Newbie GTD breakdown

[dforrest]

Hi all, I'm a GTD newbie. I finished reading GTD for the first time about 2 weeks ago. I started reading with the idea that I would see if the system sounded interesting. I became a true believer about the middle of the book (physical implementation) and I actually started implementing a bit piecemeal when I got to the email section. I now have a lovely 3-tier inbox, my filing system is taking shape, I write absolutely everything that comes into my head on a scrap of paper that goes in my inbox, and a Projects List is underway. This was transformational for me when I started and I felt a huge wave of optimism.

However I am stuck in a couple of areas. First and most importantly, I so far must have 1000 or 1500 sheets of paper, each listing one next action. My "@computer" stack, for the most serious example, is about an inch thick. It would take me about an hour just to look at each sheet of paper, before deciding which was the most important for me to do at my computer right now. So in practice, I am now ignoring the stack and doing what I remember needs doing (i.e., back in my head!).

2nd sticking point: My first attempt at a weekly review/project review ended similarly. I spent a total of about 6 hours over 3 days and still had not even looked at half of the slips of paper where I had next actions listed. This returned me to my pre-GTD state of resignation -- "there's no way I can do all this". So in short, I'm overwhelmed -- I can't foresee a way of practically reviewing everything, and when I'm in certain contexts, I can't see a way of putting all the tasks for that context in front of me so that I can be aware of them all and be sure I am choosing the one that is the most relevant at the moment.

In short, I can't see a way to trust my system yet.

Also, all my time seems to go processing incoming items, and placing them in context folders that I then do not have time to look at. i.e., nothing is actually getting done.

I would really appreciate advice of the "consider this tool", "watch this video" etc. variety, and if any of you have any questions to ask me to provide better advice, shoot away!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Dave

[cctraderx]

You say you have put your next action / items on sheets of paper and have > 1000. So what are you doing about those items. It sounds like you haven't processed them and put them in a list to work on them.

What you will need to understand is that once you start using the framework and relying upon it, your brain will allow you to use it and not rely on it(the brain). You will always go back to what you have relied upon in the past, your brain, until you have a trusty system that proves to the brain that it works.

You may need to just write some things down, prioritize them and do them for a couple of days just to get some confidence in the systems that you are implementing.

As for tools, it is rather personal. Some use all of the sophisticated computer programs with bells and whistles. Others have airtight systems with cheap old notebook / legal pads and pencil/paper. It all boils down to what works for you or what you think will work for you. As for me, I done both and am back to paper because I need to see it laid out in front of me.

[clango]

The beginning it's an interesting moment.

I'd say you need to know where you would like to go, and in your moment I'd recommend you to define which are the projects you think has to be completed in one year. One year less the weeks you already spend!

After that you could have a direction to move to. And a natural filter to select which are the more important NA's

Then you need to implement your system, to find your own way...but please stay on the basic, already traced guidelines. When you'd learn the logic of the system, we will see......

[kewms]

1000+ Next Actions??? It sounds to me like you missed the processing portion of the initial implementation. Go back and read Chapter 6 again.

In particular:
* Are all of those actions immediately doable? Or are some of them contingent on each other (in which case they are project planning, not NAs)?
* Do all of those actions relate to clearly defined outcomes that you are committed to achieving as soon as possible? Or are some of them further out, and more suitable for a Someday/Maybe or incubation list?

With that many actions, it's also possible (likely!) that you are not being realistic about what you are actually able to do. It's time to take a look at your commitments with an eye to renegotiating some of them.

Remember that GTD doesn't create work. It simply quantifies the work that's already there. If that amount is too much, don't shoot the messenger (GTD), fix the underlying problem.

Good luck!

Katherine

[Oogiem]

I so far must have 1000 or 1500 sheets of paper, each listing one next action. My "@computer" stack, for the most serious example, is about an inch thick. It would take me about an hour just to look at each sheet of paper, before deciding which was the most important for me to do at my computer right now.

I'm confused. Why are your next actions on separate pieces of paper? Are they all really next actions or are they the thoughts you wrote down as you collected stuff?

Have you really truly processed them?

I found that my initial collection ended up with hundreds of notes, but that I could group them into projects, I tended to write a lot of sort of projects, sort of next actions down in my initial capture.

Taking the time to really honestly do the processing was what I needed. I felt I didn't have the time and it took several days to get through processing the backlog of stuff I generated at first. I'd take some fresh sheets of paper, decide on your initial contexts and make one sheet per context and one for projects. Take the first note you have and really process it. It might help to have the processing workflow cheat sheet in hand. Look at it and follow along with each step. I know the GTD way is to put on a NA list anything that takes more than 2 minutes but I was just delaying my decisions that way at first. I had to force myself to do a full process right then and there on items or they never got translated into doable discrete next actions. Remember that during processing once you get to the next action you do it if it's less than 2 minutes. But for me, sometimes even getting my thinking clear on what the next action really was took a lot longer than doing the action. I had to train my brain to think that way.

[Gardener]

I think that it's normal for the first collection and processing effort to take hours and hours and hours.

However, it shouldn't take that many hours to keep the system going, so if you anticipate it taking that long, then, yep, presumably something needs tweaking. And in your case, it sounds like you've done the collection, and not the processing.

In my case, I'm using OmniFocus software (which is unfortunately only available on the Mac), so I don't generally have to deal with any papers, or transcribing and re-transcribing lists, or filing things in physical folders. I hate paper. :)

If you use a PC, you can't use OmniFocus, but there are no doubt other, similar tools, so I'm going to describe what I'd do anyway.

So if I were in your situation, but I added Omnifocus, I would:

- Sit down at my computer with that stack of papers.
- Open Omnifocus to the Inbox.
- Go through the stack _fast_ and just type each task, phrased just as I scribbled it initially, into a record in the OmniFocus Inbox.
- Throw out each paper as I type it in.

Then all my stuff would be out of the papers and in the system, and I'd have a gazillion unprocessed records in my Omnifocus Inbox. Many of these might not even end up being Actions, since at this point they're just raw thoughts.

Then I would:

- Sit down at the computer again.
- Design a structure of projects and contexts that I figure kinda sorta reflects what I'm working on and what I'm planning for later. It doesn't need to be perfect; you can keep changing it.
- Go to the OmniFocus Inbox and process all those raw thoughts, one by one. Each one should end up in a Project with a Context attached, or end up in Someday/Maybe, or possibly be transformed into a full-fledged Project, or just get thrown away. This will take several hours, the first time.

