GTD for a new guy
Chris
via web
Hi,
I asked into the Nirvana Beta because I've recently been bitten by the GTD bug and had started with Toodledo and Nozbe. After some time in the Toodledo forums there I realized that the most vocal (and helpful) person in that community regarding GTD had been Proximo, who I see you are all coming to love here :)
Anyway, having read that Proximo was leaving Toodledo for Nirvana I was very intrigued, particularly as he had been right, there were lots of workaround required to make GTD work well with Toodledo. I also had been finding Nozbe somewhat too quirky for my tastes. The founder has sort of his own way of doing GTD that has really influenced the project. Nirvana sounded like it was just what I was looking for.
So I must say I'm a little surprised at how confused I'm feeling as I first get into Nirvana. I expected a nice big inbox, and then "Next Actions" and "Projects" to dump all my tasks into. Here I see my Inbox (great!) and then "Today", "Next", "Later" & "Projects". Umm...huh? Is Next the "Next Actions" list? If so, why are ALL of my project tasks showing up in it? Shouldn't just the ones I tag as "Next Action" be on that list? How do I identify which of my project actions is the "next" action? All I see is that I can star it, which makes it a "today" action. That's fine if "Today" is what you're calling the "Next Action" list, but then I'm confused by what the "Next" list is all about? And isn't "Today" kind of contrary to the GTD methodology anyways?
I would have expected a "Next Action" list instead of "Today" and "Next", and that when I "starred" an item in my project lists, that would make it a "Next Action". I'm very confused as to why all of my project actions are showing up in the "Next" folder.....generally I'm just very confused....and that's before tackling what the heck the "later" folder is all about. Not "Someday/Maybe" but something else?
Could someone who is really into GTD please explain how they are using all of these different folders? At this point I'm feeling that Nozbe is actually closer to GTD, which is definitely NOT what I was expecting once I got in here! :)
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2 Posted by Proximo on 27 Aug, 2010 06:21 PM
@Chris,
First I want to welcome you to Nirvana and thanks for the kind words. You will find many sharp people in this community. I may be the only exception. :-)
It will be my pleasure to explain what is going on and what you can expect shortly. You are correct in that some of the list are not as clear as they should be. I will say that a Major update to Nirvana is just weeks away that will address the main issues and make things much easier to understand and will also handle Next Actions in a more proper fashion.
Here we go:
Inbox:
This is where you collect your thoughts and can dump anything in your brain. You can also forward an email address to your Nirvana Inbox. You don't need to know the details of things in your inbox although you can add as much detail as you wish. The idea is for you to quickly capture whats on you mind into the Inbox like David Allen teaches.
Today:
The Today list is confusing for new users because of the way it's labeled. The more new users get confused by this, the more I lean towards renaming it "Focus".
The Today list is simply a Focus list. When you are looking at your Next Actions and choose which ones you will work on Today, You add the star to the task and it will show up in the Today list. Task in the Today list are not DUE that day unless the task has an actual due date. This list is simply filtering the task that you decided to focus on for the day. Keeps your eyes from wondering into the full Next Actions list.
Think of "Today" as "Focus". If you are reaching the end of the day and a couple of your task are not yet completed. You can leave them in there if you know you will work on them the next day. If you don't know when you will be able to jump back on these task, just remove the star and it goes back into the Next Actions list where they belong.
Next:
The Next list is simply your Next Actions list. In it's current implementation, the Next list will show all single task which are all Next Actions by default, but you also have the option to show your projects. Unfortunately, the projects also show the top 3 task which makes things confusing and there is really no way to identify which task are Next Actions in a project.
Don't worry, the big update I told you about will fix this. The Unified Next List is on it's way and will place all Next Actions into the Next list and will allow you to choose which task of a Project are your Next Action(s) and they will show up in the Next list. The task of a Project that are NOT Next Actions will no longer show up in the Next list because they should not be there unless they are Next Actions.
This should clear a lot of the confusion that many users are having.
The Next list will soon work as you would naturally think it should. The idea of the Next list is to quickly see all your Next Actions regardless if they are single task or part of a Project.
Waiting:
This is the Waiting for list. You can assign a task to someone else for them to take action and they will show up on this list. You can also link the task to an email address in case you needed to get an update on their progress.
These task are NOT Actionable by you, so they don't belong in the Next List.
Scheduled:
The Scheduled list will show any task that you set a Scheduled date for. These task are not actually due on a particular date, but if you want them to show up in the Today list on a given day to remind you about the task, this is what Scheduled is for.
Think of it as a Tickler for task. You could schedule a task for Friday because you prefer to do the type of work required by the task on Fridays, such as research. Just an example.
Later:
The Later list. Before I say anything, I want to make sure the other Nirvana users that like using the Later list know that I respect their decision.
BUT...
