How many projects do you have? [Archive] - David Allen Company Forums

Oogiem

02-12-2011, 03:20 PM

As of this minute:

All projects: 683
Active projects: 161
On-hold projects: 477
Completed projects: 37
Dropped projects: 8

I am 1 day before my regular weekly review, when I will add new projects, drop any that are no longer relevant, and put a bunch on hold due to changing weather.

The average numbers are pretty typical for me for totals although I have more active ones this week than normal.

syrex314

02-12-2011, 03:25 PM

- 63 projects
- 153 next actions
- about 680 maybe/someday list items

SpaklePrincess

02-12-2011, 03:41 PM

THANK YOU both for responding. That is EXTREMELY helpful.

I am currently evaluating different applications for setting up my GTD system, and was looking into Remember the Milk, as it's free and was recommended here:

http://lifehacker.com/#!378062/five-best-gtd-applications

An article about how to set up Remember the Milk for GTD is outlined here:

http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2008/05/guest-post-advanced-gtd-with-remember-the-milk/

However, with the way this poster is setting of Remember the Milk, each project gets a 'tab'. With 50-170 active projects, it seems that this would become quite unwieldy. Therefore, it appears Remember the Milk is not an ideal GTD platform, unless I figure out another way to configure it.

Thoughts?

syrex314

02-12-2011, 07:24 PM

RTM is a good platform for keeping action lists by context. You're right that having one tab for each project would be too much, especially if you take David Allen's definition of a project to be anything that requires more than a single action.

SpaklePrincess

02-13-2011, 07:13 AM

Yes, I do like David Allen's definition of 'projects'. In that case, what would you recommend?

I would love a tool that syncs with my iPhone, I have a pc and am running Vista.

I am currently researching the best tools to use in setting up my GTD system. I'm a big computer geek, so I definitely want to go with something digital.

Something low-priced would be ideal.

Something web-based would be best, so that if I'm not at my computer, I can access my info from another computer.

I am a big Gmail and Google Apps user.

I know this is a 'gear' question, but since it pertains to my 'general' question, I'd love to get your feedback on a good GTD digital home base.

syrex314

02-13-2011, 09:57 AM

You'll probably want to look through the forums for what people recommend on the iPhone. I currently use Shuffle on Android.

Really all you need is something to keep lists. Sometimes the GTD tools that have projects and next actions linked to those projects, with due-date and reminder features, automatic GPS context sensing, etc. are more trouble than they're worth. You probably won't need most of these extra features if you're in the habit of regularly reviewing your system.

In support of this, here is a snippet from Ch. 8 of Allen's Making It All Work:
"There is no mind in the world that can objective keep track of projects and reminders as accurately as a simple loose-leaf notebook of lists and no system in the world that can tie together what's on those lists in their infinitely varied associations like your brain."

For me, the greatest benefit of keeping my projects and next actions on my phone is portability. I have everything with me all the time.

Chesnokov

02-13-2011, 10:16 AM

I have no projects. All my actions on my @Action lists. When checking off one action I put a new one. And this is a rule. So project list is just waste of time for me.

HappyDude

02-13-2011, 10:18 AM

My OmniFocus says I have 23 active project overall, however many of these projects contain numerous sub-projects within, that cater towards the my overall agreement and intended successful outcome of any particular project.

20 on-hold projects; again, with numerous sub-projects within.

11 individual folders each referring to a different area of my life in someday/maybe...however individually each action is pretty much a future project that's not yet been made..so, really my someday/maybe consists of at least 400 items. Some with reminders to begin in the summer of this year...and other's scheduled to be looked at in 20 years.

malisa

02-13-2011, 01:30 PM

I tried RTM for a while for my whole system. IIRC I had a tag for each project. My project tags started with a certain character and the headers for my project started with a certain character. I really loved the search-ability of it. But in the end, I went back to OmniFocus. I still use RTM for my shopping lists/@errands stuff.

Foxman

02-15-2011, 07:43 PM

I'm curious to find out how many projects most people have. How many do you have? What seems to be the norm?

Too many! I am finding anything over 40 projects is counter productive - you lose focus and end up stalling. Simply reviewing 100+ projects is a project in itself!

PaulK

02-16-2011, 04:47 AM

About 50 on the work list and 30 on the home list (not including someday/maybe).

Chesnokov

02-16-2011, 06:42 AM

David told an average person had 100-150 projects. Are they active or active with sm?

Foxman

02-16-2011, 07:13 AM

David told an average person had 100-150 projects. Are they active or active with sm?

I think those figures refer to next actions not projects

kelstarrising

02-16-2011, 07:19 AM

David told an average person had 100-150 projects. Are they active or active with sm?

The figures we typically quote are 10-100 current Projects and 50-200 current Next Actions.

Chesnokov

02-16-2011, 10:09 AM

Foxman

02-16-2011, 12:03 PM

1 sec x 200 next actions = 200 sec = 3 minutes.

3 minutes only to look through your lists!