When I'm done with this, then I have at least a first draft of Projects and Contexts and Actions. It's probably a bit of a mess, it probably needs some sorting and rearranging, but it's one big step closer to orderly. And it's in software, so if I want to see what's in a given Project - I just click the Project. If I want to see what's in a given Context - I just click the Context. If I want to see only Next Actions - I click the Next Action filter. No shuffling, no retyping, no filing.

Then I'd do my first review. I'd walk through every single project and every single context, evaluating the Actions, eliminating duplicates, moving Actions so that they're in a logical order when there is a logical order, adding Start Dates, adding Due Dates, and so on.

Then I'd walk through every context. This is the point where I'd realize that there are _way too many actions_! The context lists would stretch on to infinity, and I'd be unable to imagine selecting a task from them.

At this point, entire projects get put On Hold and dumped into Someday/Maybe, because I can't do everything all at once, and I won't scroll through a multiple-screen list of actions in a single Context; I just won't. And if I want to dump an entire project into Someday/Maybe, but I realize that it has one little task that actually has to be done soon, I do some redesigning so that one little task is an Action somewhere else.

I also go through putting still more Start Dates on things that I know i won't work on soon, so that they get out of my face for a while. I use all these techniques - all supported by the software - to get the visible workload cut down to a manageable size.

I keep at this until my Contexts are of manageable length and it's actually possible to scan them and find tasks.

And as I go on in the future, I use the same process in a much smaller scale. I put my rough thoughts in the Inbox, I go through the Inbox every day or two and tuck things into Projects and Contexts, and once a week I go through everything and tweak things a little.

So...er...does this make any sense? For me, the GTD method absolutely requires software. I admire the purity of those that can do it with paper, but I just can't.

Gardener.

[dschaffner]

It would take me about an hour just to look at each sheet of paper, before deciding which was the most important for me to do at my computer right now.

2nd sticking point: My first attempt at a weekly review/project review ended similarly. I spent a total of about 6 hours over 3 days and still had not even looked at half of the slips of paper where I had next actions listed.


Dave,

Lots of good advice above.

(1) To echo and emphasize, you need to process those thousands of sheets of paper into contexts, including someday/maybe so that your lists are not so overwhelming.

(2) With the weekly reviews, just keep doing them. They will get easier! Try to get through all the steps. Good tips here from zenhabits: http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/how-to-do-weekly-review-in-under-hour/

- Don

[dforrest]

Sorry, it's 2am here and I need to crash, but I am bowled over by all the great advice here, this will get me back on track. Thanks, everyone!

I DID overlook the Someday/Maybe category in my implementation, and I've also just seen one of DA's videos on just that subject. So I will now be creating several of those, starting with a "Not this week" folder. Yes, I need to get my context lists down to a size where I can look at the list and choose, everything else needs to get postponed.

I will write a more coherent and complete response tomorrow.

BTW, I AM a Mac user :-) of about 20 years standing, so I am looking into OmniFocus -- thanks loads for that tip.

Best to all, and please, anyone who wants to offer even more advice, don't stop just because I have responded once. This is enough to get me going already but I am really enjoying the responses and people's suggestions, they are really interesting and helpful.

Dave

[JohnV474]

Based on the number of Next Actions you have, I would highly suspect that you have included in that pile a large number of Someday/Maybe's as well as a number of items that are parts of Projects--many of which may not be immediately doable.

It would be possible for me to come up with 1000 Someday/Maybe's or more just by making a list of all of the things I would like to do. I don't bother with this, however. Why? Well, because some things would be nice additions to life but I don't feel a pressing need for them. Example: safari in Africa, visit Great Wall of China, learn Swahili.

I don't need to list out those things in order to have a mind like water... I get very calm just by writing down the things that matter to me more.

My ubiquitous capture tool has become one of my favorite tools. I carry it with me more often than I carry my wallet! I just use a small note jotter that I got at Staples, which holds 3x5 cards and is made of leather. It's black, looks sharp, and cost $9.95.

My system involves writing anything that matters onto a 3x5 card, folding it in half and sticking it in my right pocket. I carry a small binder clip to hold my right pockets' contents neatly together. I will also use the 3x5 cards to jot down addresses or phone numbers, etc., which may end up going in my left pocket (trash) when they are done. I am in the habit of emptying both pockets when I get home (which is also my office), and dropping everything from the right pocket into my inbox, everything from the left into the garbage.

In the last several weeks I have impressed even myself with how I am able to "remember" everything important that I think of.

For your reference, my system consists of a presentation-style 3-ring binder I got at the local Kinko's with 8 heavy plastic tab dividers (the kind with a Table of Contents). The sections are: 1) Calendar, 2) Next Actions: Home & Office, 3) Next Actions: Calls & Emails, 4) Next Actions: Errands, 5) Waiting For, 6) Projects, 7) Someday/Maybe, 8) Lists (checklists, address directory, six levels of review, etc.). Of course, I have a filing cabinet (two drawers: Reference, and Active Projects), the aforementioned capture tool, and a computer, which contains my digital files.

Hope this helps some
JohnV474

[clango]

For your reference, my system consists of a presentation-style 3-ring binder I got at the local Kinko's with 8 heavy plastic tab dividers (the kind with a Table of Contents). The sections are: 1) Calendar, 2) Next Actions: Home & Office, 3) Next Actions: Calls & Emails, 4) Next Actions: Errands, 5) Waiting For, 6) Projects, 7) Someday/Maybe, 8) Lists (checklists, address directory, six levels of review, etc.). Of course, I have a filing cabinet (two drawers: Reference, and Active Projects), the aforementioned capture tool, and a computer, which contains my digital files.

Hope this helps some
JohnV474

Yes,it could!
I can see in your system something really interesting.

Do you print your lists? I mean do you have the same copy on a PC? Do you use Outlook to keep GTD integrated?
Do you use an A4 size?
Is there somewhere a pictures of your system?
Could you bring with you always? What do you do when you are without it and you need to take a note?

[dforrest]

Hi, today I'll be more complete and respond to the individual postings.

First, let me clarify how I've started using GTD (and yes, I'm clear that my implementation is incomplete! I need to go through Chs 4-6 again in implementation mode).

Paper workflow (My e-mail is similar but all electronic, using Mac Mail):

1. Anything I think of I write on a piece of scratch paper. I use the backsides of misprinted or obsolete A4 printouts cut into quarters -- I have piles of these in strategic places; they're always kept handy.

