Just a quick update to let you all know that an update to the Viira Outlook Suite is now available. The new version 0.9.6 contains several usability and stability enhancements.

Both the Outlook plugin and the BlackBerry client have been updated in this release. We have also enhanced the Viira Outlook Suite beta information page to include more details as well as tips and best practices.

If you haven’t done so already and want to give the beta a try, you can enroll in our beta program here. Once again, thanks to all of you who are participating in the beta program!

The moment many of you have anxiously been awayting is now just around the corner. After months of tirelessly working on the Viira Outlook Suite and being burried in Outlook and BlackBerry OS development work, we are finally ready to launch the Outlook Suite beta.

Combined Outlook-BlackBerry environments can differ widely between installations though: some people rely on Exchange and a BES-powered company BlackBerry, while others are content with just having BIS and standalone MS Outlook. While the Viira Outlook Suite works without a problem in both cases (and actually doesn’t even need a BlackBerry data plan), we are still looking to extend the testing period for the Viira Outlook Suite in order to make sure the 1.0 version works smoothly out-of-the-box for everyone.

With that in mind, we are launching the Viira Outlook Suite Beta program. Are you comfortable playing with beta software on your computer and on your BlackBerry? Are you interested in making your opinion count in guiding the direction and feature set of the growing Viira Outlook Suite?

If your answer is yes to both, you should go ahead and give the Viira Outlook Suite beta a try. We would love to hear your thoughts on it as that would give us an idea of what works for you and what you think we can improve so that we can solidify the Viira Outlook Suite as the ultimate GTD solution out there.

Here is a quick glimpse of what the Viira Outlook Suite looks like:

Viira 2.0 has been out for a few months now, and it is time for an update.

For this release, we went over all the recommendations and requests that we received from you over the last little while and implemented the ones that were requested the most. To a large extend Viira 2.1 has been a community effort from all of you trying to leverage GTD on your BlackBerry - and we would like to thank all of you for the many great suggestions that we received!

We do our best to grow Viira based on your recommendations and if your suggestions wasn’t included in 2.1, stay tuned as versions 2.2 and beyond take shape!

Here is what is new in Viira 2.1:

• Delegate a project or context. You can now use Viira to email instructions and to-do lists, provide step-by-step directions and send a shopping list to your spouse. You can even use Viira’s delegation capability to email things to yourself for review later or to print out an entire project or context.
• Navigation With Shortcuts. Quickly go from one view to another by using shortcut key combinations. ALT+C opens Contexts View, ALT+P changes to Projects View, ALT+D invokes Day View and ALT+T will start Tasks View. This was by far one of the most requested capabilities and we hope it improves the speed and effectiveness of navigating your mobile GTD system as it did for us!
• Project and Context Notes. You can now add notes to every project or context to record additional directions, thoughts or just important things to keep in mind when tackling all the to-dos in it.

As always, Viira 2.1 comes as a free upgrade to all buyers of Viira 2.0.

Viira 2.1 also comes with a free trial, so grab it OTA from our mobile site and see for yourself what a powerful additional to your BlackBerry Viira really is!

If you’re already using Getting Things Done with Viira on your BlackBerry, you’re well on your way to living a more organized, productive life. But if you still have lingering questions on how best to use GTD in certain situations, there are plenty of places to go online to get help.

We’ve compiled a list of the Internet’s leading authorities on Getting Things Done. From tips and tricks, to words of wisdom from David Allen himself, you’re sure to find the info you need in one of the links below.

