How do hit deadlines? Do I need the GTD tool to include time needed per Action?

[Ship69]

Hi

Any advice on working to a deadline?

e.g. Suppose you have a single Project involving say 10 tasks (Actions) and sub-tasks that MUST be completed within say 1.5 days. It's no use just doing everything "as fast as possible" because I already know that there isn't enough time and to complete everything properly might take a 3 days or even a week.

So one needs to find a way to squeeze all the Actions into the time available - in this simple case 1.5 days.

As a newbie, I am using GTDNext which doesn't seem to have any way of entering how much time each task is likely to take (nor how much 'squeezing' on each task will be needed). I am looking closely at moving to MyLifeOrganised which is very much more comprehensive (but with this complexity comes a long learing curve.)

What I have had to do so far, is to copy and paste all the task/sub-task names out into an Excel spreadsheet and start entering likely times for each task and then adjusting them so that they are all squeezed into the lapse time available. Is there a better way of doing this? Should I be doing it within the GTD tool somehow?
In fact would as a simple project management tool of some sort be more appropriate?

Any thoughts?

J

 

[ollie_r]

I'm not sure this is really a tool problem, unless I'm misunderstanding the question.

If a deadline is really as tight as in your example, I think my first step would be to review all my lists for other critical stuff that I can't allow to fall through the cracks and maybe transfer them over to an overview paper, a punchlist or even the calendar.

Then I'd switch to "project focus" and only work off the project plan, instead of context lists, until the result is achieved.

I found the best way to get more work done in less time is to minimize switching between lists and only spend time either doing work or recovering while trying to relax and not panic. Make sure to take regular breaks and get enough sleep and water. Maybe even set a timer.

If your work environment is prone to interruptions, make sure to let everyone know you have to disappear into a bubble for a day or two.

Another strategy is to just be honest to the people who are waiting on you and renegotiate some deadlines.

 

[Folke]

I too would handle it exactly the way ollie_r says.

 

[mcogilvie]

Right now I have a high-value milestone that I would very much like to have done by the end of the week (2.5 days): a scientific manuscript I would like to finish before a co-author returns to Germany. At this point, writing things that need to be done is great; a lot of this gets embedded in the ms itself. Estimating time to complete any of these actions, on the other hand, is a waste of time- there are two many unknowns. ollie_r's advice is right on the money. The way to do more than you think you can do in the time available is to find a way to do it. To quote David Allan quoting an old proverb "The work will teach you how to do it."

 

[Ship69]

ollie_r - Yes that all sounds like sensible advice... BUT with respect it it doesn't really address the central question(!)

I'm talking about those painful times when life has firm UNmovable deadlines (big meetings involving long-distance travel for example) and when one has a number of plates spinning as it where, ALL of which need at least some attention, but for which none of spinning plates will probably get the time it really needs.

One solution is to
- break the project down break into component parts (Actions)
- list all those Action into a spreadsheet
- estimate the amount of time it really needs
- See if there is any hope of meeting the deadline
- Reduce the time each Actions is allowed until it meets the deadline.

Then there is a choice do you
A) Work through each of the Actions in turn and simply STOP when your kitchen timer (in my case) goes off for each one?
B) Jump like a butterfly between each of the relevant Actions until the deadline?

Either way it seems rather a pain taking data out of my GTD tool and slapping it into a spreadsheet, not least because my tool in question (GTDNext) makes it extremely hard to paste directly into Excel. Fwiw, when I was using my mindmapping tool MindManager this slightly easier because it has a CSV export option.

 

[ollie_r]

Can you give us a more concrete example to wrap our heads around so we can coach you better? Do such situations occur repeatedly in your life right now? Can you walk us through one?

Maybe you cannot move certain deadlines, but do you have other projects and next actions that you can renegotiate to give yourself more breathing room? What you describe sounds to me like you're experiencing overcommitment.

 

[TesTeq]

- estimate the amount of time it really needs

I wish you luck in estimating. It will eat all the time you've got for doing things.

