How do you manage deadlines?

[trishacupra]

Hi,

If you're only thinking about one 'next action' at a time, how do you ensure you reach your deadlines? :?

Thanks,

Trisha

 

[Rainer Burmeister]

Count-down

Hi Trisha,

count-down entries in my paper calendar, e.g.:

30 days till deadline for report xy,
20 days till deadline for report xy,
10 days till deadline for report xy,
05 days till deadline for report xy.

Rainer

 

[trishacupra]

Thanks

Thanks Rainer

It's good to see you here - it's a small world.

After all, you're in Germany, I'm in Australia, and we are both posting on an American site.

See you around more, I hope.

 

[ohm]

If I have a specific deadline for a project, what I do is add the deadline date at the end of every Next Action for that project, for example:

Do action 1 (feb 1)
Do action 2 (feb 1)

That way I always have a reminder of the end date in mind when looking at the NA list and can prioritize my next actions appropriately.

 

[trishacupra]

Project planning

So,

Are you saying that when you have a project to do, you should list all the NA's in advance and give each a deadline?

I thought that was traditional project-planning, which is frowned upon by GTD.

Am I mistaken? :?

Trisha

 

[ohm]

No, what I mean is, if I know for example that the final drop-dead due date for Project X is Feb 1, then whenever I finish up a Next Action for Project X and write down the next Next Action for project X, then I also write down the final due date of the PROJECT (Feb 1) next to the Next Action. If I have a drop-dead due date for a Next Action, I'll write that down, too, but that rarely happens for me - usually I can do my Next Actions any time as long as it happens before the final Project due date.

 

[trishacupra]

Ok.

So how do you pace yourself during a project?

If you don't lay out all the steps and give a deadline to each, how do you prevent yourself from doing the first NA's slowly, then rushing through the last NA's to complete the project on time?

Thanks,

Trisha :?