Looking for help in structuring projects

M

macmason

0
Hello all GTDers

Recently I've discovered GTD and trying to learn how to implement it into my work enviroment. I've purchased GTD Outlook add-in and it seems to be a nice tool but I'm having problem with deciding how to structure projects. The problem is that I run small budiling company and at the moment I supervise 3 different building sites. Each site generates own problems=projects and I'm not sure how I should treat them according to proper GTD style. Should I treat each building site as Area of Focus or rather a project and every problem as subproject? As an owner of the company I'm also responsible for finnances, HR and production (building sites) as well...
I should also add that each building site is "active" for a period from 6 to 20 months.

So the question is - should I structure my work life like this:

Areas of Focus:
Finnances
HR
Building sites

Projects:

Site 1 (as project)
- Site 1 - problem 1 (subproject)
Site 2
....

or rather as:

Area of Focus:
Finnances
HR
Site 1
Site 2
...

Projects:
Site 1- problem 1 (project)
Site 1- problem 2 (project)
....

Thanks in advance for your help

Mac
 
It's really up to you what you are comfortable with, and it's not a once-in-a-lifetime decision either. Structuring building sites as areas of focus for 6-24 months, with shorter-duration projects makes sense to me. If you use formal project management software, you should continue to use it in tandem with GTD. Your projects and next actions lists will help you keep your focus where it needs to be. And as each problem is resolved, you get the win of checking off a project.
 
Contexts

I would suggest working at the action level at first rather than worrying about Areas of Focus vs. Projects for the building sites. In other words, each of the building sites sound like a Context, ie @BuildingSite1, @BuildingSite2. The Problem 1, Problem 2, etc. sound like the Project Levels. The Area of Focus sounds like it would be somethigng like "Building Sites Oversite". This could also be broken down into "Building Site A Oversite", "Building Site B Oversite" (inserting the actual location into it, for example "Grant Avenue Site Oversite".

But as the first commenter suggested it really is up to what works best for you rather than a rigid set of rules.
 
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