How to manage my projects/goals when people or family don't know anything about gtd

[escapegardens]

To fully apply gtd does it require immediate family and colleagues to use gtd? Or is it possible to use gtd to manage family /colleagues within a project for family, daughter, boss etc. This idea creates a possible solution that makes it easier for yourself. So you become a broker of their projects? Is that a realistic expectation. How have people handled this situation?

In a way you become responsible for helping them, and potentially overly committed to them than what is personally desirable.

 

[Gardener]

Can you give an example of what you mean? You can't make them use GTD for their projects, no, or make them use it for their sub-projects within your projects. That is, you can try, but it's unlikely to work.

So, for example, let's say that you're planning a family reunion, and you ask Cousin Jane to be in charge of arranging for her garage band to entertain during dinner. You can put an action in _your_ tickler file of, "Ask Cousin Jane if the band has agreed" and "Confirm with Cousin Jane" and "Speak to hotel about storage for Jane's cello during the day."

You can schedule those actions earlier than you would schedule them just for yourself, on the assumption that it may take Jane a while after she's reminded. But you can't make _Jane_ organize her calls to her friends, transportation, choice of music, etc. with the GTD system. She's going to do it with her chosen method.

 

[TesTeq]

3 x NO.

To fully apply gtd does it require immediate family and colleagues to use gtd?

No. GTD is your personal system.

Or is it possible to use gtd to manage family /colleagues within a project for family, daughter, boss etc.

No. You use GTD to manage your projects.

So you become a broker of their projects? Is that a realistic expectation.

No. You are not a broker of someone's projects. You delegate a task and use WaitingFor list to follow up.

 

[mcogilvie]

To fully apply gtd does it require immediate family and colleagues to use gtd? Or is it possible to use gtd to manage family /colleagues within a project for family, daughter, boss etc. This idea creates a possible solution that makes it easier for yourself. So you become a broker of their projects? Is that a realistic expectation. How have people handled this situation?

In a way you become responsible for helping them, and potentially overly committed to them than what is personally desirable.

You can't make your colleagues, friends and family go gtd, and if you try to assume responsibility for projects that you don't own, it will generally go badly. What gtd does do is clarify what is yours and what is theirs. Let me give you an example: I have aging parents, but my father is in good shape mentally. They need help, but if I can't meet all their needs due to all the other commitments I have (and my own sanity). My father and I have to negotiate the boundaries and priorities of what I can do for them. One of the difficulties is balancing routine time-consuming needs like groceries and new shoes against larger projects, like moving them to a higher level of care, and I have to make some tough decisions. I hope this helps give you some perspective.

 

[goncalomata]

GTD mindset: positive infuence

To fully apply gtd does it require immediate family and colleagues to use gtd?

The mindset/ mental structure may have a positive influence on those around you.
For example in a family meeting, subtle action-oriented questions like "How could we get it started?" or "Who is going to do what?" or "Who could be responsible for centralizing updates around this issue?", and so on, can go a long way to introduce the benefits of a GTD approach without requiring them to master the methodology.

In summary I would say that the MINDSET goes far, even without any formal implementation.

Goncalo Gil Mata
www.whatsthetrick.com