005-04-02T08:22:31.776-05:00COGNITIVE MAPPING THRU THE TRANSACTIONAL ENVIRONMENTA cognitive map is a sketch designed to show the relative location, orientation, and attributes of phenomena in mental, spatial, and transactional environments.A transactional environment is an action/task/project landscape that has boundaries, horizon lines, co-oridinates, elements, pieces, and players. A transactional environment is subject toTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1112273335296584942005-03-27T07:29:00.000-05:002005-04-02T08:15:14.823-05:00FLEXIBLE FIELD APPROACH VS. FIXED FIELD APPROACHMost enterprise software takes a Fixed Field Approach to managing information and data. If it doesn't have a field, there is no place to input it. And, by extrapolation, you lack permission to handle it. Fixed Field Approach databases have the following characteristics:1. Your employer requires you to use it.2. It is unique to your industry, or TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1109535330207360312005-02-27T15:01:00.000-05:002005-02-27T15:21:38.190-05:00MANAGING THE AD HOC PATH The MasterList is a tool of control of self and control of the environment, or field of action, which allows the self to operate upon itself and upon the world with greater capacity for obtaining precisely intended results.It is a system or method which embodies a strategy for managing the ad hoc path.Each small encounter in life is a possible critical point on the ad hocTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1109679031445298302005-02-26T06:59:00.000-05:002005-03-01T07:10:31.446-05:00SIDESLIPPING THE WHAT-NOT TO DOOn paths of potential action there are numerous critical points that lie around and ahead. In a multi-project environment, they can arise from almost anywhere and take some time and study to foresee. On such a path, there is a premium on evaluation. What is not critical should be side-stepped, gotten back to later, or never.Try this. As you sense that you are on TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1109854212239328692005-02-25T07:30:00.000-05:002005-03-03T08:15:37.766-05:00EXPERIMENT WITH FIRING ORDEREvery complex action has a sequence, which is a connected string of critical tasks that must be accomplished on time or the action (project) will fail of its aim or goals.Every action-taker (person, professional, agent, actor, origo) has a plate full of multiple action strings. These can be worse than spaghetti, or dna, for sorting out. Isolated strands lay here and TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1103483663772357722004-12-19T14:12:00.000-05:002004-12-19T14:14:23.773-05:00THE MASTERLIST
MASTERY + DISCIPLINE = FLOW
The MasterList is a tactical tool that provides focus and creates an organizational matrix for action, aka GTD.
As such it requires a limited discipline.
Once you understand a handful of basics, you achieve great flow in getting things done. The discipline is no more difficult than sitting still to meditate, proper swing dynamics for hitting a pitch,TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1103470943743078132004-12-17T19:38:00.000-05:002004-12-19T14:11:54.520-05:004 TIPS FOR BEST USAGE OF THE MASTERLIST (TML)
1. Any time you are working on anything, open or
create a related TML project.
2. As you work within the context of a TML project screen, start collecting notes, ideas, links; link in related email folders, document folders, etc; and build up a knowledge-object matrix, around the nucleus of the project.
3. Any time you get any to-do idea TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1102862177895062632004-12-12T09:26:00.000-05:002004-12-19T10:33:57.530-05:00THE SECRET LIES IN CENTERING, YOU KNOW
Who is at the center of all you do? You, of course. And when you survey all your responsibilities and obligations, whether mental, listed, or piled-up on desks and counters, isn't it like a thousand strands of light reaching into 1000 little worlds.
Think of one obligation you have today. Can you see yourself there? What do you need to do to get TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1101049062958418942004-11-21T09:19:00.000-05:002004-11-21T10:19:40.836-05:00METHOD: FRESH START TO-DO LIST WITH MORNING CUP OF COFFEE
I begin each day at home or at the office by sitting down at my computer with a cup of coffee. I check my email and study online news sources, then I click the program icon for The MasterList to get down to business.
My first chore is to manage my inventory of to-dos. To do that, I simply hit the My Day button. Let's say that 48 TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1100360988274068342004-11-13T10:41:00.001-05:002004-11-14T08:11:56.510-05:00HOW THE MASTERLIST MANAGES CONTEXT.
