My version of GTD 2.0: Integration with Power Scheduling

[1drummergirl]

I do this already with an outliner. I have my roles as the top level item. Underneath each role I have focus areas, projects and then next actions. S/M items are listed along side projects (sorted underneath them actually). This gives me a master overview of everything. ( I am using Bonsai for this www.natara.com and sync to my palm)

To filter on contexts such as calls and computer, I start each next action with a keyword followed by a colon. For example a call would look like this:

Call: Joe/web design estimate

Bonsai and datebk both allow me to filter on text and save the filter so I just a list of filters to quickly sort contexts. I can zoom in/out of the outline at any time and view my data in however much detail I need at the moment. It links to datebk6 on my palm so date specific tasks land on my calendar alongside my hard landscape.

I work from home so I structure my days based on roles. I block off various hours for work, household stuff, community projects, family time, etc. When looking at a list of calls (they are automatically color coded by category/role btw) I can see at a glance which ones are work-related based on their color. If I am "at work" I try to choose only work-related calls, but if I see that I could knock a couple of other short personal ones off the list while I am on the phone then I will. The scheduling helps a lot with separating work and household stuff since pretty much every context I have is "at home" but I am not overly strict in choosing from specific roles at specific times. I tend to work more by project rather than by context. When I sit down at my desk, I scan my lists more for a project to kick start and finish, not just to mark off a bunch of tasks as complete.

 

[Jogesh]

Roles as Routines?

Drummergirl, I see how your role division helps you in your daily work. Interestingly, I too had my commitments organised in this fashion, and also use an outliner to set up my system. Somehow it didn't suit me, and in fact caused much anxiety and stress as I tried to put projects and next actions according to the role(s) I assumed at home and at work. I couldn't really put down in words why until I recently read Longstreet's original post and the many interesting discussions arising from it. I think your role division is a fine set up, this is not a criticism of it, because eventually I think we all seek a balance in what we do, and tend to look for ways to divide limited resources to what we perceive is important to us.
What Longstreet says about scheduling work according to the *type* of task comes across I think in your methodology as role division. To me, (after much angst and agony), it has come across essentially as *routines* performed daily. Let me try to explain - I try to remain focused (for eg at work) on my main goal, which is to maintain and keep a customer, and (hopefully) increase the number of customers over time. Everything else, then becomes a routine at some point, even if it starts off becoming a project. For example, landing a supply contract begins as a project, and after that it becomes a routine: (a) Making a sales call (b) processing an order (c) collecting payment etc, repeated at recurring intervals across my customer base. I therefore pretty much try to achieve the same result as Longstreet and Drummergirl - ensuring I am doing the various tasks required of me involving different types of tasks or roles, but in the verbal expression of routines. I therefore have in my outline a fair amount of routines set up, which either increase with time (as responsibilities increase) or become redundant. Visiting this forum, for example, is for me a productivity and growth routine, which in turn I hope help me handle my commitments better to achieve my goals. I then have those routines set up by physical context. Again, the discussions in this thread helped me a lot in that area; quite a number of those traditional contexts become blurred in a highly connected world, and so they have to be tweaked. I'm enjoying this discussion thread immensely...Cheers
JD