 

[matsuru]

Hi

Any advice on working to a deadline?

e.g. Suppose you have a single Project involving say 10 tasks (Actions) and sub-tasks that MUST be completed within say 1.5 days. It's no use just doing everything "as fast as possible" because I already know that there isn't enough time and to complete everything properly might take a 3 days or even a week.

So one needs to find a way to squeeze all the Actions into the time available - in this simple case 1.5 days.
J

01. In this case, it means the project is not properly planned as it is not given enough time to be completed. You should voice it out to your superior/client.
02. Burn the midnight oil and get it done. No planning will help you complete your project.
03. Get external help. hire people to help you get it done.

 

[Ship69]

01. In this case, it means the project is not properly planned as it is not given enough time to be completed. You should voice it out to your superior/client.
02. Burn the midnight oil and get it done. No planning will help you complete your project.
03. Get external help. hire people to help you get it done.

With all due respect, this sounds suspiciously like the voice of perfectionism talking. (It takes one to know one!)

Sometimes in business you simply do not have time to do things properly within the time available, due to completely immovable deadlines. And instead you are forced to either cover the all the ground sub-optimally or cover a small amount of the ground perfectly.

I know this is an overly simplistic example, but suppose your house is a total mess and suddenly you have some VIP guests visiting your house for an event that cannot be moved. And suppose you have just one day to clean the place up, but you know that every room in your house needs attention and that to do it properly might take a full week (or even two weeks?) to get the place really clean. Now either you spend the day on one room and get it really spotlessly clean, or you do a bit of light, superficial cleaning over the whole place. If you do the latter, you can limit the damage to your reputation. If you do the former your guest will see one room sparkling clean but they will be appalled by the rest of your house!

Some rooms are bigger and take longer than others, but basically in order to limit the damage to your reputation, you need to allocate a maximum time per room AND MOVE ON, yes? And the question is how can you use tools to help you do this?

Moreover if you take perfectionism to extremes you might spend the rest of you life cleaning just one room, and claim you never had time to get onto doing the rest of your house.

Do you see where I'm coming from?

 

[Folke]

It is true that we can find ourselves in situations where we have too much on our lists and too little time. But to assume that estimating and allocating time would be the best or only solution - or even a working solution - is simply not correct. Other avenues are:

- postpone some things (e.g. inactivate/hide entire projects or simply ignore the things we know are less important/urgent)
- cut down on "quality" (quite interesting; sometimes the lesser degree of quality would suffice even if we were not pressed for time)

In other words, simply avoid overdoing things and choose the important/urgent things first, be prepared to let the rest wait.

The disadvantages of estimating and allocating time are that the estimates that you will base your plan on take time to make and are often wrong, and then the allocations (decisions) also take time to make and are often wrong (perhaps you manage to do it even quicker than planned or it takes longer), and the allocations as such do not really increase my efficiency or effectiveness in doing the actual work (not any more than a simple awareness that I must not overdo it does).

 

[Ship69]

The disadvantages of estimating and allocating time are.

My thinking is that maybe the best thing is to write it down on a piece of paper without blinking. In my example it might be "Okay 0.5 hour max in each of these rooms and then 1.5 hour in the large room and 2 hours in the kitchen... GO!"

It may be that the human brain works surprisingly well at such crude fast estimates. And even to get a simple spreadsheet out to add up the numbers of hours may be a slight waste of time.

Another solution is to force yourself to task switch every few minutes to start working on a different room. Kitchen/egg timers have been used for this sort of thing.

What happens on larger / more important projects that have become 'dangerously' behind schedule I'm not at all sure...

 

[anosh123]

Another solution is to force yourself to task switch every few minutes to start working on a different room. Kitchen/egg timers have been used for this sort of thing.

pass4-sure.ws

 

[Ship69]

@anosh123

Sorry, I don't understand. You seem to have simply quoted my text, but without any text of your own. What point are you making?

J

 

[CJSullivan]

Some rooms are bigger and take longer than others, but basically in order to limit the damage to your reputation, you need to allocate a maximum time per room AND MOVE ON, yes? And the question is how can you use tools to help you do this?