2. The slip goes into my inbox.

3. When I process, I date the slip and figure out what it is.
3a. If it is a project, --3a1. I write the title on my project list & also at the top of the slip. --3a2. I decide on the next action for the project and write that on the slip. --3a3. I then put the slip into a context pile in my Action folder, grouped with a title card and a binder or paper clip. These piles are portable (they go in a coat pocket if need be).
3b. If it is an idea, or project support or reference material, I file it.
3c. If it is doable in under 2 minutes, I do it. (Area for improvement: I've been underestimating time and doing things that take too long, prolonging my processing sessions)
3d. If it is can be solved with a single action, I clarify what this is on the slip and put it into the appropriate context pile in my Action folder, or, if it needs to be done on a certain day, transcribe it into iCal (Mac datebook app).
3E. NEW PROCEDURE STARTING NOW: If it is a project or action I don't have time to sanely introduce into my schedule this week, the slip goes into an appropriate subcategory of my new Someday/Maybe empire.
3f. If it's to Read/Review, not for action, it goes to my "Read/Review" folder.

4. NEW ATTITUDE ON OLD PROCESS: -- Now I'm going to shut out the world and ABSOLUTELY "CRANK" -- My Weekly and Project Review will at this point just be to look at each scrap of paper (and e-mail) in "Action" "Read/Review" and "Someday/Maybe", and go over my Projects List. I will update, cross out, trash, calendarize and add new scraps as appropriate, and I WILL NOT TAKE ANY ACTION OF >2MINS!

5. (Later) Once I get my systems up and running, I will implement all the different levels/altitudes of review.

6. Action-in-context time. (Woefully lacking so far, too much time dealing with input. But hopefully with the improvements in my processes described I will now have more, or even enough!) When I finish an action, the paper slip goes to the recycle bin or the e-mail gets deleted or filed for reference. If the action is part of a project, I cross out the action I've finished, determine the next action, write it on the slip, and consign it to the proper context pile in my Action folder.

Mac/E-mail additional note:

I have just upgraded to Leopard and now, instead of just filing an e-mail in the electronic "@Action" etc. folder, which did not allow me to specify what the next action was attached to the e-mail, I am now starting to create a Note in Mail stating the next action, name of the Project if applicable, and linking to the e-mail, so it's very similar to my paper slips + a direct link to project support material (the original e-mail). Once this process is completed, during my reviews, I will only review the Notes in my e-mail folders and not the e-mails themselves. I will open the e-mails (project support materials) only when I am in Action mode.

Responses to posts:

cctraderx - Effectively I wasn't taking action based on my "next action" slips of paper, I was spending all my time on collecting, processing and organizing. Now I think I will do better. I don't want to create a list of my Action items as this "double-entry" (paper slip and list) would add a lot of time and bureaucracy to my system. Re the tools, I am trying to get the basics of my system going on paper before going for the electronic tools. I am very interested in OmniFocus, someday I will sync that with an iPhone, but for the short term I will see what I can do with my iPod classic (to upload iCal data) and old Palm (ditto). This plus the context piles I can fit in a coat pocket will keep me mobile, I think.

clango - Thanks for the perspective. Perhaps I need to integrate a 10-20,000 foot review sooner rather than later to determine my priorities, i.e. what stays in "Action" and what goes into "Someday/Maybe".

kewms (Katherine) - Thanks for the ref back to Ch. 6, I am going to go thru Chs. 4-6 again with a fine tooth comb, implementing as I go. As far as my actions, yes they are (sadly, oy!) all immediately doable. While I would love to get them all done in the short term, I can see they won't so I am going to institute triage using my new Someday/Maybe area. Thanks for the great advice, "don't shoot the messenger, fix the underlying problem"!

Oogiem - Thanks for making me realize I'm not the only one who ever had "teething problems" with the system. As above, for the moment I'm going to try to stick to the slips of paper and avoid too many redundant lists. I'm sure that some of my initial ones consigned to an Action-Context pile are less than crystal clear on the NA, but most are. I will really look out for that and move to be clear and hard as a diamond about NAs during my weekly review.

Gardener - Thank you SO MUCH for this fantastic post! So specific and helpful. I am intrigued by OmniFocus and an almost paperless system, since I am very happy with digital tools. I just want a mobile solution that is not based on printing out lists all the time, truly instantly mobile, and I'm not willing to invest in a monthly iPhone contract right now. I hope I will be able to work towards a system like yours and rely on iCal sync with either my old Palm or my iPod (no possibility of input there :( ) to meet my "on the hoof" needs. I will use your post as a future road map as I go more electronic. Thanks for clarifying that I REALLY need to shovel a bunch of stuff into Someday/Maybe categories like "On Hold", "Not this week" etc. Your "no more than one screen of Actions" rule is great, I will try to implement something similar both on paper and electronically. That should keep me sane! :-D I will focus on keeping my visible workload manageable, as you say.

dschaffner (Don) - Thanks for the link to zenhabits.net, that looks like some very interesting stuff to review and integrate into my system.

JohnV474 - Thanks, and to answer your question, well, perhaps my mind is hyperactive, but my stuff is all immediately doable as I've said, and yes, most of it needs to head for "Someday/Maybe." I haven't actually got to much of my "pie in the sky" type of things yet, just because up to now I lacked the structure to deal with them (now no longer the case). This is all stuff I really want to do soon, even if practically I can't. This is just my nature, I think, and I hope this system will allow me to keep my highest priority things moving forward powerfully, and keep the other million things bubbling in the background. I have actually enjoyed writing down all the littlest things as well as the big ones, now that I'm clearer on how to deal with the volume of stuff I've produced, I think the enjoyment will pick up again! I like your 3x5 card system, and I do something similar with my A6 papers (great minds think alike?!). Like Claudio, I'm curious about your 3-ring binder and how you make it portable.

OK, everyone. Thanks for some great advice, and please, anyone who has additional advice on dealing with overwhelming numbers of NAs, different to what we've discussed here, or who just wants to give an overview of their own particular way of doing the GTD workflow, please go ahead. This is a great discussion and I think it's valuable for all newbies. Cheers.

Dave

[Linada]

I am slightly worried by your description of piles.
It sounds to me as if you are taking the 1 item per paper rule from the collecting and processing phase, and applying it to organizing your system. I.E. you have a stack of papers, each with an action on it, that you leaf through each time you have to pick an action to do.
If that's the case, i am not surprised you are overwhelmed.
A context list is more like a shopping list. You write down all the things you need to do in that context on one piece of paper, and then tick them off when you have done them. In fact a shopping list is a next action list.

