How do you make distinction between active and SM projects?

[pixlz]

More confusion

Just to throw in some more confusion I am considering using an adapted idea from the project methodology DSDM called MoSCoW:

Must Haves fundamental to the projects success
Should Haves important but the projects success does not rely on these
Could Haves can easily be left out without impacting on the project
Won't Have this time round can be left out this time and done at a later date

The projects I bring forward at the weekly review would be:

Must complete
Should Complete
Could Complete
and the won't category would be the equivilent of Brent and other's Someday/Maybe.

I would work on them in the order presented above which means that within the time available I am moving forward on the right projects and also giving myself the opportunity to complete some of the things which I might have just thrown back into the Someday/Maybe pot.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Pixlz

 

[unstuffed]

Anyway I'm still not convinced that SM category is needed Maybe this is just wording and this category should be called "Pending"?

No: these two are quite separate. Pending is a category for "have another look at this in 2 weeks, and see if my committments allow me to start". If I collect all those Pending items, and go over them during the weekly review, when I'm thinking about my committments and my progress, I can make a reasonable decision about what I can take on for this week.

You say: "I have no time to start it now" - is not an argument because each next action is small enough to move the project further.

How about "I have no focus to spare on this, this week". I don't know about you, but even with GTD I can only juggle a certain number of projects. Whether it's because my attention fragments too much with too many projects, or because too many projects means too little time/effort/progress on each, or some other reason, doesn't matter. What does matter is that I have a limit on how many things I can comfortably take on at once without my brain melting.

I could understand the need for catogory like "Pending". That means your head gave you a project idea but you're not sure yet if you want to move on that or not. Anyway this category could be cleared up on the front end. Just think if you want to do it or not. Why think about that later?

No. For me, Pending is something that's definitely committed to, but I don't have time to begin this week. And I don't like to start something, then stop, then start, then stop, which is what I'd be doing if I moved all my Pending things into Current. I'd have all my committed stuff current, sure, but I'd only have about 5 minutes a week to work on each one, and there are some (many) tasks where 5 minutes is not enough.

S/Ms are the ones we're not sure about. And the reasons why we're not sure are plentiful, so we want to defer them until we've cleared our docket a bit, or until our life changes a bit. Then we consider them again.

Could someone give me an example of SM project he/she keeps on a SM list and provide the reasons why not to start it now?

Okay. On my S/M list are such things as learn Japanese, redevelop garden, get fit, and write a couple of novels. Some are there because I'm not sure whether I want to do them. Some are there because I can't afford to do them now, or even within the next few months. And some are there because at the moment, I'm trying to develop a small business, and that's taking up all my attention at the moment. I don't have the time or the focus to think deeply about my garden requirements right now, so I put it into S/M, where it'll stay until some of my more pressing projects are done.

Remember that the more projects you're moving on, the less movement you get on each project. As Kewms said, sometimes you have to focus down on one or several at a time, leaving others unstarted, or you'll never get anything finished.