Scheduling action items

[Anonymous]

I've read the book about six months ago and have followed many of the threads on here. I purchased the outlook whitepaper and recently purchased the add-in. After about 6 months, while I have realized some benefits from the system and do believe in it, I am having some trouble fully implementing it into my workflow.

My main problem concerns the role of scheduling within the GTD framework and planning your weekly/daily work. I have found that relying only on next action lists and using the calender only for hard deadlines leaves a gaping hole in terms of planning out work.

I am not referring here to deadlines. Rather, I'm referring to actions that need to get done as soon as possible without a deadline around them or actions that have deadlines but the work needs to be performed along the way to the deadline (as opposed to simply the day of the deadline). For example, a client request that could be satisfied today, tommorrow, etc. but is generally high priority. What I end up doing is creating next action tasks with reminders. I have so many reminders now (over a hundred) that I have resorted to pen and paper to make sure i don't overlook high priority items. In addition, there are many items on my next action list that will never get done because higher priority items always pop-up to steal time away from them.

I am wondering what David or Jason prescribes with regards to (1) scheduling non-date next action items such as when they should be scheduled, if at all, with regards to expected length of time to complete the action and its priority (2) whether there is a role for scheduling and planning your work within GTD or are you supposed to manage your workflow from deadlines and next action lists.

Thanks for any guidance.

Regards,

Barry

[taxgeek]

"In addition, there are many items on my next action list that will never get done because higher priority items always pop-up to steal time away from them. "

The bane of my existence. Sometimes I write the new higher priority items on my next actions lists and then move them to the "done" list (fun to watch that grow) just so I don't feel bad about never getting to the others . . . but it's true, many important but not urgent things just keep getting bumped and bumped and bumped.

Jason, any input?
Thanks,
Susan

[andmor]

I have the same problem. Undated ToDo's work fine when I have a full Calendar and then at odd moments I can jump into the ToDo List @Context and pick off one or two items and feel good about it. It's a guilt-buster because with a full Calendar I never expected to do much of the ToDo list. BUT when my Calendar is not full, I need guilt (or something) to make me do the work - I find the ToDo list long and intimidating, and while I am not doing the things on the list, new things crop up for me to react to.

It's at these times that I need to have preconfigured triggers that make me act when I see them on the ToDo list - something like Covey's Quadrant II or Stephanie Winston's "High Value" flag - so that I will feel motivated to pick them out and do something with them.

Have you tried something like this?

Andrew

[taxgeek]

Hi, Andrew. I'm not familiar with Stephanie Winston - will look her up. Quadrant II, yes am familiar with, but how exactly do you use it on your todo lists? I tried putting an asterisk next to very important but not urgent items, but pretty soon there were 25 things on the list with asterisks and none got done. Then I tried imposing rules that I could not start work on a new non-urgent project if there was an unfinished non-urgent project to be done. But somehow I didn't follow through with that. How do you use the flags you speak of?

Thanks,
Susan

[awebber]

Andrew,

How do you implement a Q2 approach?

In reading DA's work and listening to the MAPI tapes, it seems that the GTD appraoch is "to trust your gut." This works fine depending upon the motivation and avoidance levels. In the end though, the wonderful thing about GTD is that it forces us to be responsible for us and not being able to "blame everything on the outside world." Still though, like you and others, there are times that I want to be sure that what I am doing after the urgent and important fires are out is what is really important.

Thanks,

Alan

[andmor]

[quote="taxgeek"]Hi, Andrew. I'm not familiar with Stephanie Winston - will look her up. Quadrant II, yes am familiar with, but how exactly do you use it on your todo lists? I tried putting an asterisk next to very important but not urgent items, but pretty soon there were 25 things on the list with asterisks and none got done. .......... How do you use the flags you speak of?

Susan:

I'm afraid there's no magic to this. You can do it with asterisks, priorities, due dates, icons, symbols, colors - it doesn't matter how, as long as it is something that strikes a chord. The thing that I could never cope with was a list of undated 70-100 next actions, so each day I create a current list that is limited to one screen in length (using grouping with attached notes, if necessary) and use priorities 1,2,3 for morning, afternoon and evening to create a little structure to the day and a hint of time commitment. You just have to find something that works for you and make it a Habit.

GL and HNY

Andrew

[taxgeek]

Thanks! I guess I sort of do that already - during my morning reveiw I pull off a few (and only a few - like 2) NAs that I deem the most important to do that day, and change their category to "@Today". Then I work off the today list during the day.

