Help with basics of GTD workflow

[TimK]

I think I’m missing something obvious about the GTD system. The book
does a great job explaining the motivation behind the system, but I
don’t get the specifics of workflow. I could really use some help
understanding what exactly goes in the next action lists, what goes on
the projects list, and how these two lists interact. For example,
take a project(“write article”) that consists of five actionable
items(“read research”, “write outline”, “write first draft”, “talk to
project manager”, “call publisher”), in 3 different contexts. My
options are:
1. Put all of those items on the next action lists? In that case,
what’s the purpose of the projects list?

Next Actions Lists
@home @work @phone
Read research talk to project manager call publisher
write outline
write first draft

Projects List
Write Article

2. Put only the first actionable item on a next action lists and put
the rest of the actionable items on the project list. In that case,
I’ll have many project lists, but the book only talks about one
project list. If I go with this option, when I finish an action from
the project from the next action lists, do I then go to the project
lists, find the next actionable item and put it on a next action
lists? But this gets more complicated because I have to associate
each next action with a project.

Next Actions Lists
@home
Read research(Write article project)
@work
talk to project manager (Write article project)
@phone
call publisher (Write article project)

Projects list
Write article
write outline
write first draft

[oliver....@gmail.com]

On Apr 23, 9:09 pm, TimK <tim.lun...@gmail.com> wrote:


> 1. Put all of those items on the next action lists? In that case,
> what’s the purpose of the projects list?

You turn to the project list at least once a week at 'review' and make
sure all your projects have next actions defined.

> Next Actions Lists
> @home @work @phone
> Read research talk to project manager call publisher
> write outline
> write first draft
>
> Projects List
> Write Article
>
> 2. Put only the first actionable item on a next action lists and put
> the rest of the actionable items on the project list.

You would not put the on 'projects' but on the 'additional material
for project A' that you have somewhere of your desk and where you do
the project planning.
I sometimes have the next few consecutive actions in ONE task-entry
on my palm, so that I can do them right after another.
Or you might have a short project specific todolist on ONE index card,
so you don't have severalcards for seeral projects.

>In that case,
> I’ll have many project lists, but the book only talks about one
> project list.

It talks about (I redathe german version) 'materials that belong t
your project'.

> If I go with this option, when I finish an action from
> the project from the next action lists, do I then go to the project
> lists, find the next actionable item and put it on a next action
> lists?

To the secondary project material, yes. Or more often yopu might ahve
it ready in your brain already ;)

> But this gets more complicated because I have to associate
> each next action with a project.

Yep.

> Next Actions Lists
> @home
> Read research(Write article project)
> @work
> talk to project manager (Write article project)
> @phone
> call publisher (Write article project)

I actually have no project list (HERESY! ;) ) but have NA as tasks on
my palm with a notw which projet they belong to. The project mention
does not get deleted and new tasks added. (so I have sometimes several
projects/Task lists fpor parallel processing ;) )

OG

[Simon]

I agree with you TimK - I installed the GTD Outlook add-in and
although its been very helpful, I feel like I still haven't quite 'got
it'. My inbox, to-do lists etc are much more under control and calmed
down, but what I want at any point in time is to know what I should do
next. This *could* be solved by putting all the next actions in to a
new context 'next action', but that then loses the intent of context.
It seems to me as though 'next action' should be an attribute of one
of a projects task. Then if I look at the context I should have the
option of filtering out only those tasks in that context that are
'next actions'.

What is very puzzling in the outlook add-in is that the only situation
where the idea of next action is supported is when closing down an
action, you can select 'next action'. This closes the existing action
and then prompts for the creation of a new one. ALthough I can see
this prompts you to think about what the next action should be (which
is no bad thing), in reality for most projects you can fairly quickly
reel off a list of potential tasks and so when you have finished one
action, I would have expected to be prompted to select from one of the
already captured actions to be the 'next'?

As I say, I do think something has not quite clicked for me yet -
hopefully others can enlighten me!

PS The Jello dashboard app group which I found out about through this
group seems very active for anyone who cares to take a look...

[John Winstanley]

IMHO the Jello dashboard is superior to the GTD plugin.

For anyone new to GTD I suggest you go analogue first untiluntilknow the metod, understand altitudes, areas of responsibility, project lists, contexts (contexts ARE physical places or states), next actions and how to choose a NA based on energy, time  available and (finally) priority.