The MasterList is a to-do list system for organizing context around clusters of to-dos called "projects".
Context means defining a situational environment that goes beyond merely defining the present actions being undertaken; or, some particular actions to be taken in future.
The MasterList does this by defining contextual space designed to connect TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1100088508662187292004-11-10T07:03:00.000-05:002004-11-11T07:05:06.996-05:00BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Somebody pointed out to us the other day that The MasterList is not as cosmetically appealing as several other "more beautiful" programs. We know The MasterList could look better on the cosmetic side. And, when we have the Venture Capital for VIDA our web-based virtual integrative desktop application, we will invest a good chunk in a cosmetic make-over.
But, stop to think TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1099848889473224492004-11-07T13:25:00.000-05:002004-11-07T15:43:45.803-05:00THE MASTERLIST "007": SECRET WEAPON IN THE GAME OF LIFE
What I like most about The MasterList is that it's my very own relational database. I can track anything and relate it to anything else in any way I want.
What other program can do that for me?
If I didn't have The MasterList, I could try, for instance, to make a project to-do list in word processing or in a spreadsheet. But, can a TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1099401300072040162004-11-02T06:53:00.000-05:002004-11-02T08:21:35.286-05:00TWELVE PRINCIPLES FOR KILLER APPLICATION DESIGN FOR THE YEAR 2010
1. BE A RELATIONAL DATABASE.
2. HOST THE DATA-BASE AND CLIENT-SERVER APP ON A WEB-SERVER FARM.
3. BE UBIQUITOUS.
4. BE INTELLIGENT.
5. BE SHAREABLE.
6. BE THE FIRST THING ANY USER SEES WHEN THEY TURN ON THEIR PC.
7. BE ACCESSIBLE FROM ANY DEVICE.
8. INCLUDE A PIM AND EMAIL (AND SYNC TO MAJOR COMPETITORS' EMAIL).
TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1099228075490402272004-10-31T10:48:00.000-05:002004-11-01T07:27:18.296-05:00IS OUTLOOK MUCH MORE THAN A PIM? NO! IS THERE A BETTER DESIGN FOR A MASS-MARKETED ORGANIZER? YES!
BACKGROUND: I read the other day that demand for handheld devices is down. Wireless Mag. Decline of PDA. Focal point of the story is this statement from David Linsalata, an analyst at IDC (International Data Corporation) in Framingham, MA: "In the face of intense competition from converged mobile TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1098637663028176512004-10-24T13:56:00.000-04:002004-10-26T20:16:57.236-04:00HAS GOOGLE GOT THE DESKTOP RIGHT YET? NO!
CAN MICROSOFT STILL GET IT RIGHT? YES!
BACKGROUND: After shredding the clunkiness of Microsoft's Windows Explorer folder structure and Find function, Rob Pegoraro writes today in his column Fast Forward in the Washington Post: "Google Desktop eliminates the need to use the often slow and clumsy search tools built into Microsoft's Web, e-mail and Office TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1098538018570964772004-10-23T09:48:00.000-04:002004-10-24T11:17:28.533-04:00AT LEAST I'M NOT RADIOACTIVE
STORY: I've got something to say, something to do, something I was born to do, and by golly I guess I plan to do it. I suppose it's time I start screaming from the rooftops. Let's face it. This blog is my soapbox for The MasterList, in its current manifestation, and for a future vision for a desktop application that is web-based, which I call VIDA.
