Daily review, projects, due data and google apps!

[B B]

Hey all! I am in the first stages of applying GTD using google apps. I’m reading the books and listening to the audible for the second time now bc there is so much to absorb! If you can help with these questions it would be MUCH appreciated

What is a daily review?

Am I supposed to process inboxes every day? What part of GTD Do you do every day and at what point ?

What if some steps within a projects are projects of their own? Do I add those to a separate project list?

Let’s say I need to get a broken light fixture fixed. I took the next action which was to write to the electrician. Now I’m waiting for him to reply. What do I do with the light fixture? Just leave it on my desk? Put it in a tickler (kinda big)? I’m not sure for what day he’ll schedule me to visit, could be this week, could be the next! Leave it in a corner?

What if I absolutely have to finish a project at some point TOMORROW. Does that go in projects, NA, and tickler? Or calendar as due date?

I am implementing GTD with google - keep, drive and calendar. Any tips and tricks you can share to make it more efficient?

 

[bdavidson]

The project and the associated actions are in both my digital Nirvanahq lists and in my Michael Hyatt Full Focus planner.

OT: I just gave up on my Full Focus Planner (bought in 2018 and picked up again last month). I just couldn’t get comfortable with the format and fixed layout. I had done a BulletJournal for a long time, but as usual when I feel overwhelmed I revert back to GTD and Outlook (plus To Do now). I like paper, but can’t yet build the habit to keep it current.

 

[TesTeq]

The project and the associated actions are in both my digital Nirvanahq lists and in my Michael Hyatt Full Focus planner.

1. Do you really have time to keep two systems. I can hardly keep one!
2. What about synchronization? You know: if you have one clock, you know what time it is. If you have two - you're never sure which one tells the truth!

 

[B B]

A daily review will vary from person to person. I do this first thing in the morning. First, I review my calendar for the day - my hard landscape to see my meetings and time blocks for focused work. Then I review my projects list, next action list, and then my waiting for list. All of this sets the stage for me to embark on my three most important things I wish to do today.

I would have a place to keep those kinds of things - a large waiting for reference area that contains physical objects associated with your waiting for list. If I have to finish a project at some point tomorrow, I most definitely time block so I have the protected time to be able to do this work. The project and the associated actions are in both my digital Nirvanahq lists and in my Michael Hyatt Full Focus planner.

Thanks !! Also i read your post on time blocking - very interesting!!

 

[Oogiem]

What is a daily review?

Am I supposed to process inboxes every day? What part of GTD Do you do every day and at what point ?

What if some steps within a projects are projects of their own? Do I add those to a separate project list?

Let’s say I need to get a broken light fixture fixed. I took the next action which was to write to the electrician. Now I’m waiting for him to reply. What do I do with the light fixture? Just leave it on my desk? Put it in a tickler (kinda big)? I’m not sure for what day he’ll schedule me to visit, could be this week, could be the next! Leave it in a corner?

What if I absolutely have to finish a project at some point TOMORROW. Does that go in projects, NA, and tickler? Or calendar as due date?

I do a quick review each morning as I complete my morning routine. Mine has the following steps:

1. Check weather
2. Check Calendar
3. Process last nights notes (my writing at night is terrible, I have to process while I can still sort of remember what I wanted to do.)
4. Quick read all my Next Action lists by context

I try to plan on between 1-1.5 hours each day to process inputs to my inboxes, primarily e-mail and paper. If I miss a few days I know I have to plan on a full day to catch up.

I use my next action lists all the time, that is how I do stuff.

For me if a project has steps that are a project I make a whole new project for it in my list manager SW. I don' like sub-projects. If there is a dependency I embed that in a next action like waiting for project X to be done as part of Project Y's actions.

I have lots of those physical action support items. It's a constant struggle but I try to create an are in each major location (house, hay barn, shop, little house etc.) where I stash that and the action of Waiting for references where the item is actually located. For example: Waiting for new marker crayons for ram harness to arrive. and the note says harness in garage on halter rack.

Have to finish has due dates and shows up in my list manager in red. I don't put that sort of thing on my calendar unless it's a meeting or other time specific item. Day specific stays in my list manager but other people do it differently.

