Confused about Next Action list

[GTDWorks]

"I use NA lists as the map for what I need to do all the time. A NA list is not a, "well I'm waiting for something to do now let me look at my lists" kind of thing but instead it's a total picture of everything I should or want to get done soon. I work from my lists constantly not just in the holes of time."

Exactly. Once I committed to this GTD methodology by making it my trusted system, I've never looked back. These lists are my lifeline to, well, GETTING THINGS DONE and to accomplishing the things that matter most to me and the things that matter little but still must be done in order for me to reach toward my higher levels of focus.

 

[sdann]

Oogie, I like the map concept.

 

[Brent]

Brent, you would honestly write a next action to be that granular?

Yes, absolutely. I do it all the time.

Surely as a writer you couldn't get into flow with something as small as that?

Why couldn't I? That's the next thing I have to do. What else would I need?

It's not like the NA is the only thing I remember about the story.

Wouldn't you block out time for the muse?

I do, sometimes. But one of the great points of GTD is that I don't have to block out time. I can look at my @Home list and have a complete list of everything I could do next. So I can write even if it's not the scheduled time.

Next actions are most effective when they can be done in the little openings of time that appear everyday 'i've got an extra 15mins before X so what can i fit in here' for example.

What makes you say this?

Why would you only look at your NAs during the little openings of time throughout the day? I literally work off my NA lists. When I reach a natural stopping point on one project, I look at the relevant NA list to figure out what to do next. That's the Mind Like Water metaphor -- your NA lists are literally your road map of where you can go next at any point in time.

You seem to be describing your NA lists as things that you look at once your "real work" is done (I may be misunderstanding). My NA lists are my real work.

As a writer myself (i'm involved in the TV/film industry) i would be interested in the way you would use GTD to go about writing stories just for a different view point/method. Do you use mind maps, etc? I'm constantly looking new ways to make story structure easier!

Well, if I'm going to write a story, I usually have a vague story idea (even if it's just "I want to write a story about a fey child"), so I create a project called "Write story based on (story idea)". The Next Action is typically "Journal about (story idea)". When I get to that NA, I'll pull open my journal and start scribbling down ideas for the story.

If I don't have a complete story outline by the time I reach a natural stopping point or are interrupted, the NA remains the same. Otherwise, I'll cross off that NA and add a new NA like "Create document for (working story title)" That'll prompt me to create the document and start working on the story.

As I go, after each session of work on the story, I'll update the NA as appropriate. It can literally be as detailed as "Write sequence describing Will entering the house."

Does that make sense?

 

[graphicdetails]

But are you sure that it's as simple as add chlorine? Is there any measuring to be done or anything else to be done as part of a process? It honestly takes less than 2 mins?

Yes, I walk out back, grab the chlorine bottle, and dump it in. It really takes about 1 minute.

I think I've mistaken some of your postings as a little harsher than you are really trying to be. I guess that sometimes happens on forums.

Getting back to GTD, I only listed one idea, but I seriously add little things all the time that I need to do in another context. I agree with the last few posts, I use GTD as everything that I need to do in my life. I even have everything broken down and coded into my areas of focus/responsibilities so I can have a greater understanding of what I want to do and if I'm actually progressing toward it as effectively as I would like.

 

[TesTeq]

Everybody should decide...

Wouldn't a more sensible next action be:-

@computer - Open word doc and draft a page/200 words

Everybody should decide what's sensible for her/him and what's not. What motivates her/him and what doesn't.

What would you do after writing a page/200 words? Stop because you set such limit? Or continue because the Next Action was just a trigger to start writing?

 

[unstuffed]

I'd like to chime in here, although I've come late to the party. I suffer (and I do mean suffer) from procrastination and anxiety - it's something that's developed over decades as a result of various factors in my life that I won't bore you with. But the end result is that I procrastinate very badly: the thought of doing something, anything, gives me a little jet of anxiety that really interferes with my work (and life).

So I have very granular NAs, because that's the only way that I can trick myself into starting - once started, I mostly roll along fairly well, but getting started is the difficult part. Seeing something like "Write Chapter 3" on my NA list would cause me to curl up and whimper, because that's hitting me in the face with a very demanding task - I can't tick it off until I complete it, and since just the thought of it gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies, I'm unlikely to even start such a (to me) mammoth undertaking. Even if I do force myself (which is a Bad Thing to do, with procrastination), my creativity is completely shot because I'm so tense.