[start off-topic about contexts and limiting factors]
The context is supermarket. We do them by context, simply because it's the first limiting factor. The second factor might be distance. If your store has bread in the first aisle, you pick that up first. If your store has fruit first, you pick the fruit on your list first. The third limiting factor might be stock. The store is all out of honey melons, so you buy a water melon instead.
In GTD the limiting factors are context, time available, energy available and priority.
[end off-topic]

If you have piles of single papers, rather than a list, you can't effectively scan for the most appropriate next action, so instead your brain tries to remember what's in your stack, makes a decision based on that, and you are basically back where you started with a full inbox.

Please tell me i misunderstsood your piles :???:

[dforrest]

Hello Linada--

You didn't misunderstand, I do indeed keep the same scrap of paper I capture on, mark it up a bit, and put it in a stack, by context.

I have a severe allergy to re-writing and double-entering things in general.

I do get that a list would be easier to scan, but are you actually saying that re-writing everything into a list for each context actually SAVES time?

It might be true, just because the end result, a list, is so much easier to scan than a pile. But then again, that's just the beginning of the re-writing, because as you cross things off, lists have to be re-written and re-written, and the last few things you may not have gotten to yet need to be transferred to a fresh copy of the list. Or am I wrong? This idea doesn't appeal to me much on the surface, but I always want to hear the voice of experience.

I would love to hear from experienced GTDers who use a paper-based workflow about this. Is it (wonderful/a waste of time) to rewrite all your NAs into lists? I'd really like to know people's experience with this!

Thanks,

Dave

[Oogiem]

3. When I process, I date the slip and figure out what it is.
3a. If it is a project, --3a1. I write the title on my project list & also at the top of the slip. --3a2. I decide on the next action for the project and write that on the slip. --3a3. I then put the slip into a context pile in my Action folder, grouped with a title card and a binder or paper clip. These piles are portable (they go in a coat pocket if need be).

I think this is your problem. Once you process your notes (slips of paper) into a next action list they should be rewritten into a context specific single piece of paper (if you are using paper) or a single context. You don't want to keep hanging on to the notes unless they are reference, they were placeholders for your actions. Trying to sort a stack of individual papers is difficult at best and that's why you re-do them so your context lists contain a set of next actions for all sorts of projects that all can be done in one context.

I'm using lifebalance now and my contexts are
@computer internet
@computer mac
@inside by myself
@outside with help

and so on.

If I look at my @computer internet list right now there are about 18 next actions relating to as many different projects. I see one short list of stuff I can do right now when my computer is on and the network is working.

Examples of my current @computer internet stuff are:

Look for new skin for farm blog
Add paypal membership and registration buttons on ABWMSA web site
Add flock books for sale to ABWMSA web site
Add copy of papers as example to ABWMSA web site
Add fee schedule to ABWMSA web site
Research how to get into template editing mode on my blog - see file @computer
Look for lab chairs for Ken
Finish blog entry on Wales trip

The projects those are related to are
Update farm blog
Update ABWMSA web site
Buy new chair for Ken's workbench
Finish Wales trip report

[Linada]

I can't really comment on a paper based workflow. I can't hold a pen properly, so it's not really an option for me. I have ended up using OmniFocus myself.

Your first post sounded very much like you are going numb to your stacks. In my opinion, the ease with which you are able to scan your NAs is essential, whether using a paper or computer system.
If you are keen on having single slips for actions, there might be a way to make them easier to scan through, a rolodex or something similar maybe.
I agree, you need someone with paper system experience. I would still recommend that you give the list a try. If you find it doesn't save you time, you still have your stacks :)

[sdann]

Dave,

I love your post and your plan of action. It sounds like you have the gist of GTD down, now all you need to do is to slowly create a customized system that fits your needs and style. This forum is great, as you'll see you'll get all different types of ideas, insights, and tools from the members.

On another note, once you start with an electronic system, you'll see yourself double-entering all the time. Slips of papers in your inbox will be transferred there. It doesn't matter though, since the time it takes includes the processing. Proceed in a way that works best for you.

Silke

[kewms]

I would love to hear from experienced GTDers who use a paper-based workflow about this. Is it (wonderful/a waste of time) to rewrite all your NAs into lists? I'd really like to know people's experience with this!

Yes, lists are MUCH easier to deal with. I tried a system with one index card per NA for a while, but even though index cards are easier to shuffle than larger sheets, the shuffling got to be too much. Single sheets are a good way to figure out an organization scheme --you can play with contexts and other groupings as much as you like -- but aren't sustainable for the long term IMO.

To keep the rewriting under control, don't let any single list or page get too full. Rewriting 15 or 20 items is a pain in the neck; two or three, not so much. I keep my lists in a junior size (5.5 x 8.5 inch) Circa notebook. One page holds about 12 items, leaving space between for readability and notes, and I'll consider rewriting once more than half of those items are done.

Katherine

[vireo]

I would love to hear from experienced GTDers who use a paper-based workflow about this. Is it (wonderful/a waste of time) to rewrite all your NAs into lists? I'd really like to know people's experience with this!



I keep paper-based context lists (index cards), and fall firmly in the "wonderful" camp in terms of the value of re-writing the NAs. No, it's not as efficient as keeping the lists electronically, but I find the act of re-writing makes me much more alive to my lists -- once I've re-written an action onto a new card yet again, I am forced to ask myself, "Why hasn't this moved forward?", and really try to figure out why I'm resisting it -- which frequently means I redefine the NA, block out some time on my calendar, bribe myself if necessary, or move it to Someday/Maybe! Oddly, introducing that inefficiency into my system makes the system overall much more successful for me! Anyway, best of luck!

[unstuffed]

Like Katherine, I use a Circa Junior size. I also have very short lists: my Projects list has about 5-10 projects, and each context list has (usually) 3-5 NAs.

That's at least partly because I suffer a lot from procrastination, so I ruthlessly prune my Current Projects list to stuff that I think I'll be able to move forward this week, and shove everything else into Someday/Maybe. This lets me actually move things forward on all of those projects, and complete some, without getting in a swivet about having ten thousand things to do.

It also means that I can usually complete a context list in a week, so each week I get a nice, shiny new context list.

One other, slightly tangential, point: one benefits that The David talks about is that GTD can remove unnecessary decisions. So in your case, you don't need to flip through your context list and choose which to do next - just start at the top and crank through the list for as long as you're in that context.

If nothing else, doing this for a while may slash your stack of NAs. ;)

[Brent]

I do get that a list would be easier to scan, but are you actually saying that re-writing everything into a list for each context actually SAVES time?

Yes. Massively.

Look at it this way: It's taking you forever to go through your lists, which you need to do frequently. You're trading off that time for a few seconds' time on the front end, adding items to a list.

Does that make sense?

[Oogiem]

I do get that a list would be easier to scan, but are you actually saying that re-writing everything into a list for each context actually SAVES time?

