Newbie with a question on Projects

[mom2zonabby]

Hi - long time GTD'er that hasn't quite been successful in all steps so I'm taking it back to basics.

Question on Projects. When clarifying, if I've identified an item as a Project, should I immediately clarify the next step, or organize it to my projects folder, coming back to it to clarify next action during my review of projects? I'm currently using Nirvana as my tool, and when I mark it as Project, it automatically moves to my projects folder. I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off staying in my Inbox to continue processing what's there, or go to the Project I just created to identify the next action item.

I hope that makes sense! Happy to hear your thoughts.

 

[mcogilvie]

I think only you can give a definitive answer. If you know how you want to start acting on your project, you might want to get it out of your head. It will probably take less time than you think. If you’re not clear and need more time to ponder next actions, you’re not going to go too long before reviewing the project. If you want, you could also make “brainstorm actions for xyz project” a next action. If you have a full inbox and you’re moving through it effectively, maybe you want to stay with the inbox. You may not always make a perfect choice in the moment, but you will be moving forward, and you will learn from experience. The weekly review will help ensure that everything gets attended to.

 

[cfoley]

Straight away.

The way the GTD book introduces things is to determine whether it is actionable, then ask what the next action is, then to ask if more actions will be needed, in which case a project should be created.

I would be wary of "moving" inbox items to other lists. I find that the words that make it into my inbox are often not good projects or actions.

 

[Gardener]

Hi - long time GTD'er that hasn't quite been successful in all steps so I'm taking it back to basics.

Question on Projects. When clarifying, if I've identified an item as a Project, should I immediately clarify the next step, or organize it to my projects folder, coming back to it to clarify next action during my review of projects? I'm currently using Nirvana as my tool, and when I mark it as Project, it automatically moves to my projects folder. I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off staying in my Inbox to continue processing what's there, or go to the Project I just created to identify the next action item.

I hope that makes sense! Happy to hear your thoughts.

I would absolutely stay in my inbox, because I have trouble with interrupting the flow of one task to finish another task. For the same reason, I ignore the two-minute rule.

 

[Sarahsuccess]

I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off staying in my Inbox to continue processing what's there, or go to the Project I just created to identify the next action item.

I really like your question. It got me thinking about my GTD process.
I think I would take each item in my inbox through the whole workflow diagram. So if I identify something in my inbox as a project, following the diagram, I would loop back and ask myself “what’s the next action?”, then I would ask “do I want to do it, delegate, or defer it?” and then I’d put it in the appropriate category bucket in my system (the outer ring of the diagram). Alternatively, if something in my inbox triggers me to think of a next action, I would loop to the projects section and ask myself “is there any outcome I’m committed to about this?” and take that through the diagram and put the project and next actions in their appropriate category “buckets”.
What I’ve described is essentially the first three stages of gtd: capture, clarify, and categorize. This is going back to basics, which I’m working on as well.

 

[Jared Caron]

Hi - long time GTD'er that hasn't quite been successful in all steps so I'm taking it back to basics.

Question on Projects. When clarifying, if I've identified an item as a Project, should I immediately clarify the next step, or organize it to my projects folder, coming back to it to clarify next action during my review of projects? I'm currently using Nirvana as my tool, and when I mark it as Project, it automatically moves to my projects folder. I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off staying in my Inbox to continue processing what's there, or go to the Project I just created to identify the next action item.

I hope that makes sense! Happy to hear your thoughts.

While clarifying, its important to finish the thinking. When i worked with coach Meg, she helped me with this tremendously. She shared that many people read the book and assume that clarifying, as a process, is fast. so they try to go fast, and leave a bunch of unfinished thinking behind in the process. So her advice to me was to slow down. Often you are clarifying a crude placeholder for more complex thoughts. So take a minute to finish the thinking, which probably includes identifying at least the initial step in a project. The key question to ask yourself before moving on is "is this off my mind". If its not, you're not done clarifying.

Also remember that clarifying is a separate step from organizing, though they often happen close together. I know I will sometimes fall into the trap of jumping straight to organize, focusing on: "where does this go?" rather than: "What does this mean?", "is it actionable?", "what's the next action?" That too leaves unfinished thinking and is really skipping the critical clarify step.

Hope that helps.

 

[schmeggahead]

While clarifying, its important to finish the thinking. When i worked with coach Meg, she helped me with this tremendously. She shared that many people read the book and assume that clarifying, as a process, is fast. so they try to go fast, and leave a bunch of unfinished thinking behind in the process. So her advice to me was to slow down.

When I'm processing an inbox, I changed my focus from "getting everything in my inbox clarified" to "I'm going to completely clarify this item as it stands right now." The main reason? I will never have to clarify this again unless something changes. In a way, it is done because it is off of my mind (after I organize the results of course).

I gave myself the space to finish that step for this item, staying in the moment as it were, rather than looking to the next item so I could move more rapidly. I actually have my inbox above where I can read the top item just to prevent me from looking at anything else but the item I'm clarifying. Same with doing it electronically: I open a specific item in its own window, rather than work with it inside a list (or with the list of items next to it).

I do get build up in my inboxes most days. However, items are consistently leaving them and being handled in my system. I don't have to look at them again.

Hope this helps,
Clayton.

"I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s." – William Blake

 

[mom2zonabby]

While clarifying, its important to finish the thinking. When i worked with coach Meg, she helped me with this tremendously. She shared that many people read the book and assume that clarifying, as a process, is fast. so they try to go fast, and leave a bunch of unfinished thinking behind in the process. So her advice to me was to slow down. Often you are clarifying a crude placeholder for more complex thoughts. So take a minute to finish the thinking, which probably includes identifying at least the initial step in a project. The key question to ask yourself before moving on is "is this off my mind". If its not, you're not done clarifying.

Also remember that clarifying is a separate step from organizing, though they often happen close together. I know I will sometimes fall into the trap of jumping straight to organize, focusing on: "where does this go?" rather than: "What does this mean?", "is it actionable?", "what's the next action?" That too leaves unfinished thinking and is really skipping the critical clarify step.

Hope that helps.

Ah yes, that's one of my biggest struggles. Slowing down! Very helpful, thank you.

 

[mom2zonabby]

I would absolutely stay in my inbox, because I have trouble with interrupting the flow of one task to finish another task. For the same reason, I ignore the two-minute rule.

Yea, I may need to ignore that too, because I found it is taking me way too long to process because I have several items I can do in two minutes.