You seriously need to write that, TB.

I agree!

Does it work for you? Is it useful without requiring a lot of time put into it?

I think so, Dana- it's been both useful and easy to use.

My current method is Post-It note, which is actually fairly useful, but has its disadvantages.

It's totally useful and awesome for me, and prevents a ton of follow-up questions because I can send status reports on each task.

Setting a task is as simple as setting a calendar event, and you can invite people to view your tasks just like you can invite them to view your calendar.

I use it for things like host/hire package for a foreign national, where i have to get a butt ton of approvals, several pieces of paperwork, and I'm on a strict schedule to get them in. So I can just put in something like:

4/7/10 Task: Hire ita, citizenship Jamaica. Due Date: 6/21/2010

And then I can just open the task and put in all the notes as they happen:

4/9: Received passport and CV. Informed host of J1 visa. 4/12: Sent memo for signature 4/12: Package sent to NASA 5/12: Approval received. Travel in process. J1 in process. 6/14: Ports activated. Technology Transfer Control Plan in place. Computer and phone ordered; delivery by 6/16.

And at any point, if someone walks into my office in a state of panic about whether ita's hire package is on schedule, I can click "status report" and send it all to the Chicken Little so they can clearly see that I wasn't posting at Buffistas all day and got my shit done.

Okay, sounds good. Thanks, Allyson and Nora.

Has anyone here used jira?

I've used it for issue tracking for the last few years here. It's highly-customizable to a kind of irritating degree. But it works as well as any other issue tracking system I've used.

Also, JPL smells like maple syrup.

Does anyone use Outlook to keep track of tasks and To-Do lists? Or have another recommendation? I need some way to deal with low-priority things, things that don't have a specific due date, and other miscellaneous stuff, in addition to straightforward tasks.

My quick and dirty outlook method was starring emails with tasks in them. It's not exactly GTD but it keeps them from dropping down the rabbit hole.

Dentist has been visited. Nice guy, comfy offices. Apparently when I had that crown put on originally that dentist hadn't removed all the temp material, leaving space for yucky stuff to get in. He reglued the crown on for now and I go back in a couple of weeks for him to rework what is left of the tooth and prep a new crown. Oh joy.

I told him I was dental-phobic. I'm usually ok once I'm in the chair, but just getting psyched up to go is the crazy hard part. They have nitrus and tv's with wireless headphones to distract me if I get overly anxious.