• Otherwise known as Mecca, DavidCo is the official website of the David Allen Company. Find information on all Allen’s books, upcoming appearances and more.
• GTD Times is a division of David Allen’s network. The self-described ‘hub of all things GTD,’ this site includes a blog, newsletter signup, and links to many more GTD resources.
• Another part of David Allen’s rapidly growing empire, GTD Connect is a subscription service that puts Getting Things Done practitioners in touch with each other and allows users to participate in online classes.
• Visit the official Facebook fan page of Getting Things Done to connect with other like-minded productivity fans on this popular social network.
• Join the official LinkedIn page for GTD Enthusiasts. Open to everyone, it’s a fantastic networking group to share GTD tips and tricks. David Allen and his staff are said to stop by occasionally.
• The official YouTube page for Getting Things Done ihas informative videos from David Allen and others explaining how GTD works for them.
• Follow David Allen on Twitter for daily musings from this famous productivity guru.
• You’ve probably read all of Allen’s books cover-to-cover, but if you happen to be missing one, head over to Amazon.com’s David Allen page and complete your collection.
• Run by Merlin Mann, creator of the Hipster PDA, 43Folders.com discusses productivity, taking several cues from GTD.
• Getting Things Done is a popular topic on Lifehacker.com, a blog that offers tricks and shortcuts to living life effectively. Search the #GTD and #gettingthingsdone tags to see all the posts.
• Not to be confused with Lifehacker, Stepcase Lifehack also focuses on productivity and often mentions Getting Things Done.
• Getting Finances Done is a blog that preaches personal financial control, using many of the GTD principles.
• Written by a GTD enthusiast, the Did I Get Things Done blog has multiple updates per week on productivity and motivation.
• The official Wikipedia page for Getting Things Done gives a great overview on the productivity system when you need a quick refresher.

Finally, if you’re like us and read everything you can find on David Allen and GTD, here are links to a few prominent news articles that discuss the productivity phenomenon.

• Wired Magazine
• Business Week (don’t forget to click through to Part 2!)
• Time Magazine
• NPR

Ever since we launched Viira 1.0, one of the most frequent comments that we received was “Great app! Now, how do I make it work with Outlook?”. Understandably, many of you are relying on MS Outlook for implementing Getting Things Done, and a comprehensive solution that transcends the boundaries of a BlackBerry device is clearly called for.

You requested it, and we listened. Over the last little while we have been hard at work on a combined BlackBerry-Outlook solution called The Viira Outlook Suite. In fact, it is almost ready for a beta launch!

At this point I would like to tell you more about what it will do, as well as give you a glimpse of how it will take your personal productivity and GTD workflows to a whole new level.  If you are interested in what a BlackBerry-Outlook GTD solution has to offer you can sign up for the Viira Outlook Suite updates - and maybe even help us a little by volunteering for our beta program.

Here is a summary of what our the Viira Outlook Suite will look like:

• BlackBerry *and* Outlook. The Viira Outlook Suite will contain both a BlackBerry app (Viira) and an extension to your Outlook. The extension (called plugin) will make it possible for you to do all the things you are used to doing with Viira inside your Outlook.
• Viira 2 functionality inside Outlook. The Viira Outlook plugin will provide the same features inside Outlook that Viira 2 currently offers, including projects, contexts and next actions.
• Full data upgrade path from Viira 2.  The Viira Outlook Suite will import all data from Viira 2 and people choosing to continue with the Viira Outlook Suite can do so effortlessly.
• Full purchase credit. Buyers of the full version of Viira 2 will get full credit ($29.99) towards the purchase price of the Viira Outlook Suite. We haven’t decided on pricing yet, but if the Viira Outlook Suite is say $29.99, then buyers of Viira 2 will get it for free. If the Outlook Suite is $39.99, buyers of Viira will be able to get it for $10.00, etc. So if you are interested in our Viira Outlook Suite and are also considering buying Viira 2, you might as well make your purchase now and enjoy Viira for longer.
• Same emphasis on GTD. Our Viira Outlook Suite will stay true to the principles of Getting Things Done, simplicity and ease of use.

So put down your name name and email address on our sign-up form and we will let you know as soon as the Viira Outlook Suite is available and ready for download. We all look forward to taking your productivity habbits and GTD workflows to a whole new level.

