27 October 2015

Free For All Tuesday No. 247

12 comments:

  1. I was looking for a personal size trifold template. I saw on your files page that there is a link to one but it is unfortunately no longer connecting to an active site. Would you happen to have this template that you could email to me? Or even if you just have dimensions that would be tremendously helpful. Thanks for checking!

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    1. Treble size is 6 3/4" x 10 1/2" (171mm x 267mm) if you decide to go without a template. (Should be quite easy.)

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    2. Gmax, thanks so much. This is what I needed, appreciate the quick response!

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    3. Thank you for stating both units of measurement since most people in the U.S. provide only the customary one.

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  2. I have been variously a Daytimer desk and personal user (many years back) and a Filofax personal user, until I gave up most print materials for the mostly happy confusion of my iPhone and Mac. But I missed paper. Having used Moleskine and Leuchterm reporters notebooks in recent years, I am now using a Midori Travellers Notebook at the moment with Tomoe River paper and fountain pen--for journaling and bullet lists.

    Your downloads are certainly great. I am however now looking at going back to something more systematic (?) as a time management tool than either Daytimer or Filofax offers (or my notebooks) offer. Have you had any experience with the "Time System" (formerly "Time Design" in the U.S.)?

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    1. I used Time System for many years way back when, and my DIY organiser today is still largely based around the same basic principles and layout, with a tiny bit of GTD thrown in. Their stuff is basically unchanged since the 1980s, but looks good and professional, and it offers a lot of useful system forms. It isn't cheap, and after Tomoe River you'll find their paper a bit of a let-down for writing on with a fountain pen, plus it has a fair amount of print show-through as well. In the UK at least their 2016 annual updates are still (end October) not available, which makes me wonder if they're struggling. Their website has some useful downloads on how their system works which might be worth checking out before you commit eg http://www.timesystem.co.uk/img.php?id=1266&size=x

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    2. Thanks Robin for the link and info! Yes, alas their U.S. website looks a bit unattended with bad links and missing products, but I will call and see. The system looks comprehensive, if a bit sprawling and with redundant elements. What might be ideal is to be able to download and print select forms as needed. Ultimately I guess with Time System you're paying for the luxury of having a stack of forms on-hand, standing by.

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    3. Happy to help and good luck. I think it's still a good system by and large. I don't use it now largely because their work week starts on a Monday with Saturday and Sundays as "short" weekend days, whereas working often in the Middle East I need Friday and Saturday as the weekend. Hence the current attempts at DIY, which has also given me chance to tweak many other bits the way I want them.

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    4. Hi Robin. I too have been waiting for the TimeSystem refills to become available, and from email exchanges with their office I too suspect they may be struggling. There was a hiatus of almost a month in the Summer when no orders were processed, and I further suspect that the whole office is run by one person (Manuela) and that when she goes on holiday, everything stops. Likewise if there is any kind of printer supply issue, which it seems there might be.

      My concern is that my the time they get their 2016 annual update packs sorted, users such as myself will have been forced to go elsewhere. The Filofax 2PPD 'time management' refill is £28, which is a fair saving on the £50-odd required for the TS version, albeit the TS version comes with other forms thrown in. Also, and as usual, the FF paper quality is rock bottom, whereas the TS paper at least comes somewhere close to acceptability. I don't understand how FF can continue to be in denial about their paper quality issues, having seen so much negative comment, but I guess it's the usual FF policy of finding a new foot to shoot themselves in.

      I'd be very interested to correspond with you concerning how you use your TS system, and what GTD-type elements you have incorporated. Could we have a chat offlist? I am davidcpopely (at) gmail (dot) com

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    5. Hello David, apologies for the delay in reply but I don't drop in here all that often. I will email you once I've had some coffee!

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  3. I have been using my new Wo2P insert that I drew on lined paper. My insert has longer lines and I can write more than one notation or appointment on one line. On my first Wo2P insert with shorter lines I could write one appointment on one line. There are also a few long lines on that daily space but I used them for notes. On my current Wo2P I write my lunch at 12:00 and then a phone call at 12:30 on the same line.

    If one uses a space that has a list of times from 8 am-6 pm and there are two blank lines below the 6, obviously one can note appointments on them that occur later. On one line on my page I write an event at 7 and another one at 9:30. It is not a new way, but I do not often see people write two appointments at different hours on the same line.

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  4. Has anyone seen the ring bound organisers in Wilkinsons - £6 for a non leather organiser with a full 2016 week on two pages diary fill. Worth it just for the inserts (it had dividers and lined note paper as well) , and comes with a pen in the pen loop as well... I only saw a pink and a blue cover at my local one, but worth checking out. Can't vouch for paper quality, as I had spent my lot for the day, but plan to go back and pick one up to test.

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