My version of GTD 2.0: Integration with Power Scheduling

[jkgrossi]

Ok, ok. But actually blogs checking is not really a daily HAVE TO DO. And really nothing would happen if you don't have a free chunk of time to do that daily.

Let's take something that's really have to do without any "maybes", i.e. someone needs to take pills daily not to become pregnant (sorry, didn't found any other more important theme that is not connected to anything bad And the problem of this someone is that taking those pills is a process that takes 1 to 2 hours. So we have a case where she have to do some tasks daily and that process takes quite a long time. What would be your solution for that? ;-)

Regards,

Eugene.

Well, if this HAS to get done on a certain date, it goes on the calendar.

Simple. ;-)

If one needs to block out 2 hours every day for a "mission critical" project that has a hard daily deadline, what's the problem with doing that?

Jim

 

[Jason Echols]

Well, if this HAS to get done on a certain date, it goes on the calendar.

Simple. ;-)

If one needs to block out 2 hours every day for a "mission critical" project that has a hard daily deadline, what's the problem with doing that?

Jim

I agree. There are times whne the only way for me to get some things done, is to make appointments with myself. At those appointed times, I will turn my messenger to "busy" and I might not answer the phone or look at email. That way I can focus of that task alone.

 

[Borisoff]

If one needs to block out 2 hours every day for a "mission critical" project that has a hard daily deadline, what's the problem with doing that?
Jim

Jim, it's not really a problem with that but David doesn't give any instructions on such time-consuming day-specific but not time-specific activities. I know that they should be on the calendar but in which form? David gives us two forms:

1. Day specific plus time specific - this is actually appointments;

2. Day specific not time specific small - these are short NAs (I'd say not bigger then 30 mins) that could be done in a free timeslot.

but where to put Day Specific not Time Specific Large NAs? Block off the time and then move it when something more important arrives there? If so then it why David didn't put that in the book? Or I missed something there?

Regards,

Eugene.

 

[Brent]

Eugene, it seems to me that you're describing something that needs to be a daily habit. All the standard advice for establishing a habit applies (connect it with a regular part of your life, reward yourself for keeping up, track your progress, etc.).

Does that help?

 

[jkgrossi]

Jim, it's not really a problem with that but David doesn't give any instructions on such time-consuming day-specific but not time-specific activities. I know that they should be on the calendar but in which form? David gives us two forms:

1. Day specific plus time specific - this is actually appointments;

2. Day specific not time specific small - these are short NAs (I'd say not bigger then 30 mins) that could be done in a free timeslot.

but where to put Day Specific not Time Specific Large NAs? Block off the time and then move it when something more important arrives there? If so then it why David didn't put that in the book? Or I missed something there?

Regards,

Eugene.

Eugene,

I think that he does. This looks to me like it falls under the blanket of a hard-landscape calendar item. The amount of time that it takes is really irrelevant.

Why would you make the assumption that #2 relates only to NA's that take less than 30 minutes?

Fact is, you've got a reminder saying "Hey, come hell or high water this MUST get done today!". What's the difference if it takes 5 minutes or 5 hours?

Jim

 

[neils]

hi longstreet - can you describe how you've configured Outlook for gtd ?

When you say @Writing folder, do you mean Category or have you created new Outlook folder ?

Neil

 

[Borisoff]

I think that he does. This looks to me like it falls under the blanket of a hard-landscape calendar item. The amount of time that it takes is really irrelevant. Why would you make the assumption that #2 relates only to NA's that take less than 30 minutes? Fact is, you've got a reminder saying "Hey, come hell or high water this MUST get done today!". What's the difference if it takes 5 minutes or 5 hours? Jim

Jim, I thought that this is for small NAs because if you put a 5 hours reminder and don't schedule (or maybe it's better to say "budget") the time for it it could happen that when you come to that day tasks in the future there will be not enough room for this NA in-between already assigned Appointments. What do you think?

Eugene.

 

[Borisoff]

Eugene, it seems to me that you're describing something that needs to be a daily habit. All the standard advice for establishing a habit applies (connect it with a regular part of your life, reward yourself for keeping up, track your progress, etc.).Does that help?

Brent,

probably that's the solution for the pills I have something of that kind that is close to the described task. For example, I need to make a progress in Spanish daily. On one hand, nothing will happen if I skip that once but not twice (I could forget everything that I've learned before On the other hand I want it to be daily to make a consistent progress. Do you think that Spanish lessons should be blocked on the calendar (scheduled, timemapped, whatever - there's a problem that I don't need it to be tied to any specific time but I need at least 1 hour daily), or put on the calendar as day event (there's good but could happen I don't have 1 hour at that day or 2 days or more), or put to NAs list (there could be a problem with consistent progress because it becomes asap not daily). Or maybe there're any other ways out?

