Repeating Projects: Lists or Calendar?

[ivanjay205]

I have a lot of recurring projects that never end (as a routine) but they do of course end individually. As a business owner they are paying quarterly taxes, reviewing sales tax payment monthly, reviewing employees for raises due, etc.

Since these are "projects" to me but they never really end (just the instance does) do you find it best to have them live on your list system (mine are recurring in OmniFocus) or do you find it better for them to be recurring calendar with checklists in the description in the calendar event? I can see the latter being advantageous as it would hold my time and declutter my system. But they are not necessarily time dependent as in need to be done Tuesday at 11 AM but maybe they need to be done first week of every month.

Curious what people find to be best.

Thanks!

 

[mcogilvie]

Lists for me. I am much better about lists than my calendar, and do better using my calendar through Things than using it standalone. If you’re using Omnifocus, recurring projects should not be clutter, but appear when they need to appear, and be due when they need to be due.

 

[cfoley]

I use a variety of approaches.

"Take the bins out" goes on my calendar. The world doesn't end if I neglect to do that, but if I miss the day, then the opportunity is lost.

"Send weekly update to clients" goes in my tickler file. I usually like to do it on Fridays but if I am working the weekend, then I'll send it on Sunday. Once done, I re-tickle it for the next Friday... unless I'll be on holiday, in which case I might tickle it for a different day. This is notionally a weekly task that's a bit squishy so the tickler file works perfectly.

"Run Payroll" lives in my Accounts checklist. It's a monthly task but I have an overall Accounts checklist that I run through every week. It includes things like sending and paying invoices, monthly payroll, quarterly VAT returns, annual company accounts. I find all that stuff quite stressful because there are so many rules and dates, so running through the list of all of them once a week gives me the confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks.

Do my accounts checklist is another squishy task. I like to do it on Thursdays but it's usually fine if I do it on a different day or even miss the occasional week.

Do my weekly review isn't written down anywhere. I consider the GTD system to be a series of habits so I don't write down the nuts and bolts of it.

So, there we go. I don't consider all repeating tasks to be equal so I treat them differently.

 

[ivanjay205]

Lists for me. I am much better about lists than my calendar, and do better using my calendar through Things than using it standalone. If you’re using Omnifocus, recurring projects should not be clutter, but appear when they need to appear, and be due when they need to be due.

Very interesting, I did move one of them over to the calendar to see how it feels. Yes the recurring projects in omnifocus do work fine. But by clutter I mean that they show in my system and create just large lists. So curious if by calendaring them it will help bring to focus more. I am pretty good about being dedicated to time I calendar for myself

 

[Broomscot]

Since these are "projects" to me but they never really end (just the instance does) do you find it best to have them live on your list system (mine are recurring in OmniFocus) or do you find it better for them to be recurring calendar with checklists in the description in the calendar event?

I support cohorts of research students for a year, during which time, each student has to submit four assignments on specific dates. In addition, I have a new cohort of students every six months. I initially treated supporting each cohort as a project, but now I see it as an area of focus because the flow of work seems better suited to that. I treat marking each assignment as a recurring project, however, and I mark each occurrence on my monthly calendar with a line running through 7 working days starting from the date of submission. This is an important part of my planning process because I know my workload will be heavier during a marking period, but I don't add it to my current projects list because I can't take any action yet. I do a monthly review as well as a weekly one, and I add the marking project to the current projects list when planning the relevant month, and I will start adding specific tasks to my diary as they occur (e.g. I send a reminder email a week before the cut-off date, and if a student asks for an extension, the new submission date will go in my diary).
I hope this helps, but every project is different so this may not meet your needs.
With best wishes
Claire.

 

[schmeggahead]

I have a lot of recurring projects that never end (as a routine) but they do of course end individually.

I did move one of them over to the calendar to see how it feels.

I have recurring outcomes on my calendar (a specific Apple calendar call Outcomes colored purple) that are not absolutely required to be completed every time. When I see a purple entry on the calendar, I put an entry in my next action list with a due date of today when I feel it is really important I complete it today (e.g. I have an outcome as an all day event every Wednesday "IN to empty" and if I have stuff clogging them, I'll commit to clearing the logjam either with a blocked time calendar entry or an entry in my Office context). Most of the time, during the weekly review, I will convert things to actual time blocks when appropriate, such as for monthly GTD planning and review.

A key facet of recurring projects where the recurring doesn't end, is that there is a component beyond each iteration, the managing of the recurring process. An area of focus entry (e.g. one for all taxes or similar activities) gives me this support to help bring up the rear guard. When I review that horizon, I checkpoint on how I am doing with consistency and whether the process needs some work, etc. This is different than the periodic execution of these projects.

When I have things lumped together that mean different things to me, it can mask the clear view of them (like putting reference in with next actions, or putting socks with silverware). Recurring projects have a related area of focus to manage the handling of the recurring process. Without both components, I kind of have different things dumped together.

The other difference with putting recurring projects on the calendar vs projects with next actions is that next actions don't roll out of view when the day passes. They either remain in the list (if undated) or show as past due (if dated). When you don't want them to drop from view, next actions/projects are more effective than the calendar for that reason.

Clayton

Make your system lean for your mind: capture drag points (distractions) and address them. - David Allen

 

[ivanjay205]

Thanks Clayton, I think this is some great feedback. I do like the idea of color coding these recurring items so I have quick visibility to where my time is occupied on them. I also did the same as you with the item also on my area of focus for a regular review

 

[DKPhoto]

Very interesting, I did move one of them over to the calendar to see how it feels. Yes the recurring projects in omnifocus do work fine. But by clutter I mean that they show in my system and create just large lists. So curious if by calendaring them it will help bring to focus more. I am pretty good about being dedicated to time I calendar for myself

In the app i use (2do app) I can group the projects altogether in one section (i call it tickler).