FIVE WHYS:
1.TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1097343671130042622004-10-09T13:26:00.000-04:002004-10-11T19:16:20.720-04:00LEVELING YOUR WORKLOAD WITH THE MASTERLIST
Principle No. 4 of the Toyota Way = "Heijunka. Level out The Workload." We can do this on an assembly line by creating flow, regulating stockpiling through just-in-time delivery of inventory, dividing the line into segments that have equal time increments, and creating teams within line segments that know all the aspects of all jobs within their unit.TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1097360355528127342004-10-03T18:18:00.000-04:002004-10-09T18:19:15.526-04:00I RARELY PUT TESTIMONIALS IN THIS BLOG, instead dropping them at the offical website for The MasterList. But, I can’t resist this comment by Kendra Kebler, one of our users who used an older version of The MasterList and has now switched to the current version: “WOW! Bill, this is fabulous. I've had the time and the clarity of thought to work with [the new version of] Masterlist for 2 weeks now,TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1097236331860825442004-09-27T07:51:00.000-04:002004-10-23T08:57:07.593-04:00ORIGINS AND DIRECTIONS
What about the future of desktop search as relate to The MasterList? Indeed, it is our goal at The MasterList to partner with a web-server player (or, with VC, to do it ourselves)to create a web-based desktop organizer that is the one, true VIDA (Virtual Integrative Desktop Application.)
In this genre, there are 3 potentials. 1.) Pure desktop search. Walk into a house TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1096219898138085732004-09-26T13:03:00.000-04:002004-10-08T07:49:43.043-04:00TRIAGE, TRIER, TRIEUR
I just learned that I have been operating under a misconception. I always assumed that "triage" was related to the word "three", meaning to divide into task queues by 3's. Example. High. Medium. Low. It turns out that is logistically quasi-accurate. But, as a matter of word origins, it seems that Triage relates to the French transitive verb "trier", meaning to pick, TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1094915361448191382004-09-11T10:52:00.000-04:002004-09-12T09:49:41.560-04:00PULL SYSTEMS VS. PUSH SYSTEMS: WHERE DOES THE MASTERLIST STAND?
If you know me, our product The MasterList, read the postings in this Blog, or White Papers on our product website, you maybe have seen the following terms over time: kaizen, incremental improvement, just-in-time inventory, Edward Deming, landscape theory, complexity landscape, action sequence, event horizon, deixis (here-there, TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1093789280641284702004-08-29T09:35:00.000-04:002004-08-29T13:23:45.530-04:00HELP THE CREAM RISE TO THE TOP
We all know that cream rises to the top. That's an analogy often applied to innate talent. You think it would apply to priorities too. But, does it?
Let's take my method of starting a "White" Paper of to-dos from scratch every morning, right off the top of my Mind, to get what I call a Fresh Start To-Do List. That's cream.
But, what about the things I don'tTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1093576873372056112004-08-26T13:44:00.000-04:002004-10-23T13:26:51.183-04:00"WHITE" PAPER
WHY DID I CREATE THE MASTERLIST?
I choose doing over not doing, thinking over not thinking, seeing over not seeing, analyzing over not analyzing, relating over not relating, connecting over not connecting, simplifying over not simplifying, striving over not striving, raising my hand over sitting quietly in my seat sitting on my hands.
Give me an active verb any time over a TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1093196809466367582004-08-22T14:22:00.000-04:002004-08-23T19:10:00.146-04:00A KING'S COURT OF TO-DOS
At my computer, my office chair is my throne. And, from here I can see all there is for me to see. (Or, get up and go see it.) Do all that there is for me to do. (Or get up and go do it. Or, delegate it.) Know all that there is for me to know. (Or, run search terms on Google.) Imagine the limits of all that I can know and conceive. Imagine all the objects within TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1091972739280894202004-08-08T09:28:00.000-04:002004-08-08T09:58:58.396-04:00HOUSE DECLUTTERING
We recently got the following question at The MasterList
I'm looking for something to keep me moving with decluttering my home. Is The MasterList adaptable for my need?
YES. Remember that for all my writing about matrixes, and action landscapes at this blog, The MasterList is fantastically simple to get up and running and great for simplifying anything that is complex in TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1091140984431101002004-07-29T20:11:00.000-04:002004-07-31T08:13:14.446-04:00THINKING CAP
I've had my thinking cap on lately trying to figure how to explain why The MasterList matrix is uniquely attractive to elite professionals and why it would make a great web-based VIDA.
Here's some thoughts.
