How many projects do you average?

[Electronic Perceptions]

Hi All,

A recent discussion about limiting or not limiting project lists has gotten me to thinking. I've also come to the conclusion recently, that I've gotten lazy with my lists in the past several months.

I've apparently gotten in the habit of only listing income generating projects. I have 6 on my list right now, and that feels wrong. I've also noticed that I haven't been keeping my action lists as updated, and I suspect I'm not capturing everything I should be. I've definately not been doing the weekly review as I should.

So my question is: How many projects do you tend to have active on average?

In the past few days I've taken steps to get back on track. I've put detailed project planning into Bonsai, removed Agendus and gone back to the default datebook, todo list and memo pad. I still use DayNotez for journaling, and Slap for my Inbox.

I've also moved several things from todo/action lists to the calendar (I don't use my hard landscape enough), and I've stopped displaying todo items with/on the calendar. I've also stopped dating todo items, because I found myself spending most of my time shuffling the dates attached to each, instead of actually doing anything.

I'm tempted to go back to square one, and start everything over again. Thoughts?
Kathy

 

[Jason Womack]

Projects...what are they, where are they, how did I get them

Here's the best article I've read on this:

http://www.davidco.com/pdfs/tt_defining_projects.pdf

and, here is a list of some of the skills/opportunities that show up when clients implement more and more of the GTD methods...

- maintain relaxed control amidst overwhelming amounts of incoming "stuff",

- define doable projects from ambiguous direction, initiatives, and pressures,

- decide actions required when things show up vs. when they blow up,

- regroup, recalibrate priorities, and regain balance rapidly with new input,

- be alone, in cooperation with everyone else,

- seamlessly capture, clarify, track, and manage their total inventory of "open loops",

- renegotiate implicit and explicit agreements with themselves and others,

- express and consider any ideas, including bad ones, in front of their staff, and then evaluate them objectively,

- refocus rapidly on desired outcomes and next actions when confronted with challenging obstacles,

- consistently update, review, reassess, and renegotiate their total inventory of life and work commitments, so personal energies are fully available for the job at hand.

 

[andmor]

Active Projects

Kathy:

I define "Active" Projects as those Projects I intend to work on within the time-frame that constitutes the "@" symbol. I have a Projects list and an @Projects list (@ for "Action", rather than "Active"), and as I do my daily review to plan for the next day or two, I will switch Projects between the 2 Categories. I would rarely have as many as 6 Projects in the @Projects list at any time, but that's because I plan by outcomes to create Daily Objectives and tend to work sequentially through Projects. I plan for outcomes and work through NA's.

Andrew

 

[kglade]

Just a quick count - I have 64 projects in my overall project list and 20 that show up with next actions at work (the others are s/m or home).

Ken

 

[AMS]

I have about 30 at any given time, and another 20 or so on Someday/Maybe. This includes work and home. I would like for there to be fewer, but my boss doesn't believe in limiting active projects, so I can't either (unfortunately).

 

[Electronic Perceptions]

Thank you everyone. Jason: The article you referenced was particularly helpful.

I apparently have a habit... and I suspect it's a bad habit... of getting lazy when I feel like I don't have much to do. The more I have to do, the more productive I seem willing to be (or actually am). With just 3-5 projects on my list, I seem to have the belief that there's "plenty of time" and thus no need to rush. So as I said... I get lazy, and not much gets done.

I know there's a limit to how many business projects I can have going at once, because there's a limit to the number of hours I'm willing to exchange for a set amount of dollars. But by not listing my personal projects alongside, a lull in business made me very unproductive all around.

With the help here, I've already started turning this around and getting back on track

Thanks again,
Kathy