daily, weekly and monthly reviews - Nirvana style
Could anyone post up here the step-by-step details of their reviews - specifically how they are done using Nirvana?
I would post mine but it's currently in review (no pun) as they are tailored to the GTD tool I use.
What I mean is instead of say...
* Review Next Actions list
- Review Projects etc
Do you guys have a Nirvana specific checklist for example...
* Go through Next Actions list by AoF and.....
- Go through Active Projects by AOF and make active if......
I suppose I mainly mean much more detail than the list in the book but if anyone relates to specific Nirvana functionality/page items in their list that would be interesting.
Daily Review insights would be particularly interesting as mine is currently taking too long.
Ahem.. Proximo? ;o)
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
2 Posted by Yash on 13 Oct, 2010 04:37 PM
Good question Kenny!
I have been using Nirvana for a little over month now I think and every week I have a new way to do a review. I haven't found a good way to do reviews yet. I would be interested in knowing how the rest of the member do it.
Thanks!
3 Posted by Kenny Grant on 14 Oct, 2010 10:04 AM
Thanks Yash - I hope some of the GTD heavyweights on these forums that have been using Nirvana for a while don't mind sharing their insight.
4 Posted by Proximo on 14 Oct, 2010 03:34 PM
I have been using Nirvana for a long time. So I guess I will be one of the old farts using Nirvana. Not sure I consider myself a GTD heavyweight, but I have been known to share my thoughts. :-)
I can only describe what I do and not how it should be done. GTD is a methodology that allows individuals to accomplish productivity while giving them the flexibility of doing things in a way that works for them.
We can all agree that the Weekly Review is an extremely important part of GTD that should be done by anyone who is using the GTD Methodology, but we can all accomplish it in different ways.
Let's start with the obvious and list the Weekly Review Process. This is to help new users that find GTD interesting but have not taken the dive completely.
Weekly Review:
1. Collect Loose Papers & Materials
2. Get "IN" to Zero
3. Empty Your Head
4. Review Action List
5. Review Calendar
6. Review Waiting-For List
7. Review Projects
8. Review Checlists
9. Review Someday/Maybe List
Notice how there is no "Later" list. :-) Sorry, could not help myself. lol
Now that we know what the Weekly Review process looks like. Let me share how I go about it in Nirvana. Remember that there is no right or wrong way of doing it. You don't even need to do in the the exact order listed if you don't want too. I simply used the David Allen Weekly Review Checklist to keep things simple.
I actually have this list printed and posted on my wall, next to my monitor. This keeps me in line when I am going through my Weekly Review. I don't use a Checklist in Nirvana or some other software to follow. I keep things simple and just printed out the checklist and taped it to the wall. :-)
Areas of Focus in Nirvana are used differently by people. I am of the school of thought that AoF in Nirvana are nothing more than Uber Context for Location or Major Area of Interest. Tags are used for Resource Context such as @Call, @Email or @Computer.
I wanted to mention this because the process I use may seem awkward for someone who uses AoF differently than I do.
I step through the Weekly Review by following the check list as shown above. Not everything in the checklist involves Nirvana.
1. Collect Loose Papers & Materials
I look around my work area for sticky notes, notes on my notepad that I use in meetings, Digital Sticky Notes on my Windows 7 Desktop, etc.
During the day, I get hit from many directions and I write things down or capture things in different ways. During this first step of the WR, I decide what these items mean and where they should go. In many cases, I will create a task from them, I will file them in my physical reference file cabinet or just throw them away.
Get "IN" to Zero
During this step I go through each item of my physical inbox on my office desk. I start from the top and work my way down. I figure out what it means and where it should go. Don't leave anything in your inbox because it's not a storage compartment.
I also check my Lotus Notes and Gmail inboxes.
I check my Evernote inbox, which is a folder I created that all my captured stuff goes into by default.
I check my Red Folder Inbox in my business bag, which is nothing more than a red folder where I stuff things into when I am on the road. They could be articles, notes, tickets, etc.
Lastly I check the Nirvana inbox.
