How to do the Weekly Review

andersons

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kewms said:
I seriously question whether a single "most effective" GTD implementation exists. There is simply too much variation in work requirements, work environments, and individual work styles.
I don't believe a single implementation is most effective for all individuals. Nor did I ever say that. But for a given individual, some implementations can be much more effective than others.

kewms said:
But it does get rather tedious to be told over and over (and over and over) again that all of our organizing challenges would be solved if we would only select the right tools and take the time to learn to use them properly, and that those of us who shun the One True Way are rigid, out of touch with reality, and doomed to obsolescence and unemployment.
Do you honestly think that this is a fair and accurate summary of what I said?

I have read over and over (and over and over) how bad PDAs are and how great paper is. I have not told the paper enthusiasts that their posts are tedious.
 

kewms

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andersons said:
I believe that to be most effective, you have to fit your way of doing things to reality. And you have to be flexible to change your way of doing things to take advantage of new technology. It is rarely ideal to rigidly adhere to one way forever.

I know people who just will not change their way of doing things and are now out of work because their old way is inefficient; there is now a new and better way; but they resist learning and using the new way.

I'd rather just let this go, but you did ask....

Katherine
 

kewms

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andersons said:
Do you honestly think that this is a fair and accurate summary of what I said?

I have read over and over (and over and over) how bad PDAs are and how great paper is. I have not told the paper enthusiasts that their posts are tedious.

I don't believe I quoted you (or anyone else) in my post.

I find dogma tedious. If the complaint fits...

Katherine
 

Brent

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I do my personal Weekly Review on Saturdays or Sundays (though I haven't been faithful with this), and my work Weekly Review on Monday mornings (I'm quite faithful with this).
 

andersons

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kewms said:
I don't believe I quoted you (or anyone else) in my post.
True, only a few words were directly quoted, while most was paraphrase.

To me it looked obvious that your post was a complaint about me in general. And the paraphrase was a straw man that grossly misrepresents me. If the complaint about what you find tedious was not directed toward me, I cannot imagine whose posts you are complaining about.

kewms said:
I find dogma tedious.
Repeatedly advocating Weekly Review as the solution to all problems is dogma too.

If you don't like considering different positions, you do not have to read mine. I welcome fair criticism of my position, but not personally-directed complaints that distort what I said.

Katherine, I personally enjoy reading your posts because you so often cut through complexity to identify the most important part of a solution. What a valuable ability and contribution.
 
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Skiptomylue11

Guest
I run an entirely paper system, with the exception of a recurring tasks program for mundane everyday things, especially when making a new habit.

I do my weekly reviews on Saturdays.

They take about half an hour.

and I go through the list that DA recommends.

I never have re-written my lists, because I feel that is a waste of time. I do go through my projects and make sure that they have a current NA or a couple on my NA lists. I also update project NAs throughout the week, as I finish one, I tend to write down the next NA for the project.
 

kewms

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I just want to apologize to the forum at large, and andersons in particular, for my posts yesterday. Yesterday was a tremendously stressful day for me, but the reasons have nothing to do with GTD or anything posted here.

Katherine
 
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ActionGirl

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I've been using parts of GTD for over a year, but only in the past two months have I regularly done a weekly review. Some weeks it involves a good bit of project planning, and other times it's rather perfunctory.

Honestly, the real virtue of it for me is being sure I get back to something approaching ground zero at least once a week. Some weeks I never get too far from it, so the WR goes quickly and isn't really even necessary. Other weeks, I'm seriously behind on attending to details large and small. I do like the weekly-ness of it, mostly because my life chunks into weeks rather well and it's always been a natural and comfortable time horizon for me.

I'm conflicted about optimization. There's a lot in my life that could do with some optimization. ;) But my track record isn't very good when comes to staying in an optimized state! Eventually I always fall off the wagon. So I think having that weekly stake in the ground is necessary for me. Perhaps I'll be so consistantly up to date over the next year that the WR becomes entirely pointless. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that I'm better off keeping it.

At any rate, I wouldn't say that the WR is the most important part of GTD. For me, that's been been thinking more clearly about my stuff, and having hard edges in my thinking and filing.
 

andersons

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kewms said:
I just want to apologize to the forum at large, and andersons in particular, for my posts yesterday. Yesterday was a tremendously stressful day for me, but the reasons have nothing to do with GTD or anything posted here.
Katherine, I appreciate this greatly. And I sincerely hope that today and the future will bring much less stress.

