Any thoughts on how to use GTD to streamline writing process.

[Jamie Elis]

Any suggestions on how I can use GTD and/or any tools to reduce the times demands of writing reports. I have to write one or two a week and each one is a little different. I am finding that it takes me twenty hours to write one of these 10 page reports.

If I dictate, I always have to rewrite like crazy.

When I type, I see the flaws in my thinking or grammar as I write and I end up re-writing and re-writing

My actual activities:

Data collection : takes 4 to 6 hours, sometimes spread over several days.

Scoring and categorization of the data through formula and indices: takes 2 hours; sometimes longer.

Analysis and proposition stage where I brainstorm my findings and make certain they logically follow from the hard data but are consistent with the more subjective aspects and the context (if they are at variance then explain why); explain the relationship between the propositions; draw conclusions, designate categories. Takes 1 to 2 hours.

I usually do a handwritten mind map. to keep track in the propostion and alaysis stage.

Then comes the actual writing and report preparation and this takes me another 8 to 10 hours:

The final report looks like this:

1. Statement of the problem.

2. Context and background.

3. How the data was obtained, why certain methods were used, anything that adds or detracts from the credibility of the findings. Sometimes this puts the problem into a clearer context.

4. Description of each data collection method and its applicability in genreal and in this situation.

5. Display of the data itself or selected portions of it.

6. Interpretation in general and to address the specific problems that the study was done for.

7. Recommendations in regard to the specific problems and anything else that seems warranted.

The whole process is killing me time wise.

[kewms]

I hate to say it, but ten hours of writing for a ten page report is actually pretty good.

The only way I can think of to streamline it would be if some of the sections are similar from week to week or across all reports, so that you can use a template instead of starting from scratch.

Katherine

[Jamie Elis]

Katherine, If I recall you are a writer, so I appreciate hearing that.

The company for which I work thinks that beyond the data collection it should only take me two hours! They think I could shorten the reports or present part in outline form, but no one is willing to tell me how. I have asked the end customers to take a marker and cross out anything that is superfluous. The only thing that has been excised is an abstract in favor of a one sentence summary before the recommendations. The customers also feel that the caveats and explanations of limiting factors are unecessary, but I feel it would be unethical and misleading to eliminate them. I have thought about having a checklist for these with items such as:

Procedure interupted___ . ____ times.

Deviations from standard methodology were:

[Jamie Elis]

time writing and re-writing. I feel that the writing process is an internal dialogue in which I go back and forth between thinking and written expression and reflection until I the writing and thinking are clear. I guess I am wondering if GTD methods might offer me a way to make this less of a burden tiem wise.

[Todd V]

Best advice is to write by hand. Writing by hand does a couple of things that streamlines the process:

(1) It slows your mind down
(2) It forces you to make the hard decisions on the front end by writing only what is to-the-point
(3) It helps to see yourself "filling up the page" - sense of progress
(4) It keeps you from getting lured into editing and organizing - you just write

I find that writing by hand is more effective. I just re-type it into the computer when I'm done and make the editing necessary as I enter it. This may seem redundant and more work; but it actually turns out to be just the opposite. There is less to hyperlink your mind to when you are limited to pen and paper. Less distraction; more action.

If you have a mac and do longer writing projects, I recommend Scrivener ( http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html).

[Jamie Elis]

I think I might try that and time myself. I think your point is really well taken. I guess I do spend a lot of time fixing typing. Sometimes I type and speak the words out loud as I go along and that often comes out better and goes fsater. I am also a rather poor typist despite practicing with various programs.

My college blue book essays had so many cross-outs, arrows, and astericks that my professors would have me come in and read the essays out loud so they could be graded. But in contrst to undergraduate uncertainty and anxiety, at this point I know my subject very well and when the answer is unclear it is not because I am ignorant, rather it is because I know the subject so well that I can see that the data can be interpreted in different ways. In that case, I indicate what the alternative interpretations are and why, and the advantages and disadvantages of each interpretation.

,

[TesTeq]

Use more copy & paste. Nobody will notice! ;-)

[kewms]

What Todd V. said. I also write by hand, and can also recommend Scrivener.

Katherine

[kewms]

The company for which I work thinks that beyond the data collection it should only take me two hours! They think I could shorten the reports or present part in outline form, but no one is willing to tell me how.

Call their bluff. Do the best job you can in two hours. (Time it!) If they like the results, great! Problem solved. If they don't, then you've given them a starting point from which they can provide further guidance.

People who aren't writers usually aren't very good at providing editorial guidance. They know what they're looking for when they see it, but may not know how to get there.

Katherine

[radioman]

While I do not believe that GTD will help you in this effort to speed your writing, here is my experience during the last 30+ years since freshman year in college.

I take about 1 hour to write 1 polished double-spaced page. (As expected, a single-spaced page takes me about 2 hours.) That is *after* I know enough to be able to sit down and write (i.e., after any research that I need to do to get smart enough to write intelligently). That one hour per page includes the drafting of text, the reviewing and rewriting, and the final reviews for good idea flow. Unless you have a lot of material that repeats from report to report, I can not think of anything that I could do to speed up the process.

