Connecting Projects to Areas of Responsibility

[mijones]

We just covered this in detail in today's webinar for GTD Connect members on "Developing your Higher Levels." There are some best practices that David talks about around this that we shared on the webinar.

It will be up on Connect for replay in a few days. (If you're not a member, consider joining!....or the free trial.)

that's great news, I'll definitely take a look at the Connect trial to see if it helps give me more clarity on this topic

 

[Marcelo]

I can agree with that. The example I chose possibly doesn't highlight the scenario I was trying to make. How about this one?:

20,000 ft level: 'household responsibilities'
next-action: - wash the inside of the fridge; it is dirty

the action is basic enough that it doesn't need a project. you could possibly create a project out of it though if you wanted to say that the multiple actions are: 'fill bucket with water', 'take groceries out of fridge', 'scrub inside of fridge', 'put groceries back into fridge', 'put bucket away'.

But i wonder if those steps are too small. isn't there a certain point where you can say "i need to keep track of the open loop of having to clean the fridge, and just by being reminded of that open loop I will automatically know the basic elements of how to get that done, so It would be an inefficient use of my time to write down all the basic automatic steps.". I have the feeling that GTD methodology would probably say that it's okay to write down all the smallest most basic steps. I imagine it's easier to get started on a task if my next actions says "get a bucket of water" versus "clean the fridge"...

LOL, come on guys, you are making this ridiculous. Every physical action can be subdivided infinitely, because it happens in time and space and also these can. "Call John" may start by "raise index finger one inch" (that might be the case if you were rehabilitating your hand after an accident BTW). The perception of what a discrete action is is subjective, and depends on the subjectively perceived complexity and effort necessary to perform that action, which in turn is relative to the subject's degree of proficiency at performing it, his level of focus, etc. I think Merlin Man said he likes to think of actions in terms of 5 minutes duration activities. Someone with a greater span of focus may think of 30 minutes duration, etc.

GTD gives a general outline, based on common sense, on how to get your act together . What you define as an action, a project or a goal remains a subjective decision. At least so it seems to me.

 

[aaronj]

Marcelo, completely agree that how you granulate next actions is totally subjective. Granulate as much as it takes to clarify and motivate the physical next action and no more. That's going to be bigger for some and smaller for others -- for me pretty small relative to the average I'd guess. Although, I haven't needed to get to micro movements of my individual fingers yet However, I find discussions about levels of granularity useful in refining my approach. So, I think it's a helpful discussion point for me.

mijones, to your original question about linking each next action with the area of responsibility, what value are you hoping to get from that?

Aaron

 

[Marcelo]

Granulate as much as it takes to clarify and motivate the physical next action and no more.

I like that.

I find discussions about levels of granularity useful in refining my approach. So, I think it's a helpful discussion point for me.

Yes , you are right.

 

[pxt]

I think the OP sumarizes very well what 's going on with the 20k-level list. Thanks go to the OP for that. Secondly I want to add a few tokens.

1. The 20k-level is the first representation of the horizontal level. Than there is a repetition of that on a broader scale at the 50k-level.
The 40k-level is somewhat horizontal. The 0k, 10k and 30k a strictly vertical.

2. The 20k-list proved to be a helpful tool for me to decide if a project really is a 30k-goal. It acts like a scythe that cuts projects that grew rampant in a similiar fashion like the definition of when an action becomes a project.

3. Some projects cover more than one 20k-level item. That makes it complicated to always keep projects sorted by Areas of Focus. Also such a grouping, while helpful as a tool (like OP describes), is not rpresentation of reality because life is interconected. For example if you complete your fitness goals regularly it also will help you with endurance on your job.

4. For me the well-defined and refined 20k-level helped me to stabilize my self more than any of the other lists. It is the answer at least for me to de big what-to-do question. Somehow I tend to think on that level more than on others. I am interested in thougths on that.

I think it's interesting how you linked the 20K level to the 50K level.

I tend to think of my 20K areas as being key success factors for my 50K purpose.

I can survive quite well without goals and visions, just on my areas, and then add in goals and visions as ways of adding extra focus to certain topics.

So your breakdown of the six horizons into more-vertically-oriented and more-horizontally-oriented matches a pattern I was half aware of.

 

[Suelin23]

I mapped out my HOF in one word document. For AOF I found it useful to have a bulleted indented list
-AOF
*responsibility
>projects

I also realised that some responsibilities have associated next actions and also checklists/habits, but chose not to put them in this document as I couldn't come up with a neat format, it just started cluttering up my list with things that weren't really important. Next actions for a responsibility can go straight on my NA list, there's no need to link them to the responsibility. Checklists go into my checklists app or my reference filing system.

 

[pxt]

I mapped out my HOF in one word document. For AOF I found it useful to have a bulleted indented list
-AOF
*responsibility
>projects

I also realised that some responsibilities have associated next actions and also checklists/habits, but chose not to put them in this document as I couldn't come up with a neat format, it just started cluttering up my list with things that weren't really important. Next actions for a responsibility can go straight on my NA list, there's no need to link them to the responsibility. Checklists go into my checklists app or my reference filing system.

How active a role does your HOF document play and how often ?

I.e., what do you use it for?

 

[Suelin23]

Not very often. At higher levels maybe only quarterly. But whenever I'm thinking of making a new project, I like to check that the new project aligns with my areas of focus and responsibilities, just to make sure that I should be doing it, and doing it now, rather than putting it on a someday/maybe list or suggesting someone else take it on.

 

[pxt]

My areas of focus have taken on a life of their own.

Each acts like a funnel, gathering ideas for new projects and then spitting out Next Projects.

Each of my projects ends with an action I call [CLOSE] in which I re-clarify the project back into its area of focus and then choose a new project of the same area of focus to replace it. So I visit my areas of focus frequently and maintain a balance of project count across my fifteen areas.

The names of the fifteen have been carefully crafted such that if I have 2 projects each, then my life is 100% covered and completely in balance - all in support of my Purpose. Hence the relevance to this thread in which they discuss the vertical links versus horizontal links through the horizons.