The actions have a start date (eg date my credit card statement comes out) so they don’t show up in my Next Actions Lists.

I look at the tickler group during the weekly review and any that have become active (eg when credit card statement received) then get moved out of the tickler group, and into the appropriate (Finances in this case) project group.

I also out the date the payment has to be made in my calendar, which is a bit belt and braces but it works for me.

 

[bishblaize]

Just to come at this from a different perspective; we have a corporate "calendar" which is a Microsoft List on our company's Sharepoint site, which has all of the company's required tasks over the course of the year. This basically includes everything where that company would get in trouble if we failed to do it. So paying taxes, filing accounts, all that stuff. A Microsoft list is essentially a simplified spreadsheet, and we use Power Automate to grab the key dates from the list and send an email reminder to the staff member responsible for that task at a suitable time, usually to me. We also review the calendar once a month at our senior managers meeting.

The reason we do it this way is simple - if there's a chance my company could be fined or sued for failing to do something on time, and the only reminder is in an app on my laptop that's being backed up to a consumer level sync account, is that truly robust enough? What if I Iose access to the account? What if my laptop & phone get stolen? What if I get knocked over by a bus and someone else has to come in and help out?

In truth, most Projects in my list are kind of optional. People might get annoyed and complain if I don't do them, I might get in trouble, or maybe I'll miss out on an opportunity. But that's more of a personal impact, rather than a corporate one that could affect everybody. The one's that are truly business issues, we keep centrally.

As clunky as SharePoint is, it's an enterprise grade platform, and we have a third party backup service on top. So if the recurring projects are truly mission critical, you might want to keep them somewhere safe, even if there's a bit more friction to getting them back into your system again.

 

[gtdstudente]

I use a variety of approaches.

"Take the bins out" goes on my calendar. The world doesn't end if I neglect to do that, but if I miss the day, then the opportunity is lost.

"Send weekly update to clients" goes in my tickler file. I usually like to do it on Fridays but if I am working the weekend, then I'll send it on Sunday. Once done, I re-tickle it for the next Friday... unless I'll be on holiday, in which case I might tickle it for a different day. This is notionally a weekly task that's a bit squishy so the tickler file works perfectly.

"Run Payroll" lives in my Accounts checklist. It's a monthly task but I have an overall Accounts checklist that I run through every week. It includes things like sending and paying invoices, monthly payroll, quarterly VAT returns, annual company accounts. I find all that stuff quite stressful because there are so many rules and dates, so running through the list of all of them once a week gives me the confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks.

Do my accounts checklist is another squishy task. I like to do it on Thursdays but it's usually fine if I do it on a different day or even miss the occasional week.

Do my weekly review isn't written down anywhere. I consider the GTD system to be a series of habits so I don't write down the nuts and bolts of it.

So, there we go. I don't consider all repeating tasks to be equal so I treat them differently.

cfoley,

". . . , then the opportunity is lost." is a most welcomed GTD reminder of the following:

COP . . . "Chance Opportunity Preparation"

Thank you

 

[Oogiem]

Since these are "projects" to me but they never really end (just the instance does) do you find it best to have them live on your list system (mine are recurring in OmniFocus) or do you find it better for them to be recurring calendar with checklists in the description in the calendar event?

The vast majority of my projects are like that, recurring things that start on a specific timeframe and then that instance ends only to restart again at some interval later. Right now I have 59 projects that are one time and will end and not repeat, 42 that are repeating ones like you describe and 22 that on hold, for me this is started beyond a 1 line in my someday/maybe list but not completed and not being actively worked onthis season. Many are related to weather or time of year and so can't be done right now.

I have never been successful putting them in as checklists and referenced by a calendar event. Mine have always been part of my task management system.

I used to do it in Omnifocus but now I use Obsidian for all of that. It has taken a while to get it working fo rme but I like it now. I have a note for each of those projects with the first task set to repeat on the recurring timeframe and that task is set up the current project instance. Within my note I have a template area that contains all the steps like a checklist but they are not set up as tasks. I make a copy into the "working" area of the note and add the tasks tag to them. I am using the Tasks Plugin and the Dataview plugin to create dashboard views of all my projects and also all my tasks by context. I use a curated set of tags to set the sorting up. A bit fiddly to get started but flows easily now.

 

[gtdstudente]

I have a lot of recurring projects that never end (as a routine) but they do of course end individually. As a business owner they are paying quarterly taxes, reviewing sales tax payment monthly, reviewing employees for raises due, etc.

Since these are "projects" to me but they never really end (just the instance does) do you find it best to have them live on your list system (mine are recurring in OmniFocus) or do you find it better for them to be recurring calendar with checklists in the description in the calendar event? I can see the latter being advantageous as it would hold my time and declutter my system. But they are not necessarily time dependent as in need to be done Tuesday at 11 AM but maybe they need to be done first week of every month.

Curious what people find to be best.

Thanks!

ivanjay205,

With all due respect, on this end when there is a 'perennial' Project it simply remains on the Project List [with the Outcome possibly developing over time] and the GTD fundamentals remain in tact; as with any Project, the Project simply has a Next Action in the appropriate Context List for the 'on-going' [Projects don't 'go', Actions go!] Project


Respectfully, just so we avoid inadvertently Confusing Each Other . . . there would seem to be real distinctions:
"Perennial Projects" vs. "Recurring Projects" vs. "Repeat Projects"

As such, the above post herein is focused on "Perennial Projects" which might also be GTD classified as "Routine Next Actions" vs. "Routine Projects"?

Too GTD picky . . . perhaps so . . . Projects are a future state of being while Actions are the 'current' input(s) for a/the Projects future state of being?


As you see GTD fit