Using Asana for my GTD

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bretkennedy

Registered
HI all new here, I posted something yesterday but it didn't go on the board, but I use Asana for my project management (construction company) and have just finished GTD and wanted to implement.

I have created the main lists per the book to sort my inbox. I have projects personal/ professional and home (among others) setup.
They are called teams in asana. Inside those you can put your projects, and each of those can have a subtask.

When talking about projects in the GTD way, if I have one called 'crypto trading' and then there are additional sub items that need to be done in regards to learning, watching videos etc, Do I just put those as subtasks, and then during a weekly review allocate 'next action' tasks that I can do for each sub task?
 
G

GTDengineer

Registered
by GTD definition, Crypto Trading is not a project. A project should have an outcome, and the project is closed when the outcome is achieved. Actually, the name of the project should identify the target state. So “Crypto Wallet account created” is a potential project name which also identifies the target state when the project can be closed.
 
mcogilvie

mcogilvie

Registered
GTDengineer said:
by GTD definition, Crypto Trading is not a project. A project should have an outcome, and the project is closed when the outcome is achieved. Actually, the name of the project should identify the target state. So “Crypto Wallet account created” is a potential project name which also identifies the target state when the project can be closed.
Click to expand...
That is absolutely correct. The project should be called something like “Significant retirement savings lost” or ”Personal experience of Bitcoin flaws completed” so you know when the project is done. :rolleyes:
 
B

bretkennedy

Registered
OK fair point, so the 'project' is 'Learn Crypto trading strategies' to align more with how the projects are outlined, would I add in sub tasks (In asana) which I could then go ahead and create 'next action' steps. Ie: finish trading video - support and resistance, finish video 'moving averages'
 
Jared Caron

Jared Caron

Nursing leader; GTD enthusiast
Hey there and welcome. First, its worth mentioning that GTD is a lifelong, yet rewarding, journey. You're unlikely to nail it on your first pass, but with time if you stick with it and continue to refine, you will cross the threshold of stress-free productivity and experience the power of this method.

As for setting up tools. I advise caution with trying to use "one tool" for everything. Most of the software out there is just too limited to fully integrate all aspects of GTD.

I'm not super familiar with Asana but I have poked around a bit. A few tips re: setup:
  1. Sign up for GTD connect and get the official set up guide - it will save you a lot of tinkering and give you a good base to experiment from; also the GTD connect community and resources are more than worth the fee
  2. If you're already using iCal - just use that as your calendar; beats having two places to look
  3. I recommend starting with 1 project list for all, then consider separating if it gets long.
    1. Also, Consider using the Sections feature in Asana to group your projects by areas of focus (e.g. roles/responsibilities)

I'm considering your project question separately, as it is super important and fundamental to GTD:

  1. In GTD, projects are not "containers" that hold tasks. They are placeholders to remind you of the outcome you are committed to at least once a week.
    1. This is I think one of the hardest things to learn about GTD. But truly is one of the most powerful
  2. Next-actions are the things you actually need to do, which will live on your context lists, calendar, and agendas.
  3. Some people like to connect their actions and projects to provide a more global perspective in the weekly review, and for planning.
    1. I don't know how to best accomplish this in Asana, but I do so by using tags as my contexts in todoist, which allows me to keep tasks associated with their project but view them by context.
  4. If you have captured actions that you cannot do yet, they would be a form of "Project support" which can be stored in a number of ways. Most list manager software have a few ways to do this, including subtasks, etc.
    1. However, since these are not "next actions" you really won't look at them except when you are
      1. project planning
      2. weekly review
      3. fishing for something to do
hopefully that helps...
 
B

bretkennedy

Registered
Jared Caron said:
Hey there and welcome. First, its worth mentioning that GTD is a lifelong, yet rewarding, journey. You're unlikely to nail it on your first pass, but with time if you stick with it and continue to refine, you will cross the threshold of stress-free productivity and experience the power of this method.

As for setting up tools. I advise caution with trying to use "one tool" for everything. Most of the software out there is just too limited to fully integrate all aspects of GTD.

