Handling different types of next actions

G

Greyone

0
I have this problem that's been gnawing at me for a long time, it happens when i have a relatively straightforward project that involves several different types of steps. For example , Buy shaver (or anything i don't buy very often such as a Radio, Coat ect). the normal route i go through starts off with brainstorming, then spreadsheet work, followed by several repeats of surfing then spreadsheet, then decide top 3, then go out and buy favourite, check it out and decide if I'm happy.

So on my computer-online list at some point will be all the surfing activity. on my computer local list will be all my spreadsheet activity with all my thinking on another list. My problem is that if I'm sat in front of my computer and its on-line , I don't want to do the surfing bit until I've thought about what i'm buying and created a spreadsheet etc. How do i arrange my activities on my lists of next actions so i don't attempt to do things in the wrong order.

Is it really that i only have one 'next action' , initially the first on my lists and never the 2nd until the 1st is done ? and if i have done my 1st 'next action' how does the next 'next action' get on my lists, is it after the next weekly review ?
 
First: you don't have to wait for the weekly review to put new items on your lists. During a productive day, you should be adding, deleting and modifying next actions on your lists throughout the day.

Second: simple projects need simple solutions. The easiest process is to start with a single next action. When that's done, add the next. If you decide that your next action needs to be modified, change it. Keep going until done. You're buying a coat, not planning the D-Day invasion.
 
I must admit that i had my suspicions about my weekly review and updating my lists. So really my lists need to be a list of just next actions and not a bunch of next actions that i'll like to do before the next weekly review. That might explain one of my mistakes and i suppose if my lists have just THE next action for all my projects then it will make things much easier for myself. I'll have ot give that a go next week, but it kinda sounds weird.

I suppose my next question has to be By what process do i add next next actions to my list,it sounds like i have to have my nect action lists for each project close at hand. At the risk of asking a very simple question, how do we do that , in the very very basic sense , is it just that ? get out all my project info, cross of each next action completed and add the next to my lists (Mmmmmm....).
 
Greyone said:
I must admit that i had my suspicions about my weekly review and updating my lists. So really my lists need to be a list of just next actions and not a bunch of next actions that i'll like to do before the next weekly review. That might explain one of my mistakes and i suppose if my lists have just THE next action for all my projects then it will make things much easier for myself. I'll have ot give that a go next week, but it kinda sounds weird.

I suppose my next question has to be By what process do i add next next actions to my list,it sounds like i have to have my nect action lists for each project close at hand. At the risk of asking a very simple question, how do we do that , in the very very basic sense , is it just that ? get out all my project info, cross of each next action completed and add the next to my lists (Mmmmmm....).
Click to expand...

I'm glad you started this thread, because it is important that you understand the general GTD workflow. Just to echo what's already been said, typically a project only has one "next" action because any subsequent actions aren't "next" by definition. So just to be clear, in GTD "next" really means "immediately next," as in "assuming I was in the right context, had the right tool, etc., I could do this right now without having to do something else first." If "something else" had to be done first, that thing would be the "next" action.

Another point of clarification for you (and this isn't meant to be nitpicky, I just think it's helpful to understand the terminology because it makes things easier to conceptualize). If you have a project and you brainstormed all the steps you need to take, those aren't "next actions." That is "project support material." Project support material can be anything, but it's basically reference material that relates to a project you have. For example, if I have a project "Re-model my kitchen," I might make a list of all the steps that are involved, and I might do some quick sketches to show what I want it to look like. I would put that all in a manilla folder labeled "Re-model my kitchen," and it would be "project support material." And maybe the list in the folder says "Call Dave because he re-modeled his bathroom last month" -- that sounds like a great next action, but now I need to put it where next actions go. And just to be clear, next actions go on Next Action lists, they don't live with project support material, though they may have been born there. Next Actions lists are usually categorized by context, so I might have a list titled "Calls," so I add a new bullet point "Call Dave re re-modeling advice."

After I call Dave, I cross off the next action. And yes, now I'm sort of left with a "naked" project with no next action. The workflow is typically to ask yourself at this point, or at your weekly review, "Now, what's the next action?" And then you lather, rinse, repeat from there. And if you're drawing a blank on "What's the next action?" you can always pull out your trusty project support material as a reference aid.
 
I think we shouldn't treat literally David Allen's statement that he thinks during the Weekly Review only. In many projects you just know what is reasonable to do next. And you do it or write down an appropriate Next Action (bookmark) on an appropriate context list.
 
Greyone, I have a feeling I may not be the right person to give advise on this because it seems as if I am probably a "sloppier" and less granular kind of personality than you. The things you mention (buy a shaver, a coat etc) I would simply write down as plain actions without any details or steps at all. I do not think I could even bear writing down any individual action steps such as 1) do a bit of casual web research, 2) purchase. (And I would definitely be too lazy to do a formal comparison in a spreadsheet just for my own use). So we are probably quite different, BUT it nevertheless does happen that I have projects with several actions, many of which are not possible until one or more have first been completed, so I do in fact have some views on that:

I think it is important to realize all project support material does not necessarily need to live in the same place. You can have any number of apps and files for different kinds of things - one for tasks, one for brochures, one for spreadsheets and so on. The kind I want to talk about here is your "subsequent project actions", if you have defined any - those that are neither next nor waiting nor scheduled nor someday nor anything yet because something else needs to be done first. Nothing at all forbids you to keep these listed in the same app (or notebook, whatever ...) as your "live" next actions, "live" waiting for actions etc. as long as you do not mix them up and get yourself confused.