Joe

[Gardener]

Re:

"When I type, I see the flaws in my thinking or grammar as I write and I end up re-writing and re-writing."

This was the first issue that struck me as an opportunity for saving time. If you can, I think that it's best to ignore issues of writing quality until the whole thing is drafted. There's no point in spending time wordsmithing a beautiful paragraph if you find out, in the end, that that paragraph gets cut entirely.

Now, I'm not saying that this is easy. I have trouble typing a sentence until that sentence is perfectly formed in my mind. But I've been working on forcing myself to just type _something_, often phrased as I'd phrase it if I were just talking informally to someone. Sometimes I even just put in a series of phrases that will remind me of what I was going to say.

Another possible area for savings could be in reusing reports or reusing text. Is the work similar enough from report to report that you could start with a preexisting report and change it to reflect the latest task, and perhaps reuse some elements of the report? Or could you plug in boilerplate paragraphs? This will make the report less graceful, but that may be the price that has to be paid for the time demands that your employer is putting you under.

Another possibility could be to add appendices to the report, with material that's often repeated from report to report, that you refer to within the specific report.

As a silly example, perhaps the report includes data about the reaction of potential customers to the color of an ice cream bar. Perhaps you already know that customers have a tendency to like blue ice cream bars better when the temperature is higher than ninety degrees, and red ones when the temperature is lower than fifty degrees, and that these facts will affect the validity of your results.

Rather than add this information in the body of the report, rewriting it in such a way that it flows beautifully with the report, you'd just have it as Item 42 in "Appendix B: Possible Confounding Factors". Then, in the report, you can just have a line stating "Possible confounding factors: See items 12, 42, and 67 in Appendix B" It's less attractive, but, again, that's the price paid for time savings.

I think that your checklist idea is also good, for similar reasons. Once you have a reusable checklist or checklists developed, you can just plug them into every report.

In general, if your employer really wants these reports in anything like two hours, then they're essentially demanding that you manufacture reports from prebuilt pieces, or that you produce much shorter, less complete reports. It's unreasonable for them to expect a truly original report of this length, with good reading flow, in ten hours' writing time.

(Edited to say that I meant "in much less than ten hours' writing time". Or "in two hours' writing time." Or something like that. :) Ten hours seems reasonable for the actual writing; a lot less doesn't.)

Gardener

[rossbale]

Hi,

Have you considered Mind Mapping to layout the structure and format of your document to create the bones which you can then lay more content onto?

Here's an article that's written by a book author that uses this process extensively, hope it helps!

http://blog.mindjet.com/2009/02/the-get-it-done-guy-shares-how-he-wrote-his-book-with-mindmanager

[clango]

Any suggestions on how I can use GTD and/or any tools to reduce the times demands of writing reports. I have to write one or two a week and each one is a little different.

I cannot add more than .....who are you? friends? colleagues?...the practical suggestions you received but I'd try to ask myself some questions about.

Why are you writing the reports?
Who will read the report?
Which benefit would you like to offer to the people reading them?
Who decided you have to write them? How much time did you decided to spend?
Is it one of your goals?
Is it one of your project?
Would you delegate someone else?
How much is the return you could have from a good report?
...
and so on, if make sense for you....

[jimmo]

Have you considered Mind Mapping to layout the structure and format of your document to create the bones which you can then lay more content onto?

Here's an article that's written by a book author that uses this process extensively, hope it helps!

http://blog.mindjet.com/2009/02/the-get-it-done-guy-shares-how-he-wrote-his-book-with-mindmanager

The cost of MindManager can be prohibitive if you create make infrequently. Don't get me wrong, I love MindManager, but since I now have to pay for it out of my own pocket, the price tag is too much to handle. Also, my primary desktop machine is Linux and MM only runs on Windows and Mac.

I found a great alternative is FreeMind (freemind.sourceforge.net). This is opensource and there are ready-made versions for different operating systems. Plus the maps I create at home running Linux are 1:1 portable to my machine at work. You can also export your maps in several different formats.

[Brent]

About "how to write" -- I've found that there are only two ironclad rules of writing, and one of them is that every writer writes differently. One writer may need to mind map, another may need to outline, another may need to write many rough drafts, another may need to write longhand, while another may need to make tons of notes.

I say, try something different. You may need to find a writing method that works better for you. It doesn't always come naturally.

[Oogiem]

You may need to find a writing method that works better for you. It doesn't always come naturally.

My favorite quote about writing is from R. A. Heinlein.

Five Rules for Success in Writing

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
4. You must place it on the market.
5 You must keep it on the market until sold.

1-3 works for any sort of writing.

[kewms]

About "how to write" -- I've found that there are only two ironclad rules of writing, and one of them is that every writer writes differently. One writer may need to mind map, another may need to outline, another may need to write many rough drafts, another may need to write longhand, while another may need to make tons of notes.