I'm not super familiar with Asana but I have poked around a bit. A few tips re: setup:
  1. Sign up for GTD connect and get the official set up guide - it will save you a lot of tinkering and give you a good base to experiment from; also the GTD connect community and resources are more than worth the fee
  2. If you're already using iCal - just use that as your calendar; beats having two places to look
  3. I recommend starting with 1 project list for all, then consider separating if it gets long.
    1. Also, Consider using the Sections feature in Asana to group your projects by areas of focus (e.g. roles/responsibilities)

I'm considering your project question separately, as it is super important and fundamental to GTD:

  1. In GTD, projects are not "containers" that hold tasks. They are placeholders to remind you of the outcome you are committed to at least once a week.
    1. This is I think one of the hardest things to learn about GTD. But truly is one of the most powerful
  2. Next-actions are the things you actually need to do, which will live on your context lists, calendar, and agendas.
  3. Some people like to connect their actions and projects to provide a more global perspective in the weekly review, and for planning.
    1. I don't know how to best accomplish this in Asana, but I do so by using tags as my contexts in todoist, which allows me to keep tasks associated with their project but view them by context.
  4. If you have captured actions that you cannot do yet, they would be a form of "Project support" which can be stored in a number of ways. Most list manager software have a few ways to do this, including subtasks, etc.
    1. However, since these are not "next actions" you really won't look at them except when you are
      1. project planning
      2. weekly review
      3. fishing for something to do
hopefully that helps...
Click to expand...
Thanks Jared, that is a very comprehensive answer and has triggered something I don't think I really understood.

You say 'projects are not containers, they are placeholders to remind of the outcome you are committed to at least once a week'
This is very enlightening, because I didn't realize that projects were a 'weekly thing'. I thought that they were general placeholders, to have subtasks and then put next actions for each of those subtasks, so that might be where I am getting confused. ie: The book describes a project as a something that has more than 1 task to complete.

I think I will keep tweaking for now.
 
S

Stuart Rudner

Registered
Jared Caron said:
Hey there and welcome. First, its worth mentioning that GTD is a lifelong, yet rewarding, journey. You're unlikely to nail it on your first pass, but with time if you stick with it and continue to refine, you will cross the threshold of stress-free productivity and experience the power of this method.

As for setting up tools. I advise caution with trying to use "one tool" for everything. Most of the software out there is just too limited to fully integrate all aspects of GTD.

I'm not super familiar with Asana but I have poked around a bit. A few tips re: setup:
  1. Sign up for GTD connect and get the official set up guide - it will save you a lot of tinkering and give you a good base to experiment from; also the GTD connect community and resources are more than worth the fee
  2. If you're already using iCal - just use that as your calendar; beats having two places to look
  3. I recommend starting with 1 project list for all, then consider separating if it gets long.
    1. Also, Consider using the Sections feature in Asana to group your projects by areas of focus (e.g. roles/responsibilities)

I'm considering your project question separately, as it is super important and fundamental to GTD:

  1. In GTD, projects are not "containers" that hold tasks. They are placeholders to remind you of the outcome you are committed to at least once a week.
    1. This is I think one of the hardest things to learn about GTD. But truly is one of the most powerful
  2. Next-actions are the things you actually need to do, which will live on your context lists, calendar, and agendas.
  3. Some people like to connect their actions and projects to provide a more global perspective in the weekly review, and for planning.
    1. I don't know how to best accomplish this in Asana, but I do so by using tags as my contexts in todoist, which allows me to keep tasks associated with their project but view them by context.
  4. If you have captured actions that you cannot do yet, they would be a form of "Project support" which can be stored in a number of ways. Most list manager software have a few ways to do this, including subtasks, etc.
    1. However, since these are not "next actions" you really won't look at them except when you are
      1. project planning
      2. weekly review
      3. fishing for something to do
hopefully that helps...
Click to expand...
I am also just starting on the GTD journey and using Asana (along with Evernote). Where do you find the GTD connect set up guide?
 
Jared Caron

Jared Caron

Nursing leader; GTD enthusiast
Stuart Rudner said:
I am also just starting on the GTD journey and using Asana (along with Evernote). Where do you find the GTD connect set up guide?
Click to expand...
bretkennedy said:
Stuart, I think they are talking about the purchased guides for $10 I just found them in the shop.

LInk is here.
https://store.gettingthingsdone.com/setup-guides-s/107.htm
Click to expand...


Yes you can purchase them individually, or join GTD connect and get access to all of them as a member, along with tons of other great content. I think they still offer a 14 day free trial.
 
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