But something like "Create document for Chapter 3 and save to appropriate folder", that's something that I can do. Note however that I rarely stop there: as TesTeq says, the NA is a bookmark that lets you pick up from where you left off, not a prescriptive and complete listing of everything you need to do, in order. I can agree to do such an NA because it's small and non-threatening, and even if I do have a conniption fit and stop there, I've moved the project a tiny step closer to completion. Mostly, I'll continue for a while and achieve more.

So there's several of us who use granular NAs for different reasons, although the underlying reason is the same: they work for us. I don't suggest that my way is best for everybody, because not everybody has my projects or my personal issues, but it's best for me. I think that's one of the strengths of GTD - it provides a framework that works for a very diverse group of people.

 

[Brent]

So I have very granular NAs, because that's the only way that I can trick myself into starting - once started, I mostly roll along fairly well, but getting started is the difficult part. Seeing something like "Write Chapter 3" on my NA list would cause me to curl up and whimper, because that's hitting me in the face with a very demanding task

Yes. This is very common.

And even if most folks don't have this problem with most things, I think we all have this problem with something. There's at least one unpleasant project that we'll feel internal resistance to. So why not be in the habit of granular NAs, so that all your projects will be manageable and easy to move on?

 

[robstrange]

Not really sure if I should start a new topic but I thought that as the debate was in full swing I would ask my NA question here.

I am new to GTD and think I have a fairly good handle on the process. My question to you is how do you deal with NAs once they are completed?

Do you

1. Before/After marking the NA as complete draft the next NA.
2. Wait for the weekly review to write the next one, bearing in mind that this could be 6 days later.
3. Have a list of Actions to complete the project and the next one automatically becomes the Next Action.
4. Something else.

I realise that GTD has very personal aspects to it but I wondered how you guys ensure that you always have a full list of NAs for all your projects and do you have more that one NA or Action for your projects.

Thanks

Rob

 

[Oogiem]

Do you

1. Before/After marking the NA as complete draft the next NA.
2. Wait for the weekly review to write the next one, bearing in mind that this could be 6 days later.
3. Have a list of Actions to complete the project and the next one automatically becomes the Next Action.
4. Something else.

All of the above

Depending on what project, where I am, how things are organized and the urgency of the item I am working on.

Some projects I know what I need to do next and I'm on a roll so I just keep going with the next action, some of those actions never make it to my lists and only when I stop do I document where I was when I finished. Other projects have been well thought out and lots of next actions are already defined. In my system the next action automatically becomes available when I finish one. Some projects are not well defined and I postpone decisions on the next action until the weekly review. And I sometimes do various versions or mixtures of the above as the case warrants.

 

[sdann]

1 or 3. I use a program that flags me if a project doesn't have a next action.

 

[unstuffed]

#4 - Something else.

I tend to see the NAs as bookmarks: they tell me where I can jump back into a project, but I don't always just do that one item and stop. Often I'll continue automatically for a while, doing other stuff, and sometimes when I stop I'll write down the next NA, but often I won't.

I'll sometimes dump a bunch of not-really-next Actions into my project support material, if I think I might not remember about them (aspects of a project that are not compulsory, for example), but mostly I find that the NA is more usefully defined at the point where I stop - that tells me what's next, more than any predefined programme.

Just my way - your mileage may, as ever, vary.

 

[abhay]

1, but not quite. I would rephrase it as "as soon as I stop working on that project for the time being for whatever reasons (lunch, leaving for home, etc)", which I kickstarted with the NA that was written down.

In most cases, option 2 would be too slow, but there may be exceptions as Oogiem notes. Treat weekly review as a safety net (among other things that do not happen on a daily basis), and not as the only time to decide next actions.

Regards,
Abhay

 

[Brent]

I am new to GTD and think I have a fairly good handle on the process. My question to you is how do you deal with NAs once they are completed?

