Author Cory Doctorow on GTD's Agendas/Suspense file

devon.marie

devon.marie

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Science fiction author Cory Doctorow touched on GTD in one of his recent posts on his website, Pluralistic: Keeping a suspense file gives you superpowers

I found it a great read on the power of the Agendas list—which he calls a Suspense File—and thought to share. I especially liked some points he made:

Restarting my suspense file made me realize how many of the (often expensive or painful) fumbles I've had since the pandemic were the result of me not noticing that someone else hadn't gotten back to me. In essence, a suspense file is a way for me to manage other people's to-do lists.

Let me unpack that. By "managing other people's to-do lists," I don't mean that I'm deciding for other people what they will and won't do (that would be both weird and gross). I mean that I'm making sure that if someone else fails to do something we were planning together, it's because they decided not to do it, not because they forgot. As GTD teaches us, the real point of a to-do list isn't just helping us remember what to do – it's helping us choose what we're not going to do.

This is not an imposition, it's a kindness. The point of a suspense file isn't to nag others into living up to their commitments, it's to form a network of support among collaborators where we all help one another make those conscious choices about what we're not going to do, rather than having the stuff we really value slip away because we forgot about it.
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I'm definitely guilty of de-prioritizing this list, with the mentality of "well it's on their todo list, it's their fault if it doesn't happen"... but then I'm unhappy it doesn't happen, and reading this made me realize I also have a responsibility in seeing it through, even if the ball isn't currently in my court.

Anyway, would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this post. I'm certainly going to refocus my Agendas list into a priority list and not a backburner one.
 
From my quick glance of the article, to me it sounds like the suspense file is more like the ”waiting for” list in GTD. I can definitely be better at tracking the smaller waiting fors as well, not just the bigger items, so thanks for the link!
 
devon.marie said:
Science fiction author Cory Doctorow
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I have only read his Chokepoint Capitalism book and didn't know about his science fiction work.

Deciding not to do something is definitely a superpower of GTD. Agendas lists are really powerful because they do put everything together that means the same thing to me (I have to talk to this person about this or I have to bring this up in the next meeting).

I read the first part of Cory's post and added it to my reading list.
I'll check back after my reading time.
Clayton.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who built one of the world's largest companies around a loophole in sales taxes and has raked in millions in tax breaks designed for impoverished communities paid no income tax at all in 2007 and 2011 according to ProPublica - a period where he owned part of a mountain range.
 
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