Indeed. Often, the same writer needs to use different methods with different projects. That's when it gets really frustrating...

Katherine

[RuthMcT]

I also think you'll be working miracles if you manage to reduce the time much at all.

I spent this afternoon dictating medical reports. Bear in mind that speaking takes about one sixth the time of typing, and I leave the secretaries to sort out the layout. I had all the information to hand because I'd seen the patients this morning, so just had to put it in coherent form.

It still took a minimum of 20 minutes for a one page report, and one complicated one which will probably be 5 pages took a good hour! It's the thinking that takes the time, and some bosses severely underestimate the time needed for thinking.

Ruth

[TesTeq]

2. You must finish what you write.

Somebody should have told the greatest writers (and composers) about it. :-)

They've left so many unfinished masterpieces... :-(

[Brent]

My favorite quote about writing is from R. A. Heinlein.

Five Rules for Success in Writing

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
4. You must place it on the market.
5. You must keep it on the market until sold.

1-3 works for any sort of writing.

To go completely off-topic, :-) I must respectfully disagree with the great master on #3. Heinlein didn't need to rewrite, but every other author I've ever met or read about did.

But hey, every writer writes differently. :-)

[Oogiem]

To go completely off-topic, :-) Heinlein didn't need to rewrite, but every other author I've ever met or read about did.

Ah Grasshopper, seek to follow the Master ;-)

Seriously, I think it's more of a succinct way to say stop when it's good enough, and only make changes that make sense. Avoid the tweak forever tendency.

I will rewrite forever given a chance. Which is probably why I've never managed to finish a NANOWRIMO yet. I get stuck in re-writing and give up at about 20K words. Maybe this year I'll make it.

[kewms]

To go completely off-topic, :-) I must respectfully disagree with the great master on #3. Heinlein didn't need to rewrite, but every other author I've ever met or read about did.

But hey, every writer writes differently. :-)

IMO, hefty chunks of Heinlein could have used a bit more revision.

#3 is probably the most controversial of his recommendations among writers. It makes sense if you see it as advising against the endless second-guessing cycles that people get into. It's idiotic if seen as a claim that first drafts are immaculate and shall not be touched.

Katherine

[Brent]

And I completely agree with both of you, Oogie and Katherine. Perhaps the advice could itself use some rewriting?

3. You must refrain from endless rewriting.

Which is one thing I've been rediscoveirng about GTD, incidentally: Its constant, gentle reminders that I have other things to work on. Life keeps moving.

[DinaS]

Heinlein's rules are no doubt practical--if your desire is to have Heinlein's career, write Heinlein's kind of books. That's never been a writing goal of mine. For contrarian purposes here's another take on writing rules; I find them more appealing to my sense of humor.

http://www.sentex.net/~pql/advice2.html

Neither set of rules helps out the original poster since they're aimed at writers of fiction. For writing in the real world, I'd recommend the first edition of Donald Murray's Write to Learn. Murray was writing coach at the Boston Globe before he taught composition at UNH. The first edition, especially, has invaluable advice for every kind of everyday writing, from first idea to finished product.

And I'll second (third? fourth?) the suggestion of developing and using templates to speed up your process.


Dina

[SpoonFed]

I just wanted to add that Heinlein may have been referring to the publishing process rather than the drafting process. I'm an editor myself, and the one thing that authors really deserve to be shot for is changing their submitted text at the same time as I'm editing their submitted text. This results in two versions, and it's impossible to resolve conflicts and amalgamate changes without a truly enormous investment of time.

Depending on how strict the publishing house is, a portion of an author's advance or royalties may be clawed back to pay for this extra work. Alternatively, the author's revised text is simply thrown out, so they've only wasted their own time.

Also, at the time when Heinlein was writing, considerable editorial input was much more common for fiction. Now, publishers and editors take a comparatively 'hands off' approach, focusing more on, for example, obvious logical errors for a murder mystery and grammatical mistakes. Phrasing and structuring is largely left to the author. Heinlein could rely on a great deal of input from an editor - what's the point of changing something if an editor will ask that it be changed again?

As for how this relates to the OP: I think that, although everyone does write differently, the best hope that you have for limiting your writing time would be to write your first draft with minimal revision and interuption. It is hard, but personally I think it relates to GTD in that you need a method to keep track of any issues and get them your mind. It won't work if you're afraid that you'll forget something when you go back over the report.

One trick that I often use is to type "tk" next to a fact that I need to check or a phrase I want to rewrite. You can use the 'find' function in Word to find all instances of "tk" in a document - it's not used in any English word, so you'll be taken to all the checking/revising areas. I also find the comments feature really useful to note down anything that requires more than a simple reminder. Some people find keeping a paper notebook is more helpful to keep freeform notes.

The only reason this might save you time in the long run (as I agree with others, any time benefit would likely be pretty marginal) is that you can more easily justify your time to your superiors when it's clearly broken into sections. You can show them drafts and let them see explicitly how much work is involved. If you wanted, you would be able to create a case for outsourcing the revision process to a freelance editor or another staff member.