How do You Manage GTD with CRM & Team Projects?

Hi All,

I've been trying to implement my personal GTD system, but I've been running into problems with many duplicated tasks.

I run a small software business, so I have a sales and development team. We use a CRM for the sales team & I have tasks assigned to me in there. We use another tool for team software development & I get some tasks assigned to me from there.

How do you handle situations like this? Do you double up i.e. look what tasks are in the CRM, then add them to your GTD system, then mark done in both systems? This seems a massive pain! Or just exclude those tasks from GTD? Easier, but then it's difficult to get a full picture of your incoming tasks.

Thanks,

Martin
 

ivanjay205

Registered
I have this too, very similar. One thing that helped is we switched software at work to a custom developed solution (but affordable not expensive called Quick Base) which allowed us to combine CRM and Project Management into One

But I still have duplicity. I have a calendar set for every work day as I call it "Workday Startup" and as part of that I process any tasks on my project management to do list. Since I am at the executive level most of the time it is an approval and I can knock them out quickly. Otherwise if they are longer sometimes I do duplicate it them but I dont put the detail in my GTD system I just refer to my other system
 
Hi John & Ivan,

Thanks for the input, both really helpful.

From reading the blog post, I think for now, I'll continue to duplicate tasks in both systems, as the big benefit of GTD for me is a single place with all tasks to help me choose what to do next.

Quick Base looks interesting, but I don't want to make a change in CRM & Project Management right now (currently using Pipedrive CRM & Jira for software). However, that got me thinking that I could use Zapier to sync my tasks e.g. Task assigned to me in CRM -> Create task in my GTD task manager.

Thanks!

Martin
 

TesTeq

Registered
How do you handle situations like this? Do you double up i.e. look what tasks are in the CRM, then add them to your GTD system, then mark done in both systems? This seems a massive pain! Or just exclude those tasks from GTD? Easier, but then it's difficult to get a full picture of your incoming tasks.
I think your CRM tasks list should be treated like an email inbox. Some CRM items will be doable in 2-minutes (no need for duplication), some will be duplicated as Next Actions, and some will become Projects.
 

TamaraM

Registered
We've been struggling with this for years because our work is mostly ticket-based.

Our techs, managers, and sales people live in our ticket management system 8 hours a day. The techs can perform all of the actions within the system (it's the list AND the tool), and managers and sales people have it open all the time. They treat it as a specialized Context list and are, in essence, time blocked to be working in that Context List for their full workday. Anything that is NOT a ticket, goes into their outside system of choice (admin and personal tasks only).

The Admin team (me and two others) almost never have tickets, so when we do receive one, we duplicate it into our regular Context lists.
 

PeterByrom

Registered
My suggestion would be to make sure you’ve checked whether the “next actions” in the CRM really are next actions as GTD defines it.

What usually ends up getting called “actions” for teams and on a company level are not really next actions, but tasks.

For example, suppose I am tasked within my company’s system to write and send a report. The “action” in the company system may say something like “Peter B: write & send report to client”. However, is that an actual, physical, visible next action, as GTD defines it?

Let’s suppose that, in order to write that report, I need to access some historic documents in an archive, and in order to get into that archive, I need a password. I wrote that password in a notebook that I keep on my desk. It’s not there. I know my wife did some tidying in my office space because we had people coming to view the house, so she might have put the notebook in an unhelpful place.

So, my real next action is “@wife: check if she’s moved my notebook”.

..... do you think that needs to go into the CRM!!!? Of course not. That next physical step is purely private and only needs to be known by me, and yet it is an essential next action for the task of writing and sending the report.

So that’s what I’d be curious about: how many “actions” in the CRM are real next actions?

It might be best, if not that many, to think of the CRM as project support material for the tasks which are clarified, and as an inbox for anything else which isn’t.
 
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John Forrister

GTD Connect
Staff member
My suggestion would be to make sure you’ve checked whether the “next actions” in the CRM really are next actions as GTD defines it.
Peter, thank you. Your reply demonstrates a solid understanding of GTD (what is really a granular next action) and empathy for those who are straddling a CRM and their separate, granular GTD systems. It also points to how it's challenging for a team to implement GTD until each individual implements GTD. Nonetheless, individuals on a team can fully implement GTD even if their colleagues do not. Those individuals are the ones who are raising the team consciousness and adding value to the organization.
 

TesTeq

Registered
Peter, thank you. Your reply demonstrates a solid understanding of GTD (what is really a granular next action) and empathy for those who are straddling a CRM and their separate, granular GTD systems. It also points to how it's challenging for a team to implement GTD until each individual implements GTD. Nonetheless, individuals on a team can fully implement GTD even if their colleagues do not. Those individuals are the ones who are raising the team consciousness and adding value to the organization.
Some companies like David Allen Company, Basecamp, or Nozbe are built on the GTD foundation. There are no "colleagues that do not". There are no vague emails - just tasks with comments passed within the task management application and obligatory Weekly Reviews (in Nozbe on Friday).
 
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