Taming Project Chaos - 28+ Days With ResultsManager

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240068282011-12-13T19:52:53.277-08:00Taming Project Chaos - 28+ Days With ResultsManagerThe verdict is in and it's Thumb's Up for ResultsManager! Continue to follow the trials and triumphs of applying Gyronix's ultimate project planning tool to straddling your personal and professional worlds.wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.comBlogger511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146679560698099972006-05-04T20:05:00.000-07:002006-05-08T19:39:07.286-07:00#6 in his 10 Most Popular Posts of April 2006

The ever-mysterious "Admin1" over at Note Talkers named his post where he mentions "the ResultsManager Meme" and my blog as #6 in his 10 Most Popular Posts of April 2006.Here's the link for his the link where he mentions this blog.

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146601415957654562006-05-03T13:23:00.000-07:002006-05-03T19:24:06.546-07:00ResultsManager's Jurassic Evangelist

Mindjet's Hobie Swan recently called me an "evangelist for ResultsManager and MindManager." And I gotta tell you, that took me aback. I grew up in the heartland of America and I've been (dragged) to the old-fashioned tent revivals where sweaty, bible-thumping men screamed "Devils get out!" into the faces of the locals while they danced in electric chair spasms under his(allegedly) healing

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146598860659932142006-05-02T22:40:00.000-07:002006-05-02T23:24:15.003-07:00World-Famous Choreographer & ResultsManager Dance Together

In Twyla Tharp's book "The Creative Habit" world-famous choreographer Twyla Tharp and I have a lot in common -- we start projects the same way.Well, almost.She gets a banker's box from Office Depot.I make a MindManager map.She doesn't feel organized until she has the box with the project name outside it.I don't feel in control of the project until I have a map and a project name.But here I depart

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146595203414712772006-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:002006-09-12T16:10:18.726-07:00Now, Just One Damn Minute, Captain . . .*

In their latest newsletter (read it here), Mindjet CEO Robert Gordon seemed to overstate his case when claimed how well MindManager does project management.Now for the record, I love MindManager. It's a great tool and I couldn't juggle the demands of 3 companies and a personal life without it. But by itself it can, at the most basic level, do an okay job at project management, but I think it's

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146081927973139552006-04-29T13:03:00.000-07:002006-04-29T18:43:40.063-07:00Your Loop Of Continuous Execution

Kyle McFarlin concludes his series on "Conquering Your World With ResultsManager."You don't need to read them before reading this, but if you want to, here are his first, second and third and fourth posts. Take it away, Kyle:Perhaps the greatest thing you gain by taking balanced action on Projects you deem important in your far-flung life areas is momentum. Tons of it. This cannot be

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146080552369912702006-04-28T12:40:00.000-07:002006-04-29T00:26:50.196-07:00How To Get Going

Kyle McFarlin continues his series on "Conquering Your World With ResultsManager." In this post, Kyle continues building on the themes he started in his first, second and third posts. Here, he gives you a practical tool for how to use RM as a Life Balance Tool. I did the exercise to test it out before posting. And it's . . . informative.Take it away, Kyle:Up until now my series of posts have been

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146079557192563652006-04-27T12:24:00.000-07:002006-04-27T11:24:02.153-07:00You Are Rome

Kyle McFarlin continues his series on "Conquering Your World With ResultsManager." In this post, Kyle builds on the themes he started in his first post and his second post. Here, he uses the metaphor of the greatest empire in history to show you how to become what you want to be using RM.Take it away, Kyle:Essentially, you are Rome, the conscious nerve center of your very own empire.And I don't

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146078957176640032006-04-26T12:12:00.000-07:002006-04-26T12:22:56.733-07:00ResultsManager Straddles Both Worlds

More of guest poster Kyle McFarlin's series "Conquering Your World With ResultsManager." In this post, Kyle builds on the theme he started yesterday. Take it away, Kyle:I'm going to submit something of an arbitrary thought on the balance of projects you have up in the air at any one time. I'd say that about 30% of your projects should be of a personal nature and 70% should be professional. And

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146074309136999712006-04-26T10:55:00.001-07:002006-04-26T12:55:59.346-07:00This Blog Has Changed

It's now "Taming Project Chaos - 28+ Days With ResultsManager." And the description has also changed to reflect the slight shift in focus:"The verdict is in and it's Thumb's Up for ResultsManager! Continue to follow the trials and triumphs of applying Gyronix's ultimate project planning tool to straddling your personal and professional worlds."Though it's no longer focused on just my experiences

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146015237567296282006-04-26T00:32:00.000-07:002006-04-25T20:47:36.166-07:00Family Picnic Or Billion Dollar Project?