I realize this violates the Context specific directive of GTD, but for me at work, the contexts mean little anyway because I'm always at a computer and a phone, so everything gets thrown into "@Work". I have an @Calls list currently also, but it tends to not get looked at.

This way I can see more progress during the day too, as the @Today list gets shorter and disappears. I find that during the day it is too hectic and I get too scatterbrained to make good decisions on the fly about what is the best thing to be doing right then. I'm better at making those decisions in the morning when it's quiet and my brain is still active. :?

[Anonymous]

To avoid guilt and the possiblity of missing an undated series of Next Actions, stop doing the old daytimer thing of notating single next actions on your calendar. If you have a rather empty calendar that week and you want to insure that you do your 'stuff', just schedule a block of time (around 90 to 120 minutes) of block time titled @OFFICE, or @CALLS, or @ERRANDS, and do all of those context based actions.

[taxgeek]

That's an interesting idea, Thomas. To just systematically work through all the actions on a particular list. Would be pretty satisfying too to be able to essentially empty an entire context list.

Did anybody read Mark Forster's most recent newsletter about "getting ahead"? Doesn't seem to exactly jibe completely with GTD, but it is in a sense a way of prioritizing.

[webrover]

Thomas: That's a great idea. Even a block named @ Next Actions could work.

[Thomas]

I know that the scheduling of something that is not date or time specific is not recommeded by DA, but at least it would give people who continually find themselves each week not moving forward on Next Actions a kind of stake in the weekly landscape to insure they move forward without cluttering the calendar with 'Todos'. I believe the real beauty of GTD is that you would do those @Calls or @Office items when you intuitively feel the energy and timeliness of doing them. But at least it does paint a structure for those of us that find that Weekly Review plagued with guilt and stress from not facing our Next Actions.
I also really think that the fact that DA uses a plain Palm setup with no added software, project linking notes or hacks or addons, as something to consider when the posts in here get so deep into trying to make the Palm a micro version of MS Project or something. I think that the Palm is really more of a placeholder tool to keep one on track of the process, not the all in one vehicle to run a company or design a project. I have fallen into that mesmerizing zone at times in the past of getting too involved with 'working' that Palm and downloading all kinds of addons rather than working my life at the altitude levels that DA discusses.
Just my two bits for all of us former 'organizational groupies' out there :)

[Glen Parva]

I've been thinking a lot about the ideea of blocking out a period of time to do all my @write, @calls or @work items. On the face of it, it makes sense and there is some feeling of achievement in clearing the tasks off the list ... BUT in my work, it is the projects that are more important than the tasks. It feels more sensible to me to block out the time for the most important (define that however you like) projects.

When I have completed a project, I get the overwhelming sense of achievement. If I can't complete the project at that sitting, I mark the next physical action step on my @context list. This means that when I set time aside for that project I can pick up again exactly where I left off.

The @context lists are invaluable for those little bits of time that become available. I couldn't run my whole life like that!

Glen

[JERE]

"it is the projects that are more important than the tasks. It feels more sensible to me to block out the time for the most important (define that however you like) projects"

:oops: Just to clarify some nomenclature here . . . David says, that we don't do projects because projects completed are the result of the next actions (tasks) that are required to complete a project. A properly listed project actually titles itself as a completion, i.e. Inventory Submitted. The questions are most important - what's the next action & what's the successful outcome?

I am not a now-it-all but I am aware of the semantical difference that gimmick or not assist me in seeing this from the most strategic paradigm.

[Bryan]

If there is a weakness in identifying only the immediate moving parts as next actions, and then updating that list weekly, it means that in some cases, projects won't move much in a week. Let's say you have project X, with next actions X1 and X2. You do both of those Monday AM from 9 to 930. If you don't update your NA list immediately upon completing actions X1 and X2, project X doesn't move forward again for a week (if you do your weekly review on Friday afternoon). Blocking time by a next-action context moves many projects forward some (e.g., all the calls you need to make), while blocking time to focus on a project moves that project forward much more. There are advantages to each, and things like energy and deadlines will play a role. FWIW.

[Anonymous]

JERE

I'm grateful for the reminder about not being able to do projects, only action steps, but for some reason I have been able to complete a number of projects reasonably well. :wink:

What I meant was that if, for instance, I have a project called "Post on the GTD board" that I would like to get done by tomorrow, it is more important that I do the action steps that will lead me to actually get that post done, than perhaps a number that also happen to be on my @computer list. Maybe I have to do a number of action steps from different lists and not focus on one. This isn't a hard landscape issue, just one of a number of things that I can get done and out of the way.