GTD is one of the world’s most popular work/life productivity systems, but despite all the examples in David Allen’s fantastic book, the system isn’t just for busy executives or creative entrepreneurs. Anyone can use Getting Things Done to help organize their lives, no matter if they are a stay-at-home dad or an on-the-go gal.

Don’t believe us? Well, the following examples may inspire you to apply the principles of Getting Things Done in ways that haven’t crossed your mind yet. With productivity tools like Viira and your BlackBerry, the multitude of ways to get things done is downright amazing.

@Book Recommendations - From Oprah to Arianna, everyone’s recommending a book. Keep track of the ones you want to read in their own Context. Adding a new book to the list is as easy as reaching for your BlackBerry.

@Travel Destinations - Make a note of the fantastic voyages you’ve seen in the newspaper’s travel section or on your friend’s slide show. When it comes time to plan the trip, just transform your notes into next actions.

@Supermarket - Manage your grocery list in Viira and you’ll always know what to pick up when you’re out and about.

@Resolutions - Write down your New Years resolutions. You will have them right on your BlackBerry to remind you - and then check them off the list one by one!

@Doctor – If you’re lucky, you only see your doc once a year. Make notes about all the items you want to discuss at your next checkup so nothing gets forgotten.

@Renovations – Anyone who’s tackled a remodel knows there are roughly five thousand details to keep track of, and Viira is the perfect place to do so. Just remember to always have one “kick-start action” to keep the project moving along, as David Allen recommends.

@Class – GTD isn’t just for working professionals. Students can also use it to take notes. Just create a separate context for each class and your notes will be at your fingertips during those late-night cram sessions.

@Take Notes — Next time you are at a seminar or presentation, instead of using pen and paper use Viira to take notes. Simply create a context, e.g. “XYZ Presentation” and write down points or follow-on reminders. You can review the presentation later, and even designate next actions for follow-up.

Remember, the guiding principle of Getting Things Done is to collect 100% of all your tasks and commitments, or “stuff,” as David Allen calls it. Your “stuff” doesn’t just live in the office—it’s all around you, and when you’re able to keep it all off your mind and at your fingertips with the Viira BlackBerry app, you’ll be free to focus on the bigger picture of staying focused in the new year and the new decade!

Congratulations! You’ve made the decision to adopt GTD and install Viira on your BlackBerry, the perfect pair of tools to make your work and home lives more organized and productive. If you haven’t already done so, we highly encourage you to read David Allen’s fantastic book, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.”  It goes into detail on the best ways to incorporate the GTD system into your life.

But what now?  You have the tools, but how do you start organizing all of your commitments into GTD via Viira?  Fortunately, the app makes it a cinch.

Step 1: Collect your Commitments

The guiding principle behind GTD is to collect and organize 100% of your tasks and commitments, or “stuff” as David Allen calls it.  This process gets the details out of your head, freeing your mind to focus on larger issues and bigger projects.

All this “stuff” may be in the form of sticky notes framing your computer monitor or scrap papers in a junk drawer.  Or, like most people, your email inbox might be the biggest culprit.  If so, Viira makes it simple to get your inbox to empty by transforming incoming emails into actionable items.  Since the app works seamlessly with the BlackBerry’s native email program, you can easily create a task directly from an individual email.

Step 2: Organize and File

All the “stuff” you collect needs to be acted on, and you can organize it all using Viira.  You may want to consider setting up your Projects and Contexts first. David Allen defines a project as “any desired result that requires more than one action step.”  Contexts, on the other hand, are groups of actionable items that all need to happen together, like @Computer, or @StaffMeeting.

Once you’ve got a handle on those, you can start adding actionable items into the system as Appointments (items with a due date) and Tasks (items that aren’t time sensitive).  These can be filed as a specific Project or Context…or nothing at all, if that’s your preference.

