5 posts tagged “david allen”

Yes KOLO is synonymous with archival/presentation and most often associated with photography, scrapbooking and art projects.  Their Essex Travel Book released this year seems like an odd addition to their product line-up but when you think about it, the whole idea of the Essex series is to bring the KOLO aesthetics and these associations from your archive to your everyday life.  You don't carry a typical KOLO product everyday, but you can carry an Essex all the time and treat it as a process to create your final archive/project.

How does this lead to the KOLO-GTD association?  If you've been a follower of Scription or lifehacker, you've probably seen my mind.Depositor and its subsequent version as a GTD index card cover.  Well, months ago when I received a long awaited Essex in leather, I decided that I wouldn't want to put it into rough use as a notebook.  So I employed the law of subtraction, took away the refills and elastic loops and made the cover my new GTD tool.

The medium size Essex is just right for the 6x4" index cards.  Since the elastic enclosure is quite strong and I don't intend to walk around dangling this, even though the index cards are not secured inside any pocket, I feel safe enough.

The back side of the window pocket becomes very useful to hold a notepad as a temporary drop box too, how perfect!   With a few more creative twist, you can secure the cards when enclosed, unfold the cover all the way to make an "A" stand so you can see your top index card in standing position, etc... I will leave this to you for fun.  Don't forget to share here or at Koloist.com if you decide to GTD this way.

This kit includes an all region code DVD plus one large and one small poster.  The poster is definitely a great tool for you to preach GTD in your office, it is created by Xplane which I'm a big fan of.

mind.Depositor attracted a lot of attention lately (Blog responses: GTDTimes, Moleskinerie, Koloist, David Allen Co., Lifehacking.jp, Geeks Guide To Productivity).  Here's something most of you didn't really notice in previous pictures - A GTD to-do template, done in the simplest form for your own flexibility.  Download the 4x6 in mind.Depositor GTD to-do Template here.

You can either print the above template on 4x6 papers, or use this plain version to print on your deck of index cards.  Enjoy!

I immediately put them into test, the files look great inside my black PU document box. Two problems came right away.  First, the size of the files is a just-fit for A4 documents, so if I have catalogs or booklets slightly bigger or tagged with post-its, they will protrude from either side and things become not so tidy.  The second thing is that despite their sturdiness on the tabs, when you put say two or more FastCompany magazines in it, the thin plastic simply doesn't hold the content well, the weight will make either the front cover or the back cover, where the tab is placed, drop below visible level.  Imagine you have catalogs/magazines/thick documents filed for reading in the next week, the tabs will start to look very untidy, you may not even be able to find a particular day without some fumbling.  This didn't happen for my paper based manila folders, for reasons I will specify below.
There is just one thing I didn't like about my previous DIY GTD Tickler Files: tabs are prone to wear and tear which will soon make the whole thing ugly (yeah for things I care, I can't tolerate ugliness). 
My old DIY files allow me to write on the cover, it is larger than A4 which contains all of my documents completely covered neat and tidy. Best of all, they have grooves or folding marks so that I can file thicker catalog/documents, the front cover will drop lower because of the thickness of the documents inside, but the tabs remain visible for clear indexing purpose.
All in all, I have no regret making this purchase at all coz I love great looking stuffs, besides it is cheaper and longer lasting than what I did using Lion's manila folders.  Perhaps next year I should find one of our suppliers to make an even better version so that some of you may enjoy the result of my study :)