Classification help?
Hi everybody,
I'm on my fourth or fifth GTD system, and while I'm getting
closer, I'm still having trouble classifying certain to-do's - the
ones that need to get done eventually, but not by a particular time
or with a particular priority. In my mind it seems these types of
tasks/projects fall through the cracks of GTD, but I'm hoping I'm
missing something and other people have good suggestions
(particularly how to implement within Nirvana.)
For example: I need to check out a new reporting tool someone in my office is building. This wasn't assigned to me and I'm not responsible for it, but I'd like to check it out, because it might be really useful, and I might have good feedback. The details aren't important, but basically:
1) It might be a simple task, or there might be several tasks
involved
2) It's not ever DUE, but I'd like to take care of it in the next 2
weeks - 1 month. It's the classic "when I'm free" type of project,
but when are people ever free?
I understand that this is where my Focus comes in - I need to
take care of the priority things first so I can move on to these
less-important projects. But in your GTD system, how do people
organize these things? I can't imagine I'm the only person with
dozens of them. If I put them in "Next", I'm afraid that things
that NEED to get done (but not today) will get lost among them. But
if I put them in "Someday," that list starts to become an idea
graveyard, with everything from 'check out reporting tool" to
"Learn Spanish". It seems like this wasn't quite "Tickler File"
material because it wasn't really waiting for a specific time
period or date.
Any suggestions? I feel like I'm so close to having something that works, but not there yet...
2 Posted by ollie on 29 Dec, 2009 11:56 AM
I've become quite comfortable with the idea that someday lists can be huge. I like that I can collect everything.
It sounds to me that you may benefit from more clarity on that task. Do you REALLY need to do it, or is it a "should"? Once you know whether you need to do it or not you can decide whether to someday it, or add it to the list to be done. If it's so unimportant everything else takes priority, it sounds to me like it has no value now, and should be dropped. If it DOES have value, then assign a due date and get it done.
The key of GTD for me is it forces me to decide "WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS?" - so I suggest you consider what you really want to do with that particular task.
FWIW, I don't put due dates on most of my tasks, but I do prioritise to a great degree.
3 Posted by Zach on 04 Jan, 2010 05:13 PM
Thanks, Ollie. You're right that I need to spend more time/effort determining what I NEED to do.
Personally, I"m not proficient enough in actually getting things done that I'm actually able to do my "someday" things, so this worries me that things to be done Someday and things to MAYBE be done Someday all get cluttered together and never get done. But I guess that's why I need to GTD better...
4 Posted by Photon on 05 Jan, 2010 05:40 AM
Well, if you had the ability to categorize the Someday/Maybe list, I believe that would help you a lot. I think there should be a way to create folders inside lists. That would ease the pain of too many things to manage.
Folders could be like:
- Entertainment (fun stuff you want to try out) - Internet (things on the internet you want to check out) ..etc.
I don't know whether its implemented or not, I'm still waiting for an invite.
5 Posted by Proximo on 12 Jan, 2010 07:46 PM
Just some thoughts here.
The single most important thing about GTD is the "Weekly Review"
If you are doing your Weekly Review, you should never have an issue with things falling through the cracks. The purpose of the Weekly Review is to go through all your list, including the someday maybe list. The Weekly Review is designed to help you identify what task you need to keep, what task you can get rid off, what task you need to accomplish this week, what task you need to delegate to someone else, what task can sit in the back burner, etc.
Many people forget that the Weekly Review is about refining and purging what you have on ALL your list. If this is done correctly, the task you have in your Someday list will eventually be moved to the "Next" list because it's now actionable or you can delete it from that list because it's not something you really need to do or see yourself doing.
It's OK to leave items in your Someday list as long as they are important enough to remain there. Learning Spanish can sit there for a very long time until you decide to take action on it or that learning Spanish is not something you are going to accomplish.
Now let's talk about your "Next" list. This list is made up of all task that you deemed important enough to do. You want to do them ASAP. The task you choose to tackle after your Weekly Review or a mini Daily Review are determined by several factors.