Empty Your Head
This is where I stop to think and see what is on my mind. This can be dangerous if you know how my mind works, but I do my best to write down everything on my mind and then decide what it means and where does it go. When I am finished with this step, I should look like the two ladies in the movie "What Women Want". NOTHING should be on my mind.
Review Action List
This is where it get's fun. What I do is start from the very first AoF I have on my list. I switch to that AoF and then go through the Next List. In this example, my first AoF is called "Work". When inside this AoF, EVERYTHING in Nirvana has to do with my Job.
I don't filter the Next list by any context. I simply start at the top of the Next list and go down one by one reading my task. My goal is to make sure the task is still actionable and belongs on that list. At this time, I don't care to identify what I should work on, but to make sure the list is up to date and accurate. If a task is not actionable, It may belong in the Someday list, waiting for list or I delete it.
Review Calendar
Nirvana does not have a built in Calendar. I glance at the Scheduled list to see if something there needs to be adjusted to get my attention at a different date, but I don't spend much time in Nirvana during this step.
I open my Lotus Notes Calendar and my Google Calendar. I glance at that to see what is coming my way and to see if I need to make any adjustments.
Review Waiting-For List
In Nirvana, I check the Waiting list to make sure the task in there are valid. I don't worry about what I should do about these task at this moment. I simply want to make sure that every task in there should stay in there. If someone accomplished the action required on a task, I make sure to update it and remove it from the list at that time.
Review Projects
In Nirvana I click on the Projects header to see all projects listed for this AoF. My goal is to determine if everything on this list is still valid. If I need to delete a project or move it to Someday, I will do it at this time. I am not looking to analyze each project and determine that all their task are in proper order. I simply want to make sure my Project list is updated with valid projects that are still actionable. I use the inactive feature in Nirvana to take focus away from the projects I won't be actively working on at the moment. These projects are still actionable, so don't confuse inactive with someday. If a project is not actionable, I move it to the Someday list or delete it. I use the inactive feature to keep the Project list on the left navi clean.
I have found that if I try to open each project and analyze all their steps, that it's not productive for me. I only want to identify that the Project is still an active project. During my daily scans, is where I dive deeper.
Review Checklist
I don't keep any checklist in Nirvana. Some task in Nirvana use the checklist feature but I only do this for a few task. Some people don't use checklist and others do. If you have checklist, this is the time to look them over. It does not matter what you currently use to manage your checklist.
I have a Grocery app on my iPhone and the only real checklist I use is at the grocery store. I don't try to use Nirvana for everything because GTD is not about using ONE piece of software to accomplish GTD. It's about having a system you can trust that accomplishes the GTD Methodology in a way that keeps your mind free.
Review Someday/Maybe List
In Nirvana, I look over the task or projects in this list to see if any of them should become actionable, deleted or remain there for further review in the future.
Finished
Now I go to the next AoF on my list and go through the same process.
This may seem like a very long process but I can tell you that it takes me about 1 hour to accomplish. My "Work" AoF happen to be the one with 80% of my task. My other AoF don't have anywhere near as much content and the process goes by very fast.
Daily Review
Another reason why my Weekly Review goes by smoothly is because I perform small Daily Reviews that keeps thing in good order. During my Daily Reviews is where I dive deeper into what I need to work on. This is what works for me, so please remember that I am just sharing my process.
When I was trying to determine what task I should work on during my Weekly Review and go over every single project. I found that it took too long and just did not work for me.
Because I always do a Weekly Review, my Daily Reviews are performed with clean list that I know are up to date. So let's say I am at work and already changed my AoF to "Work".
Now I know that all my list and my GTD System is updated and accurate. A Daily Scan is nothing more than looking at my list and making decisions on what I should be focused on.
I glance at my Next List. I then filter by Time, Energy and Context to determine the task that make sense for me to do in my current situation. This allows me to work from a much smaller and focused list of potential things I could be doing right now.
I sort some task based on Priorities (Horizons of Focus) and identify 2 to 3 that I will work on Today. I click on the star and they appear in my Today list.
