AI and GTD

ivanjay205

Registered
I just recently tried using Motion in lieu of FacileThings. I found that I needed much stronger calendar management. Otherwise my colleagues consumed my calendar and there just wasnt time to get work done. I could block 2 hrs a day for work. But often that had to erode or might not be enough in a day.

I have found Motion makes me way more productive. However, it is really a big departure from GTD which I love so much.

Any experience on making an AI calendar blocking app work with GTD or implement in such a solution?

The time filtering it does in lieu of contexts helps me tremendously.
 

ivanjay205

Registered
@ivanjay205 What's the difference between AI and your colleagues in consuming (aka hijacking) your calendar?
It proactively watches my calendar and time commitments. Lets say I have something due next Friday the 13th. It uses time blocking to place those items on my calendar next week in free spots for the amount of right time I have available. It marks those items are "free" on my calendar so as to still show availability for meetings. Basically it decides what next actions I need to do on a 2 week basis based on its priority and due date. But lets say my colleagues are booking time for me and all of a sudden it is coming down to my last time slot to do this task is on the due date. It realized I am out of time to get this done and keeps it on my calendar but marks it as busy securing that time for me.

I could be on a plane, traveling, anywhere and my calendar is being managed to ensure others do not overcommit my time where I cannot get my next actions complete.

I run the operations of our company roughly 40 people. I get A LOT of commitments and pull in a lot of different directions. The one major flaw I have always found with GTD is the time that goes into the managing of the system (clarifying in particular) and most importantly the next actions. Because they are not time blocked or committed to I have always found it very easier to get side tracked in another direction. Or choose those items that I dont necessarily want to do at this moment.

With this system it is pure time blocking, everything goes in my calendar so I can see it on my watch, my phone, my computer, etc. In one place with my emails. And it feels a bit "hard planned" to me since it is on the calendar. Context is not as important for me as 75% of my work is done on the computer which could be a computer, phone, or iPad.

It is kind of like have a virtual assistant in all honesty.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
@ivanjay205 What's the difference between AI and your colleagues in consuming (aka hijacking) your calendar?
I suppose there are two differences: 1) The app forces him to articulate his commitments and make time estimates. 2) He trusts the app more than he trusts himself or his coworkers, This seems like an attempt to solve a problem at level 2 and higher (areas of focus and goals) working at level 0 (next actions and calendar). I suppose if the company grows he could get two AI’s?
 

ivanjay205

Registered
I suppose there are two differences: 1) The app forces him to articulate his commitments and make time estimates. 2) He trusts the app more than he trusts himself or his coworkers, This seems like an attempt to solve a problem at level 2 and higher (areas of focus and goals) working at level 0 (next actions and calendar). I suppose if the company grows he could get two AI’s?
Hi,

For #1 in your response I do agree. The one thing I have always gotten tremendous use out of is the time filtering within the GTD system (more than contexts). This does that exceptionally well but it also places it in a visual format so I can really feel how busy my day is. To me, it feels better than a list where it is separate from my calendar and I am "fitting" those blocks of time in between. This lays it all out very organized.

#2 I am not quite sure I follow or agree with you there.... Trust is not really the right word. I am very confident in my ability to manage my time and be productive. However, I would say that in my role I am pulled in many different directions. If I do not proactively make time for my "solo work" it will disappear on me. When using pure GTD via FacileThings I used to block my calendar for about 2 hours a day for focus time and during that time I would work on my next actions. That system did work well for me. The breakdown for areas of focus is that it is not always an equal split in time. And I struggled with allocating the right amount of time to the right amount of productivity. My typical areas of focus (from a business perspective) were Business Finance, Client Management, IT, HR, Quick Base, Process Development, General). During my focus time I would always filter into the client management first to ensure I was handling client things as a first priority. After that I tried to allocate a day to each one of the others. What I found was that on any given day if client took too long and I didnt get the other work done the day went sideways on me. I also could not always lock into that schedule. Let's say I need to meet with Diane about a HR thing for example and she is out on Thursday, well now it bleeds into another day.