As promised, here is the first of a series of posts from Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix's Head Trainer ("head" as in chief, not the lump above your shoulders) for integrating RM into a company's workflow.The overall arcing theme of these posts is called "Conquer Your World with ResultsManager."I was stunned when I first read what you're about to. His posts are so thought-provoking, so rich that I got

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146020919252969932006-04-25T23:42:00.000-07:002006-04-25T20:22:00.693-07:00Thumb's Up/Thumb's Down - Which Is It? Survey Says . . .

As many of you have guessed, I give ResultsManager a hearty and well-deserved Thumb's Up.Big surprise, right?I really did my best to be the skeptical Grand Inquisitor, I really did. But as it keep over-delivering during the last 30 days on its very understated promises -- it became more and more difficult to maintain the mien of indifference.And by the time it got to the point of actually making

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146013928831733202006-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:002006-04-25T18:15:38.883-07:00The In's & Out's Of The ResultsManager In-Tray

Normally I wouldn't post this here, but Gyronix's CTO Nick Duffill has given the most cogent explanation of why the ResultsManager In-Tray exists and how to optimize its usage, that I wanted to give those who aren't subscribed the opportunity to benefit from it as well.-----Original Message-----From: GTD_MindManager@yahoogroups.com[mailto:GTD_MindManager@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Nick

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1146012061395755312006-04-24T17:22:00.000-07:002006-04-25T17:52:38.490-07:00I Nearly Torpedoed This Blog On Day 2

Some out there in the blogosphere feel that I wouldn't really say anything bad about ResultsManager, that there's some sort of secret deal I made with Gyronix, etc. You know the type? The kind that after the first verbal spew all you hear is "Blahblahblah," just like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons?Let me tell you how I nearly torpedoed this blog on its second day. It's a cautionary tale of

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145858970996445302006-04-23T23:07:00.000-07:002006-04-23T23:34:04.320-07:00T +28 . . . And Counting

For the nitpickers out there -- yes, this 28 day blog has gone over its mark a bit. I have another couple of weeks of content that could go up here, but that really depends on where Gyronix wants things to go from here.As a special treat, in the coming week I've asked Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix's resident trainer to do some guest posts about what came up during a recent conversation.Let me tell you,

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145757768330715362006-04-22T18:59:00.000-07:002006-04-23T03:47:28.380-07:00MindManager SP1 Works Great With ResultsManager

Normally I wouldn't post this here, but it's so important that I didn’t want to take a chance of people not benefiting from it because they weren't subscribed to the MindManager and GTD Yahoo lists.And even though I did send the below to the Yahoo list, over 24 hours have passed and it has yet to appear.I do not know the original poster's credentials for saying what she did in such an unqualified

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145651980979311632006-04-21T12:32:00.000-07:002006-04-21T13:40:53.026-07:00Who Fed It & Who Ate It This Week*

The blog was temporarily down in the early morning hours and has now been restored. I'm still troubleshooting exactly what happened.Blame it on Blogger. It has to be the most inept platform for producing professional results I've ever seen.So the logical question to ask is: 'Terry, if you knew Blogger wasn't a good platform, why'd you use it?'That's a valid question. See, the "Taming Chaos" blog

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145591087627128782006-04-20T20:43:00.000-07:002006-04-21T10:33:36.550-07:00Driving From My Dashboard