The Later list should be confusing to all GTDers coming to Nirvana for the first time. Why do I say that? Because the Later List and the concept behind it is not GTD. Sorry Nirvana Developers, I just don't agree with this list and as you can see, many new users are simply confused by it.
The Later list can be ignored if you are using GTD Chris. Every actionable task that you are currently not working on by default must be done Later. I would not recommend this list at all. GTD is about identifying the correct task to work on at that moment by filtering by Time, Energy and Context. This means you should not be predicting which task are right for you to do "Later".
To keep it simple, just ignore the list and you will be fine. I think an option to turn it off is in the works. "I SURE HOPE SO". :-)
Someday:
This is your Someday/Maybe list. GTD 101 here, so no explanation needed.
Projects:
This is where you find all your Projects. The active projects will show up on the left side of the UI and the inactive Projects will not. This is simply a way to filter how many Projects are showing up in the UI. When you click on the "Projects" link, it will show you all projects, to include inactive projects.
Projects will work differently with the next major update as I explained. You WILL be able to identify which task are Next Actions and they will show up in the Next list as expected. You will not see all Project task in the Next list anymore.
I want to mention that the new updates will have user preferences to toggle how it works, so everyone should be happy.
Archive:
This is where all your completed task will be. There are some major improvements on their way for the Archive list.
Trash:
A very important part of GTD is to know when something needs to go to the trash. Self explanatory.
Areas of Focus
This is one of the coolest features of Nirvana. You can create Super Context that are based on Location or a particular Responsibility.
If you are at Work, there is no need to see all your personal task. Change to a "Work" Area of Focus and the entire UI will only show tasks related to your Work Area.
Some examples are:
Work
Home
Personal
Business
Family
Finances
Context
Context in Nirvana are basically Tags. This is how many other GTD applications do it as well.
Just remember that Tags (Context) are based on resource needed for the task.
Some examples are:
Call
Internet
Computer
email
errand
Time and Energy
It's important to make sure all your task have Time, Energy and Context assigned. This allows you to properly filter the task based on the current situation.
Time = Estimated time the task will take to finish
Energy = The mental energy required for the task.
That's about it.
With the next major update, many of the things you where confused about will be fixed. Remember that Nirvana is in Beta at the moment, but I think you will find it to be a fantastic GTD solution when you start to dive in.
You don't need to spend 3 months in tweaking your system. GTD is about Getting Things Done and not about tweaking your system. This is one of the main reasons I am much more productive with Nirvana.
Despite the missing features that are on their way, I use Nirvana as my full time GTD solution and it works great for me.
Hope this helps.
3 Posted by Chris on 28 Aug, 2010 12:06 AM
Wow, thanks for the very thorough rundown Proximo. That's really helpful.
I'm looking forward to the changes you've described. Being able to turn off folders you don't want would be a cool feature. Then those that like the "later" area can keep it if they want, but those that don't can get rid of it. Myself, I might use that kind of functionality to get rid of the "Today" folder, as I'm not sure I'd make use of it the way you describe. We'll see though.
I guess the other big things I'm looking for would be Google calendar integration, and an iPhone app. Evernote integration would be nice as well. I know those are in the pipe, I just hope they're more towards the top of the pile than the bottom ;)
Thanks again for the advice :)
4 Posted by John on 03 Sep, 2010 10:44 AM
Yeah, I have to echo Chris's comments, very helpful. I have some of my own if I can add to this discussion.
Today:
Great concept, especially as a Nozbe user I was always getting blinded by the large list of next actions I had and tended not to do anything!, but I would certainly call it 'Focus' not Today.
Scheduled:
Not sure about this one. Example: I schedule to clean the oven on Saturday (its Monday) in the coming 4 days I forget that I scheduled it, come Saturday I see it's scheduled (great I remembered) but do you know what I don't want to do it!! .I'm a big procrastinator so I see this as causing stress over all my broken promises - leave it out and us a calendar for the 'hard landscape'
Areas of Focus:
love this!! You cant do this in any other GTD app especially Nozbe. I have for example some areas called Work/Career Advancement, Emotions and Meaning and Relationships which I can build projects and of course next actions to improve in these areas. I treat this part as my 20,000 / 50,00 ft long term goals.
5 Posted by Proximo on 03 Sep, 2010 03:07 PM
@John,
I don't use scheduled that often, but I did want to mention that the scheduled task show up in the Today list automatically. Since the Today list is where all the task you want to focus on go, I don't see how a scheduled task can be lost.
This does not mean you will want to do the task just because it's in your Today list, but the scheduled feature did it's job. It reminded you of a task on the day you told it too.
I have many cases where the scheduled task shows up in the Today box to remind me about it like I asked and then opted not to do it that day. :-)
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 03 Feb, 2011 09:30 PM.