I perfectly understand that if I am waiting for a train and I have a list of @calls, I can knock them off because there is very little else that I can do. That, I believe, is very different from looking at my diary and blocking off a period of time for a specific reason.

[Anonymous]

With respect to the previous post, I do not wait until the next weekly review before re-visting any given project. Rather, once I've completed a listed Next Action, after checking it off I consider "what's next" in terms of moving the project toward the desired outcome. So each project is analyzed "vertically" quite often.
I use the weekly review to take a "horizontal" look across all of my projects.

[rossw]

Stephen,

either it's human nature or everyone I know has ADD.

Going back up the thread, sometimes it does make sense to drive a priority project, even if this means delioberately switching contexts. For example, I dont go shopping much, so if there's something I need for a project, I need to block time in the calendar to go shopping.

Similarly, if I have a load of things on my agenda with someone, I'd address the lot with "@phone: call X (agenda)"

FBA

[Mardo]

This subject of getting specific things done that never get done when they are on the list is a recurrent issue on the board. I believe that the part of the weekly review that Covey talks about fits in with the the GTD weekly review. By that I mean that a lot of us have quadrant 2 important but not urgent issues that get put aside if we were looking at a next action list. For instance exercise. This is not for those of you that love to exercise. If exercise is on a list it does not get done. Its not urgent, I dont particularly like to do it and I quess I could wait and hope I survive my first heart attack to do it. I have to schedule it on a hard landscape. I can aim for MWF but sometimes I have to be somewhere early etc, so at my weekly review I schedule when I am doing it. Its usually early morning when I dont have a late night meeting the night before.

On all kinds of other issues, I block out time for work on projects/next actions that take a signifigant amt of time. At the weekly review I decide what 3-5 items I will do on the times reserved. I assign a specific day and time for the item. Its an appointment with myself just like I make appointments with other people. Its amazing how much I get done and how productive I am when I keep to this schedule.

[Anonymous]

After reading some of the posts on this forum from Jason and some of the material by the coaches on the website, I'm of the opinion that Davidco doesn't necessarily consider scheduling important action items taboo etc.

I think what David has been "preaching" against all along (actually it's a little clearer in the earlier MAP tape series ) is the idea of a "Daily to do list" for every day of the week similar to Franklin Covey. The practice of lining up 10-20 things that need to happen today is an exercise in futility ; )

I think we need to schedule important activities that need done at a certain time --to me exercise isn't a next action it's a appointment with myself , it can only happen between a certain time range in the morning and so it's scheduled.

If the month end report is due tomorrow and it's still not done --then I'd better make it a day specific item on today's calendar--and if it's mission critical etc. --schedule a time for it .

Just my .02

Paul

[mmelo]

I agree with Paul's point and would like to add my own 2 cents...

Like some of you have mentioned upon implementing the GTD program the NA list grows to be huge (mine is currently up to 106 items.)

I was also having trouble with getting thru it. Until I had a minor breakthrough.... I realized two things:

1. I found that many of my so-called next actions weren't really next actions or I did not have all the info needed to perform what was a legitimate next action, that is I tasked what should be a project outcome as a next action. For example: [XZY Corp. - re-contract] - Agreement revisions (what revisions...) OR John Doe - Send Email - Re: Outsmart revisions (I have to draft the revisions first!)

2. Prioritizing on the fly.... coincidentally I seemed to alway give high priority to those items that were something I could actually action within each context. The "blurred" actions I mentioned above would always get passed over. As would proper next actions that I didn't feel like doing. Meanwhile if I remember correctly I believe GTD espouses that you do not prioritize while working your list you just work your list from top to bottom or bottom to top.

So now when I am @Computer and I load the list in Outlook (assuming I solved the first learning) I do not skip down to the 3rd item to action. I START AT THE TOP AND WORK MY WAY DOWN.

The only time I would need to skip to any other items but the top one is if there is a due date associated with a task. In that case I'll determine at that point if I should be working on that itme based on how much time I have left to do it...

This by the way is what I LOVE about GTD... its really so simple.

[Sue]

I could be way off base but I believe that the "requirement" to go in order is actually only applicable to processing "IN". When you're going through your in box with all the various items that appear throughout the day, be they meeting notes, phone messages, mail, whatever, you process those to your lists one at a time in order. When you review your list, based on what context you're in, you can pick anyone that strikes your fancy at the moment, trusting your professional judgement to guide you in making the best choice for that point in time.

sue

[Bryan]

[quote="Sue"]I could be way off base but I believe that the "requirement" to go in order is actually only applicable to processing "IN".