Regards,

Eugene.

 

[Brent]

Eugene, I suggest you forget about GTD here for a moment and concentrate on establishing the habit of practicing Spanish daily. There's lots of advice out there about establishing habits, and I suggest you look into those.

In my opinion, GTD really isn't about establishing habits like that.

 

[kewms]

I've taken recurring tasks out of my NA list altogether. They are handled by Sciral Consistency (for tracking) and my time map (for scheduling).

If I find that I'm not being consistent enough with these tasks, I might explicitly schedule appointments for them, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Recurring tasks for me are those that I need/want to do at some regular interval indefinitely. Practice Japanese. Exercise. Backup my computer. Do my Weekly Review. Etc. It seems to me that those tasks are different from project-oriented NAs that have a clearly defined end-date, and so I treat them differently.

Katherine

 

[Longstreet]

Context category

Hi Neils,

Yes, I have the following context categories in Outlook -- .Writing, @Study Design & Analysis, @Read/review, and @Odds & Ends. The latter is for the small things that one has to do to keep the balls in the air that really don't fit into a standard work focus category for me. I have the classic context categories of @Home, @Errands, @Waiting For, and @Agendas.

I am finding this integration of power scheduling with GTD works really well for me. As I have said, I am one of those people that likes structure, and a self-imposed structure of only focusing on a particular type of work for loose blocks of time -- say writing in the morning for 1-2 hours -- well, let's just say that I like not having to constantly scan all of my categories after I just finished a next action and "agonize" on what I should do next. This just simplifies it some for me. But...this is just me....

Best to all,
Longstreet

 

[jkgrossi]

Jim, I thought that this is for small NAs because if you put a 5 hours reminder and don't schedule (or maybe it's better to say "budget") the time for it it could happen that when you come to that day tasks in the future there will be not enough room for this NA in-between already assigned Appointments. What do you think?

Eugene.

Eugene,

IMHO, this is where your intuition comes into play. If you *know* that this task is going to take some time, and it MUST get done today, don't schedule other appointments or make other commitments for that day.

This is really the power of the hard landscape - if the only things on your calendar are the things that MUST get done on a given day, your decks are cleared to work on only those things. Everything else gets pushed aside.

For example, I'm an accountant. At the end of every month there are certain tasks that I must complete to close the books for the month. Sometimes they take me an hour, sometimes it's 5. I intuitively know this, and don't schedule anything else on those days. I make it clear to those around me that my time on these days is very sacred, and I don't stand for interruptions.

Point is, I *know* that if my tasks don't get completed I'm going to fail at "job one". So that's my priority for the day, no matter how long it takes.

Now, if you have too many commitments on a given day, that's another topic all together... and one that David has delegated to us to cope with.

Jim

 

[Borisoff]

Eugene,

IMHO, this is where your intuition comes into play. If you *know* that this task is going to take some time, and it MUST get done today, don't schedule other appointments or make other commitments for that day.

This is really the power of the hard landscape - if the only things on your calendar are the things that MUST get done on a given day, your decks are cleared to work on only those things. Everything else gets pushed aside.
Jim

Jim,

I understand what you say and that's right. I'm trying to understand what to do with recurring tasks like Spanish learning. It takes at least 1 hour daily, could be skiped once or twice a week but not more. The problem is it's neither a meeting really nor must to do task so it's not really correct to put them on the Calendar. On the other hand putting it to NAs list could lead to skipping more then twice a week Katherine suggests to move them out of the system and track externally. Brent suggests to have some kind of daily check card for that kind of tasks. What do you suggest?

Regards,

Eugene.

 

[jkgrossi]

Eugene,

I'd suggest blocking out an hour on your calendar every day if you're having trouble getting to it. I do this for a number of items, including my weekly review. If you're that committed to learning Spanish, and you're having trouble either remembering to do it or finding the time to do it (and it's time sensitive), I think that it's important enough to be a hard landscape item.

Just because David doesn't "say so" in the book (although he has alluded to this in other places), I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with it.

Also keep in mind that if you do schedule something, and your boss comes to you with something that needs attention right now, your system needs to be flexible enough to accommodate.

GTD, IMHO, is just a framework... it's up to you to fill in the details in a manner that works for you.