Do you

1. Before/After marking the NA as complete draft the next NA.
2. Wait for the weekly review to write the next one, bearing in mind that this could be 6 days later.
3. Have a list of Actions to complete the project and the next one automatically becomes the Next Action.
4. Something else.

I deal with the NA once I'm done with that particular work session.

Let's say I have an NA to write the next bit of a story, as part of completing a short story. I decide to work on that NA. I start writing. I continue writing for an hour, going well beyond the bit outlined in the NA. I then sit back and take a deep breath, and look at my NA list. I cross out the NA that no longer applies, and write a new one ("Draft query letter").

Sometimes, of course, I forget to write the NA before moving on, but as I scan my NA lists throughout the day, out-of-date NAs will be obvious and I can update them then. Or they'll be taken care of at my next Weekly Review, of course.

 

[Day Owl]

Let's say I have an NA to write the next bit of a story, as part of completing a short story. I decide to work on that NA. I start writing. I continue writing for an hour, going well beyond the bit outlined in the NA. I then sit back and take a deep breath, and look at my NA list. I cross out the NA that no longer applies, and write a new one ("Draft query letter").

My goodness, Brent, a query letter just as the draft is barely cool? No revisions? No keeping it overnight so you can look at it with fresh eyes in the morning? I'm green jealous!

 

[Brent]

Heh. I wish! I actually do a lot of revisions to my manuscripts.

 

[Day Owl]

Heh. I wish! I actually do a lot of revisions to my manuscripts.

Well, that's a relief. You're in good company (Hemingway, me, et al.).

 

[Glitch]

The Nature of Next Action Lists

I have followed this Thread with great interest and done some personal questioning about the original post and here is what I think is missing in the replies it generated.

If the nature of Next Action lists is not understood, they cannot be used as effective tools. A Next Action list is a tool to help you gain horizontal control or focus in your life/projects. What they do is this: they remind you of all your outstanding Projects that could concretely be moved forward by performing one of the actions within the list. In essence, they give you a landscaped of what project can be leveraged in your current context. Putting subsequent actions in your NA list would only dilute this vision; it is a no no.

If you want to understand the sequencing of a project itself, then a project plan is the tool you are looking for.

As I see it, some of the posts have been mixing a few concepts like the one about the operating table and the cockpit of an airplane. Here is what I mean:

There is a tendency of wanting to put several subsequent actions on the same Next Action list when they have the same Context. One thinks.. well, when I finish this action, then I could do the one after that easily so why not put them all on that list... Context lists serve 2 purpose. One is the purpose I stated above wich is: "What project should I move forward right now in the context that I am?". The other purpose has more to do with the field of expertise it was originally built for wich is "Knowledge Works". In this field of work, you sometimes need to pull a lot of non related project actions together and do them all at once to save time and energy.

The nature of knowledge works is so that the nature of the projects seem to change all the time. So your subsequent action will often change depending on the result of the Next Action you have to perform. Thinking about them in advance is sometimes counter productive in that scenario. That is exactly where one should chop an action and say that this action is granular enough.

When you can say by looking at the action description that you know that you can comfortably evaluate if you can finish it before something unexpected shifts your focus. It is where you believe that you could easily put the project you are working on aside and move to another project easily if the need arises. Opening a book rarely fits into that category and operating on a patient surely doesn't.

Now let's come back to the pilot exemple. The smallest Next Action that could be in his Next Actions list is not even piloting his plane to destination. Piloting is his job, it should be in his agenda as something he cannot move or do when he has spare time or he pleases. When he has to pilot, he is in ONE context and has ONE project on his plate so he should not opt to use a context list to make an informed choice. He should instead look at a Project Plan wich has all the sequential action steps he needs to pull the project to completion and use it as a checklist. Same goes for a doctor. Prep for surgery might be possible but surgery is a project that has priority on anything else and you shouldn't have the opportunity to change context in the middle of it. I understand something urgent and non standard could happen but even then, the tool to help you focus in these circumstances is not the context lists but project plans.

In a nutshell:

1. What I believe is an effective way to use GTD's Next Action lists is to think of them as a TOOL that will allow you to see your projects that you can move forward in any one context.
2. Next Action's granularity should be thought of as where could I chop this project and easily go to another and come back to this one later.
3. It all comes down to what tool you need... A Project Plan for vertical focus or a Context list (NA list) for horizontal focus. If you want both controls, you need two lists!

