Why iPhone?

I'm actually not an Apple fan. They make some fine products, but I've always been a bit turned off by the cult of Apple. I'm also turned off by the corporate arrogance of Apple.

Let's face it, if Microsoft created a computing platform and you could only buy software from Microsoft, there would be an outcry. That is basically what Apple is doing with the iTunes store. In fact, they recently took it one step further by claiming it is illegal to install your own software on your iPhone.

So why iPhone? It works and works pretty well. It was simple to set up and integrate with Exchange server. The browser is the best mobile browser. The user interface is probably the best out there so far for a mobile device. The only thing missing is copy and paste and I'll admit that is a fairly big gap.

Will it be iPhone forever? Probably not. Apple was a leader with the user interface on the original Macintosh, but it didn't take long for other systems to catch up. I expect other mobile device makers to continue to innovate.

Probably the one that holds the most promise is the Google Android platform. Unless Apple improves the situation with the iTunes application store, I expect Android to take the lead among users of mobile applications. (The iPhone may continue to lead with those who just want a cool phone or use the basic applications and iPod features.)

I know of at least one case where an Android application has been released before the iPhone app, even though the iPhone application came out 3 months earlier.

Even though the iPhone faces some challenges for serious mobile applications, there is one good thing about it--it supports Google applications reasonably well. That means I can do something on my PC and access it immediately on my iPhone. It's not perfect, but its good enough for me.

Why GTD?

Why did I start to look at Getting Things Done? First, I had heard good things about the system from a number of sources. Second, I definitely had the need.

I was an "organic organizer"--in other words, I put things here or there and just kept track of things in my head. It worked and I was confident in my system. People would see piles of stuff on my desk, but I did know where things were. If someone mentioned such-and-such project, I would go straight to the second pile from the left, look halfway down and pull out exactly the document I wanted.

The problem was that this system didn't scale. As I was dealing with more and more projects and had an increasing workload, my system broke down. David Allen has some good descriptions of what happens when you have too many "open loops". Basically, your brain can only keep track of so many things at once. Unless you have a way to manage your workload, you will be constantly thinking about all the things you need to do and spend less time actually getting them done.

At this point, I'm only getting started with GTD. Why did I settle on this methodology?

• It is relatively simple.
• It is based on sound principles that are consistently applied.
• The description of the problem seemed to fit my situation--I could really identify with the scenarios in the book.
• The buzz.

OK, I don't like to admit the last one, but I have to admit that GTD is getting a lot of attention these days.

I should probably add one more reason: I had to pick something. Sure, maybe there is a better system out there, but eventually I have to settle on something.

My Mission

Simply put, what I hope to achieve is to be able to implement David Allen's Getting Things Done using only the free tools available on Google. Add to that the fact that I have an Apple iPhone, so I really want to be able to make use of the tools from there.

This blog is really a personal journal, so I am focusing on what works for me. If anyone else reads this and wants to make use of this, feel free to send in suggestions or even document what works for you. The only requirements are 1) it implements GTD; 2) it uses Google.

The plan is that this will be one part log of experiments and successes and one part reference manual (assuming I am ultimately successful). If it runs it's course, it should happily succumb to Blog Death Syndrome, having ultimately served it's purpose.