Bottom line is this:

1) is it captured, and
2) is the reminder in a place such that I'll see it when I need to see it.

Hope this helps,

Jim

 

[Brent]

I agree with others here. Put it on the calendar.

 

[Borisoff]

All, Thanks for your help!

 

[chinarut]

love the hanging lights story!

I came here thinking GTD 2.0 was Web 2.0 GTD and after reading this thread, pleased to see they are distinct and found a great conversation!

I came across a book written by Dave DeSousa entitled “Power Scheduling”. I was intrigued by it and read it easily and carefully in one evening. I think a major light bulb went off for me! There are numerous similarities in what he says to GTD. The way he suggests in grouping tasks together is by the type of task – writing, reading, spreadsheets, etc. Then one can schedule different times during the day to concentrate on all of your tasks (next actions) in that particular category.

I think this is awesome - it takes GTD's batching and clustering of actions to the next level - the activity level. Being from the Franklin-Covey (FC) camp, one could consider clustering at the role-level as well.

In this manner, you have a choice to focus at any level: role, activity, and next action. It may even help some bring more context to each activity (ie. an Author writing chapter 2 of his book needs buy a new pen - role, activity, outcome, next action)

I hear the rigidity some of you sharing - I'm not a big fan of how FC requests you block out time for your "big rocks" - key outcomes each week per role. I declare such outcomes each week and let these outcomes happen over the course of the week more in the spirit of GTD.

 

[virgogirl]

i feel like DA has addressed some of these issues with his recommendation of a daily checklist.

I really don't see the problem, also, with having your calendar for your hard outlines, and a seperate piece of paper for your "soft" outlines, i.e. self-imposed outlines for general contexts and project work, even if it's done on a daily basis rather than a forecasted basis (and i think this might even be better and more relevant).

also, i think it's important to generate contexts that truly fit your lifestyle. I know for me personally that i need contexts a little more specific than "at computer" and choose to create contexts, or more specifically "hats" or "roles". I haven't gotten to the point where i am sorting my lists according to the hats, but i do think it's extremely important to make sure i am blocking out time to wear those hats accordingly. Some of my hats right off the top of my head (har har) are cook, wardrobe manager, and operations manager for my small business, which of course can and i think should be broken down further into things like banking, supplies, and inventory, to name jsut a few.

i think it's really important to define these roles in your life, especially if you are like me with ADD tendencies. So a simple list of hats could be a really easy solution, and you can expand on that complexity by writing down how often you want to pay attention to those roles, etc. There were some intriguing forms at www.powersystems.com for this kind of thing.

i think GTD is more geared towards people that have office jobs where their contexts are a little more defined, rather than entrepreneurs and homemakers, where you have to create your own defnitions...so big deal, just play make-beleive like i do and create your own multiple personalities/hats and make sure you're spending enough time in them ;-)

 

[Jogesh]

Like the compromise contexts

Hi Longstreet,

You have put into words what I've been struggling with for a long time. I thought there was something wrong with me, unable to fit things into the traditional contexts. :razz: The real problem was I never expanded my mind to think about the conflicts, like you have. There is a blurring of contexts in a pack-it-and-go world and it's great how you've set up compromise contexts that describe your physical contexts as well as the blocks of time you set aside for types of work. I definitely think there is a need to nuance DA's contextual methodologies. Thanks for setting my mind free ...I will be adopting quite a bit of this in my own contextual re-arrangements

Jogesh

 

[chinarut]

i think it's important to generate contexts that truly fit your lifestyle. I know for me personally that i need contexts a little more specific than "at computer" and choose to create contexts, or more specifically "hats" or "roles". I haven't gotten to the point where i am sorting my lists according to the hats, but i do think it's extremely important to make sure i am blocking out time to wear those hats accordingly. Some of my hats right off the top of my head (har har) are cook, wardrobe manager, and operations manager for my small business, which of course can and i think should be broken down further into things like banking, supplies, and inventory, to name jsut a few.

huh - i think you're really onto something - i never considered splitting my contexts by role and thus merging FC's 7 roles each week philosophy into the game.

it does present it's own sets of challenges - ie. how do I see my call list aggregated acrosst all roles? what do i do with actions correlated to my saw (mental/emotional/spiritual/physical)? i prefer not to turn to technology but it could be one possible solution - love to hear others.

the only other idea I had played around with was sorting my hats depending on the day of the week - this got a wee bit too rigid and back in my weekly planning mode - this i'm happy with for the moment and glad i'm back to a single paper mindmap every monday!

keep running with this and let's see where it goes!