Back to the basics: processing

[Borisoff]

I started revisiting the basics. As long as I go through old teleseminars, podcasts and diagrams new questions appear. Could you share you experience for the following qestions with regards to processing:

1. When do you usually do processing?

2. How much time it takes per one sitting and per one day?

3. What would ideal processing look like for you (optional)?

4. What does it mean "Process 300-400 times a day" in the Advanced WD?

My figures:

1. Usually from 14 to 15;

2. One sitting is 1 hour and the same per day;

3. It would be nice to do it after work to exclude interruptions and close to the end of the day to finish that day. But that would conflict with my Home-Family time so I have to do it in the middle of the working day when there's not too many interruptions coming at me (from 2 to 3 p.m in my case);

 

[mickmel]

1. When do you usually do processing?

Whenever possible. If I have a free minute, I process. If I'm busy, I try to get it all done at the end of the day.

2. How much time it takes per one sitting and per one day?

Not real long. If I let a full day pile up then maybe 30 minutes.

 

[Brent]

I1. When do you usually do processing?

Whenever I have some spare time.

This is one thing I love about GTD. Just about every aspect can fit into small moments. I just re-negotiated my Projects list this morning, between checking emails and going to a meeting.

2. How much time it takes per one sitting and per one day?

Depends on how much has piled up, and what kind of inbox I'm processing. However long it takes. I've had my email inbox require two hours of processing every day, or ten minutes.

3. What would ideal processing look like for you?

I don't think I understand the question. Ideal would be no processing, or someone else processing. Failing that, I want it to take as little time as possible while capturing as much work as possible.

To me, the key of processing is that it fully captures the work inherent in an incoming item. One email may contain ten different things that you have to do or track. Some of those may be implied, or may just occur to you as you realize the implications of the words written. Much of this work is not obvious from quickly reading an email.

So, there's a balance here, between speed and thoroughness. You want to be quick, but you want to ensure you've captured everything.

4. What does it mean "Process 300-400 times a day" in the Advanced WD?

It would be nice to be able to process every email, voicemail, letter, etc. as it arrives. So you're completely up-to-date at all times. This would require hundreds of little processing steps every day.

 

[jpm]

1. When do you usually do processing?

I have two regularly scheduled 30 minute appointments on my calendar for inbasketry. One at 11:30 a.m. and one at 3:30 p.m. This blocks time on my calendar and prevents others in our corporate exchange environment from scheduling meetings all day (well sometimes anyway).

2. How much time it takes per one sitting and per one day?

Normally I can clear my inbox in the two half-hour blocks. If I'm out of the office for more than a day it can take most of a morning or even a full day to get to Inbox[0]

3. What would ideal processing look like for you (optional)?

I would prefer to get everything in on inbox, preferably email. There are probably ways to get there, but I feel I have too many inboxes. One paper at home and at work, personal and business email (we're restricted from using business email for personal use), multiple voicemails (work, work cell, home, personal cell), etc.

It would be nice if I could get down to just one place to process.

Also, it would be great if there were more automation in processing. The outlook Add-in helps some in this instance, but it doesn't deal with the (bad) email habbits of the modern office environment. I can get 15 emails related to a single next action and keeping all of that info together isn't handled very well by any of the tools I've seen.

4. What does it mean "Process 300-400 times a day" in the Advanced WD?

It means that most of us have 300-400 inputs a day. This is probably an underestimate imho.

 

[Borisoff]

Ok, there're two main approaches: block time and do processing as soon as there's "a free" minute An advanced question for those who processes along the lines without scheduling time in the calendar, who has "a free" minute: "How do you limit Processing time that could take as much time as you have thus ensuring Doing time?" I mean it's possible to go into constant process of emails but there's no room left for other activities then.

 

[Oogiem]

1. When do you usually do processing?

2. How much time it takes per one sitting and per one day?

3. What would ideal processing look like for you (optional)?

4. What does it mean "Process 300-400 times a day" in the Advanced WD?

As often as I can. I try to do it several times per day.

I am still not great in getting inbox to 0 at one time but I just stop and pick up later. I do get in to 0 at least every other day.

We get between 300-400 inputs a day? Actually I think that's too high for me but a single input may result in a decade long project.

 

[Brent]

How do you limit Processing time that could take as much time as you have thus ensuring Doing time?

I don't think there's a universal answer for this. It depends on your situation, how much time you have, other pressures, etc.

You could try spending half of your available time on Processing, and the other half on Doing. Pick an allocation and go.