What is the Pending stack?

[imnickb]

I'm reading through the GTD book and in chapter 6 Clarifying: Getting "In" to Empty, he mentions several times to put things in your pending stack. It looks like the first time the pending stack is mentioned, he acts as if I should already have one and know what it is.

What is the pending stack?

Is it something you always use with GTD or is it just something you use during your initial GTD setup as a kind of staging area?

What goes in there?

 

[kelstarrising]

Hi there. Great question. Pending is the work you've already pulled out of "IN", have clarified your next action, and need to simply hold on to the item until you do it. For hard copy stuff, pending is often an tray or folder or folder in a tray. For email, it would be a folder.

So my desk has 3 stacking trays:

In
Pending (with @Action "pending" and @Waiting For folders sitting in that tray)
Out

Does that help?

 

[imnickb]

Interesting... So pending is indeed a permanent tray. It's essentially a staging area for "stuff" that I've already clarified a next action but still need to hold onto because I haven't done the action. This is making some sense but it brings up a couple more questions...

If I decide that the clarified item will be part of a project, would I just put it into Project Materials until I need it for a next action?

Also, if you're using Pending to hold clarified things until you're ready for them, what are you using Out for? Isn't Out a little redundant with your Pending tray?

I'm thinking my setup might look like this:

In
Pending @Actions
Pending @Waiting For

Please tell me if I'm missing something here. I only have two trays, so either way it looks like I'll probably need at least one more. Thanks so much!

 

[kelstarrising]

If I decide that the clarified item will be part of a project, would I just put it into Project Materials until I need it for a next action?

Yes. Or sometimes if I have a project that doesn't have its own folder for whatever reason, I'll pop the item in @Action or @Waiting For.

Also, if you're using Pending to hold clarified things until you're ready for them, what are you using Out for? Isn't Out a little redundant with your Pending tray?

Out is done, finished, needs to leave your space. Like outgoing mail or something to hand off to someone else but you are not doing that hand-off in the moment.

Please tell me if I'm missing something here. I only have two trays, so either way it looks like I'll probably need at least one more. Thanks so much!

You're doing great! I would suggest a tray for Out. You may not ever have much in it, but it's nice to have when you do have stuff and just grab and go.

–Kelly

 

[imnickb]

Thanks so much, this is very helpful!

I was having trouble wrapping my mind around buckets that are talked about in the book but don't appear on the GTD flowchart. Pending and Read/Review were a couple of those buckets.

 

[kelstarrising]

Great! Glad it helped.

I personally don't use Read/Review. If I have a "must" read, it usually goes on a next actions list like @Computer. I also have a folder in email called "Nice to Read" that is just that--nice to read and no commitment whether I do. It's like a newsstand that catches kitten videos, interesting articles, blog posts, etc. And I periodically delete stuff out of it when it gets too big.

 

[jenkins]

I'm reading through the GTD book and in chapter 6 Clarifying: Getting "In" to Empty, he mentions several times to put things in your pending stack. It looks like the first time the pending stack is mentioned, he acts as if I should already have one and know what it is.

What is the pending stack?

Is it something you always use with GTD or is it just something you use during your initial GTD setup as a kind of staging area?

What goes in there?

If I remember correctly, David Allen does indeed talk about a "pending" area that only applies to the initial GTD setup. It's for when you clarify something during the initial setup that doesn't have a home yet, so you just put it aside with a sticky note so you can create a more permanent home later when you finalize your buckets.

There is however a permanent "Pending" category many people use, and it can take many forms. For example, I have an "ACTION SUPPORT" manilla folder I keep close to my desk. I use it to put papers that relate to actions on my lists. For example, I might have an action on my list "Have Sarah sign employment contract," and I'll print the contract and put it in my ACTION SUPPORT folder.

I think some people also have a PENDING folder they use to store work in progress, but I just use my inbox for that. For example, if I'm filling out some paperwork and get interrupted, I just throw the paperwork in my inbox so I can pick it up later.

 

[imnickb]

If I remember correctly, David Allen does indeed talk about a "pending" area that only applies to the initial GTD setup. It's for when you clarify something during the initial setup that doesn't have a home yet, so you just put it aside with a sticky note so you can create a more permanent home later when you finalize your buckets.

There is however a permanent "Pending" category many people use, and it can take many forms. For example, I have an "ACTION SUPPORT" manilla folder I keep close to my desk. I use it to put papers that relate to actions on my lists. For example, I might have an action on my list "Have Sarah sign employment contract," and I'll print the contract and put it in my ACTION SUPPORT folder.

I think some people also have a PENDING folder they use to store work in progress, but I just use my inbox for that. For example, if I'm filling out some paperwork and get interrupted, I just throw the paperwork in my inbox so I can pick it up later.

Thanks for mentioning this. That's exactly the vibe I got as well. He uses the word "Pending" during the initial setup to refer to a working pile of items that don't have a home yet. Later on in the book it seems that he uses the word "Pending" to refer to a more permanent tray or file that's used to store materials for current actions, like you and kelstarrising mentioned.

When reading the book, it's important to notice the distinction between when he uses the word "Pending" and the lower-case version "pending." I love the GTD method, but sometimes the book could be a bit more concise and clear.