A
Anonymous
Guest
Okay, before anyone makes any wise-cracks, I’m not that busy at the moment, despite my username, – summer lull in the accountancy profession!
Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot of the project related threads over the last few days, and two different things occur to me.
Firstly, I wonder if certain ambitions and goals fit into the DA definition of project. For example, in the thread “Issues with defining projects – top end” Helenjc mentioned that she has some ongoing goals, for example, keeping up her proficiency in Greek. I would have similar ambitions, for example, to be well-read, to be playing reasonably cool jazz guitar, which are also proficiency type goals.
However, these goals do not have a target date. If I reach a level of accomplishment, and then stop, the ability will begin to deteriorate, and fade from lack of use.
So, it morphs into a three-times-a-week, or half-an-hour-a-day activity, which is not really a project ….
The other, exciting, thing which occurs to me is the power of structuring a goal in the DA format. Although a large volume of the forum deals with using GTD to keep control of a number of work related projects, I find the real power is realised when you apply GTD to something you have wanted to get done but could not get a toe-hold on it.
For example, we have a rolling wish to modify our home, which I thought I would never have the time to do. But by applying “next action” and “outcome” to it, it has fallen into easy steps and opened up the real possibility of Getting It Done.
It's like opening a door with a key.
Dave
Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot of the project related threads over the last few days, and two different things occur to me.
Firstly, I wonder if certain ambitions and goals fit into the DA definition of project. For example, in the thread “Issues with defining projects – top end” Helenjc mentioned that she has some ongoing goals, for example, keeping up her proficiency in Greek. I would have similar ambitions, for example, to be well-read, to be playing reasonably cool jazz guitar, which are also proficiency type goals.
However, these goals do not have a target date. If I reach a level of accomplishment, and then stop, the ability will begin to deteriorate, and fade from lack of use.
So, it morphs into a three-times-a-week, or half-an-hour-a-day activity, which is not really a project ….
The other, exciting, thing which occurs to me is the power of structuring a goal in the DA format. Although a large volume of the forum deals with using GTD to keep control of a number of work related projects, I find the real power is realised when you apply GTD to something you have wanted to get done but could not get a toe-hold on it.
For example, we have a rolling wish to modify our home, which I thought I would never have the time to do. But by applying “next action” and “outcome” to it, it has fallen into easy steps and opened up the real possibility of Getting It Done.
It's like opening a door with a key.
Dave