DogMelon

Note Studio, A Powerful GTD Tool For Palm & PC


Have you heard of GTD?


It's an amazing methodology created by David Allen. If you have not heard of it, I suggest you read David Allen's book, "Getting Things Done", and try out the system for yourself. If you would rather listen than read, I can very highly recommend the "Getting Things Done Fast" audio-cds (I personally listen to them all the time in my car).


Put simply, GTD is a bottom-up system, designed to increase your productivity. It is very effective and is gaining in popularity every day. It is basically a system designed to get your mind as empty as possible, so that you can focus on things much more clearly, without having thoughts "weighing-you-down" in your subconscious.


I've recently started using GTD myself, and have found that I do actually Get Things Done. I am considerably more productive than I was, and often fly through the day from task to task. But not only that, at the end of the day, I don't feel half as stressed as I used to. I have learnt to trust my GTD system, which means I don't have things on my mind all the time, and I can finally relax, knowing I haven't forgotten anything important. It really has made a big difference in my life.


GTD is quite a complete system, made up of many individual ideas. Some of these, like "getting your inbox to empty", are just general principles, and don't really need any special tools. But there are other parts to GTD as well, including:


For GTD to work at its best, you need specialized tools to help with these sub-systems. And you want these tools to work with you, rather than against you. Whilst GTD is a simple system to understand, it can take quite a bit of discipline to keep going with it, without resorting back to your old inefficient ways.


Good tools help you to stick with GTD without falling back into your old habits. They make it much easier to do all the tasks you need to do in GTD, without needing the discipline of a martial artist.


You also want tools that present you with all the right information, at the right time. You want to get to your next action items simply and easily, and you want all the relevant data there when you look at the item. You don't want to be in the middle of a phone call and then have to hunt through your system trying to find the relevant information you need.


David Allen recommends keeping Next Action lists, like @Home, or @Phone, as separate lists. So you would have a seperate piece of paper( or folder, or electronic record) which stores all the tasks that need to be done at home, and another to store all the tasks that you need to be at a phone to perform, etc.


This works well, but has what many consider to be a fundamental flaw...

Information About The Project, And The Next Action Itself, Are Separated.

Often you want information about the project, while you are doing the next action. And often you want to see the next action, and actions you have already completed, when you are looking at a project.


Most standard GTD tools keep projects and next actions quite separate though, which slows you down, and makes you less productive. You can't see your next action in context, so you may miss out on some important information from a related action, that could totally change how you would have approached that next action. Either that, or stop what you are doing and look for the relevant data.


Both options are quite inefficient, and stop you from being as productive as you can.

Note Studio Ties The Next Action Item And The Project Together To Solve The Inefficiency Problem

We have made a powerful software program (called Note Studio), that resolves this problem.


Note Studio lets you keep track of your next action items, but the action items can stay with the project, where they belong. This means that when some extra information comes up whilst doing the task, you don't have to go hunting around to find the relevant project, you can just record the information right there. And when you are about to implement the next action, you can easily see all the relevant information you need. So you can get even more done fast! You can still easily get a list of your Next Action items though, because our special linking technology can find all the next actions for all your projects in the blink of an eye.


Now you may be surprised to hear this, but we actually didn't create Note Studio with GTD in mind. We made Note Studio a long time before we had even heard of GTD! Our initial objective when we created Note Studio was to make a tool that could powerfully store complex information, in an easy to understand, but flexible way. We knew Note Studio was flexible, because of the wide variety of tasks that our customers told us they were using Note Studio for...


We Knew Note Studio Was Flexible, But We Had No Idea Just HOW Flexible!

A while back, we started getting emails from people telling us how they loved Note Studio, and thought it was a great tool for GTD. Now, it wasn't like we had made Note Studio with GTD in mind, or with something even close to GTD in mind... But that just goes to show how flexible and elegant this tool actually is. Note Studio became one of the leading applications for GTD, without any of the Note Studio developers having ever heard of Getting Things Done, or David Allen!


Now, although Note Studio was highly suited to GTD, we would be the first to admit that it wasn't perfect. We got quite a few emails from customers with suggestions for Note Studio that would make it even better for GTD. We are always happy to hear new suggestions, so we implemented a lot of the requested features right away. We really value our customers, and could see that the features would really improve Note Studio as a product.