This one from a personal project. Yes, the other 2% of my life. ;-)As readers of this blog know, the love of my life and I have bought a house. In the run-up to the actual committment to buy it and subsequently move there, it was my job to assay the crime in the area,Doing my due diligence, I'd contacted the local police department to get the crime stats and incident response reports for that

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145502429600685082006-04-19T20:06:00.000-07:002006-04-19T20:08:40.946-07:00ResultsManager Saves My Bacon & Makes Some Cheddar

Because I'm a beginner, I probably run Sweep & Review dashboards more often than best practices would dictate. I use the S&R as a temporary dashboard to see if anything needs to be updated (to avoid slippage), before I create a dashboard that I'll actually be working off of -- whether it be for a single day or several days.Recently the S&R uncovered a reminder for a scheduled follow-up to a

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145409233225334142006-04-18T18:13:00.000-07:002006-04-20T14:56:26.030-07:00Doggedly Worrying The Bone Of Contexts, Categories and Areas

Taking a page from what I got out of Nick Duffill's **very helpful** recent dissection of my struggles with Contexts, Categories and Areas (see the Comment here) . . .I think I'm going to wipe my Master Areas and Categories lists and start over.Areas (Of Management) now only has 2 areas: Personal and Professional.Categories will contain just projects and specific sub-projects, instead of the

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145331957118953852006-04-17T20:43:00.000-07:002006-04-17T20:50:16.643-07:00ResultsManager! Come Home!

I've come to the conclusion that ResultsManager is a dog.But a good kind of dog -- like a border collie.Yeah, I'm starting to think RM is like the border collie of project management software. Just like the brilliant, hard-working and dutiful border collie, it drives the herd of unruly and stubborn projects, sub-projects and tasks that typically comprise one's universe of productivity and corrals

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145258352563051402006-04-16T23:16:00.000-07:002006-04-17T00:19:12.583-07:00What's The Context For Your Context?

I think the only solution is to codify my own system for Contexts, Areas and Categories.Context can be a physical place, but maybe it can be a starting from place, instead of a literal physical location, like @Phone or @Office. Maybe it could be a context to come-from as well?While I like the idea of Context from the GTD system -- the Categories and Areas just don't jibe with me. Maybe it's from

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145153791275065472006-04-15T19:05:00.000-07:002006-04-16T02:58:35.476-07:00"Hey You've Got Categories In My Context . . . !

"Oh yeah? Well, you've got Context in my Areas!"If figuring out how ResultsManager expects you to use Contexts, Categories and Areas has you recalling that Reese's peanut butter commercial, you're not alone.I had managed to (more or less) successfully ignore all three when using ResultsManager. That is, until I couldn't put up with the way the dashboards were categorizing my action items and

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1145027924047187782006-04-14T08:15:00.000-07:002006-04-14T20:54:23.283-07:00Forget Me Now, But Remember Me Later

"What if," I started asking, "I could forget about something for now, and then be reminded of it when appropriate?"Just read this on Jason Womack's GTD blog. Jason is one of David Allen's trainers. David Allen is the creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) principles that ResultsManager uses as a foundation.I thought it perfectly described how I've come to use the Someday/Maybe option in

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144970426402144732006-04-13T16:19:00.000-07:002006-04-13T16:33:27.910-07:00Getting Katie Couric Out of My Relationship (Central)

Great ideas often have a simplicity and elegance of design and execution that can initially escape your attention -- until it solves a major problem. Then it's your best friend for life.Such was the case when I replied to Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix's chief trainer (see the training modules here) who asked if there was anything he could do to make my journey with ResultsManager better.I was

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144881517459110032006-04-12T15:38:00.000-07:002006-04-12T16:25:39.606-07:00Oops . . . User Error -- ResultsManager Cleared

Got a towel so I can wipe the egg off my face?You know that thing they tell you about emotionally charged email and blog posts -- that you should let them sit a spell before sending or publishing? I've got another to add to that list -- before you diss someone's product in public for all the world to see -- make sure it wasn't your stupidity that caused the problem in the first place.In this case

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144775309938268432006-04-11T10:07:00.000-07:002006-04-11T10:13:02.636-07:00ResultsManager Throws Up And Drops The Ball