The GTD Outlook plugin is ok as it goes but all  it's functionality can be reproduced on outlook without it. The David CO e-book on setting up outlook for GTD is a good starting point for this. And it save you $50 or whatever they charge for the plug-in these days.

John

--
John

[jon...@gmail.com]

> what’s the purpose of the projects list?

The Project List is simply a list of the *names* of all of your
projects. It is used as a checklist during review, to make sure you
have chosen a next action for each of the listed projects. Any
further information that a project needs (reference, planning, etc)
goes into a support file for that project. Some projects may have
extremely minimal support "files" if they only need things you'd have
available in your desk/wallet/car anyway.

> Put only the first actionable item on a next action lists and put
> the rest of the actionable items on the project list. In that case,
> I’ll have many project lists, but the book only talks about one
> project list.

The first actionable item goes on a context list, yes. The potential
future actions (not actionable yet, because they have blocking
prerequisites) go into the project support file for that project (not
onto the Project List itself, which *only* has the names of the
projects). This information counts as "planning".

> If I go with this option, when I finish an action from
> the project from the next action lists, do I then go to the project
> lists, find the next actionable item and put it on a next action
> lists? But this gets more complicated because I have to associate
> each next action with a project.

Every GTD beginner goes through a phase of thinking that all tasks
need very tight linkage to the project that spawned them. Eventually
as the system sinks in you will find that maintaining these linkages
is an unnecessary chore and trust that either next actions will
naturally prompt themselves or that regular review of the Project List
will catch dropped trains of thought (this is why it is a list of only
the *names*, to make skimming it a part of effortless maintenance).
It may be the case that for *some* tasks you want to make sure to move
to the next step immediately, and you can note projects in those
cases, but it is overkill in general.

-- Jon

[TimK]

Jon,

Thanks for the clarification. Your reply really clarified some
questions I had.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Tim

[Simon]

Jon,

Your reply is very interesting and thanks for elaborating.

Can you clarify that when you say

"The potential future actions (not actionable yet, because they have
blocking
prerequisites) go into the project support file for that project"

what you mean is that you don't enter those actions in to GTD actions,
you leave them in a file somewhere as simply a list of some kind?

I can see that if that is what you mean, then it keeps your GTD
actions list uncluttered, but doesn't it mean also that you keep
having to open up that file and look to see if there is a potential
actionable item?

regards

Simon

[Bryan Ewbank]

Simon asked:

> Can you clarify that when you say
>
> "The potential future actions (not actionable yet, because they have
> blocking prerequisites) go into the project support file for that project"
>
> what you mean is that you don't enter those actions in to GTD actions, you
> leave them in a file somewhere as simply a list of some kind?
>
> I can see that if that is what you mean, then it keeps your GTD actions list
> uncluttered, but doesn't it mean also that you keep having to open up that
> file and look to see if there is a potential actionable item?

It does mean you need to review your project files (at the weekly review), but
there's no need to spend the mental effort to remember which of the current
"NA" tasks are not *really* NA tasks. The only things on your action lists are
things that you can act on immediately.

If once a week is not frequent enough, then set up an appointment 3-5 times a
week to review project files for unblocked tasks". Again, this keeps you in
one frame of mind (hunting for tasks), instead of scanning a list of tasks for
those items which are ready.

Hope this helps,
- Bryan E

[Simon]

So the idea is to extract only enough actionable tasks from your
projects list and on to you task list, to - as it were - 'last' you
through to the next review?

[Bryan Ewbank]

Yes, that's part of it. On the other hand, all "actionable" tasks
should be available in case you feel inspired, or get in the zone, or
end up having lunch next to the hardware store, or ...

The less distraction you have in a particular "mode", the better.
When identifying new tasks, take no action. When doing actions,
ignore your inbox(es).

[Mike De Bruyn]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 3:09 PM, TimK <tim.l...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I think I'm missing something obvious about the GTD system. The book
> does a great job explaining the motivation behind the system, but I
> don't get the specifics of workflow. I could really use some help
> understanding what exactly goes in the next action lists, what goes on
> the projects list, and how these two lists interact.

