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sonia_simone
Guest
I just want to say that I think Katherine is a great big smartie.
TesTeq
Registered
"be a better husband" is not a GTD project.
I think that "be a better husband" is too general to be a GTD project. It is a higher level concept. You should define some projects with measurable outcomes to achieve this goal - for example "Fix that bloody kitchen sink before Valentine's Day".newdayperegrine said:
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newdayperegrine
Guest
Interesting. You may be right. There are usually sub projects that emerge from it, but I like to have it in my Weekly Review so I don't forget to think about what projects/actions can be taken in that area. Also, of course, it serves as a reminder on doing a bunch of things that are not projects but "all the time" things.
TesTeq
Registered
Do not forget about the 10k-50k levels concept.
To manage the right direction of your Next Actions and Projects you should periodically review the higher levels defined by David Allen in his GTD book (see http://www.davidco.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33223&postcount=2 post):
To manage the right direction of your Next Actions and Projects you should periodically review the higher levels defined by David Allen in his GTD book (see http://www.davidco.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33223&postcount=2 post):
mcogilvie said:
Hacking the GTD Add-In to handle focus areas
One of the things that I've recently played with and found to be very helpful is to track my projects by focus area. I use Outlook with the GTD add-in and unfortunately there isn't a "Focus Area" custom field added by the Add-in (though you could add one yourself). I tried the custom field route for about a year and found it difficult to keep all next actions in the right place because the Add-In only let's you pick the project and sub-project.
From a management standpoint, I've found the easiest thing for me to do is just use a naming convention for my projects. All of my projects are named as {Focus Area}.{Project Name} This causes my projects to always alpha-sort by their Focus area putting all of my work related projects in one part of the list and all of my personal projects in another part of the list. I also make extensive use of subprojects in order to keep my project list as lean as possible. This gives me a sort of forced hierarchy.
/Focus Area/Project/Subproject/Next Action
It works fairly well but I have quite a few focus areas (42) ... Some focus areas only have one or two current active projects, some have quite a few (20+). Here's a sample list of projects by focus area. At any time I'll have 150-300 active projects.
/Personal Development/Reading/Getting Things Done
/Personal Development/Courses/GTD Workshop
/Personal Development/Toastmasters/I Love Slumlords speech
/Personal Health/{Fitness, Nutrition, Medical}/
/Personal Finances/ {Budget, Cashflow, Tax, Planning}/
/Personal Relationships/{Wife, Family, Friends}
/Work Admin/{Travel, Expense Reports, Budget, etc.}
/Work Benchmarks/{x 7 projects}/{x1-5 partners}/
/Work Sizings/{x ~20-30 customers}
/Work {x 5 other Programs}/{usually only one or no active projects}/
/Work Management/{Management Team, Direct Reports, etc}/
For those who don't manage staff, this may seem like a lot. (For those of you who've been managing, a while, I'm sure its no surprise to you...) Many of my next actions are waiting fors, but I find that If I keep all the projects on-going, sometimes the only next action is a waiting for, but sometimes, my staff need something from me to move it forward, which means I have to get that done fast or the project is on hold...
Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing how others track/manage focus areas.
One of the things that I've recently played with and found to be very helpful is to track my projects by focus area. I use Outlook with the GTD add-in and unfortunately there isn't a "Focus Area" custom field added by the Add-in (though you could add one yourself). I tried the custom field route for about a year and found it difficult to keep all next actions in the right place because the Add-In only let's you pick the project and sub-project.
From a management standpoint, I've found the easiest thing for me to do is just use a naming convention for my projects. All of my projects are named as {Focus Area}.{Project Name} This causes my projects to always alpha-sort by their Focus area putting all of my work related projects in one part of the list and all of my personal projects in another part of the list. I also make extensive use of subprojects in order to keep my project list as lean as possible. This gives me a sort of forced hierarchy.
/Focus Area/Project/Subproject/Next Action
It works fairly well but I have quite a few focus areas (42) ... Some focus areas only have one or two current active projects, some have quite a few (20+). Here's a sample list of projects by focus area. At any time I'll have 150-300 active projects.
/Personal Development/Reading/Getting Things Done
/Personal Development/Courses/GTD Workshop
/Personal Development/Toastmasters/I Love Slumlords speech
/Personal Health/{Fitness, Nutrition, Medical}/
/Personal Finances/ {Budget, Cashflow, Tax, Planning}/
/Personal Relationships/{Wife, Family, Friends}
/Work Admin/{Travel, Expense Reports, Budget, etc.}
/Work Benchmarks/{x 7 projects}/{x1-5 partners}/
/Work Sizings/{x ~20-30 customers}
/Work {x 5 other Programs}/{usually only one or no active projects}/
/Work Management/{Management Team, Direct Reports, etc}/
For those who don't manage staff, this may seem like a lot. (For those of you who've been managing, a while, I'm sure its no surprise to you...) Many of my next actions are waiting fors, but I find that If I keep all the projects on-going, sometimes the only next action is a waiting for, but sometimes, my staff need something from me to move it forward, which means I have to get that done fast or the project is on hold...
Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing how others track/manage focus areas.
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newdayperegrine
Guest
Interesting
JPM, interesting. I use three focus areas: work, home and personal. I guess, then, be a better husband falls under "home" as a sub-focus area. I do need to have them organized. I also keep all projects active, because it helps me keep a project from languishing too long "waiting."
JPM, interesting. I use three focus areas: work, home and personal. I guess, then, be a better husband falls under "home" as a sub-focus area. I do need to have them organized. I also keep all projects active, because it helps me keep a project from languishing too long "waiting."