Aww damnit! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! As soon as I dropped my guard and quit double-checking that something like this would happen!Damn, damn, damn!I don’t know what the hell happened. Maybe I got a bit too over-confident with ResultsManager. Apparently, the app is not/was not sweeping up some key client contact actions and hasn't been doing so since, as far as I can tell, from the get-go

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144617905899048152006-04-10T14:22:00.000-07:002006-04-10T15:17:46.310-07:00This About That

The positive comments on this blog have been going along pretty well. That is, until I started talking about price and ResultsManager. For whatever reason, the subject inflamed the good nature of some people and incited them to such a degree, they suddenly lost the ability to civilly express their opinions.Oh goody. Sometimes it's fun to watch people spit and sputter and work themselves into a

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144447141433755042006-04-09T14:56:00.000-07:002006-04-09T23:25:40.926-07:00More Honking . . .

Kyle McFarlin over at The Underlying Blog said some nice things here.He used "gentleman" and my name in the same sentence, so that proves right there he has no idea of who the hell I am. You may remember he and Nick Duffill (both of Gyronix) gave me some good-natured "Snap out of it!" slaps on the side of the head for some things I said in my blog.You can read them here, if you haven't already.

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144376255523995752006-04-08T19:09:00.000-07:002006-04-08T21:25:42.840-07:00I'm from Missouri, So Show Me

I wanted to be the one that busted ResultsManager.Part of me did, anyway. The part of me that remains the skeptical software tester. More about that in a minute, but for now I want to say that I think I'm done with the extra testing and safeguards, all the double and triple-checking up on ResultsManager to make sure it's not dropping stuff behind my back.Yet, I felt an obligation to do all that,

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144446931922820092006-04-08T14:54:00.000-07:002006-04-09T10:51:04.966-07:00Another Honk From . . .

AdminID over at Note Talkers suggested in a private email (after some good-natured ribbing about his name) that I enter their contest with some Before ResultsManager and After shots of my infamous uber-maps. I may do that. I've saved out a couple with that idea in mind.And he even gave this blog a little honk here. He's coined an interestingly curious term, "the ResultsManager meme." And I am

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144297849610334602006-04-07T21:28:00.000-07:002006-04-08T10:51:47.966-07:00Overcoming Basic Instincts, 2 . . . When Ice Picks And Hot Chicks Shouldn't Meet

I've found that in life, being able to accurately assess anything based first on price is a bit like expecting Sharon Stone to not show off her new sport, Legs Lacrosse in her new movie. Or like asking Whitney Houston to design a drug-free health regimen.Ain't. Gonna. Happen.By the same token, some people like to look at the price first to see how much it's going to cost them and then they look

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144378325572639472006-04-07T19:51:00.000-07:002006-04-07T15:21:30.570-07:00A Honk From The Blogosphere

Got some nice folks starting to notice this blog and commenting on it.Thanks, guys, I am honored. I'm even more gratified from the private emails that some of you are finding my Forrest-Gump-On-Display journey useful to their own ResultsManager learning process.That makes it all worthwhile.Chuck Frey of The Mindmapping Software Weblog said some nice things about my blog, you can read it here. He

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144297675357121042006-04-06T20:25:00.000-07:002006-04-06T18:54:38.396-07:00What Cost Success? Or . . .

Seeing The World As A "Flashing Blue Light Special"Well, since my last post on the subject, I've been thinking more about the cost of manually doing tasks that you could automate.But then, isn't the larger question: How much your time are you spending manually doing tasks that you could be getting paid for? As a freelancer, I know what an hour of my time is worth.Even the savings of an hour here

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144292190077691082006-04-05T19:44:00.000-07:002006-04-06T19:07:18.063-07:00The True Cost Of ResultsManager or . . .

