Tickler Files vs. Day Planner

I'm testing a GTD tickler file system right now and I'm finding what I would have thought impossible a few years ago--I'm not using my planner! I'm finding that a surprising amount of what I need to work on is already coming to me in the form of a piece of paper: a letter, a reminder notice from my son's elementary school, etc. What doesn't come in that way I jot on an index card and throw it in the appropriate file.

It seems like it wouldn't make a difference if I were writing things down on a list vs. filing pieces of paper but it does. I'm finding it faster and easier to take a bill, a permission slip, a shopping list, a dry cleaning receipt, or the printout of an Outlook appointment item (complete with all the info I need) and placing it in the appropriate folder vs. writing all the detail from each sheet of paper into the proper place in my planner (and possibly filing the paper for reference [read "extra work"]). It's even easier that just hole punching the paper and placing it in my planner. Not to mention I don't have to carry around a growing binder.

Removing any friction out of the system is worthwhile.

Personal Productivity, Time Management, Effectiveness, GTD, Getting Things Done