To each their own, but from an "orthodox GTD" standpoint, Sue's right. The example in the book is that the first item in your inbox is junk mail, and the 2d is a letter from the President of the United States requiring your response. When processing IN, you'd address the junk mail first (quick skim then trash it), and then the President's letter (@NA = "measure blood pressure"?). I'd assume that for most of us, even if the next action for the President's letter were the 14th thing on our appropriate NA list, it had **better** take the #1 priority...:) Again, though, if you're getting things done in time to satisfy yourself and *all* your external constituencies, then who's to argue with your approach.

[pd_workman]

There is a criteria in the book for deciding what to do next when you are looking at your next action list. I don't have it in front of me. It involved time and energy available, priority and urgency. A lot of people just skip past this, thinking you have to go in order of your list or only by your gut. (Of course you will do whatever works for you.)

Pam

[Anonymous]

I'm the one who started the "Too Darn Many Todos" thread. Saw this one and realized you're talking about the same thing.

I havent figured out a good method yet. I still feel overwhelmed by my todo list and unable to determine what to do next. Priority, time, and energy, considerations are pertinent, but are you really going to look at 200 things and ask yourself questions around those criteria?

I think David has said that its all about lists. Seems to make sense you'd have a "today" list. Is it really that big a deal if you dont get them all done today? At least you'd have a plan and its better than getting done with the day and realizing you tried to do it on the fly and didnt get anything important done.

[Anonymous]

THis is what has worked for me...

I have a hard landscape and a semi-hard landscape. The hard is for real deadlines and the semi is more of a tickler system for things I should do on a regular basis that are important but not urgent. I see them as reminders, like exercising, etc. I think I should exercise every three days, so it pops up on my calenday every three days. I find that this puts many important but not urgent items in the forefront.

Second thing I do is to mark projects that must get done. I must prepare something for a client but I don't actually have to clean my closet. I'm really tough on what I define as a must-- it really has to occur. When I think like this, I realize that I have more choices than I realize. I have a differnt mark for things that are musts and are time sensitive. By having my parameters marked, I feel better about using my discretionary time however I see fit.

Third thing I do is have a simple list of things that are important in my life..my family, my on-going education, haivng a sense of order in our home (Two kids under three!), etc. Every week I look at what I've accoplished and compare it againt what is important. This really helps me make better choices with discretionary time.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

I also struggled with this issue and I think I've created a personal approach in the spirit of GTD. I try to keep my next action list to real next actions. These are only things that can be done in the present in the right setting.

What I've learned to do is write planning notes when I think about projects that I'm working on. I sketch out flow and timelines of my areas of current focus. These go in folders for the project.

Because of the power of GTD, my desk is always clear. When I sit down to work on something, the project folder comes out and review some of my recent notes and take some more. When I'm at project meetings, the folder is with me and my notes from the meeting go in.

All the while, I'm capturing those next action items as they occur to me.

For me, the essence is pulling back to a higher altitude to survey the landscape from time to time so the important things get done.

[pshammer]

I am somewhat of an organization junky so I have read a lot of books and articles on time management, somehow never being able to find the right thing. GTD has come the closest and I am still trying to find the way it can work for me. One suggestion that I have tried to implement is the Quiet Hour. It comes from a fairly old time management book called Time Power (I think). The author is Alex MacKenzie.

He suggests setting aside an hour each day that is designated as the quiet hour to just work on projects. The key is being able to work without interruption. You turn off the phone, put a sign on the door and you are unavailable for an hour.

I think what this might do is enable you to take stock of where you are with all the myriad projects and tasks and then do as DA says, take stock of the available time, energy and focus to get things done.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

I've run into the exact same situation as those above.

The "view only the next actions" approach seems to do great at taking advantage of small time stretches but other times I do want to review the most important project and then move it forward. Or the next action for that project may be @Computer and I am running errands and maybe could be doing another action for that project.

Any opinons from Jason or David?

[Anonymous]

Here's something I've found useful.
I use Outlook with the GTD add-in. (Before that, Outlook set up as David Allen recommends in his white paper.) But with one wrinkle. I added a category called @This Week. (I tried a second one called @Today but eventually found it superfluous and rejected it.) Now, if you're familiar with the GTD add-in, you know that it has added drop-downs to the task screen that enable you to assign each task to a project and to an action (@Agenda, @Office, @Calls, @Errands, etc.). Outlook's category window is still at the bottm of the task screen.
When you assign a task to an action, that action shows up in GTD's new action drop-down but also in the pre-existing categories drop-down. Very convenient, if you use a Palm, since the Palm recognizes categories but seems to know nothing of actions.