Also, this part came up...
In a project, you may have more then 1 movable (read actionable) part.

From Paperback Book "Getting Things Done" p.76

The Basics

• Decide on next actions for each of the current moving parts of the project.
• Decide on the next action in the planning process, if necessary.

These parts could be developed in projects of their own if you feel like the situation warrants it. Making them effectively sub-projects of your big project. But you should have 1 Next Action per moving part of your project

 

[Pablo]

[*]It all comes down to what tool you need... A Project Plan for vertical focus or a Context list (NA list) for horizontal focus. If you want both controls, you need two lists!

Outlook allows you to use a Project Plan and the NA list via Context in the same list. By Creating a project, context = *Project & listing your NAs in the notes field line by line. At the bottom of the task window click on Categories & select your Contexts. I always select *Project & the corresponding @context that goes with the NA listed in the notes field. Hence the Project & NA are in the same list.

During my weekly review I only have to peruse my *Projects list. I do have other @Contexts but they are incorporated in the *Projects list so I don't have to do a double scan.

Pablo

QUOTE]

 

[Glitch]

I totally acknowledge that you can find tools that will give you both visions at once and if that's what you feel you need, then by all means you should use them. In my experience though, doing that, you tend to notice the BIG and LONG projects more and you start putting more effort into them then into the other projects/areas of you life and work.

If a Project is an Active one and not in the someday/maybe list, then it means you intend to finish it as soon as possible like all the other ones in the Project List. So most of the time, your better off completing a buch of tasks not related to the same projects so that everything moves smoothly forward. You can always focus on one if it becomes a priority. But as soon as you do, you start loosing perspective on all the others.

It's like this old chinese proverb says:
If you look at a Tree (Vertical Focus), your not seeing the Forest (Horizontal Focus).

Big projects will have a number of movable parts so it will be incorporated in the context lists and that project will naturally get done according to size. When you see you have your actions done for your context, you'll probably see you In-box full with the NA of all those you just finished. Time to process again

On top of that, when I see all the actions for all the projects that I have, I start to feel stressed because I see that I have so much stuff I want to accomplish and that I have so limited time to do them all. This defeats the purpose of getting things out of your mind to work stress free IMHO.

 

[Pablo]

I totally acknowledge that you can find tools that will give you both visions at once and if that's what you feel you need, then by all means you should use them. In my experience though, doing that, you tend to notice the BIG and LONG projects more and you start putting more effort into them then into the other projects/areas of you life and work.

I don't notice BIG and LONG projects anymore than I do projects with fewer NAs. When I open Outlook & Click on a context it ONLY shows me ONE NA for each project. I still process my projects by the 4-Criteria model for choosing NAs:
1. Context
2. Time Available
3. Energy
4. Priority

I Currently have 108 projects and w/ 108 NAs, weighing each one by the 4-Criteria model.

If a Project is an Active one and not in the someday/maybe list, then it means you intend to finish it as soon as possible like all the other ones in the Project List. So most of the time, your better off completing a buch of tasks not related to the same projects so that everything moves smoothly forward. You can always focus on one if it becomes a priority. But as soon as you do, you start loosing perspective on all the others.

Totally agree with you on the previous paragraph.

It's like this old chinese proverb says:
If you look at a Tree (Vertical Focus), your not seeing the Forest (Horizontal Focus).

Big projects will have a number of movable parts so it will be incorporated in the context lists and that project will naturally get done according to size. When you see you have your actions done for your context, you'll probably see you In-box full with the NA of all those you just finished. Time to process
again

I don't have to reprocess my NAs, because as soon as I complete it I date stamp it & move it to the bottom of the list.

On top of that, when I see all the actions for all the projects that I have, I start to feel stressed because I see that I have so much stuff I want to accomplish and that I have so limited time to do them all. This defeats the purpose of getting things out of your mind to work stress free IMHO.

Seeing all the actions for the projects that you have, just shows you that you've done some advanced thinking. Sorta like setting up dominos and watching them all topple in the order that you designed them to.

Pablo