TOPIC: How i use thinking rock & android+ app suggestions

Just a bit of a step forward with integrating my new android until the app lands thanks to finding a new app I found called note everything, so thought i'd share as might be useful for other users.

Thinking rock is obviously at the heart of my gtd system and is both the central base for project planning and running my gtd system. I love tr and pretty much recommend Thinking Rock's to anyone whos interested in Gtd and am continually grateful to the developers for all your excellent work.

The way i use tr is basically I have projects in the areas of my life with sub projects of what i do within them and the next actions determined. The recent thing i worked out is making only the very next one the only active one so I can work from next action view or project folder view. I like that approach as it means i can focus on only what i have next to do as opposed to what i could do :)

For things i want to develop I also have checklists for things as projects within the folders with all actions made inactive. These are so I can best approach any task or project that I'm not really familiar with. As yet I hadn't worked out how I could carry these with me, aside from the export reports section.

Enter note everything. It a superb app that with the pro version allows you to create checklists which can be recurring and ticked off, and stick them (or any note) to the front notification area on android phones so they always accessible. You can also add to calendar with 2 clicks which is auto synced with Google calendar which i have auto synced with outlook. This is useful too as it means i can send stuff to where its needed without having to plug the lead in each time, and i think could be a useful option for the android app.

I have replaced both astrid tasks and evernote with this note everything app as while they are both beautiful apps this is so well integrated it means I can use thinking rock, outlook and note everthing to do all I need and lose those extra places I once needed to store info. I really like that as means there are less places to monitor and sync.

Also, I use to use one note to sketch ideas, followed by evernote, but now i just use Google docs as it means its all accessible, editable and shareable via my mobile. Plus its another thing that sync with note everything and the android phones.

As for data storage I have neatly laid out folders on 2 backup drives with the folders replicating the top project areas of thinking rock. Inside the areas there are various topics in thinking rock. These topics mirror the categories in outlook and gmail and to make keeping track a lot easier. Again this syncing with categories in regular email/calender progs like outlook and gmail keeps thinking rock more integrated, but there could be better ways than manually doing it maybe.

I like to have everything I'm currently doing in my system where poss and everything I've done and finished on my external drives. For me this makes it easier to backup, easier to find, and reduces the amount of places things have to reside, so keeps things clean as poss. I have a lot of data for the projects areas, so data flow is very important to manage. In term of gtd I was finding that creating something in evernote or one note then didn't have an easy way to move that forward. Doing such tasks on my HTC desire means they can move forward much easier.

All I need now is a integrated way to carry my thinking rock around woth me which I'm hopeful that the new Android app will bring. Currently I can only read my next actions via pdf reports of which I export via context and projects with all notes but not tick them off or edit or sync etc.

Aside from being able to enter and process thoughts I think being able to carry around the projects, actions (ideally sortable by different headings) and the associated notes, and be able to edit these and sync back in would be great. Because android integrates with the google calender and gmail, the integration with the calendar and checklist side of gtd could maybe be achieved more easily by partnering up with apps like note everything and could bring things like notes on front screen and recurring actions to the app without having to develop them seperately? Could certainly produce a great partnership (between thinking rock and note everything developers), to evolve the app, if that were possible. If not, then i guess copying and paste from the apps could mean less work on increase this functionality. Maybe this could be useful for iphone and blackberry equivalents too? I dont use them, but i used the windows mobile app which was a great start. I assume microsoft would be less up for partnerships, but i always would have like to seen that app developed when i had a windows phone as it was a good start.

Anyway this post is getting a bit long, so all the best for the development of both and hope sharing this helps someone in the way reading other's posts have helped my own system.
Cheers :)