Managing IgnoranceIt usually starts out something like this:"Woo-weee! $285 bucks? That's a helluva lot of money for an ADD-ON! Hell, that's three quarters of the price of the software it's added on to (MindManager)!"They finish that last part with a flourish reserved for an easy victory spike in a lopsided game of volleyball.It's the reaction I've occasionally seen when people are exposed to

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144189060242008692006-04-04T15:10:00.000-07:002006-04-04T20:22:26.813-07:00A Moving Tribute

And no, neither Barbra Streisand nor Bono will be singing. Nor will Clooney be stepping in to take credit for its success.Instead, the love of my life and I are happily ensconced in our new home after years of apartment dwelling. Got a fair bit of land, a huge house, privacy and the nearest neighbor is a couple of hundred feet away.No more sharing walls on either side with people who, when it

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144114159852522702006-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:002006-04-04T06:05:03.020-07:00This Is Not Something I'm Happy About . . .

Prior to ResultsManager, I created and worked my maps in the traditional mind mapping method of starting at the 1 o'clock position and working around the "clock" to the 12 o'clock position.However, best practices according to ResultsManager seemingly works counterintuitive to the tradition.Now, your projects elements and subprojects and heck, even the ResultsManager templates expect you to start

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144038355887405222006-04-02T21:23:00.000-07:002006-04-02T21:33:39.020-07:00You Yin'd When You Should Have Yang'd

ResultsManager trainer Kyle McFarlin made some good points that blend philosophy with practical applications in his comments to my 3.28.06 post "Project Management: Best Practices With ResultsManager."If you missed it, read his comments here.Two of the things he highly recommends, I admit, I did not do. Because of the way I jumped in the middle of ResultsManager to test it out (and risking public

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1144026365311000942006-04-01T18:05:00.000-08:002006-04-02T22:06:27.266-07:00Gyronix Tells Me My Priorities Are Out Of Whack

Nick Duffill makes many good points in his comments to my 3.28.06 post "Project Management: Best Practices With ResultsManager."If you missed it, here are his comments.He's right about me being so focused on gaining control of my uber-maps that I've been using ResultsManager's dashboards to focus on only half of what I should be doing. Though I wasn't cognizant of that at the time, the results

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143770829862335962006-03-31T18:03:00.000-08:002006-03-31T20:00:10.073-08:00How RM Has Changed The Way I Work . . . So Far

Prior to ResultsManager, I used to leave key maps open when I shutdown MindManager for the night.Why?Because when I fired the app up the next morning, those maps served as a "tickler" to remind me that there was something important in those maps that I still needed to complete. When I saw the map open, that was a visual reminder of what needed to be done next.That, along with the combo of

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143703433921954452006-03-30T23:18:00.000-08:002006-03-30T17:55:36.873-08:00More Coolness Of The Week

And then ResultsManager cranks it up a notch, into a definitive "but wait, there's more!" moment.Not only can you send changes back to their original maps (for meore detail see yesteday's post), you can add project, sub-projects and action items directly into the dashboard and send those changes back to their originating maps.That's cool. This is even cooler: let's say you added a project into

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143701527188925312006-03-29T20:59:00.000-08:002006-03-30T23:34:52.020-08:00"I'm Ready For My Weekly Review, Mr. Allen!" or . . .

"How I Found The Coolness Of The Week"Suh-weeet!I found the heart and soul of ResultsManager. This is the height of automating tedious, repetitious tasks, so I can spend more time taking action and less time moving data bits around.Now keep in mind, this is just my opinion. Whether it actually is the heart and soul of the app or not, this does not represent Gyronix's position.Just mine.And it

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143618483534555652006-03-28T23:44:00.000-08:002006-04-02T21:49:51.600-07:00Result-atude

I'm starting to see how ResultsManager is impacting the way I think. I'm definitely seeing how it's impacting the way I work. So, I'm thinking about adopting this as my new attitude for effective project management:"If it's not in ResultsManager, it doesn't exist."What do you think? Too draconian?While I can appreciate that while the above attitude may appear, on its surface, extreme -- you have

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143610060817272312006-03-28T21:23:00.000-08:002006-03-30T10:33:50.280-08:00Project Management: Best Practices With ResultsManager

