Confused over 'next action tasks' and project 'sub-action tasks' in task environment

R

Ramalew

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I'm in a panic and would welcome some advice. I've categorised all my tasks (usually by converting emails to tasks using quick steps) but find I have a massive task list, albeit in category order. Some are context categories (office, errands etc.) which are OK ish. My problem is all the @projects categories and ALL the tasks and sub-actions within those project tasks.

I find myself sorting and trying to find the next actions within the projects. My current method is to highlight the next action within the task using a numbered list and then highlighting my actions using with a yellow highlight. Arghh I'm too tired to actually do the actions when I'm done!

I guess I'm mixing up my simple next actions with my project sub-actions and trying to solve them all in Outlook's task list environment.

Has anyone any suggestions that might help? I would be most grateful if you do.
 
Ramalew,

I too have struggled with connecting actions to projects in the past. I'm going to propose something seemingly radical: stop trying to connect the two. Trust that in your weekly review you will see that you're making appropriate progress. If a project is truly complicated enough to need subprojects and subactions, store these notes and planning materials in with your reference file for that project rather than clutter your next action list. The next actions should only contain the very next physical thing to do to move a project forward. In my experience, mixing these with the titles of projects and subprojects creates unnecessary mental stress when choosing what to do in a given moment.

While I'm currently back to a paper-based system, I've used Outlook before with much success.

Hope this helps,
Stew
 
As Stew proposed, GTD does not recommend grouping actions by project, but by context. I will offer this though, as you’re using Outlook: if you give each project an abbreviation, and prefix each next action with the project abbreviation, they will sort together when you sort the task list alphabetically. If the project task item is also prefixed, but using a different delimiter, you can make it sort at the top of all the next actions. You’ll have to experiment with delimiters to see how they order, but it could look like:

rk: redecorate kitchen (@projects)
rk. buy paint for window frame (@errands)
rk. measure area to tile (@home)
sp: sort holiday photos (@projects)
sp. upload all pictures from camera (@computer)

You get the picture. I don’t suggest that the contexts are written in the task description; categories are used for those. If you haven’t set up Outlook with the GTD guide, I strongly recommend it. You could then have one view set up like the GTD guide instructs, and the create a separate view for the alphabetical order. Then you can easily switch between the two, using the context view for deciding on what to work on, and switching to the alphabetical one when doing a weekly review, for example.
 
Or you can use an app that fully supports both projects and contexts, such as Nirvana, Zendone, Doit, Omnifocus and many other "GTD" apps.

But if you are using paper, then I would drop the project "linking" altogether. At least, this is what I used to do when I used paper (until the late '90s).
 
Ramalew said:
I

Has anyone any suggestions that might help? I would be most grateful if you do.
Click to expand...
Switch to a tool that supports the GTD system better? Seriously, I think any reasonable GTD tool should allow for next actions in a project view for planning purposes but present them in context view for actual doing.
 
The below are all how I do this, rather than "This is the RIGHT WAY!"

My view is that if you support all possible nuances and complexity, you will add so much complexity to your system that it will be unusable. So you have to strip out complexity until it's usable. Exactly what you strip depends on your work, your work style, the tools you're using (I agree that switching to a tool that does this linking automatically would be a good idea), your mind, and your personality.

The below describes what I strip out right now.

1) I think that converting emails directly to tasks is a mistake. I know that lots of people do it, but for me, it makes a mess. A single email may contain many tasks. A single task may be represented by many emails. The email may contain several paragraphs while all you want when scanning tasks is a few words.

So when I get an email that will probably be a task, I enter it as a line item in my OmniFocus Inbox. If I had a paper system, I'd scribble it on a paper scrap, and throw it in a physical Inbox. And I include enough information to allow me to search for the email. Then I just stuff the email into a single archive with all the other emails for the year.

Examples of the line items/paper scraps:

Bug in Widget report totals. (Email J. Smith, 3/13/16)
Suggestion from manager re new hires. (Email 3/7/16)
Policy change re Take Daughter Work Day (Email 2/15/16)

When you do this, you have a list of items, instead of a floundering mass of emails. That is, IMO, much easier to sort and, once sorted, much easier to scan. It feels like extra work compared to just dragging the email or running a script on it, but IMO it pays off the first or second time you re-read the email to figure out what in the world it was about.

3) I don't do sub-actions. Either the "sub" thing is a separate project, or it's just an action of its higher-level project. So while someone who does subprojects might have:

Throw Grandma's birthday party.
-- Deal with food
----Ask Jane for recommendations about caterers.
----Another action.
----Another action.
----Another action.
----Another action.
-- Find venue.
----Call the community center for rooms and rates.
----Another action.
----Another action.
----Another action.

I would have EITHER:

Throw Grandma's birthday party.
-- Ask Jane for recommendations about caterers.
-- Call the community center for rooms and rates.

OR:

Deal with food for Grandma's birthday party.
-- Ask Jane for recommendations about caterers.
Find venue for Grandma's birthday party.
-- Call the community center for rooms and rates.

I realize that all of these are essentially the same thing, but to me it makes a big difference in hair-tearing to avoid that intervening hierarchical level.