Now I dive down to the Waiting list and scan these task. Do I need to follow up with someone on a task and check if they made progress? If I do, I mark that task with a star and it shoots up to the Today list.
Now I dive down into my Projects. I sort them by priority and open them up. I look at the Next Action and glance at the other steps to make sure I am not missing something that should go there. Based on my Time, Energy and Context. I will determine which Next Actions of my projects I need to be doing at the moment if any at all. I mark them with the star and they shoot up to my Today list.
My Daily Review happens fast and it's working off a list that is already up to date because of the Weekly Review process.
My Today list may have 3 to 6 task that I want to work on at the moment and I start working on them.
Some task can be accomplished quickly and other task will take me several days. If the task that takes me 2 to 3 days to accomplish is still something that makes sense for me to continue to work on. I leave it in the Today list because when I arrive at work tomorrow, the task are there for me to get moving on.
When I complete task in my Today list, I may notice that I only have 2 left. I sometimes perform another quick Daily Review to identify task by Time, Energy and Context to determine what else I can work on at the moment. I will add one or two task to my Today list and keep working.
GTD is about working on what makes sense at the moment. To feel good about your decisions. This is why Time, Energy and Context are such driving forces behind GTD. I don't try to figure out what task I need to be working on in a day or two. I am looking at a real time list of task that make sense for me to do at that moment in time.
Your Time, Energy and Context are always changing through the day. GTD is about quickly filtering your stuff to identify what you need to be doing in this ever changing process.
I went a little further than the original question, but I wanted to point out why the Daily Review/Scan is important when used with Time, Energy and Context. Anything that does not make sense for you to work on right now, is automatically something you need to look at later. :-)
Hope this helped.
5 Posted by Kenny Grant on 14 Oct, 2010 08:47 PM
This is priceless proximo, it really is - a sincere thanks from me.
An extremely generous posting that gives exactly the insight I was hoping for, and more.
I'd post my process but amazingly it now looks just like proximos! ;)
Edit: would be interesting to see other styles and approaches used with nirvana
6 Posted by Kenny Grant on 15 Oct, 2010 08:51 AM
Proximo, could I ask you some questions about your daily review - this is what I'm focusing on at the moment.
I sort some task based on Priorities (Horizons of Focus) and identify 2 to 3 that I will work on Today. How do you do this in Nirvana? it doesn't have priorities - do you have your own solution? Also it doesn't have sorting does it?
Now I dive down into my Projects. I sort them by priority and open them up. Again how is the priority sorting done?
When I do my daily review I struggle with when to stop 'starring' - I don't know how much time of tasks I've added to today, I have to guess really - go to today and then carry on if I think my time capacity can handle it. Do you do something similar?
Cheers
Kenny
7 Posted by Proximo on 15 Oct, 2010 03:56 PM
@Kenny Grant
David Allen approaches priorities differently in GTD.
GTD does not have hard coded priorities but this does not mean that you can't priorities your Next Actions. DA uses the "Horizons of Focus" to allow you to determine how important a task should be.
The "Horizons of Focus" are a map of the six different types of agreements that you can have with yourself.
Understanding what your agreements are at these levels and reviewing them will help you maintain a sense of perspective about all the choices you make and the things you commit to.
"Horizons of Focus"
On the Runway
Next Actions
10,000 FT
Projects
20,000 FT
Responsibilities, Interest and Areas of Focus
30,000 FT
Goals
40,000 FT
Vision
50,000 FT
Life Purpose
These are general guidelines and not a rule. For some the 30K, 40K and 50K may mean the same thing and that is fine. You determine what agreements make sense for you and use this when thinking about your task to determine what you should be doing and the importance or priority it has.
I personally keep the "Horizons of Focus" on a printed piece of paper taped to my office wall. I can't remember them all the time. I also don't use the high method of DA. I just list them by description such as Next Actions, Projects, Responsibilities, etc. It's just easier for me to glance at and understand.
I also want to point out that I don't always look at all 6 levels. I don't always think about my Life Purpose when determining which of the 10 task are most important. Use it as a guideline only.
