Ironically, when I need GTD the most, it's the easiest to fall off the wagon.
David Allen says one of the best things about GTD is that it's easy to get back on the wagon - which is good, because it's also easy to fall off, and even as the originator of this particular wagon, he falls off and gets back on all the time. I learned this in a great intro-level video of a talk David gave at google. Here's the video of David Allen at Google.
So, I fell off and got back on, a few times, in recent days. As I have noticed, I learn the most when I iterate through problems, and this 30 day project has forced me to remain continuous in my resolve to find a way when I am in the gap between iterations of 'on'. So, I tried something new. I was working on some content for a client that does Iceland Excursions and I thought that maybe I could do the right thing at a client level and continue to refine my process without the mass of my entire workload to deal with. It seems to be working.
Here's a tiny version of what it my 'working' screen looks like:
Key observations:
- More projects, fewer actions. When I scan, I realized that my mind attempts to comprehend the top level items, so 5 items is as distracting as 5 projects - even though 5 projects might mean 25 actions. Hmmmm.
- Most things actually ARE projects, so this is natural when you do it.
- Sorting by Tag puts all the 'super projects,' or in my case, clients, together.
- Because I can sort subtasks, I can reorder things as I see fit
- I have projects that never end, like doing web promotion for things like Iceland Excursions where tasks flow through, but the project never ends. Truly, this is like exercise and eating, where I could have discreet projects that DO end, but I like this method. It allows me to tick things off and feel advancement, add things to the end of the list and keep an eye on overall workload.
- I can put PROJECT-LEVEL waiting, someday/maybe, and reference items in this system. In the tiny graphic above, I have a project at the top with several waiting items and reference items. They are neatly sequestered where I need them, not taking up me-level overhead.
I think it's starting to come together. If you just found this post, please visit the whole series; 30 days of Getting things done and Toodledo.com.
David Allen says one of the best things about GTD is that it's easy to get back on the wagon - which is good, because it's also easy to fall off, and even as the originator of this particular wagon, he falls off and gets back on all the time. I learned this in a great intro-level video of a talk David gave at google. Here's the video of David Allen at Google.
So, I fell off and got back on, a few times, in recent days. As I have noticed, I learn the most when I iterate through problems, and this 30 day project has forced me to remain continuous in my resolve to find a way when I am in the gap between iterations of 'on'. So, I tried something new. I was working on some content for a client that does Iceland Excursions and I thought that maybe I could do the right thing at a client level and continue to refine my process without the mass of my entire workload to deal with. It seems to be working.
Here's a tiny version of what it my 'working' screen looks like:
- More projects, fewer actions. When I scan, I realized that my mind attempts to comprehend the top level items, so 5 items is as distracting as 5 projects - even though 5 projects might mean 25 actions. Hmmmm.
- Most things actually ARE projects, so this is natural when you do it.
- Sorting by Tag puts all the 'super projects,' or in my case, clients, together.
- Because I can sort subtasks, I can reorder things as I see fit
- I have projects that never end, like doing web promotion for things like Iceland Excursions where tasks flow through, but the project never ends. Truly, this is like exercise and eating, where I could have discreet projects that DO end, but I like this method. It allows me to tick things off and feel advancement, add things to the end of the list and keep an eye on overall workload.
- I can put PROJECT-LEVEL waiting, someday/maybe, and reference items in this system. In the tiny graphic above, I have a project at the top with several waiting items and reference items. They are neatly sequestered where I need them, not taking up me-level overhead.
I think it's starting to come together. If you just found this post, please visit the whole series; 30 days of Getting things done and Toodledo.com.
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