I guess the big thing for me was the time commitment to clarifying.... I get A LOT of inputs daily. I found I would spend a good hour a day at the end of the day clarifying and organizing my list. Only to find my time commitments exceeding the time allotment I had. My lower priority items (such as Quick Base and IT) for example would sit as next actions for months without seeing those pieces of my day moving forward.

Now, I am trying to focus more on priority and time committment. So this way it is a bit more of a first in first out type of mentality with the priority on client matters if that makes sense.

The big struggles I am having though are maintaining a sense of my overall goals as you mentioned. But I do have my own ways of doing that outside of the system via reviewing my annual business plan and ensuring I have efforts aligning with those as well as the waiting for / delegation to others. I find that a bit challenging to manage right now.
 

TesTeq

Registered
I am very confident in my ability to manage my time and be productive. However, I would say that in my role I am pulled in many different directions. If I do not proactively make time for my "solo work" it will disappear on me.
@ivanjay205 I really don't get why you need AI to block time. If you're The Boss you block your time and you pull everything in the appropriate directions instead of being pulled. OK, some compromises are needed but should AI decide what's most important at any given moment?
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I suppose there are two differences: 1) The app forces him to articulate his commitments and make time estimates. 2) He trusts the app more than he trusts himself or his coworkers, This seems like an attempt to solve a problem at level 2 and higher (areas of focus and goals) working at level 0 (next actions and calendar). I suppose if the company grows he could get two AI’s?
My second point was ‘“Haha, only serious.” Getting two AI’s doesn’t work because the problem doesn’t scale that way. When I was a wee sprout I received good advice: “When you take on a new role, your first order of business is to figure out your replacement.” But as your responsibilities grow, you must replace yourself in some of your roles. If you are over-scheduled and over-committed, that problem is unlikely to be solved in the long run by some AI scheduler, because it’s a higher-level problem.
 

ivanjay205

Registered
@ivanjay205 I really don't get why you need AI to block time. If you're The Boss you block your time and you pull everything in the appropriate directions instead of being pulled. OK, some compromises are needed but should AI decide what's most important at any given moment?
For me it is not really a question of “needing” AI to block time. I like and am intrigued by the idea. For me personally a major issue I had when following GTD in a pure sense was the “decision” of what is next on the Next Action List. I would block out some focus time to protect my calendar and time and work off my list. I would filter by my area of focus initially, context, and time…. Typically presented with 5-6 items I could tackle. I would find I would start one and probably finish it but there was some decision making required in what to do. And I would “pick” what I wanted to do sometimes instead of just plowing through the list. I found that choice to be a bit mentally tiring and it allowed me to procrastinate.

With the AI option I am not presented a choice. It is giving me a slot to accomplish something in based on the priority and due date. I am not presented with options to pick the easiest from or any other task. I am given a single option to work on and I have noticed mentally it enables me to get laser focused on it. I dont think I can do this or that. I am only presented a single option so I check it off….

Not sure if that fully makes sense?

I also find that my calendar is in a constant pull from the numerous people I work with as well as my own personal committments. So I do have to protect my time or i would be scheduled in meetings from 8-5 daily. This app does that for me which is kind of nice.
 

ivanjay205

Registered
My second point was ‘“Haha, only serious.” Getting two AI’s doesn’t work because the problem doesn’t scale that way. When I was a wee sprout I received good advice: “When you take on a new role, your first order of business is to figure out your replacement.” But as your responsibilities grow, you must replace yourself in some of your roles. If you are over-scheduled and over-committed, that problem is unlikely to be solved in the long run by some AI scheduler, because it’s a higher-level problem.
Well…. I am not sure that is entirely true. I am an owner in a small / medium business……. We have 40 people and do work nationally. It is my passion, but it does require a lot of me. As we have grown I have established other people to support me in terms of directors, vp’s, etc. But the reality is there is nothing quite like an owner. So yes there are a lot of people that handle things that I used to. And yes that list does grow. But it is not quite as simple as bringing in additional resources on the team to relieve me of some of my direct responsibilities.
 