Let's begin with Deixis, Deictic Space, Ideas as Objects, To-dos as Ideas, and complexity landscapes as configurations for organizing a deictic field of intellectual objects TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1090630171016072962004-07-23T20:49:00.000-04:002004-10-23T08:53:24.440-04:00QUESTION: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MASTERLIST AND VIDA?
The MasterList is a LAN-based software system for connecting 6 data spokes relating to knowledge about anything through the centering concept of a project. The 6 spokes are to-do, calendar, contacts, email, internet links, PC/LAN file links. The to-do component is what makes the project-orientation happen. Collected knowledge TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1090079980884892452004-07-17T11:51:00.000-04:002004-07-17T11:59:40.883-04:00THE MASTERLIST MATRIX
6 spokes surrounding a hub.
The hub is the project.
The 6 spokes are calendar, to-do list, contacts, email, URL links, PC/LAN file links.
The to-do spoke is the center-pole or umbrella handle that holds it all together.
We coined the term IDA (Integrative Desktop Application) for this.
We are in the process of going web-based. See 6 spokes anytime, anywhere.
We TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1090016381589834632004-07-16T10:19:00.000-04:002004-10-23T08:51:55.700-04:00PROSPECTUS: VIDA
VIRTUAL INTEGRATIVE DESKTOP APPLICATION
On February 26, 2004, I wrote that The MasterList was going for Venture Capital this year so that we could fan out and give users a competitive edge on the global playing field.
On May 23, 2004,I defined the 6 realms of computer organization that The MasterList brings together in one package, we call an IDA (Integrative Desktop TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1088944117080741702004-07-04T08:02:00.000-04:002004-07-04T08:38:38.046-04:00SET THEORY
Set theory is genetically embedded in us going back about 25,000 years at least. Set theory is how we organize by relation, identity, complement, and intersection. If we don’t have sets -bins, closets, folders, projects, boxes, and drawers - all we have is infinity. If it’s not organized, it’s chaos. Sets are conceptual boxes.
The secret of The MasterList paradigm is that it TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1087736874813826572004-06-20T11:47:00.000-04:002004-06-25T07:27:48.570-04:00A PRESCRIPTION FOR GETTING CONTROL OF YOUR WORKING SPACE
The MasterList is a computerized to-do management system. It works in tandem with other disciplines to help you clear up the work aspect of your personal and professional space. Here are some practical strategies for co-ordinating the concept of triage with the to-do management techniques embodied in The MasterList:
SOME FACTS OF LIFE TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1087135174091559802004-06-06T14:41:00.000-04:002004-06-13T10:28:38.266-04:00THE CENTERED TO-DO LIST. AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO COMPUTER DATA ORGANIZATION.
In a recent Blog, I wrote how the to-do list is the centering mechanism for the 6 realms of computer organization. With an organizing principle you have consistency, connection, and an inter-weaving of theme. The reason we organize is to take action. And, action requires vision and focus.
So, just as an athlete TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1087132045307141202004-05-23T12:04:00.000-04:002004-06-13T09:37:14.150-04:00THE 6 REALMS OF COMPUTER ORGANIZATION + 4
The following can be regarded as the most important elements of organizing data with a computer: - (1) The calendar. (2) The to-do list. (3) Contacts. (4) Email. (5) Internet Links. (6) PC and LAN file links. I call these the 6 Realms of Computer Organization.
To these can be added 4 more organizational realms that are not governed by the computer: - (TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1084722554317673402004-05-16T11:47:00.000-04:002004-05-16T18:27:22.623-04:00THE GTD MOVEMENT
The acronym GTD (Getting Things Done) is really catching on. GTD used to mean “Going The Distance”. But all that has changed. The quantitative approach to GTD has become the qualitative approach to GTD. More and more GTD means GTN (Getting To Now) by applying mental tools (including software such as The MasterList and concepts such as those espoused by David Allen) to empty the TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1084637195027397942004-05-15T11:47:00.000-04:002004-05-15T12:18:01.653-04:00WHY THE MASTERLIST IS PROJECT-CENTRIC
This question has come up in the GTD (Getting Things Done) community: Why is it difficult to track tasks without jumping from project to project?