Time Available
Resources Available (Context)
Energy
Priority
Energy is something many people overlook and it's one of the best criteria for completing those task that many feel fall through the cracks. Why? Because they are not as important as many others? Not really. In many cases it's because these task that fall through cracks are little task that take little thinking to accomplish but still need to get done. Because they are simple and require very little Energy, they seem less important than other task, such as "Create Monthly Report".
Well, Importance is just one criteria for choosing what to do and here is where the problem lies.
I may have many higher priority task on my list to get done, but it's 2:00 PM, I just ate too much BBQ for lunch and I am drained. I have no brain power to tackle task that require much thinking. This means my Energy level is low and this is when you should decided to tackle some of the low energy task. Again, these low energy task in many cases seem less important but it's not true. They still need to get done, but you need to recognize the importance of your current Energy level. If I am brain dead at moment, I can still get things done by completing some of the low energy task.
This helps prevent things from falling through the cracks. You must remember the different criteria for deciding what to do next. It's not always importance. If that was true, you will never have time for the low energy, less important task. They will sit on your "Next" list forever.
Due Dates:
One last thing. Due Dates should only be used for task that are absolutely due on a particular day. These are calendar items and the Calendar in GTD is sacred. NOTHING goes on your calendar unless it MUST be done by that day and that day only.
If you have a Doctors Appointment, this needs a due date because you CAN'T miss it. If you have an end of Month report due, you need to put a due date on it or you will be in trouble when the boss comes asking for it.
You must resist the temptation of putting due dates on task that you feel will be done by a particular day. Why? Because when you don't get it done by that day, you adjust the due day. It's a task that really did not need to be done by that day and it's easy to change the due day as needed. What this does is breaks the trust in your GTD System and now you become numb to task with Due Dates.
This is bad because the task that do require a due date are now mixed with other task that really don't. If you can't trust your system, it will become less effective for you.
Hope this helps.
6 Posted by Elurven on 11 Mar, 2010 10:10 AM
Just a little add-on to Proximo's discussion about factors to consider when you tackle your actions (Time Available, Resources Available (Context), Energy and Priority).
I have found that the task of giving your actions priority is fairly straightforward in Nirvana. You either drag the actions up or down in the Next list, or if they are so important that you need to do them right away, put them in the Today list. When it comes to time available and energy, I have chosen to lump them together in a tag called "E" followed by a number. "E1" would then signify "Effort 1", which means that the action tagged with this is a low effort action, meaning that I can do it after the BBQ lunch ;-). E2 would signify a higher effort and so on. I suppose that three stages are enough 1=low, 2=medium, 3=high. But then again, normal should not need to be tagged at all. By using E1(, E2) and E3, I can sort by this tag and since I have already determined how much effort they would require, I do not need to go thorugh my entire next or today list in order to find actions that respond to my current energy level or time available.
Just a thought...
7 Posted by Proximo on 14 Mar, 2010 06:49 PM
Considering how important task sorting is and how it's a way of identifying your priorities, we really need to get the bugs fixed and have better sorting control.
Support Staff 8 Posted by Christiane Magee on 19 Mar, 2010 08:19 PM
Hello everyone. Just to let you know that Compound Filtering feature has just been released and along with it some serious improvements to the sorting feature (Proximo... the project to today sort issue is still around however).
Compound filtering will vastly improve your ability to cut through the clutter and keep you more focused. So taking from Proximo's comment above you can now tag tasks (if you want!) with Time, Energy, Resources and Priority tags and then filter according to your preference... i.e. all tasks with t15min (time available 15min), e1 (high energy), @phone (you have access to phone only), p1 (priority 1).
have fun!
Support Staff 9 Posted by Christiane Magee on 19 Mar, 2010 08:30 PM
Forgot to give you link to the release notes on Compound Filtering:
http://help.nirvanahq.com/faqs/site-updates/release-notes
CMD+CLICK to select multiple tags on Mac
CTRL+CLICK on PC
:)
10 Posted by Proximo on 21 Mar, 2010 03:14 AM
Works great. Thank you very much.