Finding the task to work on today from different projects

[fooddude]

Another question I have is, if you have a tag "Next Action - Active", do you also have "Next Action - Inactive"?

And what would you recommend I do with projects where there are tasks for different people that I need to make sure get done. So as an example, I will have a Next Action, and I might have a task for both me and my business partner to discuss something or do something together. Then he will end up with a next Action that he committed to, and I need to track that in case he doesn't. And then I also need to delegate to my employees. So I tag those tasks with their name. And probably should also tag it with Delegate. But then I end up having multiple task in each project, and that's not the best practices. Here is an example:

View attachment 2183

It would be great if they all just used GTD and I could just forward these to them and they all track it in their system. But I basically have to track it on my end to make sure we are moving these things forward. I have a seperate Area of Focus for projects that involve task for other people, mostly my business partner has to do something and sometimes employees. That way I will only review that Area of Focus with my business partner and those projects are easy to find. But then I don't have just one Next Action per project. I divide them by headers. And all these tasks are part of the same project.

When I worked in tech we used the Agile development model at several companies, and that kind of tracking platform might be ideal for a team. But I don't really have anything like that in place right now. In Agile development they don't just have the Next Action because they have to plan the entire project and timeline. We would have the daily scrum meeting where everyone would update the group on where they are with the task they were assigned. In a lot of ways farming projects might need to have the end in mind and have a timeline. There are phases to implement project that need to be planned. Maybe that kind of project planning would be done in a different system. But then I have to delegate and oversee everything in my own tracking system somehow. Maybe I need to have some kind of timeline and phases in the notes of those type of projects for reference.

Would appreciated your thoughts on how to manage this. What I'm doing is not as complicated as building a software project and managing a big team, but I'm also not just managing my own tasks.

I would put all delegated actions in @Waiting for. The task should be given a due date and and request for completion confirmation and I would follow up with that person then. It is their responsibility to have a system for themselves. If you have to manage them closer than that you may have the wrong people. You may need to train additionally and probably should let them know your gtd system so they know how to manage projects. I’m not giving a project to someone I don’t think will finish it. What you have laid out seems complicated. Do you find yourself working more on the system than getting things accomplished?

 

[Gardener]

The problem I am seeing in how I am doing this is that I end up with more than one Next Action per project because I am tracking actions delegated to others. Not totally sure how to change that. The reason I use headers is because it's easier for me to visually see how the workload is divided. I use tags too so I can search by person's name.

I think that's OK. My "only one Next Action per project" rule exists to minimize the size of the list that I have to read, and minimize my decisions. These actions aren't things for you to do or things for you to make decisions about. You can presumably tag them as delegated and produce a search that produces just one Next Action per project for you.

I have most markets covered by other people who sell for me but I am the fill in person if someone cancels. I also have to drop off at markets and transfer thing to different vehicles. The reason I have to go there 4 days out of the week is because my farmers' markets are in the Bay Area in the big cities there and the farm is over 2 hours away. I stay with my family in San Francisco while I come down to do these market and do deliveries. Logistically I can't pay someone to take all the product and go out and do this for me or pay them for all those day, and provide them with a place to stay. But I am sure I can benefit from looking into Horizons of Focus more to gain better clarity and vision. It's already one of my Next Actions. I've kind of done some exploration of Horizon of Focus but have not fully implemented it.

I think that The Lean Farm and The Lean Micro Farm could potentially be useful in helping you figure out what efforts are giving you the most return per effort. The Lean Micro Farm in particular discusses how they narrowed down to their most profitable efforts.

For example, maybe there's some profit-making effort that you don't have the resources for, and maybe cutting your least profitable or most troublesome farmer's market would give you those resources back. Or stopping the markets a month earlier in the year. Or...something. I'm not saying any of those make sense, they're just examples.

 

[RomanS]

The problem I am seeing in how I am doing this is that I end up with more than one Next Action per project because I am tracking actions delegated to others.

According to the original GTD, it is okay to have several Next Actions per project as long as they are parallel and not sequential actions. In other words, actions that can be executed immediately and independently of each other, provided the context is given and the necessary time is available.

 

[fooddude]

According to the original GTD, it is okay to have several Next Actions per project as long as they are parallel and not sequential actions. In other words, actions that can be executed immediately and independently of each other, provided the context is given and the necessary time is available.

That also assumes you are good at the basics. I find people who put all their next actions down on a “project” list and then put them down on contexts as next actions. What normally happens is: project list, then a “project plan” for each project with next actions. And then next actions on context lists. Way too complicated and too many moving parts. I do a note in Apple notes called projects. I have a note for each context. I put the very next action on the context lists. I currently have 50 some active projects and not one “project planning” note for them. I won’t say I never do but I try very hard not to. I gave an example above where I might have two next actions. It was an appointment to replace tires and @errands get cash. Because I get a discount for cash where I go. But yes as long as they are independent of one another it’s fine. It seems to get fuzzy for beginners though. Years ago I did gtd with all these project notes and “corporate” planning models. I was gtd intense. And I was copy pasting and tagging and indexing everything. I ended up working more on the system than accomplishing anything. About five years ago, I just revamped my entire system using David Allen’s basic lists. I’m just trying to help people simplify.

 

[RomanS]

I find people who put all their next actions down on a “project” list and then put them down on contexts as next actions.

You shouldn't plan just for the sake of planning. I agree with you on that. I also do it the way David Allen recommends: As little as possible, but as much as necessary (so that I can get the project out of my head).

 

[Gardener]

How often do you review your Someday/Maybe lists?

I'm doing a review right now, and had one more comment to add to my answer to this: When I review the lists like "Books to Read" or "Travel--Places to See" or "Recipes to Try" I don't re-evaluate every little thing--I often just make sure that all the contents in the list ARE book titles or names of places or recipes, and I haven't, say, added my tax filing reminder to one of those lists. I go to the lists when I'm actually looking for something to add to my current activities.

One could argue that there's a difference between these sorts of list, which are kinda sorta reference material, and lists of things that look more like projects. But it works for me to have them both in the same stream of Someday/Maybe lists.

 

[Lucas W.]

Consider seeking the help of a GTD coach. Without a solid foundation and while looking for quick fixes, you’re likely to complicate your system even further. Focusing on how to organize your lists or which tags to use is like getting sidetracked.