Emergent Task Planner (Free Version) 2008 Updates

Plan your day as it happens

The Emergent Task Planner (or ETP) is a Daily Planning Sheet that provides several means for visualizing the time you have available so you can get some work done. Unlike other planning sheets which merely block out time and leaves you to hope for the best, the ETP borrows some of the task planning methodology from the Task Progress Tracker to reinforce one idea: it's hard to get anything done on purpose when there are so many distractions. The ETP provides space for noting down the unexpected.

The 2008 edition has changed in layout compared to last year. The Time Scheduling is now on the right side to mirror the layout of the new pre-printed ETP pads that pre-orderers have started to receive in 2007. I have also retained the "day of the week" feature of this form, which is a feature that is not on the pre-printed ETP pads.

While the free 2008 forms are not quite as pretty as the commercially printed ones, but they're functionally equivalent (and still pretty nice looking :-)

Download 2008 Emergent Task Planner Printable Forms

• The Standard Emergent Task Planner 2008 for color printers
• Black and White Version for monochrome printers and power users

For information about the Emergent Task Planner, the original post describes each design feature in greater detail.

Limited Availability!

If you'd like to order from the limited run of pre-printed pads on high-quality paper, you may do so for a limited time. Pre-Printed ETP Pads.

Comments

The links are to the 2007 forms, unless I’m missing something.  Looking forward to using these more consistently this year.

Also, the captcha for my comment says “submit the word you see below”, however the “word” has a numeral with it.  I tried just submitting the word, but got an error.  I assumed it was a trick question, but alas, no?

Thanks!

I liked your forms the first time I chanced upon your blog a month back and have been tracking them ever since. Thanks very much for publishing the free version of the forms. I’m sure it will help me manage their day better.

Dave,

My Pre-Printed ETPs have arrived.

Gorgeosity!  Thanks.

The awesome ETP is my favorite form of the PCEO set, and I use it often. Thanks! The second tool of yours that I use is the beta online version of the ETT.

But I have just a minor annoyance in the ETP (it exists both in last year’s version and in this update): In the 29th line of the time scheduling, there’s a missing dot. The fact that a dot is missing is not what troubles me. It’s the implication that you drew every single dot and you missed drawing one that troubles me. (because if you were using copy-paste or some array tool, there wouldn’t be a missing dot).

On the other hand, maybe it’s just an intentional imperfection to appease the god of productivity tools…

Thanks a lot David!

I stumbled across your site a few weeks ago when searching for time management tools, and have bookmarked your site - to follow-up regularly.

Thanks for sharing the ETP in the updated layout. I like the new layout—where you logically start your day at the top-left by listing out the important tasks.

I have been using the ETP for 3 weeks now, and I so far, I have not fared very well in sticking to the schedule.

Distractions—both important and unimportant—result in large deviations from the plan. The situation gets much worse after mid-day when the motivation and energy levels also go down to complicate matters further.

Now, while I will continue to work on it, I also think it will help if the tool lets me record both the “plan” and “actuals” in the schedule.

Temporarily, I am trying the following approach --

1. When you plan your schedule, put only the numbers of tasks in the schedule grid.
2. When you actually complete a task on schedule, circle it.
3. When another emergent task takes precedence, put the number of the new task in a circle and strike-off the original number (and shift it to a new time-slot)
4. at the end of the day, all circled numbers in the schedule grid are actuals.
5. Also, sometimes I have some sundry tasks listed that I do not schedule at the beginning of the day. I enter them into the schedule grid, and circle them, but only when I finish them.
6. In the task-list, to differentiate tasks that are already scheduled from those that are yet to be scheduled, I again use circling.

I would like to hear about any pros and cons of this approach.

Also, another generic idea that I have not fully explored myself --

For people who have done their “Life Goals” exercise, there is likely to be a prioritized list of Long-term, Medium-term, and Short-term goals.

It might help if one could use a coding method to identify which tasks tie to those goals, so that at the end of a week or month, one can measure what proportion of their productive time have they spent on pursuing those goals. At least in theory, the results of this analysis should strongly motivate one to change any bad habits like procrastination, and to do any course-correction in the plans.

I have not read through all your other posts on the blog. I may have missed any articles or tools where you have already explored these ideas.

David,
Thanks for putting these forms together. They are very clean and well organized.

In the Emergent Task Planner for 2008, as well as other forms on your site, please post a completed form, showing how each of the form features are used.  I believe this would help me and other viewers to understand how to efficiently use your layout.

Thanks.
Race.

Hi. I have been using these forms with absolutely no planning. I have been using it more as a record of my day. At the end of the day I see if I accomplished any major tasks, see what took up the most amount of time and try to learn from them.

I think you have another form that is suppose to help with that, but I love the layout of this one and feel it helps me record my day.

Hi David,

I’ve been using your forms and compact calendar for a while now and love them - thanks.  Do you have a 2-up version of this?  I like a half page size, but don’t want to waste paper . . .

Thanks,

Revan

Love your Emergent Task Planner, I list down what I need to do for the day, and at the end of the day I circle what I haven’t completed and carry it over to the next day.. have become sooo much more organized at work, with room to doodle too.. thank you!

I second Revan, would love a 4up of this as I have an A6 planner :)

Love the new ETP. Great work! Although I have one request. Is it possible to have a ETP printed on both sides of a paper?

I have tried all kinds of options when printing your form, but I can’t get the second copy printed on the back of the sheet.

Seems to me a waste of space to not using the other side of the sheet.

Nevermind David, after fiddling around for a while I was able to do it with an app called FinePrint which prints 2 to 12 ups and repeats pages if you ask it to. Bliss! It also does duplex as well (on duplex supported printers). I don’t use duplex though, as the blank side gives me more room for notes.

I print out enough ETP sheets for a month, punch holes in them and then I put them in a Corban Blair 2 ring binder. I love this system because unlike a regular diary I’m only carrying sheets around relevant to me as opposed to a whole years’ worth of pages, plus if I miss a day I don’t feel guilty that I am wasting paper. Thank you once again for a stellar diary system. ;)

Hey Dave,
Thanks for the awesome templates, and for being so generous and modest by providing them for free. I think you will be really blessed because of this, as I’m sure you are now.

Also, thanks for being so humble and accessible.

I know these forms are going to really help put some order back in my life and I just appreciate what you are doing.

Dave-
Thanks for your ETP sheets and description of using it effectively.  Chunking, with estimates, and priorities, and scheduling, are what I like and need.
I used TimeBank in the 80s, DayTimer in the 90s, and I tried using a Palm electronic unit for a while.  I resorted to just lined PostIt notes in the front of a journal in recent years.  The journal of notes was what was missing from TimeBank and DayTimer.  I use a leather cover with inside slots and tuck in the covers of small spiral notebooks from Staples, which last me about 2 months each.  I take notes in meetings and phone calls.  I save all my journals for years.
I have needed to get back to being more organized about tasks, and your ETP sheets and approach helps. 
I needed half-size printouts, and wanted to save paper.  I have printed 2 copies of the BW PDF, placed them side by side on our copier platen, and reduced to fit on 1 letter size page.  I copied a few dozen of those 2-pagers, then cut down the middle. I am still thinking about whether I want single papers (which can be placed on top of my desk, but can be lost if just loosely carried around), or a stapled stack (tough to see the current page), or some type of long-edge binding.
Do other folks toss away their pages at the end of the day?  place them in a folder or box? 

Thanks,
Richard

Great form.  I wish I would have found this a long time ago.  I am wondering if there has been any luck with the 5.5x8.5in (half letter) size.  I know that I can resize with Acrobat but they just don’t look right to me.

Thanks