ABSOLUTELY! The time spent re-writing happened for me at weekly review time and made me really think about the next actions that hadn't moved forward. It's a bit harder to really re-think them now that I'm off paper and back to electronic. It's a benefit of paper that you don't realize until you've tried it for a while.

[Gardener]

I do get that a list would be easier to scan, but are you actually saying that re-writing everything into a list for each context actually SAVES time?

I suspect so, even though I've never done it. :)

As I mentioned, I passionately hate paper, and passionately hate writing things, and I do all my GTD in OmniFocus. But if I _were_ doing GTD on paper, I would definitely write context lists rather than hanging on to the original notes for the actions.

I don't think I'd worry about rewriting the lists as I got things done, or at least I wouldn't rewrite them until an old page got down to just one or two things not done. I'd probably usually rewrite them once a week in the weekly review.

Gardener

[Brent]

I don't think I'd worry about rewriting the lists as I got things done, or at least I wouldn't rewrite them until an old page got down to just one or two things not done. I'd probably usually rewrite them once a week in the weekly review.

This is true. I only have to re-write a list every couple of weeks. But then, I keep my active Projects list (and, thus, my NAs) short and focused.

[dforrest]

Thanks for the posts, folks!

Well, well, well...

Given the unanimity here, I have gotten "off it" and taken your collective coaching. All my scraps of paper are now rewritten into context lists. It took the better part of a day, but it's looking like it was worth it. The lists are much more scannable and workable.

I still get a small panic attack when looking at some of them. This is because I have yet to implement the "someday/maybe" scenario I described previously -- all those 10 kijillion next actions are still live and I need to back burner most of them.

My "someday/maybe" system is lacking partly because I have run out of tabbed file folders (rare as hen's teeth here in Spain). So I am doing the obvious and will complete an online stationery order tomorrow and get the infrastructure for my enhanced system in place.

Observation: Some things I hate to put on a "someday/maybe" list. Like responding to personal e-mails that friends and family have sent me. However, I also know that for a few weeks here I am really up to my eyeballs. So the real choice is to A) not respond to my friends and be anguished about it (the situation up to now) or B) not respond to my friends and be relaxed about it, know I have made the most appropriate choice at the moment (the situation once I put these items on my "not this week" list). My friends and family will still be there in a few weeks and will understand if I explain. (And I can also C) jot off a quick note to them all along the lines of "Thanks for writing, up to eyeballs, love you lots, will write soon" and be much happier in the meantime!)

One thing I realized when going through all my slips of paper to re-write them onto lists was that I had included a lot of project support material in my stacks instead of filing them appropriately, also causing me to overestimate the number of next actions (I estimated on the basis of file folder thickness compared to a ream of paper). The lists clarified this and obviously the new shipment of file folders will help, so all that PSM can be filed neatly out of the way.

Another thing I realized was that my "@Computer" context list was completely overwhelming. So I broke it down into manageable chunks, separating into several lists containing similar tasks that depending on where I am and what my brainwaves are currently like:
1) @Computer browser task (mindless tasks, arrange bank transfer etc.)
2) @Computer create email
3) @Computer browser explore (things to check out/research)
4) @Computer learn (online courses/tutorials to follow)
5) @Computer input (requires support file at home, mindless)
6) @Computer @home (requires some gizmo at home, but not mindless)
7) @Computer anywhere (no internet access required)

When I get the stationery delivery, I will pare down my next action lists ruthlessly and then I should have that lovely feeling of "relaxed control" I have only had occasional, wonderful glimpses of so far.

I will keep you updated as to how it goes re-writing the lists at weekly review time. I do really like the advice that re-wrtiting at review time is a great opportunity to see what you've been resisting and why, to back-burner things you're not committed to presently, to think more seriously about delegating certain tasks, etc.

OK, all for tonight, thanks again everyone. :)

Dave

[QuestorTheElf]

3. When I process, I date the slip and figure out what it is.



I date my slips earlier. I date them when I first create and Collect it.

There's something in my way of thinking that by looking at a date, I can mentally recall what I was doing that day especially when it's at most 7 days old (before a Weekly Review.) It helps me better to picture where I was, who was with me, etc. Most of all, it reignites what triggered the idea(s) on the slip -- what was I thinking at the time?

I bring this up because in a recent issue of the Productivity Principles newsletter, David Allen suggested keeping all relevant notes and materials after you processed them. He used to trash many things to clear his areas. He now keeps material that has a certain rawness to it. I've found adding the date when first created adds a real feeling extending from when you started to where you are now.

When you've progressed on a project, seeing those earlier dates can show you how far you've come. (Or your inner critic Scheduler nags how it took longer than you first thought! I want to get better at this and keep him quiet.)

[Brent]

Congraulations on making progress!


I still get a small panic attack when looking at some of [my lists]. This is because I have yet to implement the "someday/maybe" scenario I described previously -- all those 10 kijillion next actions are still live and I need to back burner most of them.

Yes, and this is normal. You're truly seeing all your work, all at once. It can be very frightening to realize just how much one has committed to.

Don't worry; once you've got your system running, you'll build up more and more self-confidence. You'll know where everything is.


My "someday/maybe" system is lacking partly because I have run out of tabbed file folders (rare as hen's teeth here in Spain). So I am doing the obvious and will complete an online stationery order tomorrow and get the infrastructure for my enhanced system in place.

I'm a little confused about the above paragraph. My own Someday/Maybe list is just that: one big list. Just a text file on my computer. Why do you need a lot of tabbed file folders for them?

[Evaluise]

Why do you need a lot of tabbed file folders for them?

Well, where else should he leave all the documents belonging to the SomedayMaybe-projects?

[dforrest]

Hmmm... this is an interesting point.

Well, since I'm paper-based for the moment, I need at least one file folder for Someday/Maybe support materials. Thanks for the reminder that I do need all my Someday/Maybes on a list too (like everything else).

Also, building on the theme further up, I am planning on having several categories of Someday/Maybe. I'm planning to include at least "Not This Week," (Not This Month goes in the tickler file for next month), "Not This Year," "Maybe When We're Loaded," "Someday/Maybe (general)".

So I am wondering: Those of you that have really developed Someday/Maybe systems: How do they work? What subdivisions do you have & how do they work for you?

Another thing I'd like to know is what you do with your Someday/Maybe support materials. Do they live in a Someday/Maybe folder? In subfolders? Or in your general filing system with references to them from your lists? If you have references from your lists, have you worked out some shorthand way to reference the file so you can write and re-write your lists quickly?