I often think about and debate facts and logic and I know I can get carried away. I forget that what I say can be insensitive of others' feelings; I clearly was insensitive here, and I apologize for that.

I look forward to reading many more of your what-a-great-point posts that help make this forum such an interesting and helpful place.
 

TesTeq

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Everybody must find his or her own way to GTD!

andersons and kewms,

Isn't it great that despite the fundamental differences between your approach to implementation, GTD works for you both?

Everybody must find her or his own way to GTD!
 
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mmr

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paper & weekly review

Thanks to everybody for an interesting discussion!

I am one of the paper-users in the audience (and not because I can't type, either! :)). I prefer paper both because I believe it is more effective for me, and because I find putting pen to paper a pleasure. And both of those factors are important to me! I don't typically re-write my lists every week -- just when I feel I need to. While the re-writing may in itself be "inefficient," it is also a beautiful tool for focusing the attention (and intention), and thereby contains (for me) value beyond that of the task itself.

I am one of the folks who schedules the weekly review for Wednesdays, though I don't write that in stone -- Wednesdays have just become my default. Today, for instance, I was in massive need of a mental housecleaning of the weekly review variety -- and oh so conveniently, I only had one meeting this morning, so I was able to take advantage of that!
 

andersons

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TesTeq said:
Isn't it great that despite the fundamental differences between your approach to implementation, GTD works for you both?

Everybody must find her or his own way to GTD!
I don't know how fundamental the differences might be. I often find myself nodding in agreement, doing many of the same things she recommends.

However, I have a question about everyone's own way to GTD. How significantly can one depart from David Allen's recommendations in the book and still say one is "GTD"? Especially if David Allen trademarks "GTD"?

For example. Brent started this thread about how he does his weekly review. As I understand things, he departs from 2 rather strong recommendations in the book. First, he separates work projects from home projects. DA tells us not to separate these. Second, he does not review home projects every week, so in that sense it's not a "weekly" review. DA recommends setting aside a chunk of time every week. Now Brent's strategies seem perfectly reasonable and work for him, but is he still "GTD"?

Another example. A number of people report that they often make a "Today" list. DA specifically discourages daily prioritized lists in his book. In fact, daily lists are strongly associated with other productivity systems like Franklin-Covey. So if one does this, is she still "GTD"?

I personally feel I am successful in getting things done if 1) I feel good about accomplishing goals that are important to me, and 2) I'm not forgetting any commitments. My criteria are similar to those stated on the What Is GTD? page of this website, which says "The only 'right' way to do GTD is getting meaningful things done with truly the least amount of invested attention and energy."

I agree with this statement, but I'm not sure it answers the question "What is GTD?" because other productivity approaches have the same goals. If someone is achieving these same goals using the Franklin-Covey system exactly as directed, is he GTD? He may well be accomplishing meaningful goals, and with less attention and energy than he would need to implement GTD recommendations. With "GTD" to be trademarked and David Allen's recommendations being protected as intellectual property and sold, I see confusion between the "core principles of productivity" and "the best practices of how to work (and live)." In one sentence, we are told that there is "tremendous freedom in the 'how'" -- yet 2 sentences later, we are told that there are "best practices of how to work (and live)." It is those best practices which most distinguish DA's GTD; yet "best practices" are tightly linked to specific situations and are best abandoned in other situations. They may work in many cases, but not others.

In my opinion (which I do not hold strongly), when I am no longer doing a weekly review because I find another advantageous way to keep up-to-date with my commitments, I am no longer doing "GTD." I have not "found my own way to GTD(TM)"; I have abandoned a GTD "best practice" in favor of my own way to get things done. In my opinion, I am getting things done, but I'm not GTD in the trademark sense of how GTD is best known.
 
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pageta

Guest
andersons, I think you're taking this whole issue way too seriously! Relax a little. I'm sure even David Allen's way of applying GTD has evolved over the years and with changes in his life. Every person is unique, and will have unique needs to be met by GTD, though there are always many things we have in common. It's just not that big of a deal. It's not worth arguing over or writing long dissertations. Take a chill pill. Relax. Think calm thoughts. Take a deep breath. Seriously...
 
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Skiptomylue11

Guest
andersons said:
However, I have a question about everyone's own way to GTD. How significantly can one depart from David Allen's recommendations in the book and still say one is "GTD"? Especially if David Allen trademarks "GTD"?

I think it comes down to whatever David Allen defines GTD as, I'm sure that most people who use this site are not 100% GTDers, some people might be 97%, some could be 63%. It really doesn't matter in the end, because GTD is just advice, whatever works best for you and whatever you can learn from GTD is probably the most important.
 
