Based on Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Input

Capture what has our attention

• Manage in containers
  • These must be emptied regularly
• Capture stuff either on paper or digitally
• Collection tools should be of your life style in order to get everything out of your head
• Minimize number of capture locations

Clarify what each item means and what to do about it

• The GTD Workflow

Organize the results

• Projects
  • You don’t do a project, you can only do steps related to to it
  • Have project support material
    • Keep it simple
    • Keep it out of sight
• Next-action items
  • These that need to be done next
  • Those that you’re waiting for (waiting list)
• Calendar
  • Time-specific actions (appointments)
  • Day-specific actions
    • To do on a certain day but not at a certain time
  • Day specific information
    • Directions for appointments
    • Phone numbers
• Non-actionable items
  • Trash (if not needed anymore)
  • Incubation
    • Things you want to do in the future
    • You should set a reminder for it
    • 2 tools that work
      • Maybe/Someday list
      • Tickler system

Reflect what to do with the results

• Review actions on a weekly basis
• All projects, active project plans, next actions, agendas, waiting for for list should be reviewed once a week

Chose items to engage with

Lists

• Clarify what “things” mean to you before getting organized
• Basic categories
  • Projects list
  • Project support material
  • Reference material
  • Calendar actions/information
  • Next actions list
  • Waiting for list
  • Someday/maybe list
• All you need are lists and folders
  • Lists for the categories
  • Folders for reference material/support information
• Organize next action items depending on context or location
  • At work list
  • Smartphone list
  • In general: think about where and when and under which circumstances you can do which actions
• Also use a folder for read/review items (documents, bills, articles to read etc.)
• Don’t use support materials as reminders

Buckets

- *Basic categories

• Projects list
• Project support material
• Reference material
• Calendar actions/information
• Next actions list
• Waiting for list
• Someday/maybe list

• All you need are lists and folders
  • Lists for the categories
  • Folders for reference material/support information
• Organize next action items depending on context or location
  • At work list
  • Smartphone list
  • In general: think about where and when and under which circumstances you can do which actions
• Also use a folder for read/review items (documents, bills, articles to read etc.)
• Don’t use support materials as reminders

Managing attention

• Open loops will attract attention
• Decide what to commit to
• Use the Mind to get things off your mind
• Don’t let thoughts rule you
  • Collect them and access them later
• Don’t rearrange incomplete lists of unclear things
  • Define clear goals, next steps
• Key to managing stuff is managing actions
  • Clarify things
  • Define DONE (as a state)
  • Define what DOING really means (clear actionable next steps)
• Action management
  • Vertical
    • Like project managing (thinking about next steps, strategy, etc.)
  • Horizontal
    • All kinds of stuff that grab attention during the day across different activities

Emtpyting the in-tray

• Processing guidelines
  • Process top item first
    • Don’t do emergency scanning
      • Everything has the same priority
      • Process “things” in the same order they come “in”
  • Process one item at a time
    • Don’t process stack of “things”
  • Never put anything back into “in”
    • There is a one-way path out of “in”
    • Actionable items
      • Have clear “physical” and “visible” next steps
      • Determine what physical activity needs to happen to get you to decide
      • Follow the 2-min rule
        • But this doesn’t work with creative tasks or (software) engineering ones because it can take more time to finish them
• Goal is to get at the bottom of the tray

3 priority frameworks

… in the context of deciding actions

• The 4-criteria model for choosing actions in the moment
  • You make actions based on
    • Context
    • Time available
    • Energy available
    • Priority
• The 3-fold model for evaluating daily work
  • Don’t do urgent tasks
  • There are no interruptions, there are mismanaged occurrences
• GTD/The 6-level model for reviewing your own work
  • Like the floors of a building
    • Horizon 5: life
    • Horizon 4: long-term visions
    • Horizon 3: one to two-years goals
    • Horizon 2: areas of focus and accountability
      • Current job responsibilities
      • Areas of my life to maintain at an appropriate standard
    • Horizon 1: current projects
      • Finalize your projects list
    • Ground: current actions
      • Have your lists up-to-date
    • Handle what has your attention (bottom-up approach)

5 phases of project planning

Key ingredients

• Horizontal focus
  • Clearly define outcomes (projects)
  • Next actions required to move toward closure
  • Reminders reviewed regularly
• Vertical focus
  • Do more informal planning
  • Also called “back of the envelope” planning
  • Formal/structured meetings skip critical issues like why the project is done in the first place
    • It doesn’t allow creative Brainstorming

The natural planning model

• Basic idea
  • Imagine the outcome
  • Generate ideas that might be relevant
  • Sort them into a structure
  • Define physical activity that would begin to make it a reality
• Tool: your brain
• Mind goes through 5 steps
  • 1. Define purpose and principles
    • Always ask the
    • What’s the purpose of the task/project
    • Define standards/policies
    • How to work with others to ensure the projects success
    • Benefits
      • Defines success
      • Aligns resources
      • Motivates
      • Clarifies focus
      • Expands options
  • 2. Outcome visioning
    • This is the what instead of why
    • Power of focus
      • The focus we hold in mind affects perception and handling
  • 3. Brainstorming
  • 4. Organizing
    • Key steps
      • Identify significant piecea
      • Sort by
        • Components
        • Sequences
        • Detail to required degree
  • 5. Identify next actions