There are plenty of apps that allow you to keep subsequent project actions listed, visible in some views, invisible in others. They are usually perfectly visible and identified as not active etc when you look at the specific project, but are usually kept totally invisible on all the next, waiting, someday etc lists. With such apps it is a relatively easy matter to just promote one or more new actions from the project whenever you complete an action from that project. You definitely do not need to wheel a "project support trolley" around with you ;-) . Some apps even have automatic promotion of tasks - when you complete a next action from a project, the new next action from that project automatically appears on your next actions list. So it sounds as if there are a few further options available for you if you are prepared to reconsider what kind of app you are using.
 
Greyone said:
I must admit that i had my suspicions about my weekly review and updating my lists. So really my lists need to be a list of just next actions and not a bunch of next actions that i'll like to do before the next weekly review. That might explain one of my mistakes and i suppose if my lists have just THE next action for all my projects then it will make things much easier for myself. I'll have ot give that a go next week, but it kinda sounds weird.

I suppose my next question has to be By what process do i add next next actions to my list,it sounds like i have to have my nect action lists for each project close at hand. At the risk of asking a very simple question, how do we do that , in the very very basic sense , is it just that ? get out all my project info, cross of each next action completed and add the next to my lists (Mmmmmm....).
Click to expand...

There's a lot of "it depends" here--it depends on the tool that you're using, and on your preferences, and on the kinds of projects you usually have, and on how easy it is to just come up with the next action, and so on.

I use OmniFocus, which will allow you to define a project as either concurrent (all actions for the project are available simultaneously) or sequential (only the first action is available.) So you could create a sequential project and line up a couple of dozen actions, and as you check off the first action, the next action will appear.

Despite this, I generally only create one action for a project. When I check off an action, I should add a new action. If I forget, the weekly review will remind me.

Also, there's no rule that you can't just keep working on a project--you might sit down to work on one action for a project, keep on working for a few hours and plow through what would have been a bunch of actions, and when you stop, add an action to the project as a "bookmark" for what should come next.

Returning to the "one action per project" concept: if a project appears to have more than one possible avenue of progress, and I WANT to work on the additional avenue(s) simultaneously, I will instead create more project(s).

Whether or how you have your lists close at hand depends, again, on many things. OmniFocus syncs between my Mac and my phone, so I can update actions in my phone when I'm almost anywhere. It sounds like you're using paper. I've occasionally considered using paper, just to see how I like it; I'm not quite sure how I'd manage it.

I strongly suspect that the first thing I'd try in a paper system would be to put all of my next actions in a single columnar grid with three columns. If I imagine doing that for my hobby projects, it might look like:

PROJECT--------------------ACTION------------------------CONTEXT
Put summer garden in-------Till rows nine and ten--------Gardening, not alone
Plan winter garden---------Brainstorm seeds--------------Online
Develop shirt TnT----------Trace that Burda tunic--------Sewing table
Get ready for vacation-----Shop for girly flats---------City shopping

When I finished, say, tilling rows nine and ten in the garden, I'd draw a line through that action and add, to the bottom:

Put summer garden in-------Buy more fertilizer-----------Home shopping

When the list of tasks periodically got too messy, I'd start on a fresh page and re-write the still-pending tasks.

To find an action in a given context, I'd just scan down the list. I suppose I'd have a separate list of projects, to use during the weekly review to make sure that every project has a list.

Y'know, I'm tempted to try it.

That doesn't answer the question about your lists of project tasks, for getting your new next action for a project. Do you often have a project where you do need that list quickly, rather than coming up with the next action on your own? Where do you keep that sort of information now?
 
Ok , there's lots of darn good stuff in this , so very many thanks to everyone for their feedback.

And yes , I use a paper system with long or complex projects printed out on excel.
Lets take my project "buy shave". I don't do that very often but what hap[pens is generally the same.
It goes like this:
Check manufacturers website and identify suitable shavers base on my specifications.
Put list of shavers and details (cost, charge time etc) on spreadsheet.
Check Boots website for shavers on list.
Check Argos website for shavers on list.
Select top 3 in order.
Decide where an when to buy shaver.
Go buy shaver
Try out shaver
Keep shave ?

So as you can see, Currently this is my complete list of actions to buy my shaver. I have them all sequentially because I must complete them in the=is order , for this project at least.

From now on only the first action will go on my @ list and for this project it will be on my @computer-network list. If something unforeseen goes wrong I can review my project and change my list of actions and as the git said early on I will then dig out my list of actions for this project and then put the appropriate next action, which in this case is .Put list of shavers and details (cost, charge time etc) on spreadsheet on my @ compute local action list.

I also like the idea about OMNIFOCUS when you can have actions in parallel or sequential. So for my buying a cot project , I would have actions for visiting my 3 favourites shops in parallel and coming sequentially after that I would review my options and make a choice. So here I could have 3 next actions on my @Manual - Outdoor list that would be visiting the 3 shops and after that is done I could I suppose add a next action on my @Manual - Indoor list to review my options. That sounds OK. So I'm happy to give that a go next weekend.

Any comments please ?
 
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