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Starfish

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pageta said:
andersons, I think you're taking this whole issue way too seriously! Relax a little. I'm sure even David Allen's way of applying GTD has evolved over the years and with changes in his life. Every person is unique, and will have unique needs to be met by GTD, though there are always many things we have in common. It's just not that big of a deal. It's not worth arguing over or writing long dissertations. Take a chill pill. Relax. Think calm thoughts. Take a deep breath. Seriously...

pageta,

I didn't see anywhere where andersons flipped out on this issue. I do think however, that you were unnecessarily condescending to andersons...

@andersons - Good points made!

Matthew
 

andersons

Registered
pageta said:
andersons, I think you're taking this whole issue way too seriously! Relax a little. I'm sure even David Allen's way of applying GTD has evolved over the years and with changes in his life. Every person is unique, and will have unique needs to be met by GTD, though there are always many things we have in common. It's just not that big of a deal. It's not worth arguing over or writing long dissertations. Take a chill pill. Relax. Think calm thoughts. Take a deep breath. Seriously...
pageta, don't worry, just because I have written some thoughts does not mean I am stressed about them. I'm not. You speak of argumentation and dissertations as if they are bad things, but to me they're not. They are a large part of what I do.

I don't care whether my own approach to productivity is GTD or not, just how well it works. But I was considering that I am posting on a forum that costs money to maintain, and davidco is paying. David Allen asked those who talk about GTD to link to his official definition. Perhaps he is concerned that newcomers to his ideas might be confused by discussion that departs from them. GTD might not be a big deal to us, but it certainly is to him. He trademarked it.
 

andersons

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Starfish said:
I didn't see anywhere where andersons flipped out on this issue.
Well, I'm definitely not flipping out about it. The truth? I'm trying to think and write about something entirely different, but I can't seem to conjure up enough energy to get anywhere with it. And if I had any energy to flip out, I'd flip out about the email asking me to make major changes to a soon-upcoming event I have been planning and working on for 4 months. So I take a break from those tasks, and the next thing I know I've written a dissertation about what is GTD anyway. Maybe it is scary. If only I could write something that I really DO need to write about!
 

TesTeq

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Periodical review required (weekly suggested).

andersons said:
For example. Brent started this thread about how he does his weekly review. As I understand things, he departs from 2 rather strong recommendations in the book. First, he separates work projects from home projects. DA tells us not to separate these. Second, he does not review home projects every week, so in that sense it's not a "weekly" review. DA recommends setting aside a chunk of time every week. Now Brent's strategies seem perfectly reasonable and work for him, but is he still "GTD"?
David says that we must periodically review our lists (absolute GTD compatibility requirement) and suggests to do it weekly because of the natural rhythm of our lives (GTD implementation hint).
 

Brent

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andersons said:
For example. Brent started this thread about how he does his weekly review. As I understand things, he departs from 2 rather strong recommendations in the book. First, he separates work projects from home projects. DA tells us not to separate these.

Well, that's slightly inaccurate. More correctly, work is a separate context from home. I apply the same processes whether at home or at work, using the same essential system, but I use different mediums to record different actions.

For example, I have one set of NAs for when I'm at home, a different set of NAs for when I'm shopping, and another set of NAs for when I'm at work. These are stored in different mediums (laptop, PDA, index cards), but they're all processed and maintained using the same essential GTD process.

As far as I remember the book -- and I may be remembering it incorrectly -- David states that he's agnostic about the specific tool(s) you use to record your NAs, Projects, etc., as long as you're using those tools to consistently record, process, and do your work.

Second, he does not review home projects every week, so in that sense it's not a "weekly" review.

That's also somewhat inaccurate. I try to do a review every week; I just don't always get around to it. That's my failing; it's not a deliberate departure from David's Weekly Review principle.

About defining whether someone is "doing GTD:" personally, I don't care if I'm "doing GTD." I don't care if other people are "doing GTD." I care if I'm Getting Things Done. What does it matter?
 

andersons

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TesTeq said:
David says that we must periodically review our lists (absolute GTD compatibility requirement) and suggests to do it weekly because of the natural rhythm of our lives (GTD implementation hint).

I would agree with this statement completely. But my understanding of GTD comes mainly from the book, which uses the term "Weekly Review" in caps repeatedly and says
"Whatever your life-style, you need a weekly regrouping ritual."

This sounded like an absolute requirement to me. I don't know if subsequent materials have qualified it somewhat.
 
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