At least once a week, I take inventory of those tasks or "next actions" that are important to me to get done that week and I assign them to the @This Week category. (This doesn't change the "action" assignment. ) Then I set up the taskpad in Outlook's Calendar view to filter out only those tasks or "next actions" that have the @This Week category assignment. The taskpad then shows everything that I've decided I want to focus on during the week, still organized by action. I can still look at the entire list of 200-300 tasks in the task list organized either by project or by action anytime I choose to do so, but I don't have to be confronted by all of them throughout the day. They're duly recorded, and safely out of my mind.

[Anonymous]

Here's something I've found useful.
I use Outlook with the GTD add-in. (Before that, Outlook set up as David Allen recommends in his white paper.) But with one wrinkle. I added a category called @This Week. (I tried a second one called @Today but eventually found it superfluous and rejected it.) Now, if you're familiar with the GTD add-in, you know that it has added drop-downs to the task screen that enable you to assign each task to a project and to an action (@Agenda, @Office, @Calls, @Errands, etc.). Outlook's category window is still at the bottm of the task screen.
When you assign a task to an action, that action shows up in GTD's new action drop-down but also in the pre-existing categories drop-down. Very convenient, if you use a Palm, since the Palm recognizes categories but seems to know nothing of actions.

At least once a week, I take inventory of those tasks or "next actions" that are important to me to get done that week and I assign them to the @This Week category. (This doesn't change the "action" assignment. ) Then I set up the taskpad in Outlook's Calendar view to filter out only those tasks or "next actions" that have the @This Week category assignment. The taskpad then shows everything that I've decided I want to focus on during the week, still organized by action. I can still look at the entire list of 200-300 tasks in the task list organized either by project or by action anytime I choose to do so, but I don't have to be confronted by all of them throughout the day. They're duly recorded, and safely out of my mind.

[Anonymous]

Doug, this is a wonderful idea. I was less than focused when staring at all my next actions throughout the day. Having the task pad list only those next actions for the week has already improved my productivity.

[helenjc]

Here's something I've found useful.
I use Outlook with the GTD add-in. (Before that, Outlook set up as David Allen recommends in his white paper.) But with one wrinkle. I added a category called @This Week. (I tried a second one called @Today but eventually found it superfluous and rejected it.) Now, if you're familiar with the GTD add-in, you know that it has added drop-downs to the task screen that enable you to assign each task to a project and to an action (@Agenda, @Office, @Calls, @Errands, etc.). Outlook's category window is still at the bottm of the task screen.
When you assign a task to an action, that action shows up in GTD's new action drop-down but also in the pre-existing categories drop-down. Very convenient, if you use a Palm, since the Palm recognizes categories but seems to know nothing of actions.

At least once a week, I take inventory of those tasks or "next actions" that are important to me to get done that week and I assign them to the @This Week category. (This doesn't change the "action" assignment. ) Then I set up the taskpad in Outlook's Calendar view to filter out only those tasks or "next actions" that have the @This Week category assignment. The taskpad then shows everything that I've decided I want to focus on during the week, still organized by action. I can still look at the entire list of 200-300 tasks in the task list organized either by project or by action anytime I choose to do so, but I don't have to be confronted by all of them throughout the day. They're duly recorded, and safely out of my mind.

I liked the theory behind this Doug so tried it out but thought I would have problems witha 'this week' category that i would probably also overhwelm it with being too ambitious and then get cross that I didn't achieve even half of them. What I'm going to try 'this week' is using a filter that shows only the 'high priority' tasks - still by contextual category - they scream at me with their exclamation marks and any that are really properly 'overdue' are in a bold red font ....I will only make a next action high priority if I would like to see it 'gone' by the end of this week... and i won't get distracted and go off and do any 'easier' actions because I can't see them there!!!
I really like that aspect...

cheers

[Kudzu2u]

I have decided to try David's way, and see how it goes. That means not using my 3rd party app to ive me Palm ToDo "ticklers." Instead, I am putting some things in two places. I put a note in calendar (undated) on the day when I really has to be done. Then I put a context related ToDo in my ToDo list to remind me. No dates attached to the ToDos.

We'll see. I notice already that it means that I go to my context lists more. Otherwise I tend to view the ToDo ticklers as "urgent" when then aren't (yet).

Gordon