We were also intrigued by GTD. What was this system that everyone was ravinng about so much? We ordered the "Getthing Things Done" book by David Allen, and began reading it. Nowdays, We use GTD ourselves, so we are actively looking for ways to improve NS with GTD. Think about it, what better way to get a kick-ass GTD solution than to use a system that the developers themselves are using for GTD? It is in our own interest to make NS absolutely perfect for GTD! We will continue to improve Note Studio (with GTD in mind), for a long time to come.


Actually, while I think of it, let me tell you about some of the new features we have made to NoteStudio over the years:



Of course, Note Studio wouldn't be the leading application for GTD if all it could manage was Next Action items, would it?


No. Again, this is where the flexibility of NS becomes apparent.


NS is a great tool for managing information of all sorts. This is actually what we initially designed Note Studio for, and it has been designed from the ground up to elegantly handle a great deal of information. I mean a lot.


Some of the things I personally store in Note Studio include:


Quite a varied list isn't it? And it's all stored in a simple, easy to use way. The obscure information doesn't get in the way of important information though, because it gets hidden away. Any yet I know exactly where to look for it when I need it, because Note Studio allowed me to design the structure of my notes myself. But even if I didn't remember, I can search all my information in seconds and find exactly what I need, whenever I need it. Believe me, it's really productive to have all your data in one place, searchable at any time.

Bullet-Proof Encryption...

By the way, did you notice that the last item on the list? My passwords and pin numbers? Note Studio provides bullet-proof encryption, so you can keep any sensitive personal (or project) information away from prying eyes. And this isn't some "fake" encryption like other programs use. This is real encryption. It would take a super computer thousands of years to access the data. As long as you choose a good password, your data will be safe.


As I mentioned before, NoteStudio was not initially developed with GTD in mind. So what else can it be used for? Some of the things our customers use Note Studio for include:


But if your main interest is GTD, then these extra uses are just icing on the cake. Sure, being able to brainstorm easier, and write your website etc will probably be very valuable features for you, but your main use of NS will be as a flexible but powerful GTD system, that can evolve to meet your ever changing needs.

Carry Your GTD System Around With You on your Palm

NoteStudio works great as a Windows only program, and a lot of our customers are quite happily using Note Studio on their work and home computers for their GTD system. But if you have a Palm, you are in for a special treat.


You can carry your GTD system around with you, and read or write any of your tasks, notes, projects etc, on the PC, or the Palm. This is the ultimate way to do GTD, as it allows you to access your lists whenever you need them, and also to add extra next actions etc whenever you desire.


Thought of a new someday/maybe project while you are at the shops? Just pull out your Palm and add it to the list. Next time you sync with your computer, it will appear on the desktop, as if by magic!

Customer Comments

Here are some of the comments we have received from satisfied customers:


"I love this program! I'm only scraching the surface so far but it's making writting fun!"

Rick Liebespach


"Personally, I use it to organize almost all of my information"

Lars C. Bernstein (Freelance Consultant)


"This program allows me to organize information in a way that works for me. I can say that about no other program, and, believe me, I have tried and/or purchased nearly every major productivity/PIM application available."

Timothy Doran


"I recently bought Note Studio which I find increases the efficiency of the Palm in a straight forward and user friendly way"

Kim Kruse Anderson (CEO, Denmark)


"The possibilities for a simple, elegant, and powerful authoring tool like this are limitless"

Marc Orchant

Buy Now With No Risk...

You can buy now, with no risk. If you buy NS and find it is not exactly what you were after for implementing GTD in a clear and easy to use fashion, then we will give you a complete refund, up to 90 days after you purchase NS. Why 90 days? Because we know it often takes a decent amount of time to seriously know whether a new software solution is going to "cut-it" with all your needs. We don't want to rip you off, and don't want you to find out after a month (the typical time that money back guarantees run for), that NS can't handle all your data. We stand by our product, and know that you'll find it works perfectly for you.


Buying is easy. Just click the link here and follow the simple instructions.


If you would like to try a demo before purchasing, then you can download a demo here.