Please tell me about your Someday/Maybe empires and how they are governed! :D

Dave

[kewms]

Generally, if it's a Someday/Maybe project it doesn't *have* suppport materials. If it does, I file them the same way I do other project materials.

Katherine

[Evaluise]

My SomedayMaybe projects have lots of support material, the "not this week, but hopefully next week" projects as well as the "sometime in 2009" and the "sometime during the rest of my life" projects. One of the things I like most about GTD is that I can just throw all these documents into the project's file, put the file into the general A-Z filing system and write the project's name on my list. Being on the list, it does not get lost, but the papers are out of sight and for the time being also out of mind. Very refreshing.
Every project has its own file. A general SomedayMaybe folder - no, doesn't sound good to me. It would probably become a dump.

[Oogiem]

Generally, if it's a Someday/Maybe project it doesn't *have* suppport materials.

A lot of my someday maybe projects have a lot of support materials.

For bigger projects (landscaping, fences, flock plans for the next 10 years, Moy Gown replica) they have their own separate folder of stuff in my filing system.

Smaller projects (Knit Gunnister sock replicas, naalbinding mittens, weave curtains) are often just a few notes all stuffed into folders labeled Knitting Projects, Weaving Projects, Naalbinding Projects. Once I get too much stuff related to one project I pull it out and make a separate folder for it.

But I also tend to collect info and occasionally do next actions on someday maybe projects that I didn't have on my lists.

So I might be looking at fleeces and find one that would be perfect for something I know I want to do eventually so I may take a lock and add it to the file for that project with notes of where the rest of it is. But looking for fleeces for that project may not have been on any action list I have as I was not planning on doing that project this year. However, if I get enough that are right that project will become active because I can now do it.

[Brent]

Almost none of my Someday/Maybe projects have support materials, for what it's worth. And my system's working fine.

If any of my Someday/Maybe projects did have support materials, they'd be in my general A-Z reference.

[TesTeq]

My SomedayMaybe projects have lots of support material, the "not this week, but hopefully next week" projects as well as the "sometime in 2009" and the "sometime during the rest of my life" projects.

So you've got more than 1000 of Someday/Maybe projects and each has a lot of support material? Unbelievable! Even for "sometime during the rest of my life" projects? Most of this information will be obsolete within next year!

[kewms]

So you've got more than 1000 of Someday/Maybe projects and each has a lot of support material? Unbelievable! Even for "sometime during the rest of my life" projects? Most of this information will be obsolete within next year!

Depends on what it is. Mount Everest is unlikely to move. The Boston Marathon has been run during the same week over basically the same course for more than a hundred years. Host cities for the next three Olympics (through 2014) have already been chosen. Major gardening projects often have time frames measured in decades.

Katherine

[Evaluise]

Who said anything about more than 1000 Someday/Maybe projects?! Luckily it's quite a bit less!

[TesTeq]

Who said anything about more than 1000 Someday/Maybe projects?! Luckily it's quite a bit less!


First and most importantly, I so far must have 1000 or 1500 sheets of paper, each listing one next action. My "@computer" stack, for the most serious example, is about an inch thick. It would take me about an hour just to look at each sheet of paper, before deciding which was the most important for me to do at my computer right now. So in practice, I am now ignoring the stack and doing what I remember needs doing (i.e., back in my head!).

I've never heard about the person who has more than 200 Next Actions (it means this person must have less than 200 active Projects - some Next Actions do not belong to any Project and some Projects have more than one Next Action). It means that dforrest has 800 - 1300 Someday/Maybe Projects/Actions. I do not think that it is possible to have up to date support material for each of these Projects and Actions.

[Oogiem]

I've never heard about the person who has more than 200 Next Actions (it means this person must have less than 200 active Projects - some Next Actions do not belong to any Project and some Projects have more than one Next Action). It means that dforrest has 800 - 1300 Someday/Maybe Projects/Actions. I do not think that it is possible to have up to date support material for each of these Projects and Actions.

Then you've never been on or part of a farm! :-)

Even a mono-culture farm will have hundreds of projects on it some in current, some in someday maybe and a diversified one will have many many more. In general based on my experience you can figure that each crop will have between 50-150 projects associated with it. Multiply that by the number of crops and you easily get over a thousands projects and actions. Some crops can be dealt with as a group (truck garden veges that are annuals) but some actually are multiple crops (sheep are meat, wool, breeding stock, manure, horns, hides, skulls and bones as crops each with its own set of projects and actions). The more crops the more projects you have to juggle.

I currently have 168 next actions on my lists. However, later today as part of my weekly review I know I will be activating roughly 25 new projects based on weather/calendar/gestation periods and I will end up with lists that are well over 200 next actions. In fact I know some contexts will result in 75-100 actions on them.

[TesTeq]

Then you've never been on or part of a farm! :-)

Yes. But we are comparing someone's personal system with a farm maintenance system (apples and oranges, don't you think?)


(sheep are meat, wool, breeding stock, manure, horns, hides, skulls and bones as crops each with its own set of projects and actions)

For me sheep is just a living creature.


I currently have 168 next actions on my lists. However, later today as part of my weekly review I know I will be activating roughly 25 new projects based on weather/calendar/gestation periods and I will end up with lists that are well over 200 next actions. In fact I know some contexts will result in 75-100 actions on them.

I do not know how many lists or contexts you have but let's do a simple math:

Let's assume that daily:
- you sleep 7 hours;
- you eat 2 hours;
- you do all 2-minute actions without putting them on your lists and it takes 1 hour.

Let's assume that average Next Action takes 10 minutes so you can do 6 next actions per hour.

DNAT (Daily Next Action Throughput) = 6 * (24 - 7 - 2 - 1) = 6 * 14 = 84

WNAT (Weekly Next Action Throughput) = 7 * DNAT - 12 = 576
(I am subtracting 12 NAs because of the 2-hour Weekly Review)

In this calculation I did not allow for any commute, meeting or procrastination time that is wasted in every business environment.

Taking the above calculation into account I still do not believe that more than 200 personal Next Actions is a realistic approach to life. In my opinion it is just wishful thinking.

[Gardener]

Another thing I'd like to know is what you do with your Someday/Maybe support materials. Do they live in a Someday/Maybe folder? In subfolders? Or in your general filing system with references to them from your lists? If you have references from your lists, have you worked out some shorthand way to reference the file so you can write and re-write your lists quickly?

All of my support materials are filed in the appropriate file system irrespective of whether they're for a current or future task, where "appropriate" is pretty much based on the physical nature of the material. (Paper in filing cabinet, email in email archive, electronic in computer filing system, books and manuals on shelf, etc.)