Step 3: Daily Review

David Allen warns of the danger of putting reminders out of sight, and suggests frequent reviews of your lists to make sure you stay up to speed on all your items.  To combat this, he recommends a daily review of your calendar, as it provides a “hard landscape” of what has to be done that day. Viira makes this a breeze with the Day View that stays seamlessly in sync with your BlackBerry’s calendar.

Once you get a handle on your daily schedule, take a look at your Tasks View to see what else you can accomplish.  If you’ve organized your next actions into Contexts, one look at the Contexts View will show you the items you can tackle in your current location.

Step 4: Weekly Review

Don’t forget about the bigger projects you’ve taken the time to add into Viira.  A weekly review of these areas in Projects View will ensure everything is up to date. David Allen recommends having at least one “kick-start action” for each Project amongst your Next Actions, to keep everything moving forward.

This is also a good time to empty your head of all the new projects, actions and appointments you haven’t yet captured in the app, along with clearing out actions that you’ve completed.  Remember, when everything is off your mind and at your fingertips on your BlackBerry, you’re free to focus on the big picture.

Step 5: Take a Shortcut

Now that you’ve got a handle on all your tasks and commitments, become a power user of Viira! Make the most of your BlackBerry and GTD by learning a few of the hotkey shortcuts: you can check them out at the Viira shortcut information page.

As you continue to use Viira and apply the principles of Getting Things Done with your BlackBerry you’ll likely find that your mind is clear and you’re able to consistently and effectively manage all your commitments.  As long as you continue to aim for 100% collection of all your “stuff,” and transform it all into actionable items using Viira, you’ll stay in this wonderful relaxed and productive state.

We are glad to announce the immediate availability of Viira 1.3. This release is largely made of various suggestions that many of you passed along.

With many thanks to all of you that dropped us a line telling us what features you would like to see, here is what is new in Viira 1.3:

• Track project-less and context-less tasks. Project and Context Views now provide an easy way to locate tasks without a project or a context and prevent these tasks from “slipping through the cracks”. Simply select <No Project> and <No Context> in Projects View and Contexts View and all tasks without a project or context assigned to them will be displayed, respectively. (Thanks Sean for suggesting this one!)
• Start in Last View Used . A new setting available through Viira’s options lets you start Viira in the last used view, making it easier to return to where you left things off.
• BlackBerry Storm support. As the momentum behind the BlackBerry Storm adoption grows we are pleased to the Storm to the list of supported devices. Long-time owners of and recent upgraders to the BlackBerry Storm can take full advantage of the device’s unique capabilities like the touch screen and orientation sensitivity to get things done on the go with Viira.
• Performance enhancements. An engineering optimization put in place in Viira 1.3 drastically boosts the speed with which appointments stay in sync with the native BlackBerry calendar, making it possible to integrate a large number of appointments in your GTD system. (thanks Rajesh for helping us through this one)
• Appointments sorted chronologically. Day View now lists all appointments in chronological order, making it easier to get a quick and intuitive glance of what lies ahead for any given day.
• Free trial limits raised. The Viira 1.3 Free Trial comes with raised limits on the number of projects, contexts and tasks.

As usual, Viira 1.3 comes as a free upgrade to all buyers of the full version. To get upgrade Over-The-Air (OTA) simply point your BlackBerry to our mobile site www.kartamobile.com/bb. Alternatively buyers can log in to our site and download the ZIPed installer and install.

A free trial of Viira 1.3 is also available.

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Viira 1.2. Since we released Viira 1.1 we heard many positive words (thank you all!) and received many great feature suggestions, so we decided to make many of them reality in the 1.2 release.

