help defining projects

E

Evan Siegel

Registered
Hi,

I'm trying to get back to GTD after a long while of not doing it and I'm curious about something. When you talk about a project you have gotten there by identifying the very next physical action that needs to be done. However, what about all the other steps to a project. I get it about how anything can be a project in David's system and that is fine for me. However, if there are let's say 10 actions to complete a project, David might say these are 10 projects. Once you've identified that first action, where do the other 9 go? I'm trying to maintain the parent/child relationship so high level, I can know overall how close something is to being done big picture.

let's say the project is clean the garage. let's say the very first action is clean up all the garbage to make a working space. do you enter the other 9 as separate line items or as line items underneath 'clean garage' and secondly, how do you identify the remaining steps after you've identified the very next physical action

Thanks,
Evan
 
The classic answer is that the other 9 steps are kept in some sort of project support place. For paper users, this is likely ... paper. If your lists are digital, then these possible future actions could be kept as a note for the project's entry on your project list, a separate document, et cetera. If you use a program like Omnifocus, there is a natural way to stage such future actions, but this is highly dependent on your software.

I agree with David Allen that there is value in not planning too much. To take your garage example, you may find your plans upended when your garage catches fire, or is declared a toxic waste dump, or needs to be converted into a bedroom for your new baby or your mother-in-law, or... well, you get the idea. You may carefully sequence your next actions, only to find out that isn’t the best way to proceed. Most projects have one next action at any time, and the vast majority have only a few.
 
Evan Siegel said:
I'm trying to get back to GTD after a long while of not doing it and I'm curious about something. When you talk about a project you have gotten there by identifying the very next physical action that needs to be done. However, what about all the other steps to a project. I get it about how anything can be a project in David's system and that is fine for me. However, if there are let's say 10 actions to complete a project, David might say these are 10 projects. Once you've identified that first action, where do the other 9 go?
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Actually I get to a project at the high level first so I don't start with a next action I start with a something I need to do/finish/change. SO my project would be Garage Cleaned and then as I thought if things I needed to do I'd add them to project support material. When I'm review that project I can see that the first step is clean up the garbage to make working space. I'd add that to my lists and move on. In my tool, Omnifocus, I can keep any defined actions in it but hidden so I often would put all the remaining 9 actions in there anyway. Otherwise they go into project support. For me that would probably be a DEVONThink note with all my thoughts and ideas on a clean garage.

Coincidentally I have the exact same project: Garage Cleaned, My next action is phone vet and ask for places to donate old horse equipment to. All the other things about boxes sorted and cleaned, perhaps selling a car that we never drive, and so on are in a DEVONThink note just as stream of conscious notes and I'll sort them and add to my lists during my weekly review.
 
I'd consider the project "Organize workspace at the garage" because that's the desired outcome for me to do what I'm doing now ("clean the garage").
 
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