(This is assuming that they _are_ filed and I'm not behind on filing. But this is at least how the system is designed.)

If I'm working on a task right now, its support material might be sitting on my desk, but otherwise it would just be filed, possibly right next to support material for a task that I won't do for years.

I do sometimes put pointers to support materials in my actions. Examples might be:

- Research record dupe bug - Widget project - reported in email J. Smith 3/14/09.

- Enter remodel costs in spreadsheet - receipts filed in House - Remodel.

I use an electronic system, so I type in the actions once and never again, so I don't need shorthand. If I used paper, I could imagine that these might get squished to:

- Widget dupe bug. E, J. Smith, 3/14
- Enter remodel rcpts. PF, House-Remodel

Where E means Email and PF means Paper File.

Gardener

[Gardener]

So I am wondering: Those of you that have really developed Someday/Maybe systems: How do they work? What subdivisions do you have & how do they work for you?

My projects/folders/areas of focus structure is pretty complicated, more so than it would be if I had to hand-write anything. And it's heavily designed around automated processing.

But if I look at it with current versus Someday/Maybe in mind, I'd say that I have:

- Repeaters. This is mostly single actions automatically repeating on some date basis. Stuff like "Fill out weekly budget report" or "Pay Visa" or "Mom's birthday" or "Consider ordering spring bulbs." These may happen soon or they may happen in the distant future, but when they come due, they're _due_, so Someday/Maybe doesn't really apply.

Some of these tasks could become projects when they come due - for example, if I decide that I will indeed order spring bulbs, I'll create a project "Plan 2010 spring bulb order" and put it in either Current Projects or Idle.

- Current: The stuff that I actually hope to work on this week or next. Stuff goes in and out of this category in the weekly review.

- Idle: The stuff that's not happening this week or next, but will be reviewed weekly, so that it remains on the radar. It might not happen for a year, but it's just "Someday", not "Maybe". Stuff goes in and out of this category in the weekly review, too. And if something starts to look "Maybe", it'll get dumped in "Lists".

If I had a lot of these that were more than several months out, I'd probably also have "Distant Future Idle", so that I'd know that I only need to review them on a monthly or quarterly basis.

- Lists: This is "maybes" - lists of things that I've considered doing, but won't be doing or even moving to Idle until they're more thought out and fleshed out. I may have pretty fleshed-out projects in here, but for one reason or another, they're still "Maybe".

Lists also includes specific lists that I hope to work my way through - To Learn, To Read, To Write, etc. I may have actions in Repeaters to point to the lists - for example, I have a weekly "Consider learning something from To Learn" item in Repeaters. If I decide to learn something, then that may generate a project ("Learn Python") in Current or Idle.

- Checklists: This is sort of like Repeaters in that it needs to be done when it needs to be done, but instead of the actions being triggered on a date basis, they're triggered based on an event, and they also tend to be multi-action lists instead of single actions. So this may contain travel checklists, delivery checklists for programming projects, a checklist for having a dinner party, and so on.

If I know that I'm about to do a delivery for the Widget Project, I'll go see if I have a Widget Delivery checklist. And I'll have the security of knowing that while I was working on the latest Widget Project delivery, I was putting any "don't forget this at delivery time" items in the appropriate checklist. Or in the personal-life realm, I might temporarily add "remember that we're out of coffee" to the Dinner Party checklist, because we don't drink coffee and would probably otherwise forget.

This whole structure is working moderately well for me, but I wouldn't yet say that it's a beautiful and well-oiled machine. I'm still playing with it.

Gardener

[Gardener]

Taking the above calculation into account I still do not believe that more than 200 personal Next Actions is a realistic approach to life. In my opinion it is just wishful thinking.

But if a person's goals are truly that complicated, surely they'd have an even greater need to have a system to manage those goals than someone with a simpler set of life goals?

It seems to me that we usually discuss what I'd call a "few projects - many next actions per time" mindset. A relatively small number of projects, each of which can go through several next actions in a short period of time. So a relatively small number of projects means a relatively small number of Next Actions.

But here we're talking about a "many projects - few next actions per time" workload. There's nothing to say that a person with a very large number of projects, each of which requires a very long time for each next action, can't use GTD.

An example: Imagine that I want to breed a tomato with particular characteristics. I want it to be orange, medium-sized, firm, low acid, resistant to SomethingVirus, suitable for chilly climates, and indeterminate.

I have access to seeds for a couple of dozen different open-pollinated patent-free tomatoes, each of which has one or more of the characteristics that I want. I will cross those tomatoes until I get a single tomato with all of the characteristics that I want - or until i give up.

I will have to make many, many crosses to get what I want. Each cross, from choosing the parents to evauating the characteristics of the chlidren, will take a _full three years_, because with a cross of a true-breeding plant, the second year is an F1 hybrid and the differing characteristics only show up in the third year, so that's when you can really _start_.

(If I'm wrong about F1 hybrids, feel free to tell me, but I don't think that it changes the example. :) It would just take the cycle time to two years instead of three.)

So the project, "Evaluate the progeny of the cross of Tomato A with Tomato B", has a quite small number of next actions that may take no more than a few minutes of actual labor, but will stretch across three years before you even start on the interesting part.

And I'm not going to _just_ cross two tomatoes and wait around three years for the result. I'm going to cross dozens and dozens of pairs of tomatoes. And I might also be working with peppers. And zinnias. And so on.

So if I'm breeding plants, even at a hobby level, I not only could, but _will_ have dozens or hundreds of projects, each of which go through only a few Next Actions per year.

It sounds like this is Oogiem's situation, except that hers is much, much more complicated, because she's working in _many_ areas of long-term and short-term and mid-term projects.

So someone could tell me that in my scenario, I should get a plant breeding database and take the complexity out of GTD. This might change two hundred "Cross A with B" actions to a single "Print 2009 cross list and perform crosses" action. But I don't think that this is so easy with Oogiem's workload, becuase I don't think that her workload has the same patterns of many near-identical actions.

So hundreds of projects, each with a next action that may not happen until months or years from now? Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Gardener

[kewms]

Yes. But we are comparing someone's personal system with a farm maintenance system (apples and oranges, don't you think?)

Not if the person owns the farm.

Katherine

[TesTeq]

But here we're talking about a "many projects - few next actions per time" workload. There's nothing to say that a person with a very large number of projects, each of which requires a very long time for each next action, can't use GTD.

OK. But decision what projects should be done now is made outside the GTD system but using the perspective built according to the GTD guidelines.

In my opinion if any list has to be overloaded - let it be the Someday/Maybe list.

