Peter Gallant Implementing GTD

[Volker Herrmann]

Thanks for your question. The software I mentioned was a combination of a custom project form and a Visual Basic add-in. This is a beta version of a public-domain program that was referenced on the David Allen Company's public forums. A search under "Custom Project Form" would likely find the relevant thread. Unfortunately, the beta code is not distributable, and an updated version had not been made available the last time I checked the forum.

......

A couple of us on the forum have talked about the idea of putting together some requirments for this, and perhaps talking to NetCentrics or some other developers about implementing a supported version of this - any thoughts from the Connect community?

Regards,
Peter

Peter,

It looks like the custom project form is no longer supported by the original author. IMHO Netcentrics should be integrating this or something similar into the outlook 2007 update of their add-in. I'd like to support such an idea.

Best,

Volker

 

[pixlz]

Me too

It looks like the custom project form is no longer supported by the original author. IMHO Netcentrics should be integrating this or something similar into the outlook 2007 update of their add-in. I'd like to support such an idea.

I looked at the original message and screen shots and this looks excellent. I would also be interested in this.

 

[jtabbi]

Count me in!

I am disappointed that v2 never happened - please NetCentrics, please implement this!

 

[Peter Gallant]

Project Form...Let's Pull Together the Requirements...

Peter,

It looks like the custom project form is no longer supported by the original author. IMHO Netcentrics should be integrating this or something similar into the outlook 2007 update of their add-in. I'd like to support such an idea.

Best,

Volker

I think there is enough interest here to put a "virtual team" together and at least put together some requirements and perhaps a functional outline. I've been in contact with the NetCentrics product manager in the past and perhaps we could convince them to move forward if the key requirements were defined.

Would someone (other than me!) be willing to lead this effort? I would certainly be willing to provide input, but as David tells us, sometimes it's wise to know when you would be committing to more than you could manage well...

Any takers?

Regards,
Peter

 

[Peter Gallant]

Read/Review process...

Since your being so open with the details... ;-)

I have stuff (mag articles, whitepapers, etc.) that I would like to read during downtime - while waiting for the doctor as you say. These go in my Read/Review folder.

Stuff that needs my more immediate attention to read/review/approve but will take more than 2 minutes I put in my Current Action Support folder and enter the NA in my trusted system.

Just wanted to see how this jives with what you do... don't need an elaborate response.

Sorry for the delay in responding - I missed this post originally, and between several E.coli outbreaks where our products could have an impact, it's been a beyond-busy time for me.

We're totally "sympatico" with how you and I handle Read/Review materials. It's amazing how many Read/Review items I can get through in a week if I'm conscientious about printing them out and getting them into the Read/Review folder...there are enough of David's "wierd windows of time" in my life (and I suspect in everyone's) to get a lot of these types of things done.

I also totally agree that any more significant items should live in an Action Support folder, with the "backup" of a Next Action into the system. This always works consistently for me. As I mentioned in a previous post, I do review the Action Support folder during my Weekly Review, just in case something got missed.

Regards,
Peter

 

[ckennedy]

I've been a GTD student since the MAP days in the mid-late '90's with ups and downs. I'm currently on a big upswing due in part to GTD Connect.
Peter's interview led me to a big aha in terms of how I can use GTD to increase accountability of others in my organization.
Over the last month I have set up back to back weekly 15 minute meetings with all 10 of my direct reports. During that meeting I swing my monitor around so we can both see the screen and I pull up my Outlook tasks. I pull up a filtered view that shows all of "Jim's" @Waiting Fors and Jim and I work our way down the list tracking progress. It usually takes no more than 10 minutes. If any larger issues emerge that require discussion, we'll schedule a separate meeting to deal with it.
It has already made a world of difference in the sense of accountability of my reports, but it also gives me a chance to celebrate little successes with my staff.
One minor tweak I've made. Rather than maintaining a separate @Agendas list, I now put any items I need to discuss with someone on the @Waiting For list. For example I'll put "Talk to Jim re HVAC system" as a WF. When Jim and I meet for our weekly meeting, I speak with him and then either check it off, or if Jim needs to follow up with me later, I'll strip the "Talk To" off the task and now carry it as "Jim re HVAC system" on my Waiting For list.
A small tweak that saves me fliping from @Agendas to @Waiting For lists.
Thanks Peter and Davidco!

 

[GTDWorks]

I've been maintaining my direct reports' @Waiting fors in the note section of their @Agenda. This way, once I've assigned something, I cut and paste it into their @Waiting for and I only have to look in that one agenda to find a complete inventory of my assignments.

Example: @Agenda for Gail (my admin asst)

1. This Week's Projects

-Letter for FIF people (after we discuss it, I move it to...)

2. @Waiting for

-Letter for FIF people (17 Oct 06) Note: I always assign a date so I have a reference point in our follow-up meeting.