So in GTD, you do think about priorities, but you don't hard code them like other systems.
In Nirvana, you can sort your task by priority. You simply click and hold the handle on the left of a task and drag them up or down. The task closes to the Top are more important than the ones at the bottom. Again, there is no hard coded priority selection, but you are still sorting the task based on priority.
This is one of the things that confuses a lot of people about GTD. Many thought that GTD did not use priorities and DA had to clarify this on his second GTD book.
I know this is a LONG answer to your questions, but I always try to post from the perspective of a new user that may not know how GTD handles priorities.
Just drag your task up and down based on how important they are. I normally do this after I already filtered my list by Time, Energy and Context. This gives me a smaller list of task to look at that make sense for me to work on at that moment. I sort them according to the priority they have.
I also sort my Projects in the same way. I drag the most important to the top based on my Horizons of Focus.
Starring Task
This can be tricky. I try my best to star only 2 to 3 task from any one AoF. This can change depending on the type of task I am going to work on. Sometimes I have task that I can Multi-task and other times I have task that I work on until completion before going to another. This will be different for everyone. If I am writing a batch script, I will focus on the task at hand only, but once I run the script to test it, I start to work on a different task while the script runs and does it's thing. So you really have to think about how you work and what works best for you.
I found that if I add too many task in my Today list or Focus list. I can get side tracked in thinking about how many things I have to do and it slows my progress down. If I have only 2 to 3 at a time, I don't feel the stress of looking at a long list and I just start to work.
Hope this helps.
8 Posted by Kenny Grant on 18 Oct, 2010 02:30 PM
I love the LONG answers Proximo, I think we're lucky to have them - I especially like how you link your Nirvana usage back to GTD each time. Thanks
I'll be using the drag n drop myself now to order tasks - well I will outside work anyway where I can use firefox or chrome! another story.
So you do your sorting as part of daily review and not weekly? My instinct would be to 'groom' the backlog of tasks at weekly review time - what are your (or anybody else's) thoughts on this? This would mean I know my tasks are already in a reasonably good sort order for the week and I can make my daily review quicker - under the assumptions my priorities don't change that much during the week.
Hmmm maybe I've answered the question myself there....
9 Posted by Proximo on 18 Oct, 2010 07:49 PM
@kenny Grant.
When you sort your priorities is a personal preference. Always do what works best for you.
I find it easier for me to accomplish when I narrow down the potential task that make sense for me to work on given my current Time, Energy and Context.
This gives me a smaller list to consider and I don't have to worry about sorting my master list every time a priority changes.
I would also suggest you don't try to get too specific by ordering every single task based on priority. If I am looking at a list of 20 potential task I can do, I am usually fine with just sorting the top 10 and then selecting from there. I don't think of them as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. I think of them in a generalized way that task close to the top are more important than the middle, task in the middle are more important that task at the bottom.
:-)
10 Posted by Kenny Grant on 19 Oct, 2010 01:11 PM
Good advice Proximo....especially concentrating on the top items only. I would naturally do that
11 Posted by mapjr on 20 Oct, 2010 12:05 PM
Proximo, thanks for such a thorough treatment of the weekly review process. Helped me not just as re Nirvana but also my GTD implementation.
Could you expand a bit on your use of an Evernote Inbox--set up, what goes in, why, what happens to stuff collected there? I love Evernote, and use it primarily for my personal reference files and info I need to have while on the go (using the iPhone app). For the (voluminous) reference material I collect for work (I am a lawyer) I use well-organized folders in Dropbox, another favorite.
Thanks.
12 Posted by Proximo on 20 Oct, 2010 02:47 PM
@mapjr
Evernote Setup
I have the Evernote iPhone app as well. What I did is created a folder in Evernote called "Inbox" and set it as my default folder. All my captured items from Evernote go into the "Inbox" folder by default, making it easy for me to process later.
99% of the things I capture with Evernote don't have any details, tags or notes associated with them. I use Evernote as a quick capture tool.
What goes in?
Wow. This could be a very long list or explanation. Let me try to give some examples.