I check my lists minimum 20 times a day.

It means to spend only 1 hour daily to read through your lists - no time to work :)

Surey you would only be checking the lists relevant to the context your are working in? That would trim it down a hell of a lot.

Oogiem

02-16-2011, 03:51 PM

Too many! I am finding anything over 40 projects is counter productive - you lose focus and end up stalling.

For me I can't imagine even getting through a week with less than 100 projects being available to be worked on and usually I have closer to 150. For instance when I first posted on this thread on the 12th I had 161 current active projects with one or more next actions defined. As of right now I have 141. The others have been finished already. I've also moved at least another 25 further along and my week is only half over. However, I am rather strict on what a project is. More than 1 action and it is a project.

As to time, I only review the lists for the contexts I am in or can be in. Doesn't take all that long to quickly read the actions.

Chesnokov

02-16-2011, 10:01 PM

Foxman, if I have my day planned in the right way. It means:

1. The most important projects are planned to be moved (real to be done)
2. There's time between the scheduled blocks (usually no time in between)
3. There's change of the context (moving from office to customer i.e.)

then you were right.

In all other cases I would spend the time I calculated :)

SpaklePrincess

02-17-2011, 10:41 AM

The figures we typically quote are 10-100 current Projects and 50-200 current Next Actions.

Wow! The REAL Kelly Forrister! Thanks Kelly - really helpful to have the 'official' word.

SpaklePrincess

02-17-2011, 10:44 AM

For me I can't imagine even getting through a week with less than 100 projects being available to be worked on and usually I have closer to 150. For instance when I first posted on this thread on the 12th I had 161 current active projects with one or more next actions defined. As of right now I have 141. The others have been finished already. I've also moved at least another 25 further along and my week is only half over. However, I am rather strict on what a project is. More than 1 action and it is a project.

As to time, I only review the lists for the contexts I am in or can be in. Doesn't take all that long to quickly read the actions.

Thanks much - really helpful. I'm brand new and have 93 active projects. Nice to get some clarification that that's not 'too many'.

kelstarrising

02-17-2011, 12:17 PM

Wow! The REAL Kelly Forrister! Thanks Kelly - really helpful to have the 'official' word.

Ha ha ha. Yup, iIt's me.

Glad to offer the official word from the mother ship.

lizwithhat

02-18-2011, 01:03 AM

I have 31 active projects (18 personal and 13 work-related), 154 next actions and 36 Someday/Maybes.

bishblaize

02-18-2011, 03:03 AM

The way I see it, you only have one days worth or work per day, no matter how many projects you're tracking. It isn't a question of more projects=you do more work.

Instead its just another part of the ebb and flow of work - whether its better to focus on finishing a small number of projects quickly vs a larger number of projects less quickly is completely dependant on the job, the time of year, how you feel that week or month, the economy, your staff, etc.

The only 'right way' is that you finish what you need to finish when you need to finish it, most of the time.

heeso

02-18-2011, 12:32 PM

I'm curious to find out how many projects most people have. How many do you have? What seems to be the norm?

Hey guys heeso here, I have not so many projects but 11 are active. One is near to done and the other 10 are in progress. and its a normal for me .
Thanx

Suelin23

02-19-2011, 02:01 PM

I have about 50-70 projects. I used to have more when I divided bigger projects into subprojects, but found that unwieldy. I have since decided a project is defined by the natural planning model. If I do planning and find that a significant chunk deserves its own separate plan, it becomes a new project. That way all my files and notes for one project are all together. Of course for big projects there may be several 'open loops' per project, but that's okay, I keep track of them in my project plan and have the next actions in my list manager.

mshparber

02-26-2011, 01:06 PM

Yes, I do like David Allen's definition of 'projects'. In that case, what would you recommend?

Try BOTH Evernote and Springpad.
There are some GTD setups you may find on the net

You'll enjoy them both.
Goodluck

Michael

Kourosh

02-28-2011, 07:18 AM

I'm presently running at 488 projects and 5096 actions.

Though the actions are not necessarily next actions. Some are Someday/Maybe's too. Also, a good number of those projects are On Hold.

To minimize review time, I have their review frequencies set only at what would keep them off of my mind. Some are set to weekly. Others, like some reading lists, are as infrequently as every 3-4 months.

Tom.9

02-28-2011, 10:17 AM

I had about 50 current projects and about 530 next actions
which felt to much for me

so I decided to have 1 hour of one-to-one coaching
:)
which as one result led me to
about 35 projects and 287 next actions
(the rest became deleted or someday/maybe)

I have a much better feeling now
(even if I think that are still some s/m in disguise around...)

Sievert

03-10-2011, 02:33 PM

About 31 'projects' (more than one step but can't be completed in less than a month eg train and qualify for an additional role at work, preparing for my vacation) and about as many mini projects (true gtd defined-like getting tools for the garden).

Since you have iphone like me i recommend my setup- appigo 'todo' synched with toodledo pro.