 

[B B]

I do a quick review each morning as I complete my morning routine. Mine has the following steps:

1. Check weather
2. Check Calendar
3. Process last nights notes (my writing at night is terrible, I have to process while I can still sort of remember what I wanted to do.)
4. Quick read all my Next Action lists by context

I try to plan on between 1-1.5 hours each day to process inputs to my inboxes, primarily e-mail and paper. If I miss a few days I know I have to plan on a full day to catch up.

I use my next action lists all the time, that is how I do stuff.

For me if a project has steps that are a project I make a whole new project for it in my list manager SW. I don' like sub-projects. If there is a dependency I embed that in a next action like waiting for project X to be done as part of Project Y's actions.

I have lots of those physical action support items. It's a constant struggle but I try to create an are in each major location (house, hay barn, shop, little house etc.) where I stash that and the action of Waiting for references where the item is actually located. For example: Waiting for new marker crayons for ram harness to arrive. and the note says harness in garage on halter rack.

Have to finish has due dates and shows up in my list manager in red. I don't put that sort of thing on my calendar unless it's a meeting or other time specific item. Day specific stays in my list manager but other people do it differently.

Thank you so much, very helpful!!

 

[B B]

Everyone is different -- sorry you could not make it work. The new 2019 version is fantastic and I am enjoying the feel of paper to complement my digital task system.

Paper is always great! If notebooks weren’t heavy, I would use one to complement.

I plan to use a notebook to create a sort of “suggested plan for the day” that DA suggests in his book

 

[Jared Caron]

Am I supposed to process inboxes every day? What part of GTD Do you do every day and at what point ?

So to directly answer this part...

You are definitely on the right track here. There are certainly best practices for daily habits to build to support your GTD practice. As @Oogiem and @Longstreet described quite well, a daily review is a great practice. Mine involves the following

1. Review calendar
2. Quick scan of email - just to catch any emergencies (I don't recommend this if you're still learning how to do the clarify step) this is not emptying my inbox
3. Empty tickler file (I use the 43 folder setup from the book)
4. Review action lists, I often filter this to items due in the next 7 days so I can identify priorities for discretionary time I may have
5. Review waiting for list to see if I need to follow up on anything

Emptying inboxes (physical and electronic as well as voicemail, etc) should definitely be a regular habit. DA gives 24-48 hours as a rule of thumb. So daily isn't a bad goal but as @Oogiem said you will want to plan about an hour-90 minutes spread throughout each day to do this realistically. Some days that just won't happen, so it's okay to let it go a day or maybe two but after that you'll start to feel buried by backlog.

 

[Longstreet]

So to directly answer this part...

You are definitely on the right track here. There are certainly best practices for daily habits to build to support your GTD practice. As @Oogiem and @Longstreet described quite well, a daily review is a great practice. Mine involves the following

1. Review calendar
2. Quick scan of email - just to catch any emergencies (I don't recommend this if you're still learning how to do the clarify step) this is not emptying my inbox
3. Empty tickler file (I use the 43 folder setup from the book)
4. Review action lists, I often filter this to items due in the next 7 days so I can identify priorities for discretionary time I may have
5. Review waiting for list to see if I need to follow up on anything

Emptying inboxes (physical and electronic as well as voicemail, etc) should definitely be a regular habit. DA gives 24-48 hours as a rule of thumb. So daily isn't a bad goal but as @Oogiem said you will want to plan about an hour-90 minutes spread throughout each day to do this realistically. Some days that just won't happen, so it's okay to let it go a day or maybe two but after that you'll start to feel buried by backlog.

This is excellent advice! Cheers!

 

[John Ismyname]

What is a daily review?
My daily review is three things;
1. I make sure that every task I did came off my Outlook todo and @_ lists. Thus, at the end-of-day, my GTD system is 100% up-to-date. (While not part of GTD, I also run and save an Outlook report of the tasks I completed on that day, noting the difference between the budgeted time and actual time fields. This forces me to be a better estimator of how long a task will take. )

2. I make sure my Outlook Calendar start the day as a plan and finishes as a diary/record of what I did. I make sure this is up to date and save it. While this is not part of GTD, I find it useful to see how I spend my time and how long things actually take me to do.