In this case, the tools you need are a mop and a bucket, and forget trying to plan. If you're really up against a deadline, you just need to DO SOMETHING towards the end result. As long as you have the end result in clear focus, now is NOT the time to plan, it's the time to execute.

So far your examples have been "no-win" situations, so no tool can possibly help you. Part of what GTD does so elegantly is let you know where there are some changes you need to make to the things you've committed to in your life. It sounds like you need to have some "big" conversations - either with yourself, or with others to whom you are responsible.

 

[system]

With all due respect, this sounds suspiciously like the voice of perfectionism talking. (It takes one to know one!)

Sometimes in business you simply do not have time to do things properly within the time available, due to completely immovable deadlines. And instead you are forced to either cover the all the ground sub-optimally or cover a small amount of the ground perfectly.

I know this is an overly simplistic example, but suppose your house is a total mess and suddenly you have some VIP guests visiting your house for an event that cannot be moved. And suppose you have just one day to clean the place up, but you know that every room in your house needs attention and that to do it properly might take a full week (or even two weeks?) to get the place really clean. Now either you spend the day on one room and get it really spotlessly clean, or you do a bit of light, superficial cleaning over the whole place. If you do the latter, you can limit the damage to your reputation. If you do the former your guest will see one room sparkling clean but they will be appalled by the rest of your house!

Some rooms are bigger and take longer than others, but basically in order to limit the damage to your reputation, you need to allocate a maximum time per room AND MOVE ON, yes? And the question is how can you use tools to help you do this?

Moreover if you take perfectionism to extremes you might spend the rest of you life cleaning just one room, and claim you never had time to get onto doing the rest of your house.

Do you see where I'm coming from?

Tools help for planning and execution, they will not do that itself. In your question problem is in scope. You either have to add time, or resources (e.g. get external help). If it is clear to you that there is no way to achieve goal, then better to accept failure and set realistic goal. E.g. "clean rooms that people don't leave immediately". An then work towards that goal.

I strongly disagree with CJSullivan that "As long as you have the end result in clear focus, now is NOT the time to plan, it's the time to execute". I think that we always plan things, even when we execute our plan. E.g. in given case with rooms, it could be restricting access to specific room, that will take most of time to clean and provide lowest or no value to guests. And for that we usually don't need any tool, our brain is good enough to take decisions. I realized that spending 10% for just planning in any project give better results and save up to 30% of my time (compared to ignoring planning). E.g. if i need to spend 1 hour cleaning, i first spend 5 min to thinking how i will do it (just sitting on sofa and don't doing anything else). If I need to spend 10min doing something, i will spend 1 min to think how to do that efficiently (even without making any notes).

 

[Ship69]

System - yes I think as a general rule that for best results that there should be a certain ratio between execution and planning.

What everyone here seems to be cheerfully ignoring is the (potentially extremely dangerous) problem of perfectionism. Almost nothing is ever perfect. Mostly in life we do not have the luxury of simply taking as long as we want to take to get stuff done. Mostly we need deadlines. In fact we NEED deadlines to get things done. When we don't have them we need to generate them.

Highly effective people find ways to manage their time so as to get things done (to the best standard that is reasonable) within the time and resources available.

 

[TesTeq]

I think that we always plan things, even when we execute our plan.

No.

When I plan things, I plan things. When I execute my plan I execute it. I may modify my plan during execution but in this case I switch from execution mode to planning mode. And then I switch back to execution mode.

 

[Ship69]

No.

When I plan things, I plan things. When I execute my plan I execute it. I may modify my plan during execution but in this case I switch from execution mode to planning mode. And then I switch back to execution mode.

Sounds like a borderline semantic distinction. In practice what exactly do you mean by "planning mode"? For example are you saying that you always top and use paper or a digital device? Or are you including when you do your planning just in your head?

 

[TesTeq]

For most of my Projects I know the reasonable sequence of actions (or I've got a checklist) so I need only one Next Action as a bookmark. If something goes wrong there's usually another reasonable sequence of actions that most of the times requires a Context change - so I write down this context changing Next Action. If I receive a new information that will change some future actions I write it down and put in the inbox for processing.