TesTeq

Registered
With the AI option I am not presented a choice. It is giving me a slot to accomplish something in based on the priority and due date. I am not presented with options to pick the easiest from or any other task. I am given a single option to work on and I have noticed mentally it enables me to get laser focused on it. I dont think I can do this or that. I am only presented a single option so I check it off….

Not sure if that fully makes sense?
@ivanjay205 I see your point. The decision what to do when all of the options are equally important is hard to make. But… I don't believe in AI. It must be fed with a lot of information before it can make optimal decisions. So I think a simpler way to choose Next Action is to… throw a dice or choose the first one or the last one on the list.
 

ivanjay205

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@ivanjay205 I see your point. The decision what to do when all of the options are equally important is hard to make. But… I don't believe in AI. It must be fed with a lot of information before it can make optimal decisions. So I think a simpler way to choose Next Action is to… throw a dice or choose the first one or the last one on the list.
I do agree and disagree with you a bit..... I for sure do agree in it is hard to trust AI. Funny enough I found that for work related items it made pretty sound decisions. Because the priorities were clear. And while I might not have done it in the exact order it recommended. It would enable me to get things done in a timely fashion and by the date I need it which is most important.

On the personal side of my next actions is where it really struggled. For example on a Saturday I would do a few chores at certain times that were equal priorities. It wouldnt know that order and if I went out of order it would try to reschedule and get a bit messy.

The one thing I can concretely say is that in my 2 week experiment something that did make me very uncomfortable is not knowing hte exact landscape of what I needed to get done and how far out the dates were slipping. There was no big overview of all of my tasks as when they popped into my calendar I did them.

So i am back to the comparing FacileThings, Things, Nirvana, and OmniFocus now. Seems like it gives me a better sense of management of my time.
 

ckennedy

Registered
I have been using the Skedpal 3 (in beta) for the past 18 months.
https://medium.com/skedpal-blog/skedpal-3-2-what-a-journey-e0d3cf13eff4

It uses an outlining format (like workflowy) that makes it very flexible. It schedules my tasks as either distinct time blocks or as bundled tasks, depending on what "smart tag" I give it. It allows me to designate work as focused work, admin work etc and can tie it to specific "time maps" I create (so my deep work happens before 9:30am).

The great thing about using it vs standard time-blocking is that if I fall behind or get pulled off track, I just ask it to reschedule and it finds the next best slots for the work or alerts me if it can't find the allotted time.

It has a very robust prioritization criteria but also does a very decent job of creating a work plan with minimal parameters.

Where I find it most helpful is when I have a lot of client work and I need the peace of mind that I can fit it all in. I just dump in everything that needs to be done this week, estimate durations, minimal timeblocks and it gives me immediate feedback as to whether I have enough bandwidth. It also schedules around existing appointments with whatever "buffer" I assign it.

As to "trusting AI"; it really seems to me you will never trust it until you put it through its paces and see if it holds up. For me it has been a revelation.
 

schmeggahead

Registered
This sounds very interesting. David said someday there would be a tool that you could tell to remind you in a way you would feel most helpful. This appears to be approaching that.

The guidance you are giving the algorithm seems to be less AI and more rules based. This makes me think it will be less prone to unexpected results. (e.g. AI can easily create unfair treatment of individuals and it is difficult to discern why.)

I would love to hear your experience a few months down the road.

Clayton
Today's discovery: Reviewing higher horizons is a reasonable cure for melancholy and encourages piano playing ;)
 

ivanjay205

Registered
I have been using the Skedpal 3 (in beta) for the past 18 months.
https://medium.com/skedpal-blog/skedpal-3-2-what-a-journey-e0d3cf13eff4

It uses an outlining format (like workflowy) that makes it very flexible. It schedules my tasks as either distinct time blocks or as bundled tasks, depending on what "smart tag" I give it. It allows me to designate work as focused work, admin work etc and can tie it to specific "time maps" I create (so my deep work happens before 9:30am).