3. i keep an excel spreadsheet on several quantifiable aspects of my day. AGain not part of GTD but useful to see how efficient and effective I was.

Am I supposed to process inboxes every day? What part of GTD Do you do every day and at what point ?

You process them as often as you need to. For example, I have an inbox that is a manilla folder labelled "snail mail". I process this every Friday. It's mostly bills, which I pay every Friday (so I can download the data Saturday and do my bookeeping and investment tracking every Saturday.... or it won't get done>)

Comversely, I process my email inbox(s) to near-zero once a day. This isn't part of GTD but every hour I glance at my email and texts (neither of which have alerts).

What if some steps within a projects are projects of their own? Do I add those to a separate project list?

I'm assuming you mean phases of a project like "design" and "build". I keep those separate as the design theoretically has to finish before the build can start.

Let’s say I need to get a broken light fixture fixed. I took the next action which was to write to the electrician. Now I’m waiting for him to reply.

Maybe I'm dating myself here but I'd telephone him. There'd be to much back-and-forthing and waiting to arrange an appointment by email and everybody carries a phone and their calendar on their smartphone.

What do I do with the light fixture? Just leave it on my desk? Put it in a tickler (kinda big)?

Put the fixture in a box or shopping bag and put that into your closet. Put a follow-up in your GTD @_Waiting For list to remind you to call the electrician if he doesn't call you. This reminder would also remind me the box/bag is in your closet.

What if I absolutely have to finish a project at some point TOMORROW. Does that go in projects, NA, and tickler? Or calendar as due date?

For anything that has to be finished tomorrow, you (and your project team) must calendar-block the time today and tomorrow to get it done. Even if the due date is in the future, it's a good practice to determine and execute what you can do to move your project forward on a daily basis. These big public-work mega projects that are years behind schedule get that way one day at a time.

 

[Longstreet]

You process them as often as you need to. For example, I have an inbox that is a manilla folder labelled "snail mail". I process this every Friday. It's mostly bills, which I pay every Friday (so I can download the data Saturday and do my bookeeping and investment tracking every Saturday.... or it won't get done>)

Comversely, I process my email inbox(s) to near-zero once a day. This isn't part of GTD but every hour I glance at my email and texts (neither of which have alerts).

I'm assuming you mean phases of a project like "design" and "build". I keep those separate as the design theoretically has to finish before the build can start.


Maybe I'm dating myself here but I'd telephone him. There'd be to much back-and-forthing and waiting to arrange an appointment by email and everybody carries a phone and their calendar on their smartphone.


Put the fixture in a box or shopping bag and put that into your closet. Put a follow-up in your GTD @_Waiting For list to remind you to call the electrician if he doesn't call you. This reminder would also remind me the box/bag is in your closet.


For anything that has to be finished tomorrow, you (and your project team) must calendar-block the time today and tomorrow to get it done. Even if the due date is in the future, it's a good practice to determine and execute what you can do to move your project forward on a daily basis. These big public-work mega projects that are years behind schedule get that way one day at a time.

Yes! Creating these protected time blocks on your calendar is key to focusing on important work and projects that are due soon.

 

[sholden]

Another recommendation is to turn off all notifications on your devices other than things that are emergency related (text messages, critical emails, etc). Keep them at a minimum. Also when you install a new app, a lot of times the notifications are all on by default.

 

[John Ismyname]

Another recommendation is to turn off all notifications on your devices other than things that are emergency related (text messages, critical emails, etc).

Agreed! When I stated that, during calendar-blocked work sessions, I only check email and text messages once an hour, the corollary is that I have their notifiers all turned off. I have an app that alerts me if there is a text from a white-listed person. For everyone else, their message can sit for less than an hour until I look at my phone.Back in the day, I use to turn off my phone ringer but now phone calls have been displaced by email and text. For the rare call I get during a calendar blocked work session, I check call display, if its important, I take the call. Otherwise, with one tap, the ringer goes off and the call goes to voicemail.