A Community Contribution from Erik Hanberg

There’s an idea I’ve read about when it comes to how different kinds of people schedule their day.  It’s maker versus manager.  Like me, many people work as both maker and manager.

Managers tend to schedule in one hour blocks.  There’s usually not a question about whether or not there’s a meeting at 2:00; it’s a question of who that meeting is with.

Makers tend to think in half-day blocks, scheduling three, four, or more hours for a single task.  Writing, coding, creative problem solving, etc., are all done best with a lot of hours put toward them all at once.

I’ve found the same tension in my own schedule as well.  Some of my work makes perfect sense in hour-long segments.  But some of it really needs to be in half-day chunks: building websites really requires at least two hours of solid attention to get anything significant accomplished, and often more.

I’ve gotten much better at scheduling meetings to give me the half-day chunks I want for coding or writing.  Here are some of the ways I’ve balanced it:

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The first customer review of the new GTD Managing Projects audio set has come in and we wanted to share some highlights:

In a nutshell, I am very excited to report this audio program is EXCELLENT!

Imagine sitting in the room with David, Marian and Meg and, basically, they are discussing all of the best practices and experiences around projects, projects planning, organizing, etc. It gives you the feeling that you have 3 personal coaches for a few hours. Many examples are discussed in great detail–big projects, smaller projects–to make it easy to understand the very fine points of how “successful outcome” project planning works in real life. [Read more →]

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We’re excited to announce that our new 6-CD audio set on the GTD best practices for managing your projects is now available in the David Allen Company store.  We’ve compiled all of the GTD best practices and common questions.   It’s a great way to get control of your projects and manage them seamlessly–the GTD way.

GTD Connect members save 10% on this product.  Be sure to log in to GTD Connect first, then head to the store for your member discounts to apply.  Not a member? Try a free guest pass.

Order your GTD Managing Projects set today.  Limited quantities available.

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Here’s a sneak peak at our new GTD® Managing Projects Audio Set releasing soon.  This new set includes 6 CDs chock full of a tips, tricks and education on the GTD models for seamlessly managing your projects.  You’ll hear from David Allen and two senior coaches on the best practices and common questions people implementing GTD are asking about.

Listen to a 5-minute sample track:

Stay tuned to Productive Living or GTD Times to learn when it’s available.  Soon! We promise!

11/19/2010 update: It’s now available! Visit the David Allen Company store.

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Everything on my action lists is for getting done as soon as I can—otherwise they wouldn’t be on the list. – David Allen

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There is never a moment at which you could do everything you’ve decided to to, simply because most of those actions require a specific tool or location.  Context is also the first criterion that limits your options and keeps you from being reminded of things you simply can’t do.

If you’re like me, and find it useful to track of all the actions you have to do, you’ll discover you probably have more than 150 of them at any given time. If you put them all on a single list, how would you feel when you tried to look for the calls you had to make, while you had a few minutes before picking up your child from school?  It would be overwhelming [Read more →]

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Question: Where do I put deferred tasks that are due, for example, in three days?   If I’m processing my Inbox on Monday,  and I know the next step to completion is a two hour task, “at Computer” that is due on Thursday, do I make a decision to do it at a specific time, and put it on my calendar? Or do I put it on the @Computer list? Or Something else?

David Allen: In your environment [Editor: David has coached at this fast-paced Fortune 100 company], if you have something that requires two hours of time, and HAS to be done within the next couple of days, I would schedule that two-hour block for yourself and hold yourself to keep your appointment with yourself. That way it gets off your mind the rest of the time. Not a bad idea to do that for ANY action that requires more than an hour of uninterrupted time, in your interrupt-driven kind of world, if it really has to get done within the next week or so. [Read more →]

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Countless questions have been e-mailed to me asking for the best ways and tools to organize project thinking, or how to relate project pieces to each other and to all the other projects and their pieces.   Ninety-nine percent of the time, my answer is: “Do the Weekly Review. If you do, it all works. If you don’t, nothing will work. – David Allen

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A GTDer asked: Can I use project management software for my GTD lists?

Coach Wayne Pepper: From our perspective, project management tools are good for Project Support, not necessarily Next Action lists though.  In other words, if I have a project that is so complex and intertwined that it needs to be broken down into several sub-projects–many of which are contingent upon one another–then that kind of tool is a really good tool for supporting that project by capturing all those moving parts and pieces, and identifying how they relate to one another.  Those tools are not as good however, for capturing  and contextually categorizing all the discrete, granular next actions which support all those moving parts and pieces.  A simple list manager is often a better central hub for organizing ALL of your Next Action–related and not related to your projects.

Watch the Webinar Wayne did for our GTD Connect members on Organizing Project Plans.

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Rev. Chip Granthan sent this letter along to the facilitator who led the GTD Public Seminar he attended in Atlanta. Chip was happy to have this shared with our GTD Times readers too.

I’d been trying to find the tool to bring clarity to my situation and had stumbled upon the GTD Coordinator® that Staples sells back in November.  I’d liked the layout, and had followed up by getting a copy of David’s book.

I’d read Getting Things Done 3 or 4 months ago.  I’d tried to absorb it and get my arms around it.  I picked it up about 6 weeks ago and read it again.  I’d gone online to DAC’s website, and had seen the information on the Atlanta seminar.  I’d downloaded the free materials and had purchased the GTD and OUTLOOK 2003 guide.  I’d signed up for the seminar, and in the interim I started actually processing my email the GTD way.  What a difference!  I started looking at the changes I needed to make in my office.  I am a stacker and a packrat. I’ve always known what was where in what stack, [Read more →]

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