[TesTeq]

Not if the person owns the farm.

Or a company. Or is CEO. But in this case many tasks should be delegated. There is a limit on a number of actions that you can do yourself during a week/month/year/life.

[Gardener]

In my opinion if any list has to be overloaded - let it be the Someday/Maybe list.

But what if the projects are _not_ Someday/Maybe?

My interpretation of Someday/Maybe is a project that only might get done, and I don't know when it will get done if it does get done.

So "learn to make a souffle" is probably Someday/Maybe.

But "Do income taxes" is not Someday/Maybe, even if it's May and you won't be worried about your income taxes for several months. It's _distant_, but there's nothing Someday or Maybe about it. It will be done, and it will be done at a fairly specific time.

The same can be true for the "many projects, few actions per time" scenario.

If a tomato plant that's the result of a cross is growing, then the "Harvest ripe tomato from plant 213 for seed harvest" is also not Someday or Maybe.

Yes, you may have entered that as the Next Action on the day that you planted Plant 213 in late May, and you may not perform that Next Action until late July when the plant is bearing. So that project is progressing at a rate of one Next Action in two months.

And once the seeds are harvested, you won't plant them until March of year, so that the rate goes down to one Next Action in eight months.

That project is slow. But it's not Someday and it's not Maybe. It's active. It's not Maybe any more than "Do income taxes" is Maybe.

Sure, there's a limit to how much you can do in a year. But it doesn't fundamentally matter whether your year's workload is five projects for which you accomplish a thousand actions each, or five hundred projects for which you accomplish ten actions each.

Sure, for the second you have to streamline project management, and for the first you have to streamline action management. Your system will look different. And, sure, most people work in the "few projects/many tasks per project" mode. But that doesn't mean that that's the only mode that's possible.

Gardener

[kewms]

If a tomato plant that's the result of a cross is growing, then the "Harvest ripe tomato from plant 213 for seed harvest" is also not Someday or Maybe.

But it's not immediately doable, either. You can't harvest tomatoes that don't exist yet. Seems to me that actions like these are why Tickler files were invented.

Katherine

[Oogiem]

So hundreds of projects, each with a next action that may not happen until months or years from now? Seems perfectly reasonable to me.


EXACTLY! And your plant breeding example is pretty accurate except the time frame is actually longer than even 3 years for a single season species. You may not know that you got the right characteristics for several generations after the initial crosses. :-) Livestock is longer, I started with a specific breeding plan over 10 years ago, I am now just getting to the point a few animals each year meet the original goals.

And yes, I have a really hard time saying a given project is a someday/ maybe when it is actually active and being worked on even if slowly.

[Oogiem]

Yes. But we are comparing someone's personal system with a farm maintenance system (apples and oranges, don't you think?)

Not really, first off work and life are all one. I don't separate my GTD systems. I live at my work and own the farm.

The point was it's not at all unreasonable to have many projects that are active and many next actions.

[kewms]

Or a company. Or is CEO. But in this case many tasks should be delegated. There is a limit on a number of actions that you can do yourself during a week/month/year/life.

Right. But small business owners (including farmers) don't necessarily have lots of people to delegate to. There are lots of benefits to *not* having employees, especially when your revenue stream is somewhat unpredictable.

Even when help is available for a specific project, the business owner may still need to do substantial work and/or supervise the helper pretty closely.

Katherine

[Gardener]

But it's not immediately doable, either. You can't harvest tomatoes that don't exist yet. Seems to me that actions like these are why Tickler files were invented.

Sure, yep. In my case, I use OmniFocus, so the Tickler is built in - I put a Start Date on the next action of a project and the project goes underwater until that Start Date is reached.

But I still don't think of that project as being Someday/Maybe. It's a commitment, and it's a commitment with a specific date, so it's neither Someday or Maybe.

Maybe I'm using the term too literally, but I just wouldn't be comfortable putting the project in a category with that name. It wouldn't be sitting in my "Current" OmniFocus folder, because that folder is for projects that I'm likely to work on in the next week or two. But I wouldn't demote it all the way down to the speculative "maybe" projects either.

Gardener

[Gardener]

EXACTLY! And your plant breeding example is pretty accurate except the time frame is actually longer than even 3 years for a single season species. You may not know that you got the right characteristics for several generations after the initial crosses. :-)

Yep, I knew that in theory if not in detail. :) My vague understanding is that for crosses of true-breeding plants, the third year is the first year that you get _any_ differentiation of characteristics, but none of what you're looking at is even remotely assured to breed true, so you're practically at the beginning of the process, not the end. This is why I've never really done a breeding project - I'm too impatient.

It is puzzling to figure out how the very, very long-term, few-actions projects fit into a paper system. You don't want to look at a hundred actions that won't be appropriate until May, in October. On the other hand, again, they're neither Someday or Maybe.

In an electronic system it's easy enough to hide them until a date crops up - so easy that I don't really need to even think about how many projects I have. In a paper system, it seems that it would be messier.

But veering wildly around to one of the original things to start this discussion, I assumed that the 1300 pieces of paper that were referred to weren't 1300 strictly defined "next actions", but were instead 1300 actions, next or not, or raw thoughts, that might summarize into far, far fewer projects.

Gardener

[sdann]

Perhaps it's a matter of semantics, but isn't Someday a committment, whereas Maybe isn't. A someday/maybe list could therefore consist of both. (To distinguish one can have several s/m list and integrate those with the tickler, as suggested by Katherine.)

[TesTeq]

The point was it's not at all unreasonable to have many projects that are active and many next actions.

Ok. I do prefer less Projects and Next Actions. It is unreasonable for me to have more than 99 Next Actions. I prefer simple life (I like Leo Babauta's book "Power of Less") so I do not plan to have a farm.

But if you are able and want to manage hundreds of Next Actions I can only express my great respect and wish you very successful outcomes in all of your projects.

[mmurray]

dforrest -

Watch out for Notes in Leopard Mail. Before starting to use OmniFocus I implemented GTD entirely in Mail which was fun but it kept getting stuffed up
with Notes disappearing and To-Do lists becoming ordinary lists. Something seemed to get messed up on the IMAP server I am using. There are lots of similar reports on Apple's support pages so its not just me.

Omnifocus has an iPod Touch / iPhone client which can sync with the mac version via MobileMe or directly over wifi. Excellent for checking errands or collecting thoughts while out and about. I've also done a mini review using just the iPhone client. It's surprisingly useful. I don't bother with ToDo's in iCal at all now just keeping Next Actions entirely in Omnifocus. The combination of them isn't cheap but you can get demos and try them.

Michael