As I stated earlier, all this is done in the note field of her @Agenda task in Entourage.

What do you do?

 

[doggeek]

To add my thanks

Since this thread is likely about to wind down with the new CD coming out, I wanted to jump in with my thanks even though I don't have much of substance to add.

I've been underwater for the past 6 to 8 weeks with our final U.S. tax deadline this past Monday, working 70+ hours a week plus my "second job" caring for the English springer spaniels we train and breed for hunting and field trials. We got carried away this year and have had three litters. They're lots of fun, but they need time to properly care for. Anyway, without GTD I think I would have lost my sanity by this point. While I have a daunting list of catch-up work that has accumulated over these weeks (all the things that were not absolutely necessary to meeting the deadline or baseline existence), I don't feel overwhelmed, just tired!

Peter, I not only enjoyed listening to the substance of your interview (at least a half dozen times now), your voice and accent remind me very much of a dog-training friend of ours from Saskatchewan, which was cause for more than a few smiles in the course of my listening.

I hope you got some volunteers to help out with the Netcentrics project. Sounds worthy to me. Like you, I am finally learning to recognize when I have reached the saturation point and offering to help would be foolish on my part when I am not in a position to follow through right now.

I'm looking forward to truly immersing myself in my Connect membership and getting participative!

Best wishes with your endeavors, and I'm sure I'm not alone in looking forward to your continuing inputs.

 

[Dave John]

Just wanted to express my appreciation for the interview too Peter: it was such an energizing experience listening to it first time round, and great to get a sense of the sharp edges that you have on all phases of your system.

You vitality comes through loud and clear … this could become the CD of choice for my Monday morning drive to work!

Dave

 

[Peter Gallant]

GTD and Staff Accountability

I've been a GTD student since the MAP days in the mid-late '90's with ups and downs. I'm currently on a big upswing due in part to GTD Connect.
Peter's interview led me to a big aha in terms of how I can use GTD to increase accountability of others in my organization.
Over the last month I have set up back to back weekly 15 minute meetings with all 10 of my direct reports. During that meeting I swing my monitor around so we can both see the screen and I pull up my Outlook tasks. I pull up a filtered view that shows all of "Jim's" @Waiting Fors and Jim and I work our way down the list tracking progress. It usually takes no more than 10 minutes. If any larger issues emerge that require discussion, we'll schedule a separate meeting to deal with it.
It has already made a world of difference in the sense of accountability of my reports, but it also gives me a chance to celebrate little successes with my staff.

Glad to hear that this trick is working for you! I think it sends a positive message to direct reports when they know that their manager knows about, keeps track of, and requests feedback and updates on delegated tasks and responsibilities.

There's a certain level of management effectiveness that's gained here when everyone knows that nothing slips past the "management system". Also, this approach makes people feel appreciated for their work, as every delegated task that gets checked off the list during these weekly "direct report reviews" is an opportunity for personal acknowledgement, praise and encouragement for a job well done.

Regards,
Peter

 

[Peter Gallant]

Tracking Delegated Tasks - how I do it....

I've been maintaining my direct reports' @Waiting fors in the note section of their @Agenda. This way, once I've assigned something, I cut and paste it into their @Waiting for and I only have to look in that one agenda to find a complete inventory of my assignments.

Example: @Agenda for Gail (my admin asst)

1. This Week's Projects

-Letter for FIF people (after we discuss it, I move it to...)

2. @Waiting for

-Letter for FIF people (17 Oct 06) Note: I always assign a date so I have a reference point in our follow-up meeting.

As I stated earlier, all this is done in the note field of her @Agenda task in Entourage.

What do you do?

Hi there - I'm not sure if your question was for me or perhaps for ckennedy, but how I do it, in a nutshell:

1. I typically delegate tasks in 2 ways - face-to-face request (or perhaps a call), which get recorded as tasks in Outlook in a Delegated category, with a project (using the GTD Outlook Add-In) such as Agendaerson Name-Delegated. Email-based delegated items are tracked using the Send and Delegate process in the Outlook Add-In, and these are assigned to the Delegated category as well.

2. During my own Weekly Review and throughout the week, I build a working list of other items to discuss with my direct reports, that are also categorized in a manner similar to #1.

3. During my weekly meeting with each direct report, we both go through our lists - checking completed items off and discussing expectations of completion dates of upcoming items, specific challenges and issues, and sometimes a discussion of workload and priorities to acknowledge the need to achieve work/life balance.

Hope this helps,
Peter

 

[Peter Gallant]

Thanks for your comments...

Just wanted to express my appreciation for the interview too Peter: it was such an energizing experience listening to it first time round, and great to get a sense of the sharp edges that you have on all phases of your system.

You vitality comes through loud and clear … this could become the CD of choice for my Monday morning drive to work!

