How to differentiate between projects (multiple actions) and BIG projects?

B

brittas11

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I think I am a little bit stuck in a rut and cannot make the leap to class a project as anything with more than one action. I am the IT Manager of a busy department with 10 direct reports and many projects running. From huge, global business system replacement, to small..... we have a new starter next week who needs their IT setup. To me they are projects that the business recognises. But I am becoming to realise I need to be classing anything I personally have to do that has more than one action as a project within my system.

I use my ToDoIst to manage my own actions and include Waiting for Actions in there if I have delegated something. I am starting to realise that this is not the place to hold the BIG department wide projects. And one of these BIG projects should not be featured in my own project list.

I am thinking I should get into the habit of creating these personal projects on a daily basis if more than one action is required. This will help me get to the more granular level of my actions list. And then manage the big projects somewhere else where everyone has access to the system. I may have an action in the BIG project but I could either copy that into my personal system or just work from a separate project actions list in a department wide system.

Has anyone else faced this challenge???
 
Hi there. It's very common, if not expected, that your own Projects List would be different than what the company is tracking as longer-term initiatives, goals, and objectives. Think of your Projects List as what you need to make action choices and report out on. I bet you would also benefit from a list called "Projects-Delegated" to track the projects those 10 direct reports are working on that you need to oversee.

Remember, a Projects list only includes those items you can complete in the next 12 months. Most people have 30-100 projects, personally and professionally, at any given time. Anything longer than that is a one to two+ year goal, objective, or vision (horizon 3 or 4 on the Horizons of Focus map).

As for tracking anything with more than one action step, I would just say do that with a grain of salt. I don't follow the letter of the law on that one. Technically "Buy birthday gift for my nephew" is a project (ask my sister what he wants > buy it online or in person > get card > ship it), but I didn't call it a project. The next steps were evident enough to keep the peanut rolling down the street. But some aren't as obvious and I do track it as a project to make sure I don't lose it as an outcome I'm working on.

BTW, you might get a ton of value from a Level 2: Projects & Priorities public GTD course. There is a big focus in the course and follow-up sessions on getting to a complete projects list. There are a few coming up in Boston and the UK.

Hope this helps!

Kelly
 
kelstarrising said:
It's very common, if not expected, that your own Projects List would be different than what the company is tracking as longer-term initiatives, goals, and objectives. Think of your Projects List as what you need to make action choices and report out on. I bet you would also benefit from a list called "Projects-Delegated" to track the projects those 10 direct reports are working on that you need to oversee.
Click to expand...

What a pity that this nugget of GTD wisdom will be buried in the forum pile and nobody will find it again... :-(
 
kelstarrising said:
Hi there. It's very common, if not expected, that your own Projects List would be different than what the company is tracking as longer-term initiatives, goals, and objectives. Think of your Projects List as what you need to make action choices and report out on. I bet you would also benefit from a list called "Projects-Delegated" to track the projects those 10 direct reports are working on that you need to oversee.

Remember, a Projects list only includes those items you can complete in the next 12 months. Most people have 30-100 projects, personally and professionally, at any given time. Anything longer than that is a one to two+ year goal, objective, or vision (horizon 3 or 4 on the Horizons of Focus map).

As for tracking anything with more than one action step, I would just say do that with a grain of salt. I don't follow the letter of the law on that one. Technically "Buy birthday gift for my nephew" is a project (ask my sister what he wants > buy it online or in person > get card > ship it), but I didn't call it a project. The next steps were evident enough to keep the peanut rolling down the street. But some aren't as obvious and I do track it as a project to make sure I don't lose it as an outcome I'm working on.

BTW, you might get a ton of value from a Level 2: Projects & Priorities public GTD course. There is a big focus in the course and follow-up sessions on getting to a complete projects list. There are a few coming up in Boston and the UK.

Hope this helps!

Kelly
Click to expand...

Hi Kelly, thanks that is great advice.

I think I would just make 2 comments/changes to what you've said -

The Projects-Delegated list makes perfect sense but I am actually thinking about tracking these in a different system that the whole department can see. That way, they can check off their own tasks and pass tasks between team members. It would also form the body of our team meetings.

I started out thinking I didn't need to create projects for anything with mutiple actions and could handle the "buy birthday gift for my nephew" scenario. But I am realising, the more and more I rely on my Next actions list, the more I could benefit from turning these tasks into projects. I fear that if I don't do this, I am still holding a lot of next actions in my head. More so for work stuff than personal.

A real world example is, I need to see my boss about who is going to attend a seminar in a couple of weeks as I am away and can't go. That is currently one action on my list. But once I've seen my boss I need to speak to the people who need to go, book them on the list, ensure they have a pool car to take. I think to get everything off my mind I would benefit from this.

The main shift for me is to stop thinking of projects as projects....... if that makes sense!
 
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