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Originally Posted by vocaro
Using a calendar for 43 folders breaks the GTD philosophy. David Allen is very specific that calendars shouldn't be used for reminders, only for "hard" events like a meeting schedule. The point of 43 folders is to keep your calendar clean and keep those "ticklers" out of sight until you can actually act on them.
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refresher...
page 173
"One elegant way to manage nonactionable items that may need an action in the future is the "tickler" file. A three-dimensional version of a CALENDAR, it allows you to hold PHYSICAL reminders of things that you want to see or remember--not now, but in the future.
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Essentially the tickler is a simple file-folder system that allows you to distribute paper and other physical reminders in such a way that whatever you want to see on a particular date in the future "automatically" shows up that day in your in-basket"
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page 171
"Your calendar can be a very handy place to park reminders of things you MIGHT want to consider doing in the future. Most of the people I've coached were not nearly as comfortable with their calendars as they could have been; otherwise they probably would have found many more things to put in there.
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If you have a project that you don't really need to think about now but that deserves a flag at some point in the future, you can pick an appropriate date and put a reminder about the project in your calendar for that day.
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...when the day arrives, you see the reminder and insert the item as an active project on your "Projects" list.
The tickler file is for physical items.
I understand your point about the metaphor, and it can be nice to have a folder to drop an email into that you need to be reminded of at a certain date. And there are no electronic task management systems that use an inbox metaphor to place tasks into.
Also, when David Allen wrote the book, computers were at a different technological place. Which is why he stayed away from specific device examples. This is unfortunate, and the largest thing I see lacking in the book... some real world examples.
If the system you are using is water tight, you should be able to put a reminder into it and have it pop up in your electronic inbox that you need to respond to this email.
The main problem with electronic task management is the task is separate from the email or file. So I see the task or calendar reminder, I have to go find the email to respond to, or the file I need to update and send.
Thus... if there was a link to the email or file inside the task, the task reminds me, I click on the link, and do the action.