The answer is simple. Life is filled with boundless complexity. There are lots of balls in the air, plans built on unknowns, and decisions to be made that defy single-focus tracking of unique tasks. If we TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1084493773772882152004-05-04T20:02:00.000-04:002004-05-13T21:34:50.753-04:00THE MAGIC OF TO-DOS
I went to a retreat recently at a cozy farm in the hills of Ohio close on the side of a small hidden valley carved by glacial melt and now fed by an ancient spring. Our host is a well-read man, Ted, a student of wholeness, and a very busy person. He spends his days reading, writing, consulting, working in his green house, tending his 60 acres to look in spots like the best TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1083111974881600232004-04-27T20:05:00.000-04:002004-04-27T20:31:17.996-04:00THE SACRED REALM OF WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT
Almost everyone who purchases The MasterList, without exception, uses it to manage and organize the core of who they are personally and/or professionally. To the extent that we are what we do, this product goes right to the heart of who we are. If you own The MasterList and are devoted to getting it together personally and professionally, The MasterList TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1082910108991318262004-04-25T12:20:00.000-04:002004-04-25T14:38:34.060-04:00THE ULTIMATE TO-DO PLANNER
First there was the sun calendar. Then, there was the wall calendar. After that came the clock tower and the wrist watch. Then, there was the day planner and Outlook. The MasterList is the next technological leap forward in to-do planning.
By the way, Outlook does not allow you to plan to-dos, it just allows you to list them. That list gets carried day to day asTMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1082979308202629572004-02-26T19:33:00.000-05:002004-04-27T20:36:43.560-04:00WAVE OF FOCUS
The MasterList is a computer system that enhances personal and professional focus on the planning and execution of to-dos. Call them projects, call them plans, call them tasks, call them to-dos. They are all made up of building blocks and take form like a molecular structure. They link together, like interweaving chains, across time and across organizations both spatially and TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1078277225966286362004-02-14T21:27:00.000-05:002004-03-03T08:07:07.340-05:00TO-DO MANAGEMENT AND THE CONE OF FOCUS
The present is a position that can be fixed by your location in space-time relative to all cognizable points of reference. A cone of focus is an attempt to narrow cognizable points of reference. The purpose of a cone of focus is to identify a goal. The distance between the present and a goal is a direction of achievement. The means to achieving a goal TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1075578378128403962004-01-31T14:46:00.000-05:002004-01-31T16:03:01.263-05:00PIECE OF CAKE
Let's start with "I have heavy deadlines for Monday".
OK. In the past week, what method did you use to get ready to meet those deadlines. Did that work?
That leaves the question, What Works?
How do you take a complex field clustered with thousands, hundreds, dozens of to-dos and reduce it to a "cone of focus". What single task represents "the optimal use of your time right TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1074167534213440472004-01-14T20:39:00.000-05:002004-01-15T07:07:46.090-05:00STRATEGIC VISION
Jo and I got to talking the other day about the vision of The MasterList in response to an inquiry from a consultant who runs numerous mega projects helping manufacturers of a certain highly crafted, vertically integrated product that is varietal from state to state and region to region.
My point was that in dealing with management reality there are at least 3 spheres, phases, TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1074969841139310472003-12-24T13:44:00.000-05:002004-01-24T14:31:51.420-05:00IT'S OFFICIAL: THE TO-DO MANAGEMENT MOVEMENT IS HERE
The MasterList is at the forefront of a movement which we call the "to-do management movement". Or, "the to-do movement" for short. Other forerunners in the movement are to-do management guru David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, as well as Gregg Krech, founder of The To-Do Institute.
In case you didn't notice, we just christened TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1073865804142192752003-12-11T19:03:00.000-05:002004-01-11T19:54:24.250-05:00DIALOGUE: ORACLES AND TO-DOS
JO: Tell me how The MasterList got started.
