more than one job/work/company

[sirrick]

hello again!!

I'm starting to get the feeling of GTD and I'm becoming addicted haha
another question please:

I'm managing 3 companies (small companies) from the same office, and like most of us now I'm there 90% of my working time, where I have computer, internet, phone, etc.

do you think is good idea to make context for each company?, maybe is not really a context per se, but I feel (and that's why I think this is a mistake, GTD is changing everything I "felt" was a good way of organizing for something that is much better) that is important to separate this tasks/actions/projects.
can you please tell me about this from your experience?

thanks in advance!!

[TesTeq]

I do not think it would be in the GTD spirit to create separate context for each company. Contexts are meant to group Next Actions by required resources (tools) - not by Areas of Focus (companies).

If you are using a software tool to manage your GTD lists you should both link Next Actions via Projects to Areas of Focus (companies) and directly to contexts.

[Myriam]

I don't think you need to define a context per company, but I do think you need to find a way to easily group/filter/show all next actions related to one company. As a consultant I have one long list with all the next actions of all my projects/clients on it. But sometimes I just want to see everything related to this one client. In that way it is a little bit like your situation. I work in Excel, and that allows me to filter for whatever I feel is an important caracteristic of a next action.

greetings,
Myriam

[bhaveman]

The three companies you have are all Areas of Focus (20,000 level). So it might be good to group the projects you have (10,000 level) on company level. This is easily done by starting the project name with the company name (abbreviated). This helps to get the right focus during your (weekly) review moments. On Next Action level (runway level) I would stick to the different contexts. If it helps you can add the company name in the next action description if you have context with lots of N/As.

[moosie]

Hi siirick,

I'm the controller for four very different companies - a heating oil company, an internet start up, a restaurant, and a real estate trust. As you can imagine, it's hard to bounce in and out of the different companies all day, every day.

I have one email inbox, one main paper inbox, and four smaller paper inboxes, one for each company. I print out every email that requires some thought and "file" it in the appropriate inbox. (The big inbox is for stuff others give to me. That gets processed into the four inboxes when I get a chance.) Once the emails are printed, the digital copy gets dumped in that company's folder. That's all the email sorting I do - when I'm ready to reply to that specific email, I search for it. If it's REALLY important, or it's someone I don't email often, I leave it in my inbox so I can find it easily. I know - that's against the rules, but it's easier for me.

I work in terms of companies, so I guess you could call that my context. (I've also tried categorizing them as projects. I don't have an answer as to which is best.) What matters to me is that when I'm in "Heating Oil" mode, I know what my next actions are. Most of my tasks are the same ones every day, so I don't really have lists of next actions or true contexts. When I do need a task list, I use OmniFocus on the iPad. I live in the forecast screen and ignore the rest of it.

I tend to spend my mornings on the "easier" companies and my afternoon in the heating oil world. I don't always get through all the companies on a daily basis, but I rotate the smaller ones and I always have a note somewhere to remind me if I HAVE to do something company specific by a certain time. (Outlook calendar, OmniFocus, index card, email from micromanaging co-worker )

All my handwritten notes, file folders and binders are color coded to a specific company, so if I should misfile some notes I've written - which happens too often! - I know within seconds where it is. (Blue paper sticks out in a yellow file folder.) Unfortunately, to keep life a little simple, everything gets printed on white paper. If I had a printer with multiple paper trays, I'd be printing on the appropriate colored paper!

The nice thing I've found about GTD is that you don't have to "do" GTD to reap the benefits of having its structured system.

[Roger]

I print out every email that requires some thought and "file" it in the appropriate inbox.

Hurray! I thought I was the only person who did this. I think it's a worthwhile thing to try, at least, for everyone who might be struggling with email.



Cheers,
Roger