Wednesday 17 October 2012

@Pending vs @Waiting in GTD

When I orginally set up my email programs (Gmail for personal, Outlook for work) for David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) method, I created folders for @Action, @Someday, and @Waiting, as well as named folders for projects to contain support and reference material.

As time went on, however, I found a new type of email that didn't really fit in those categories: things that are mine to do (I'm not @Waiting for someone else) and there is a next action on it (so it doesn't go in the project folders) but I can't do that action yet (so it doesn't go in @Action).

In short, I'm waiting not for a person, but for the time to be right, such as a meeting coming up this week that I'll need the directions to, or a webinar announcement with its login information. I was worried that if I put it in @Waiting, it would get lost.  Since it's time based, it should probably go on my Calendar, but the email contains more information than I want to copy to the Calendar.

So I added a folder named @Pending. Here are the "hard edges" rules I use to decide what goes where:

  • If the email is just a notice, I add it to the calendar and delete the notice.
  • If the email has significant details, I add it to the calendar and file under @Pending until the event occurs. Then I delete it (usually) or file it under the proper reference folder.

Oct 2012 PSU and CPU Released

The October 2012 Patch Set Update (PSU) and Critical Patch Update (CPU) for Oracle products were released yesterday, 16-Oct-2012.  The Availability Document, which lists the patches to get for different products, is My Oracle Support note 1477727.1.

A couple of interesting things this quarter.  Critical Patch Updates are being renamed Security Patch Updates, or SPUs. The release schedule is the same, as is the content.  MOS note 1430923.1, "New Patch Nomenclature for Oracle Products", describes the change.

The PSU/CPU also includes patches for the SHA-1 hashing algorithm to address two vulnerabilities.  There are special notes about how to apply patches this quarter because of these.  Always read the README, and don't assume that you know how to do this quarter's patch just because you've done them before.

The PSUs for 11.2.0.2  (starting with 11.2.0.2.7) and 11.2.0.3 (starting with 11.2.0.3.2) now use the new Composite Patch format, which makes overlay patches to previous updates less troublesome.  MOS note 1376691.1 describes the new format and its advantages.

The January 2013 PSU/CPU will be the final ones for Database 11.2.0.2,  Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.1.5.0, and Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.1.4.0 for Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer (PFRD).