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How many next actions is reasonable?
- Thread starter Paola52
- Start date
Suelin23
Simplicity on the far side of complexity
How can you possibly have it so low? You should have one next action per project, and then can have several next actions per context. My total count for next actions is around 400. Yes I do think that is too high and have no idea how I can get that all done.
Per GTD, there can only be one next action per project.
But to answer your question of how many action items per project? I usually don't go further than 10 and then adjust along the way.
So whenever I start a new project, I'll add action items I know need to happen. Then I'll figure out what the next action is and work from there. Over the course of the project you will naturally add, edit and delete action items.
Most people are bad at predicting what needs to happen so having a project with 50 action items seems like a bad idea to me.
But to answer your question of how many action items per project? I usually don't go further than 10 and then adjust along the way.
So whenever I start a new project, I'll add action items I know need to happen. Then I'll figure out what the next action is and work from there. Over the course of the project you will naturally add, edit and delete action items.
Most people are bad at predicting what needs to happen so having a project with 50 action items seems like a bad idea to me.
TesTeq
0
You can have as many Next Actions per Project as possible!
No.
You can have as many Next Actions per Project as possible. Each of them must be a real Next Action ie. the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion.
Additionally Next Action must be immediately doable in a given context.
AE Thanh;87684 said:
No.
You can have as many Next Actions per Project as possible. Each of them must be a real Next Action ie. the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion.
Additionally Next Action must be immediately doable in a given context.
I think it depends what we are talking about.
For a 'daily' list 5-7 seems about right (depending on what they are too, some people prefer less or more), you can put more stuff on weekly or monthly or 'timeless' list/s...
Daily/weekly/monthly lists are not strictly GTD, for some people (including me) 300+ next actions can be overwhelming so I prefer less and a more structured approach somewhat..
It also depends upon your system - do you have paper or computer based system, can you just look at one or a few next actions at a time, or do you have to look at all of them etc. If you can just view a few at a time, it doesn't matter if you have 300+ stored in there somewhere... If you'd need to look at 300+ each time you look at a list, that can be overwhelming.. (at least for me)
So the idea is to have so many that it 'works' - not too many (that would be overwhelming) and not too few (so you wouldn't get important things done)..
Actual numbers depend on individual circumstances...
For a 'daily' list 5-7 seems about right (depending on what they are too, some people prefer less or more), you can put more stuff on weekly or monthly or 'timeless' list/s...
Daily/weekly/monthly lists are not strictly GTD, for some people (including me) 300+ next actions can be overwhelming so I prefer less and a more structured approach somewhat..
It also depends upon your system - do you have paper or computer based system, can you just look at one or a few next actions at a time, or do you have to look at all of them etc. If you can just view a few at a time, it doesn't matter if you have 300+ stored in there somewhere... If you'd need to look at 300+ each time you look at a list, that can be overwhelming.. (at least for me)
So the idea is to have so many that it 'works' - not too many (that would be overwhelming) and not too few (so you wouldn't get important things done)..
Actual numbers depend on individual circumstances...