A good article on a website that I clip for future reference.
A picture of the Menu from a restaurant that I enjoyed and want to keep as a reference for later.
Research information from the web on a topic of Interest. I just purchased my wife an SUV and all the research information was captured, processed and stored in Evernote.
When I walk down the Mall with my Wife and she points to something she likes. I take a picture of it with the Evernote app and store it for a future gift idea.
I take a picture of my parking spot at the Airport so that I don't forget when I return.
I have an iPhone app called "JotNot Pro" that allows me to take pictures of my receipts when I travel on business. The app is more like a scanner that cuts out the stuff I don't need and flattens the picture for easy reading. I can then send these pictures right into Evernote from the JotNot Pro app.
These are just some examples. I can go on and on. :-)
Why?
So that I don't forget things when they come to mind and prevent storing it in my brain. "Mind like water".
What happens to the stuff collected there?
It get's processed during my weekly review just like any other in-box. Most of these items are reference material, but sometimes I may capture something that becomes an actual task/project. Using the Voice Memo function on the iPhone is also a good way to dump what's on your mind and some of these thought have a good chance of becoming a task/project.
Not sure if this is what you wanted to know but it's basically how and why I use Evernote as part of my GTD System.
13 Posted by mapjr on 20 Oct, 2010 08:44 PM
Thanks, Proximo. I have been using Evernote for similar, mainly
non-business, things. Had not included it as part of a formal weekly review,
but that is a good idea.
One thing I do is use the Evernote pic function to snap pics of covers of
books I see in stores, to add them to my list of books to read. Faster
than writing or calling and leaving a voicemail for myslef, which is what I
used to do.
On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 10:49 AM, Proximo <
***@tenderapp.com<tender%***@tenderapp.com>
> wrote:
14 Posted by Proximo on 21 Oct, 2010 08:15 PM
Evernote is great and can be used in so many ways. I would love to see Nirvana integrate with Evernote. As much as I hate to say it, Nozbe has done this and it's probably the only think they did right. :-)
15 Posted by Neil on 22 Oct, 2010 06:07 PM
@mapjr - I use pic2shop on the iPhone, you point your camera at the book / CD / DVD etc's bar code and it scans it and check online for the best price.
I can then review the scanned items list in the app as part of my weekly review (or buy the item there and then if it turns out it's a good deal of course!)
It's also available on Android - http://www.pic2shop.com/
Hope that helps
16 Posted by mapjr on 22 Oct, 2010 07:40 PM
@jetman - at the rsik of straying too far off topic, I use redlaser app for
iphone.. same idea and works greta.
On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 2:10 PM, Jetman <
***@tenderapp.com<tender%***@tenderapp.com>
> wrote:
17 Posted by Neil on 22 Oct, 2010 08:53 PM
/off topic a bit more
Thats much nicer looking app than pic2shop, thanks!
/back on topic
18 Posted by Zeshalta on 30 Nov, 2010 11:51 PM
Out of curiosity, in evernote do people use make use of notebooks for an extra level of sort-ability or just use the tag/search functions in one giant folder?
19 Posted by Proximo on 01 Dec, 2010 03:22 PM
@Zeshalta
I create notebooks myself. I have a notebook called Personal and I dump everything there related to me and add tags for searching things faster.
Here are my current notebooks but this changes sometimes. :-)
Inbox
Business
Guns
Journal
Pesonal
Review
Work
Everything else is a tag. If I find a particular notebook does not have a lot of content, I may decide to move the items over to another notebook and get rid of the original. Sometimes I think an idea is great and then later realize that I don't use it or it's simply not a good idea after all. :-)
Another great feature is that I link my Google Search results into my Evernote account using my Chrome Browser. So when I type a Google Search in Chrome, it also searches my Everntoe items at the same time and lets me know how many items that contain my search term. It's a neat way to find stuff in Evernote without having to launch it. It's also interesting how I may search for something and did not know I had something in Evernote related to it that was saved in the past. Really cool stuff.
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 14 Feb, 2011 09:11 PM.