Here’s a great Q&A between David and a new GTD’er.  To appreciate David’s response, it helps to understand the GTD definitions for projects and next actions:

Projects = Your outcomes that require more than one action step.

Next Actions = Your next physical, visible action steps. Some are project-related, some are not.

Question:

If a project requires, by your definition, at least two steps, I am not clear about how many of the needed steps to put into my action list.  For example, say I have a project with 20 steps.  I may be able to do the step 1, but if I had also put down 2  or 3 steps of that project, I might have done more on the project.   Presently I have about 57 projects, but some are monster projects I’ll be working on for months.  Others I can list two steps and it’s done very quickly.  A few projects are so trivial–but important enough to be listed–that some days I don’t do the one item I listed as the next step for that project.  I could put it into the “Someday” list, but I know I’ll do it sooner than that, so it stays around not being done.  I’d rather do step 2 and then 3 and then 4 of a more important project (I might be on a roll!) than complete one whole project that is easier to do but less important.  So I’m a bit unclear about how much of one project to put in my action list.  I find myself doing the “Weekly Review” every day, so I can add more steps from more important projects.  Could you share any thoughts about how to solve this concern?    [Read more →]

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Many of you enjoyed the GTD & OneNote article contributed by community member Ryan Oakley.  Here’s another shout out for using Outlook & OneNote, from Ivar in Norway.

I am writing to you to tell you how brilliant I think it is to use Microsoft Office OneNote in my GTD system.  I’m from Norway and am employed in the public sector as a project manager for various ICT projects.

I read David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done” two years ago. Since then I have spent much time trying to find a good solution to the lists and project lists that fit my needs. I feel now I’ve got this to work, providing very much in terms of both time and money.  The ultimate solution for me has been using Outlook with Microsoft OneNote.  In Outlook, I have action lists that are categorized by place of execution, in good GTD tradition. [Read more →]

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This is a community contribution by Ryan Oakley.

For me, GTD has always worked extremely well for those small(er) tasks and projects.  You know – those little things that used to fall through the cracks but, with the help of GTD, are now easily tracked and moved on until completed.

These smaller projects don’t need much in the way of “project support material” (PSM) — maybe just 4 or 5 lines of information to keep close at hand to help finish the project.  For me, I have mostly used the “notes” section of a project task item in outlook for a good and easy place to put this type of PSM.

But…what about those larger projects?  Like a 2 week vacation to Europe (travel books, emails, reservations, tickets, list of things you want to do and see, things to pack, addresses of family to visit, etc.) or maybe that multi-million dollar project at work that has 8 months worth of project plans and 5 milestones, 247 emails, 156 page reports, bi-weekly meetings, and 7 team members (complete with collaboration).  Ahh!

My GTD system breaks down with that kind of complexity.  [Read more →]

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A computer programmer implementing GTD asked David Allen about projects:

I’m confused about (and I’m sure you are extremely bored with this question, but from the books I couldn’t work out the answer) – how do you size projects?  I’m continually having problems working out what is or isn’t a project – and getting lost in the confusion.

I’m a computer programmer.   I have to design systems and then build them.   A typical “task” of mine will last 6 months – and involve maybe 800 real hours of my own work.   There will be all sorts of things inside that that can be done simultaneously, things that I have to wait for and so on.  Is the whole thing a project?  Or do I break it into individual projects of do the first screen, do the second screen, do the back end?   [Read more →]

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Often, your project support will include documents on your computer like Word or Excel files. You can attach the actual document, but what happens if you update the original? How can you be sure you have the latest attached?  We got this very question from a GTD’er and thought it would be useful to pass along:

I am struggling with how to file electronic documents.  Some of the documents live in email, some live in folder and some in the tasks in Outlook.  I end up checking all three places to find the most recent copy of a document.  Do you have any suggestions on the best way to handle this?

A great way to do this in Outlook is to insert a hyperlink of the file, not the actual file attachment.  From within a Task note field, select to attach a file. Then choose “Insert as Hyperlink.”

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Some of the most common questions we get are about managing projects.  Here is how one of the Coaches replied when a new GTD’er was asking how to manage projects and all of the related steps.

There are 3 components to consider with your projects:
1. Tracking the outcome on a Projects list(s) that serves as an master inventory of your Projects.  For example, “Complete 2010 Budget.”
2. Tracking the project support, future actions and reference for your projects.  For example, budget research you have been gathering, than you will use when working on the project.
3.  Tracking the next actions for the projects, on your context-sorted next action lists.  For example, “Call Jose in marketing for his dept. budget figures,” or “Book meeting to go over taxes.”

The key to your next action lists is that they only hold your next actions. [Read more →]

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As a sales executive, a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition is by helping clients manage the project your solution is supposed to help. While this is known as a “consultative sale” and might seem like nothing new, ask yourself: how many salespeople actually have a system for it?

Salespersons are trained to sell, not to consult. So most people do not do well in “consultative sales” despite what they said when they were interviewed.

Fortunately, those of you who discovered GTD have two great tools at your disposal. [Read more →]

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Dean, an architect, wrote to David to ask for detail on using mindmaps in his GTD system.  Here’s the whole thread:

Hi David,

I have enjoyed reading Getting Things Done and Making It All Work.  I own an architecture firm in Michigan, and have been implementing your GTD system into my work and life plan.  I am very close to a smooth-flowing GTD process; However, I have one obstacle to overcome, and I would greatly appreciate your recommendation…

[Read more →]

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