Since I’ve got into the Getting Things Done (GTD) way of managing the things I have to do I’ve found I’m using less of my Time/system. Once you realise that you should only use dated pages for things you must do at a particular date or time, one great chunk of Time/system disappears.

Instead I stick all my appointments in one of three places:

• iCal, for personal things or for business activities that only apply to me;
• Basecamp, for business activities that involve me and someone else or which others need to know about;
• the Tickler File, when I’ve made a commitment to do something on a particular day, for example, a small piece of web design work.

Since the majority of my work is computer based and I always refer to my computer at least once a day, these arrangements mean that I no longer have any need for the diary in Time/system. The whole GTD philosophy does remove the nostalgic, historic nature of such diaries. I can no longer go back to a particular day and find out what I was doing then, but, it actually doesn’t matter!

And what about notes? I use my Time/system binder as an organiser of information, but I’m now using some GTD forms and notes. I’ve also found I use my Moleskine Pocket Sketch Book for small project notes and I’m liking it (and using it) just like the early days when I used a Filofax. For example, I can highlight the edges of a particular series of pages to show that they’re important, or relate to a particular project.

Furthermore, someone pointed out to me that you can number each page, and provide written next and back links to pages related to the same project. Use the front page of each sketch book to record which projects there are. Of course, date each entry. Very much a ‘less-is-more’ way of working.