Projects and Next Actions

[ArcCaster]

On Kelly's August chat with David, the possibility of coming up with an alternative name for 'project' arose. Something less business-oriented and more fun.

I must confess, I like the 'fun' aspect, so here are some very stray thoughts (I expanded the original 'project' focus to include 'next actions', so what follows are 'project/next_action' pairs:

"Jaunt" and "Companion" -- on your jaunt, you will pick up a series of companions to make life interesting and to help you complete your journey

"necklace" and "nugget" -- I have a really tough necklace to complete by next Friday, I really need to start on a nugget now

and one I need help with: -- "journey" and "fresh horse" -- I want to continue on my journey, so I'll pick up a fresh horse. I know -- it doesn't quite fit -- but, if we massage it so that it does fit, then, if we had trouble with a fresh horse, we could ask help from the wrangler

 

[human]

I confess. I thought to myself, "What doesn't sound fun about a project?" I love projects! Then I read about jaunts and horses and nuggets. Now I'm ready for GTD: The RPG.

 

[ArcCaster]

I must confess there is a part of me that is attracted to the absurd

But along the same lines -- you have probably heard of 'post-mortems'? You can have them for people, you can have them for projects. As a project lead working with a group of other project leads, I instituted a monthly meeting that we called an 'MRI'. Point being that we are not waiting for the project to be dead before identifying needs to change and sharing best practices -- let's examine it while it is still living in the hopes that all projects can benefit from our analysis while still living. And of course, we repurposed MRI from meaning Magnetic Resonance Imaging to meaning Mid-Reise Insights (reise being German for 'journey').

Anyway -- my hope with the horses etc was to throw out a seed that could be enhanced over time

 

[Barb]

Fresh horses and dead horses

I love this fresh horse idea! You could also take the WR to mean stabling the horses for a night...or a watering hole. And a dead horse is could mean a task that has lingered too long and needs to be refreshed.

You know what happens when you beat a dead horse, right? I'll look for my "Uses for Dead Horses" material and post if I can find it.

 

[ArcCaster]

I love this fresh horse idea!

Then let me expand a bit. Sometimes I look at my next action list and feel 'arghhh -- all this stuff to be done -- I just don't have the energy!'

Suppose the 'next actions' were 'fresh horses' -- things with life and energy and maybe even wildness that carry you a bit further on your journey (project). I don't think I would feel the 'next-action angst' if I were looking to pick up a fresh horse.

 

[Barb]

Yep

Then let me expand a bit. Sometimes I look at my next action list and feel 'arghhh -- all this stuff to be done -- I just don't have the energy!'

Suppose the 'next actions' were 'fresh horses' -- things with life and energy and maybe even wildness that carry you a bit further on your journey (project). I don't think I would feel the 'next-action angst' if I were looking to pick up a fresh horse.

I get 'ya