Dave

Doggeek and Dave:

Thanks so much for your kind words...I too am continuing down the road to improving my own personal processes, knowledge, and capabilities. GTD is a big part of this growth process...

Regards,
Peter

 

[dsmccormick]

Need to add action dependencies to Netcentrics plugin

The functionality of the custom project form is two-fold:

1. It detects when a project does not have a defined Next Action (contained in a list that is associated with each project) and prompts the user to enter a next action in this case, to avoid having a project that has been "orphaned" - with no Next Action. Of course, this would be caught during the Weekly Review (right...?!?!).

2. It provides a new form that ties together emails, tasks, files, and notes associated with a project, into a unified project view. I showed this to an experience project manager friend of mine, who told me that this reminded him of a "project charter".

In my opinion, this type of application provides some much-needed project-management support to an Outlook-based implementation of GTD.

A couple of us on the forum have talked about the idea of putting together some requirments for this, and perhaps talking to NetCentrics or some other developers about implementing a supported version of this - any thoughts from the Connect community?

Regards,
Peter

What I would really like to see is, in addition to the scouring for orphan projects with no NA'a and prompting you for NA's, is the ability to lay out a NA dependencies. Specifically, I would like to be able to start a project and brainstorm the set of next actions that might be envisioned and link those that are dependent on one another. Then the system would have a regular NA view that only showed those tasks that can be done now, but have another view that would allow you to see all the NA's you have defined for a project (and their dependencies). That would take some of the angst out of creating, editing, tracking, and adding to projects, while keeping the NA view very clean. My problem is that I think I expose too many NA's that could be done for a given project.

Loved the interview, by the way. Very insightful focus on execution.

Thanks, David.

 

[dsmccormick]

How do you set up custom Outlook views for tracking WF's?

Peter:

I'm only asking this as I joined Connect in the last 2 weeks and have only gotten to your very helpful interview today.

You mention that you have created custom Outlook views for being able to see @Waiting For's by person to whom you have assigned them. How do you do that? I use the Netcentrics addin, but I don't know what filters to apply to a custom view to get that functionality.

Thanks, David.

 

[Peter Gallant]

Great ideas!

What I would really like to see is, in addition to the scouring for orphan projects with no NA'a and prompting you for NA's, is the ability to lay out a NA dependencies. Specifically, I would like to be able to start a project and brainstorm the set of next actions that might be envisioned and link those that are dependent on one another. Then the system would have a regular NA view that only showed those tasks that can be done now, but have another view that would allow you to see all the NA's you have defined for a project (and their dependencies). That would take some of the angst out of creating, editing, tracking, and adding to projects, while keeping the NA view very clean. My problem is that I think I expose too many NA's that could be done for a given project.

Loved the interview, by the way. Very insightful focus on execution.

Thanks, David.

David:

You have succinctly captured one of the key requirements for what I call "ad hoc project management" on GTD. While focusing on a project (perhaps during a Weekly Review or some other project planning time), it would be great to be able to quickly do a "brain dump" on all of the Next Actions related to that project and any dependencies, including which NAs are only enabled when other NAs are complete.

Bill Kratz' original GTD Police add-in had a neat feature that allowed rapid brain dumps of project NAs by creating a bulleted list starting with the '-' character in the notes field of the Outlook custom IPM.Tasks form, but it couldn't capture dependencies. Still, it's a step in the right direction.

I'm still keen on getting a crew together to define some requirements here...

Regards,
Peter

 

[Peter Gallant]

Tracking Delegated Tasks using the Add-In...

Peter:

I'm only asking this as I joined Connect in the last 2 weeks and have only gotten to your very helpful interview today.

You mention that you have created custom Outlook views for being able to see @Waiting For's by person to whom you have assigned them. How do you do that? I use the Netcentrics addin, but I don't know what filters to apply to a custom view to get that functionality.

Thanks, David.

David:

Using the Netcentrics Add-In (a.k.a. the GTD Outlook Add-In), I've found that the best way to track delegated tasks is to:

1. Define each individual as a "Project" (not as impersonal as it sounds, I promise!), with a descriptive name that differentiates these entries from other real projects, such as: Agendaelegated:John Smith.

2. Compose and send an email with the delegated task to the individual (one task per email, to simplify tracking) - using the Send and Delgate feature.

3. Assign the resulting Outlook task to an action named "Delegated" (I personally use "Defer-Delegate" to signal a non-actionable context).

4. Assign the task to the appropriate "Agenda Project" as defined in #2 above.

When it comes time to discuss delegated items with that individual, simply view Active Tasks by Project (one of the GTD Add-In views) and review the list.

In a leadership position, once you signal through your own actions that you're tracking absolutely everything that you delegate to everyone, and hold yourself accountable for tracking and completing everything that is asked of you in support of your direct reports, things change rapidly, and in a fundamendal way.

Regards,
Peter