I don't know if you got the distinctions from the other responses, but
I feel your pain so I thought I'd see if my spin on it would help ;-)

Here is the workflow, briefly:

1) You dig through everything and dispose of the "easy stuff".
Discard, file, and do the quick stuff. What you have left over are
"projects". The definition of a project is anything that has a number
of "steps" or "actions" and they take more resources than you
currently have ... time, information, etc. The resources are
available in "contexts". If one of the actions is "Call Joe", you
need the resource: "A phone" so it goes on the context list "@ Call".

2) You think about each project and list AT LEAST one action you can
take to move it forward. You can list more actions, but you need at
least one and that one is called a "next action". You decide what
resources are needed and assign it the appropriate context.

3) In your review of the project, you decide if you plan to DO the
next action in the next review period. If so, you put in on the
context list, if not, you put it on your "someday/maybe" list. (Or
maybe just leave the action in the project folder and mark the project
as someday/maybe ... just depends on how you like to work.

4) If you get the actions done, during the next review period you
decide what are the next steps (actions) you can take.

5) When there are no further actions to take, the project is done.

> For example,
> take a project("write article") that consists of five actionable
> items("read research", "write outline", "write first draft", "talk to
> project manager", "call publisher"), in 3 different contexts. My
> options are:

> 1. Put all of those items on the next action lists? In that case,
> what's the purpose of the projects list?

In "pure GTD" there is only ONE "next action". In real life, there
may be several. There can be several if the actions are not dependent
on one another. In your example, I see three possible next actions:
"read research", "talk to project manager", "call publisher". "Write
outline" is dependent on doing the research. "Write first draft" is
dependent on the first two. See what I mean?

The purpose of the projects list depends on what you mean by a
"project list". In "pure GTD", projects lists are just a list of
projects so that you remember that you need to review the project
material and decide what the next action is.

> Next Actions Lists
> @home @work @phone
> Read research talk to project manager call publisher
> write outline
> write first draft
>
> Projects List
> Write Article

Yes, but the projects list contains the other projects you need to
review and decide actions for. So add to your list:

Plan vacation
Build Deck
Buy Hot Tub
Renovate Kitchen
etc.

Each of those is a project with many actions ... at least one of them
a "next action". Each project might be "contained" in a folder
(estimates for the tub or the kitchen or plans for your deck). Or it
might just be a sheet of paper or card with a list of actions.

> 2. Put only the first actionable item on a next action lists and put
> the rest of the actionable items on the project list.

That is the "pure GTD" approach.

> In that case,
> I'll have many project lists, but the book only talks about one
> project list.

You would have ONE project LIST, but many places where actions for
projects are listed (one per project). You'd have a folder for "Build
Deck", another for "Renovate Kitchen", another for "Plan Vacation",
etc. But you'd have only one LIST of projects to remind you of what
you have on your plate during your review. NOTE: this is very
implementation dependent. You might skip "lists" entirely and just go
through your file cabinet, one folder for each project. It just
depends.

> If I go with this option, when I finish an action from
> the project from the next action lists, do I then go to the project
> lists, find the next actionable item and put it on a next action
> lists?

Almost. You go to the project "material" or "folder" or "list of
actions". You will only find the names of projects on your project
list. You go to the place where the actions are listed, and
information stored for the project and get (or decide) the next action
from there. The project list is just a memory device. My brother
used to keep his case folders on his desk in huge stacks, because they
were actually serving as a tickler file. I showed him how he could
put the folders in the file cabinet and write the case name on a "to
do" list and have a clear desk. Both implementations work ... it
depends on how you think and work.

> But this gets more complicated because I have to associate
> each next action with a project.

> Next Actions Lists
> @home
> Read research(Write article project)
> @work
> talk to project manager (Write article project)
> @phone
> call publisher (Write article project)

> Projects list
> Write article
> write outline
> write first draft

That is just one way of doing it and it depends on how you think about
things. I also like to have things laid out hierarchically. It is
not necessary, however, if you don't think that way. You really could
just have "Read Research" and know what you mean. And again, your
actions or sub-projects would not appear on your projects list in
"pure GTD".

I don't know if that added anything to your thinking. Basically, do
what is easiest for yourself to get your work done.

--
Cheers,
Mike

[Amit]

Merlin Mann has a good workflow diagram on his blog 43folders.net. You
should check it out. I think it is in the about gtd section.

On May 2, 2:46 pm, "Mike De Bruyn" <mikes.mail.li...@gmail.com> wrote: