GTD Simplified: Ubiquitous Capture Tool
How do you capture thoughts and ideas when you’re at your desk or out and about? David Allen calls this a Ubiquitous Capture Tool and here we take a look at what that means
Monday’s are “GTD Simplified” Days on FlippingHeck.Com
According to Dictionary.com, Ubiquitous is:
u-biq-ui-tous [yoo-bik-wi-tuhs]:
existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time; omnipresent
A “Ubiquitous Capture Tool” is therefore something that you have access to wherever you are.
I’ve mentioned before about using my Moleskine as my capture tool and that’s with me 95% of the time, however there are certain occasions where it’s inconvenient to carry it around (I don’t usually carry a bag with me and my pockets are full of other rubbish) so what do I do when I need to capture something?
If it’s a calendar item, it goes straight into my mobile phone and then I can don’t have to do anything else with it. If it’s a question then I grab a bit of paper and a small pen (like the ones you get in the Bookies or Argos) from my wallet and jot it down and then stick it back in my wallet. When I get home the paper gets put in my inbox for later processing.
You don’t need to have your Ubiquitous Capture Tool on you 24/7 as long as you have some method of dealing with things that come at you that will fit in with your existing system. So, don’t think that you have to take that expensive PDA down to the pub with you just in case you need to capture something – unless you just want to show it off of course!