AJ's Blog - Two Minute Timer

Thursday, June 01, 2006

So I just got David Allen's latest newsletter a few minutes ago and it mentioned a simple "Two Minute Timer" program they are offering for $10. For those of you not familiar with the two minute rule:

“If the Next Action can be done in 2 minutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up. Even if that item is not a “high priority”, because it takes longer to store and track any item than to deal with it the first time its in your head.” (p. 131, “Getting Things Done”)

Now I can see how this little program could be useful to show how much you can really get done in two minutes, but charging $10 for a program that a high school student can write in fifteen minutes seems kind of silly to me.

So donate $10 to your favorite charity and download this free program instead (.NET Framework 2.0 is required... I didn't have any other development environment installed on my laptop, but I'm sure someone else can spend two minutes and write one that doesn't require .NET).

TwoMinutes.zip (16.49 KB)

Productivity | Software

posted at Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:05:58 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [11] | Trackback Related posts:
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Tracked by:
"Two minute timer y Thinking Rock" (Cosas por hacer) [Trackback]

Monday, June 05, 2006 3:04:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

This is the best thing I've read in awhile. I like that you suggested donating the money to a charity instead. Thank you for doing this!

Renee

Monday, June 05, 2006 4:16:47 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Great stuff! Thanks. I also thought $10 was too much. Was going to write one in Java when I found 2 minutes :-)

chb | chbAT NOSPAMThoughtActionProsperity dot com

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 1:07:42 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Thanx for writing this--I haven't checked it out yet, but found it linked from Lifehacker. And I trust them. :)

Torley Linden | torleyAT NOSPAMgmail dot com

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 8:30:16 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Care to share the project so that we can save two minutes?

Ed | ed dot castaldoAT NOSPAMgmail dot com

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 9:49:32 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Ed - There is a download link to the compiled application. Did you want the C# code?

Avesh | aveshjAT NOSPAMhotmail dot com

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 3:18:13 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

After reading about this on lifehacker and seeing that there was no Mac version, I whipped one up (also free of course):

http://www.stuntblog.com/2006/06/06/two-minutes-on-a-mac/

Dan | danAT NOSPAMmessing dot ca

Saturday, June 17, 2006 11:13:32 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Here's a pure DHTML timer that works in IE or Firefox - no D/L or install needed:

http://www.speedbagforum.com/timerv1-1-beta.html

The code is absolute crap, but it works (mostly)

Tim

Friday, June 23, 2006 10:33:15 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

You need to use NETCheck with your timer so users without the .NET Framework can have an easier time installing.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=ksoft+netcheck

Chris | cjAT NOSPAMgmail dot com

Friday, October 13, 2006 9:42:55 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Here is a usefull and very simple tea timer page. I don't think they come more simple than this. The count down starts instantly and refreshing page restarts it.

The page seems to work also locally when you don't have the internet connection.

2 minutes
<a href="www.lumisoft.net/teatimer.htm?2">www.lumisoft.net/teatimer.htm?2</a>

10 minutes
<a href="www.lumisoft.net/teatimer.htm?10">www.lumisoft.net/teatimer.htm?10</a>

The number in the link after the question mark is the minute count. So you can bookmark or copy the link to the browser link panel with as many minutes as you wish.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 3:14:31 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Good!<a href="http://www.chinatraderonline.com/Timer/">China timer</a>

Trader | jonsnfAT NOSPAMmsn dot com

Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:55:36 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Very nice...someone recommended David Allen's book to me and since then my life has changed drastically. I don't even need the program, it just works without it...

Gaurav

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