Handle tasks with unknown scope and end result?

[Jakob]

Hello fellow GTDers,

I've been using this great system for a while now. It has turned my life into a better one.

Unfortunately I am struggling at one point. GTD is great for implementing routines and for tasks whose scope and end result are known at the beginning.

How do I plan tasks whose end result and scope is uncertain? Let me explain it to you with an example. I am a student of computer science. When I learn for an exam (let's take math as an example) then I don't know at the beginning how much time it takes to work on a topic. In addition, I don't know whether I understand the topic right away or whether further elaborations are necessary. Scope and result are unknown.

So far I have proceeded in such a way that I have divided the entire subject into small modules. For example:

Project: Topic XYZ

- subtopic X

- Sub-topic tasks: 1a, 1b, 1c​

Then I was able to complete the tasks. However, I didn't feel I had complete control over the XYZ project.

Do you have similar experiences or suggestions for improvement?
I would be very happy to hear about that and you would help me a lot.

Thanks in advance and many greetings from Germany

 

[Cpu_Modern]

Scope and result are unknown.

Well, that's not entirely true for your example, isn't it? The result is pretty much known to you. The desired successful outcome, to use GTD parlance, is that you fully understand your topic. Or at least understand it enough to go into the exams with confidence.

Regarding the issue with time. Well, if you don't know how much time it will take, then any organising method, not only GTD, has to deal with it. You don't know how much time it takes, period. Doesn't have to do anything with how you organise your work.

You can work with estimates, that's what we do in the sciences…

However, what you can do to maximize your chances at the exam is to start work on it right away. The moment you know about a topic, start to work on it. That way you give it the best chance it could have. You don't have more time than that.

I hope this was somewhat helpful for starters. I think to receive better help you have to explain more about your situation. You are still a little bite vague…

 

[kelstarrising]

There’s a great webinar on GTD Connect that covers this called Anatomy of Projects.

 

[mcogilvie]

I’m a physics professor. Everyone learns differently, but I can tell you many students have trouble recognizing the forest because there are too many trees around. An outline helps some learn, but not everyone in every case. A systematic approach that cycles through the material works well with gtd. Generally, I browse through new material to get an overview (professors have to keep learning too). I identify key points, particularly ones I don’t understand. This gives me an idea of how much more work I need to do. I give the material time to be digested. When I come back to it, I focus on the key points, trying to get the important details right. Later, I’ll review the material again as a whole to make sure I’ve got what I want. I’m not spending time reviewing material I already know, or isn’t important. This is closely related to the gtd focus on doing next actions rather than detailed planning.

If I have something to write, like a referee report for someone else’s research, the cycle is browse and identify issues, focus on issues, draft report, revise report and finish. Problem sets can be done similarly.

All of this works well with the natural planning model of gtd. I hope you can see how the different steps might appear in next actions lists, and the role of project support in the form of notes, drafts and final product. Hope this helps!

 

[enyonam]

GTD is great for implementing routines and for tasks whose scope and end result are known at the beginning.

Oh gosh Jakob - I so disagree on this point. GTD has worked best for me when I have NO clue how to get to where I'm going.

My favorite example, though quite unrelated to learning compsci, is finding my grandmother's family. All I knew was that I'd like to find out who her father was, and that he was French (we live in Ghana). I had no idea how much scope it was, how much time it would take, what method I would use, whether genealogy linking back to Africa was even possible, ... all kinds of unknowns.

So I just pulled out the workflow diagram.
Q - What is it? Is it a project or an action?
A - It's definitely a project. So I put it down - Great-grandfather's history found
Q - What's the outcome?
A - Yup, my project title reflects the outcome so I'm good ... for now.
Q - What's the next action?
A - Well, I need no idea if I need to find birth and death records in France or how to do that. But he lived in Ghana so maybe it's to find if that company still exists. Or how about I just first find out everything my grandmother knows. Check! @Errands - Document everything grandma remembers about her dad.

And like this I went. When each next action was complete, I looked back at the outcome and figured out the next action or actions. In my case, it took me 7 years but I actually used this same GTD project and I eventually found my great-grandfather's family.

So you don't have a to know exactly HOW you are going to be able to learn the entire curriculum. You only have to define that you are going to learn it, and set the next action. The great thing is that with the modules you have, you already have a project plan I would put in your project support material. You can use that for general estimation so you can set aside hard landscape time to keep plugging away at next actions and keep pace with the class. But remain flexible. Some topics may take you twice as long and others will take half the estimated time. That's okay. Adjust your estimates as you start to gain understanding of the project / class enough to revise your estimates. Keep those notes in your project support material and review them during your weekly review.

 

[Gardener]

I think that it's not unusual to have a goal and not know how you're going to get there, and even to have a sort of "wish" and not know precisely what "there" looks like. I think that GTD is definitely useful for that.

My primary effort for my vegetable garden, for the past couple of years and the next couple of years, could probably have a Desired Outcome description of "Garden is sufficiently pleasing at all times, without killing me."

When I started that goal, it was because the garden was perpetually somewhat out of my control, and getting it in control would, if not precisely kill me, be more effort than I was willing to put in. Once that general goal was in mind, it sprouted a ton of projects, but I did those projects in groups, and observed the resulting improvements (or lack thereof) and then did more projects. An organized plan to get to the goal wasn't really possible, because I had to learn a lot of things on my way to the goal.

But GTD still drives the projects and makes the effort visible, and I am making clear progress toward the goal.