A few months ago I wrote How Workflowy Has Changed the Way I Work detailing how I use the Workflowy web and iPhone app to stay organized and get things done. I continue to use Workflowy more than any other app and have made a few changes to how I use it since I wrote the original post. A few of you mentioned that you found the original write-up helpful so I thought I’d share a list (naturally) of what’s changed since then.
If you’re new to Workflowy or haven’t read my original post on it, I encourage you to check it out for context about these changes.
The template
As with the template in the original write-up, black items are fixed and gray items are placeholders for content that you create. The blue circles correspond to the changes in the list below.
What’s new in this version
1. Appointments now go in Workflowy and only Workflowy
In the past, I kept appointments in both the iPhone Calendar app and in Workflowy because I liked having appointments in the calendar for quick reference, but also liked having them in Workflowy so that I could plan tasks around them.
As time went by, I found myself only referencing the Workflowy iPhone app while I was out because it represented my true schedule (appointments, deadlines, and tasks) much better than the calendar app alone did. These days I don’t even bother adding appointments to the calendar app; they go straight into Workflowy and that’s all that I reference.
Also, and this is a very minor change, I’ve grown fond of using the em dash (—) instead of a colon to separate the time of an appointment from its description.
2. Short term tasks now include the date
Because I now solely use Workflowy for appointments, having the day of the week and its corresponding date is much more important than before. For example, instead of a Short Term list item being just “Monday” it’s now “Monday, 21 Oct”.
3. Task list timeframes are more flexible
Previously I just included the upcoming seven days or so in the Short Term list and anything farther out than that went into the Medium Term or Long Term lists. These days I’m a bit more flexible with what goes where. Short term tasks, for example, are typically up to two weeks out and things taking place beyond that usually still go in the Medium Term or Long Term lists, but the boundaries are not set in stone.
4. No more focus areas
In the last version, I kept focus areas — things that weren’t tasks but that I wanted to pay attention to during the current week — as list items in the Overall list. I no longer include a focus area; everything in the Short Term, Medium Term, and Long Term lists are tasks that can be completed.
5. Month lists to group long term appointments
I found that as I had more and more upcoming deadlines and appointments several weeks or months out, the Medium Term and Long Term lists would get cluttered with lists of dates. To remedy this, I started creating groups based on the month the appointment or deadline is slated to take place (November, December, etc) and then I collapse it so that there is only one visible list item. As the month approaches, I ungroup the dates and move them into the Short Term list.
6. Projects are no longer divided into groups
This past summer I had an unusually large number of ongoing projects which is why I organized them into groups. I’ve scaled back since then and now only have a few ongoing projects and a few more in my “Potential Projects” list making it unnecessary to organize them into groups.
###
It’s worth noting that this may be the second Workflowy system that I’ve written about, but this has evolved from a much simpler system that I started with in early 2012. If you’re just getting started with Workflowy, start small and improve it over time to see what works for you. Good luck and let me know how I can help.
Matt Mazur 