4) Notice how all the "Another action." went away above? I don't allow more than a couple of actions per project. Ideally, I'd have only one.

If I fear that I'll forget the other actions, I'll put them in an unsorted list in the project support material for the project. But more and more, I'm learning that if I can think of it today, I'll think of it next month.

So, if I could make my Next Action for a project any one of sixteen possible options, because none of the options depend on the other, which one do I pick? I just pick one. I wouldn't say it's random, but it's pretty close. If next week is a meeting-heavy week and I can't face another meeting, it'll be the non-meeting task. If a coworker who's always travelling is in town next week, it'll be the task that depends on him. Unless I don't like him and it's going to be a stressful week. I just...pick one.

5) I put most projects in Someday/Maybe. If I'm not going to work on it in the next two weeks, or even if I MIGHT not get to it in the next two weeks, it's in Someday/Maybe. If it's in Someday/Maybe I don't even scan it on a daily basis.

6) The end result of this is that I want my Next Action list to be no more than about a dozen items long. There's Someday/Maybe and project support material ready and waiting if I run out of work, but my scan-it-now list is as short as I can possibly make it.
 
Gardener said:
1) I think that converting emails directly to tasks is a mistake. I know that lots of people do it, but for me, it makes a mess. A single email may contain many tasks. A single task may be represented by many emails. The email may contain several paragraphs while all you want when scanning tasks is a few words.
Click to expand...

I agree: that's probably the source of the problem. In the GTD terms the "stuff" from the e-mail inbox wasn't processed. It was just moved to lists using Outlook's "quick steps". The GTD workflow consist of 5 steps: capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage. Any automatic conversion from email to tasks is a temptation to organize without thorough clarification (processing).
 
I agree with Gardener and TesTeq. Converting emails directly to actions seems like a very dangerous (useless) practice, but it seems to be quite common; I have never quite understood why it is so popular.
 
Oogiem said:
Switch to a tool that supports the GTD system better? Seriously, I think any reasonable GTD tool should allow for next actions in a project view for planning purposes but present them in context view for actual doing.
Click to expand...
I use a spreadsheet* with three columns: Project, Next action and Context.
Sort by Project to get all Next Actions grouped together by their Projects- Good for weekly review.
Sort by Context to group the Next Actions by Context. Then just scroll down to whatever context I'm in and see what needs done.
If the NA doesn't have a Project then I leave that blank- still works.
Waiting Fors are just a special context "WF".
If I don't put a context then the item appears at the top of the list (when sorted by context). I use this for stuff that must be done today (not strictly GTD)
I've done this for years and it works great (for me).

*It's not really a spreadsheet it's a simple flat file database, but any software that can do columns and rows, and sort alphabetically, would work.
 
Ramalew: I used to use Outlook as my task manager and ran into similar issues. Outlook doesn't support linking projects to next actions, and any workarounds IMHO are more trouble than they're worth. If you think the linkages are important, I'd suggest switching to a tool that offers that feature. If you'd prefer not to migrate to another task manager, I'd suggest organizing next actions by context alone.

Practicing GTD doesn't require you to link projects and NAs. I used to think I needed to link them but tried going without and was pleasantly surprised to find I didn't miss having that feature. Others swear by linking them. You'll find a lot of strong opinions on both sides but the only preference that matters WRT your GTD practice is yours.

If you're not sure, I'd suggest sticking with Outlook and organizing actions by context alone. Why? Because if it works for you, you won't have to go to the trouble of migrating to another list manager. If for some reason you're not comfortable with the results, you can always migrate to another list manager later.

Good luck either way.
 
Thank you very much for your advice. I think I will try sticking with Outlook Tasks but, as you say, use the tasks for context next actions only.
As I feel the need to drag a lot of my emails to the project task (which I'm now going to try to do without) where do you suggest I could keep all my electronic project support material such as emails, word docs, my own written to-do lists (but not NAs)?
 
Thanks to everyone for your helpful suggestions. I will re-read them and look to see what the best way could be. It looks as you are all consistent in saying don't convert emails to tasks so that will be the main theme of my GTD/Outlook improvements. I'll try a non external software route first but also take a look at Nirvana et al as a project + next action system would seem to suit. Let me take a good look and try some alternative ways and I'll come back to you all. Once again thanks so far.
 
Ramalew said:
As I feel the need to drag a lot of my emails to the project task (which I'm now going to try to do without) where do you suggest I could keep all my electronic project support material such as emails, word docs, my own written to-do lists (but not NAs)?
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Some sort of electronic notebook. If you can use cloud systems and have access Evernote works on PC systems. I'm on a Mac and will not use any cloud apps. I use DEVONThink for that purpose.
 
I don't believe turning emails into Outlook tasks is an inherently bad practice. Yes, some emails may have more than one action embedded in them but others may not. It all depends on the emails you receive and your personal preferences. As long as you are clarifying the action embedded in the email I can't see a problem. If it works for you, I wouldn't worry about what someone else thinks. There are a lot of strong opinions here but I would be cautious about accepting others' preferences -- including mine -- as GTD gospel. The only reason to change how you're managing your GRD system is if something you are doing is working against you rather than for you.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nothing is ever forbidden, but so many people seem to automatically equate emails and tasks, and to use automatic tools that convert emails to tasks, that it's worthwhile to question that assumption.