Here is what’s new in Viira 1.2:

• Alphabetically sorted projects and contexts. (Thanks Greg for making us see the light on this one!) In addition to the visual convenience of being able to quickly zero in on a project or context this feature has the added benefit of “clustering” projects and contexts with similar names together. For example, all my projects that start with “Viira”, e.g. “Viira Features”, “Viira Suggestions” etc. all appear one after the other.
• Quick search for projects/contexts. Just press the first letter of the project or context you are looking for and the project or context starting with this letter will be highlighted. Works both in Project View, Context View as well as in the drop-down combo boxes in the Task and Appointment edit screen. Makes finding the project or context you are looking for a whole lot quicker!
• Support for recurring appointments and events. All BlackBerry Calendar appointments and events with recurrence associated with them now appear in Day View and can be assigned a project or context, just like any task or appointment in Viira. More on Viira’s recurring appointments and how to best take advantage of them is coming up in a follow-on post.
• Backup/restore capabilities.  All of Viira’s data now gets automatically backed up and restored when the entire device is backed up and restored, thus giving a peace of mind to the many of you counting on Viira day-in and day-out to get things done. A post on how to backup/restore Viira’s data for those that haven’t done a device backup/restore before is coming soon. Backup/restore is available on the full version of Viira.
• Device migration support. Thinking of upgrading to a newer BlackBerry model but have a lot of Viira data on the older device? Buyers of the full version can now migrate their Viira data from one BlackBerry to another, ensuring data continuity between device upgrades. (more on this to follow in a separate device migration how-to).
• Support for latest BlackBerry models. Release 1.2 makes sure that Viira works and looks great on the BlackBerry Pearl 8220 and the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
• Auto-capitalization of first letter of project, context, task and appointment names. Just makes things look a whole lot nicer!

As always, release 1.2 comes as a free update to all buyers of the full version of Viira. Buyers can get the update by pointing their BlackBerries to the Viira mobile site at www.kartamobile.com/bb or by logging in to our main site and downloading the ZIPed installer from there.

A free trial of Viira 1.2 is available as well.

A while back Isaac Bowman wrote a great post on how to implement a system for Getting Things Done with BlackBerry by using just the Tasks application that comes standard on every device.

Isaac’s idea is a very ingenuous one, works reasonably well for small-scale GTD implementations (30-40 tasks or less and a handful of projects and contexts) and cleverly pushes the limits of the BlackBerry Tasks application pretty much as far as possible in my view.

Actually, in the early days of Viira development we used his post as our internal benchmark: if we wanted Viira to be successful, we realized it needs to be able to provide much more than what can be eeked out from the Tasks application.

At its core, Isaac’s idea of implementing GTD on a BlackBerry is fairly straightforward. To flag a task as belonging to a project or a context, encode the project or context name in the task name and use the search function to find all outstanding tasks for a project or context.

Another slightly more technical variation on this idea comes from Mike at Clutter Free Mind who uses the task names to encode a larger category of tasks, like work relating to specific clients for example.

A key problem with relying exclusively on the Tasks application for implementing a system for Getting Things Done with a BlackBerry is that the native BlackBerry apps don’t do a good job of combining tasks and appointments together. This makes having day-specific tasks, a requirement of any solid GTD system, that much harder to achieve.

Another problems with implementing GTD with BlackBerry this way is that a lot of extra typing is needed to get even the basics going. Switching between contexts or projects requires typing every time, and if you are a more involved GTDer your thumbs will start feeling it after a bit. For someone with a BlackBerry Pearl or Storm this can become an even bigger problem.

Also, when it comes to re-assigning tasks from one project to another or renaming projects or contexts the limitations of this approach of Getting Things Done becomes more obvious. Changing the project or context a task belongs to requires editing the task’s name, and renaming a project makes it necessary to re-edit the names of all tasks in that project.

If you are like me and have 30+ projects and start forgetting the exact wording of the projects’ names the entire process will become daunting in a hurry (in Getting Things Done David Allen talks about 30-100 projects being the norm). Mistyping a project name in the task field can cause that task to “fall off” the projects’ radar as well.

At the end of the day, the BlackBerry Tasks application was just plain not designed with GTD in mind. While some hacks can be used to augment the Tasks functionality it is hard to make them scale effortlessly to a larger, fuller and intuitive GTD implementation that works smoothly all the time.