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November 24, 2008
Best & Worst Practices of Organize
Moving on to part three in our enthralling five-part series on the best and worst practices of GTD: Mastering Workflow. This week we're on to Organize. Often a crowd-pleaser, organize is where you get to decide where to put things. If you're at all familiar with GTD you know that David Allen does not tell you which tools to use--GTD is tool agnostic--so those choices are up to you. Not saying all tools, software programs, paper planners work seamlessly with GTD, but where you organize your stuff is up to you. GTD gives you the best practices of how to organize, not where.
There are 5 key "buckets" to consider when organizing your work:
Reference - no action, you just need to hold on to it.
Someday/Maybe - no current action, but you want to incubate it for possible later action.
Projects - a list of your current outcomes that require more than one action to complete
Next Actions - one list or sorted by context, to manage your physical, visible next steps (project related and not)
Waiting For - actions that require you to track that you are waiting on someone or something.
In the GTD workflow diagram, Organize is the outer ring, after you've processed it.
Best Practice: easily retrievable in clear categories
Worst Practice: unclear Stuff, confused piles, and lists
Tips & Tricks for Organize:
- Keep it simple. The number one problem I see with the majority of list managers out there (sorry, but especially the ones that self-deem themselves "GTD-friendly") is that they are too complicated and anything but friendly. Too many features actually can cause stress, not reduce it. Read my post on What Makes a Good GTD list manager.
- Pick an action list manager that attracts you more than repels you. You should like your total-life reminder system in order to be motivated to use it.
- Make your system portable. If you're tracking "@home" next actions on your work computer, and don't have that list with you when you are home, the system will fall apart. If you can't sync to a handheld, printing your electronic lists works just fine.
- It's got to be at least as good, or better, than keeping it in your head. Otherwise, why would your brain want to let go of stuff? Your brain has to know there's a better tool to do the job or it won't let itself get fired from trying to be your To Do list.
- Know your style and choose around that. If you're not an electronic person, let go of the idea that an electronic list manager is going to manage your life. If you're a paper person, go with a paper planner. Don't force yourself into something that doesn't match your natural style and creative expression.
- Let go of the idea that there is a perfect list manager out there, if that's stopping you from diving fully into GTD.
Your list manager isn't the only thing to consider with organize. There's also your desk setup, your hard and soft-copy filing, your tools on-the-go, your project support etc. Short of repeating what's in the GTD book, let me leave you with this: How easy is it for you to clear your head and put it into trusted places you know you can easily get your hands on again when you need it? That's the key to organize.
Next topic will be the ever-important critical success factor of Review. Ahhh...the elixir...the special sauce...the glue that keeps this all together.
Posted by Kelly at November 24, 2008 09:30 AM
Comments
Your advice is pefect Kelly thank you!
I had the opposite of something you mentioned happen to me, I am an electronic person and tried to force my system into a paper form. This really didn't work for me and my system didn't streamline till I made it almost fully electronic. Thanks for the advice Kelly, this has my GTD spirit renewed.
Posted by: Brian Darnell at November 24, 2008 12:08 PM
Kelly, thanks for the post and the link back to "What Makes a Good GTD list manager". Great stuff!
- Don
Posted by: Don Schaffner at November 24, 2008 04:34 PM
Pick an action list manager that attracts you more than repels you. You should like your total-life reminder system in order to be motivated to use it.
I've always said that aesthetics are required in order for one to use their tools effectively. If you don't like looking at it, how well are you going to use it?
Posted by: Kris @ Fresh Focus at November 25, 2008 03:44 AM
Kelly,
Thanks for this series. I am new to GTD and it's a great help. One thing I am not yet clear on is the 5 'buckets'. When 'stuff' arrives, it's often a piece of paper or a digital document. Some of the buckets appear to be just lists, so where do I put the 'piece of paper'?
Simon
Posted by: Simon Potton at November 27, 2008 01:45 PM
Hi Simon--
Before it goes into a list, it gets collected (phase one) in an Inbox. Once you've pulled it out of the Inbox, if it's something you need to hold onto because you deferred the action, it gets stored in some type of Pending box/folder, such as "Action Support." Actions you have already decided do not go back into the Inbox. You will have both lists and backup information (hard and soft copy) to support actions that you have deferred onto lists. Does that help?
Kelly
Posted by: Kelly at November 28, 2008 09:55 AM
Kelly,
Yes. Thanks!
Simon
Posted by: Simon Potton at December 3, 2008 02:28 PM
Hi Kelly!
Great blog--love your take on GTD. I also enjoyed your interview with David about organizing project actions--I think that topic is absolutely key to implementing GTD, and was a real wake-up call to me that my system needed restarting.
I was just curious--what do you see as a best practice for organizing a project list? Do you organize by focus area in the project list, or do you stay with a simple alpha-sort?
Posted by: Matt at January 28, 2009 11:09 PM
Great post and comments...
I am typically an electronic person, google calendar synced to phone and MS One Note for reference.
However lists and keeping them current trouble me... I have lists at Remember the Milk, but am not sure it is entirely useful.. With no solid palm treo app, it isnt convenient to get at those lists when I am out to get things done. Perhaps paper for this? but if so, I am not sure of the best way to acheive it... I have a moleskine for strict capture which is great, but nothing really for lists... perhaps a tab divided paper system?
thanks
Derek
Posted by: Derek at February 8, 2009 05:55 PM
Matt--you asked: what do you see as a best practice for organizing a project list? Do you organize by focus area in the project list, or do you stay with a simple alpha-sort?
I sort mine in alpha order most of the time, and sometimes due date order. Either one works for me. For a large project with many "subprojects" I start each sub with the same keyword so they group together on alpha.
Derek--I'm not sure what you asked :) was there a question in there for me?
Posted by: Kelly at February 9, 2009 06:33 PM
Kelly--I can't believe I just got free coaching from DavidCo! The idea about using a keyword to group related projects is going to save my life right now--thank you for that idea!
Posted by: Matt at February 9, 2009 08:55 PM
Hi Derek--
I'm using Remember the Milk as well, and it is a fantastic list manager. I (very luckily) have a Blackberry, and it syncs up well using the MilkSync application. I'd really recommend a Blackberry with Google sync (for calendar) and MilkSync (for project and context lists) as a best practice for web and mobile implementation of GTD. Other approaches just seem like too much work, but maybe that's just me. Your system is only as good as it's weakest point, as David says.
Posted by: Matt at February 9, 2009 09:00 PM