BILL: I put in a lot of thinking and pragmatic meditation on the problem of to-dos, what are they, why do they pester us, why are we always focusing on them. How do we master them. My original thought was that I would wish for an Oracle who could answer the question: What Do I do Next?
JO: Could an Oracle solve the TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1073225801151681532003-12-04T21:12:00.000-05:002004-01-04T12:17:53.186-05:00SHOOTING GALLERY OF TO-DOS
Unsorted. Unorganized. Backlogged. Careening. Waiting to be done. Needs to be done first. Most important. Most scary. Pending. Not filed. First in. Last in. List. The List. Lists. Find the List. Organize the List. Too many items on the List. Countless items. Counting the days, hours, minutes. Unimportant information. Jumbled information. TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1070217906642135802003-11-30T13:45:00.000-05:002004-01-04T09:19:54.450-05:00REALITY MANAGEMENT TOOL
There are separate realities. Home. Work. Nature. Spirituality. Family. Projects. Clients. Games. Themes. Goals. Then, there is the present reality. Desk. Paper. Analysis. Plans. Implementations. Then, there are the competing realities. Time. Obligations. People. Events. Promises. Dreams. Ideas.
What's needed is a reality tool. I would wear it TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1070204325222473572003-11-20T21:51:00.000-05:002003-11-30T10:05:27.780-05:00THE GEOMETRY OF LISTS
All problems can be reduced to physical and temporal components which define the nexus of the problem, the process for solution or correction, and the product which is the end-point of the process. A list is a geometric text grid with a primary vertical axis that is used to "lay-out" elements of problems, processes, and product.
The human mind sees problems and processes TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1068427688138806952003-11-09T20:28:00.000-05:002003-11-09T20:36:35.486-05:00WHAT'S THE QUESTION?
Let's suppose you are a hard-charging person trying to close-out the messy zone in your life. That you are on a quest to defeat the seemingly inexhaustible variety of problems that are constantly trying to overwhelm you and remind you how finite life really is.
You are on the cusp of an insight. It could be spiritual. It could be emotional. It could be social. It could TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1067120866086283552003-10-25T18:27:00.000-04:002003-10-25T18:42:46.756-04:00THE ZEN GARDEN OF TRIAGE
There is so much to do and so little time to try, let alone do it all. Imagine a zen garden with a little gardener (with bi-focals and a straw hat) kneeling at a pond, feeding the gold fish. Into the garden, suddenly leap, 3 ninja each holding a telephone pressing it on the gardener to take the call. As he looks up from his goldfish, trying to concentrate, but also to TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1066960297980885612003-10-23T21:51:00.000-04:002003-10-23T22:40:33.503-04:003 WAYS TO PRIORITIZE.
Most people feel they need some kind of a system to prioritize their daily projects list. Here are 3 ways to handle prioritization and whittle that list down to the bare essentials.
1. TAKE THE LONG-RANGE VIEW. Assign the task to a future date. Don't do it now. Do it "just in time", later. There are various systems to accomplish this. The calendar comes to mind. TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1066355200349756442003-10-16T20:13:00.000-04:002003-10-16T22:13:07.193-04:00COUNT CARDS. TAKE 5 TO MAKE YOUR DAY.
Wouldn't it make your day if you had just enough to do and no more? If all the challenges that arose were a perfect fit for your capacity to handle them and not so much as put a crack in the retention wall of your capacity?
Who can do that? Aren't we supposed to be overwhelmed? Isn't that the basic idea?
Who can possibly get on top of it all? Well you TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1066184926243966712003-10-14T22:28:00.000-04:002003-10-14T22:48:57.550-04:00YES. DISCIPLINE IS INVOLVED.
Getting your act together requires discipline. The MasterList is a software tool for getting your professional act together. It's as easy as pie and using it will straighten out most of your moment to moment managerial issues as right as rain, but we never said that success with The MasterList came without the price of self-discipline.
Analogies abound. Diets. TMLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930523.post-1065944542043092722003-10-12T00:42:00.000-04:002003-10-12T12:49:11.580-04:00This is a test of a trial blog about The MasterList with Blogger.
TMLnoreply@blogger.com