When you start the ResultsManager wizard (appropriately called "ResultsMerlin"), it asks you to create a Map Central and maps for Personal and Professional areas of your life. You don't have to, but I can tell that after trying out ResultsManager three times -- it really is "best practices" to do it their way.And today . . . another uber-map bit the dust, thanks to ResultsManager. That's kinda

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143608982948215132006-03-27T21:04:00.000-08:002006-03-28T21:09:42.960-08:00How To Never Lose Another Project Or Task Again

Actually, the I part doesn't really enter into it. Looks like ResultsManager has now taken control of my project management and is determined to keep all my overdue projects, sub-projects and tasks in my face until I complete them or account for them in some way.The auacity ... the gall ... the noive! (use the Bugs Bunny voice for the last one)Using ResultsManager has taught me something about

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143526188181619602006-03-26T19:54:00.000-08:002006-03-27T22:09:48.193-08:00The Rise And Fall Of The Uber-Maps -- The Conclusion

Since getting MindManager back in the X5 days, I've created many "uber-maps." Here's the story of the most recent (and final) one:Inspired by the swell of the new year . . . new beginnings . . . I set my goals for the year, only this time I used a mindmap. I grandly called this one the "2006 Goal Achievement Map." And this time, I swore it was going to be different.Now here's something you only

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143525182832106842006-03-25T21:51:00.000-08:002006-03-27T21:53:33.176-08:00The Rise And Fall Of The Uber-Maps

It's been pointed out to me that not everyone knows what an "uber-map" is.An uber-map is a creation of extreme desperation. Using MindManager as your mapping platform, you decide that you're going to keep all the tasks you must track all in front of you . . . and all in one map.Looks good in the showroom, runs badly on the street.Uber-maps are a good idea when the projects and tasks you're

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143273792320309232006-03-24T22:59:00.000-08:002006-03-25T00:15:56.466-08:00Third Trip To The Altar ... The Conclusion

So each time after the trial period expired, I resumed my project management using MindManager's filtering system and topic alerts in conjunction with Outlook. But I couldn't stop that nagging feeling in the back of mind that I'd missed the boat in a very critical way.Meanwhile, I flirted with other project/time management systems: Tony Robbins' RPM system, Franklin-Covey, the Mission Control

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143264962248609592006-03-23T18:34:00.000-08:002006-03-24T21:40:03.470-08:00Third Trip To The Altar ... Part 3

So what happened the other two times I trialed ResultsManager?I'll share the blame with Gyronix. I'm sure they give a time limit of 28 days for very good reasons. After all, I wouldn't think a 90 day trial would be reasonable by any stretch of imagination.However, for busy professionals, I don't think 28 days is enough time to thoroughly vet the software before tossing whatever your old system

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143263347001210432006-03-22T20:49:00.000-08:002006-03-24T21:14:59.196-08:00Third Trip To The Altar ... Part 2

Right now I'm using MindManager as my operational platform for tracking and managing the myriad projects I have going on in my life. I've just added the trial of ResultsManager to avoid yet another uber-map collapse.See, I've been using MindManager to keep track of all the projects and their action items. I'm a professional copywriter (as opposed to the starving kind), which is just one of my

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143260838462155262006-03-21T20:25:00.000-08:002006-03-24T20:28:51.096-08:00Third Trip To The Altar ...

... with the ResultsManager software. Once again I'm attempting to tame the controlled chaos of my projectmanagement system and learn the "Gyronix Dynamic Planning System" without dropping any projects and hopefully,without costing me any money.I'm gonna be really PO'd if adopting their "system" costs me a project or client.It had better be worth it because this is my last flirtation with it.

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006828.post-1143174362126054342006-03-20T20:04:00.000-08:002006-04-21T09:12:49.156-07:00The Pi of The Sopranos, Teri Hatcher & ResultsManager

What do they have in common?One's a big hit show that everyone's heard of.One's a hit actress who brings star power to any series she's in (no matter how mediocre it is).And one's the time management and productivity software that no one's heard of, called ResultsManager. What does it do? It takes the project, sub-project and action items scattered across multiple mind maps and puts them into a

wterryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227755455042572814noreply@blogger.com