And the OP was dissatisfied with their system, so something in that system seems to be working against them.
 
Ramalew: Gardener's remark prompted me to re-read your initial post and I must admit I may have misunderstood you. At first I thought you were using categories to apply contexts to next actions as well as to link them to projects. Now I think I understand better: you are converting emails into project tasks and then highlighting the next actions within those project tasks so that they are "linked" to the project.

If that's the case, I think the issue is not so much that you are converting emails to tasks, which can be useful, but that you are mixing your next actions with project support. In GTD it is recommended that you keep them separate. Whenever you identify something you need to take action on, the best practice is to decide what that action (call someone, send an email, do web research, talk to someone, etc.) and then record that action in the appropriate context list (calls, at computer, agendas, etc.). It is much easier to review a list of actions grouped by the person, place or tool needed to accomplish them than to slog through project support to find them. Plus when your lists are sorted by context, you can save even more time and hassle by only focusing on tasks you can do where you are at a given time.

If you are not keeping next actions separate from project support it won't matter what tool you use; I dare say you won't derive the full benefit that GTD offers.

If you decide to stick with Outlook, again I would recommend organizing actions by context only, because I know of no good way to connect next actions to projects in Outlook. I would also recommend keeping distinct lists of projects, waiting for items, and projects.

If you want to convert emails to tasks, just make sure you're clarifying the physical, visible action you have decided on and putting it in the appropriate context list. If you want convert the email into a project item that's fine too (and possibly very useful); just be sure you're creating separate Outlook tasks for the next actions you decide on and putting them into the appropriate context lists.

If you decide to switch to software that allows you to link next actions to projects you may still be able to convert emails to tasks. A lot of cloud based list managers assign you a private email address so you can create tasks by sending an email. Some of them even have a special syntax that allows you to specify the task subject, context, due date (if appropriate) and more.

If you decide to forego converting emails to tasks altogether you can do what Oogie suggests and use an electronic notebook to store project support. Evernote and OneNote are two popular ones.

You can also store action and project support emails in Outlook folders. Under my inbox I have folders including @Action Support for actionable emails, @Read/Review, @Waiting For Support, and a variety of project and reference folders. I am able to find what I need when I need it using this very simple system.

If you want to stay with Outlook, the David Allen Company sells an excellent guide to setting it up to work with GTD. If you decide to move to something else you'll have to rely on whatever documentation is provided with that software, plus your own experimentation. You may also be able to get help from other forum members.

Whatever tool and features within that tool you choose, however, no technology will substitute for good GTD practices. Whatever you do I would strongly suggest keeping next actions distinct from project support.

Good luck with whatever path you choose.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I am a devoted Outlook user. Recently (after David's blog post this week), I realized that I am neglecting Next Actions and this is a very bad thing to do. But as OP says, there seems to be no good way to identify Next Actions in Outlook. My workaround is to use Categories to label projects or contexts, whatever is useful. Add the prefix "NA:" to a task in each Category. Tweak the To Do List view to only show tasks that begin with "NA:" by going to View Settings > Filter > Tasks > Search for the word(s): > Enter NA:

Another great tip: If you choose in your To Do List view settings, you can drag and drop your NAs to be in the order you plan to do them :)
 
Oogiem said:
Switch to a tool that supports the GTD system better? Seriously, I think any reasonable GTD tool should allow for next actions in a project view for planning purposes but present them in context view for actual doing.
Click to expand...
> I agree with Folke and Oogiem. I use Nirvana and it works beautifully in the exact manner that Oogiem has described!

I have just been experimenting with Nirvana, which looks good in various away. Am I correct in thinking that it has a way of showing the next (one) action for each Project? If so how do you get it to do this?


 
mskyle said:
But as OP says, there seems to be no good way to identify Next Actions in Outlook.
Click to expand...

There is: using categories as contexts. You can also create categories for your projects, waiting for, someday maybe and other lists as you see fit. You can create a view in Outlook that sorts tasks by category so it is easy to keep your lists distinct and easily reviewable. The David Allen Company sells a setup guide for Outlook: https://gtdconnect.com/store/home.php?cat=263. I've used a version of the guide for an older Outlook version and found it very useful.

What you can't do in Outlook is easily link next actions and projects. Some people will tell you you must have the linkages, others will tell you you must not. The truth is, such linking is not necessary for the practice of GTD but it can be useful to some. If linking is important to you, you'll want to find a tool other than Outlook. If staying with Outlook is more important, it's best to get used to doing without such links because the workarounds are more hassle than they're worth.

FWIW I used to use software that provided the linkage, and found myself happier when I decided to go without. Others swear by having the linkage. Neither my view nor theirs is wrong; it's all about personal preference. But don't get so hung up on trying to find the perfect tool that you spend an inordinate amount of time fiddling with your lists rather than accomplishing the things on them. As DA says, "any system can work as long as you work it."
 
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