Hello ! I’m Bruce Lerner, a retired systems engineer.

I have been struggling with managing my life and my work since the 1980’s. I’m sure I was a major part of the problem (oohh shiny) but there was a long list of methods and tools to try.

Pre-2000, for methods/tools, I started using personal organizers/planners from Day-Timer, then the Franklin Planner, then Covey (now FranklinCovey) and For tools I used planners/organizers offered by the methods companies and various basic software tools: calendars, spreadsheets. In the 90’s I started using Personal information managers (PIMs): PackRat (Disappointing Updates To Good Products – see entry 3), Commence (from Jensen-Jones) and the PalmPilot. In the late ‘90’s I was the member of a team investigating knowledge management for our corporate library. Back to productivity, David Allen’s Getting Things Done arrived in the ’00s and I started using Evernote in 2008 with a mixture of data capture and planning. I acquired the Pocket habit in 2012/13. I had all the pieces, but maybe too many pieces. I believe that the current community and tools can provide a consolidating solution.

You can reach out to me at bruce@bylos.net.