The great thing about using it vs standard time-blocking is that if I fall behind or get pulled off track, I just ask it to reschedule and it finds the next best slots for the work or alerts me if it can't find the allotted time.

It has a very robust prioritization criteria but also does a very decent job of creating a work plan with minimal parameters.

Where I find it most helpful is when I have a lot of client work and I need the peace of mind that I can fit it all in. I just dump in everything that needs to be done this week, estimate durations, minimal timeblocks and it gives me immediate feedback as to whether I have enough bandwidth. It also schedules around existing appointments with whatever "buffer" I assign it.

As to "trusting AI"; it really seems to me you will never trust it until you put it through its paces and see if it holds up. For me it has been a revelation.
I had looked at skedpal before I tried motion but I had abandoned ship on it. I think because I felt that with the time blocking method they used EVERYTHING went on your calendar as busy. Sounds great but it didnt allow "meeting time" How have you found that? The reason I liked motion was it would put things on your calendar but marked as free so colleagues could take meeting time and it would reshuffle based on that. However, if you were approaching your deadline it would intelligently switch it to busy holding your calendar. I LOVED that feature. however, it didnt handle recurring tasks great and I didnt feel I had a great perspective at the 1,000 ft level of everything going on. I felt a bit scary on how much I was depending on this tool to knowwhat my priorities were without the ability to effectively review it at a high level.
 

ckennedy

Registered
I had looked at skedpal before I tried motion but I had abandoned ship on it. I think because I felt that with the time blocking method they used EVERYTHING went on your calendar as busy. Sounds great but it didnt allow "meeting time" How have you found that? The reason I liked motion was it would put things on your calendar but marked as free so colleagues could take meeting time and it would reshuffle based on that. However, if you were approaching your deadline it would intelligently switch it to busy holding your calendar. I LOVED that feature. however, it didnt handle recurring tasks great and I didnt feel I had a great perspective at the 1,000 ft level of everything going on. I felt a bit scary on how much I was depending on this tool to knowwhat my priorities were without the ability to effectively review it at a high level.
You can set Skedpal to sync tasks as Free or Busy. I actually don't have to set to write anything to my shared work calendar. It reads from the work calendar but writes to a separate calendar I created.
It also handles recurring activities well.
 

ckennedy

Registered
I create a tag called waiting for. I then create a filtered list that collects all items tagged as waiting for.
I also use a function called "Smart Tags" By tagging things with waiting for it schedules those items as "Task Bundled" items. (as opposed to Time Blocked) and "schedules" them for me at 7am however many days from now I want to see them again. This is optional, but I like to have them appear at the top of my schedule so I can decide whether to follow up or defer them.

I know other people who create a recurring timeblocked task with a link to the "waiting for" filtered view, that prompts them to check those items (outside of a weekly review)
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I spent most of the morning thinking about an Important project I’ve been forced to neglect for the past week due to other important projects with deadlines. I had some useful and potentially important insights. I know how and why this works in GTD, but I really don’t understand how one can get similar results with automated scheduling. Any insight?
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I spent most of the morning thinking about an Important project I’ve been forced to neglect for the past week due to other important projects with deadlines. I had some useful and potentially important insights. I know how and why this works in GTD, but I really don’t understand how one can get similar results with automated scheduling. Any insight?
As far as I know, AI is not at that point yet. I have tried this kind of scheduling not too long ago just as an experiment (I was curious...well, I am a scientist). I found it to be really frustrating. You have to set so many parameters on what should be scheduled first. My final assessment was that I was spending most of my time trying to get everything to work....instead of just doing my work....and using my own mind to decide what I need to do.
 
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