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Waiting For vs. Tickler

B

beirne

0
I've been using GTD for a few months now and have an idea about Waiting For items. I'm finding that my Waiting For list is sort of a black hole, although I do check it during my weekly review. I'm considering mostly doing away with the category and making things more action-oriented by deciding how long I have to wait before doing something. I will then put a call-again task in my tickler file for that date. That way I don't have to check the Waiting For list to see who I need to call and I won't have to spend my time wondering if I need to call each person back every time I go through the Waiting Fors. Is there a reason I'm not thinking of for using Waiting Fors?
 
I do exactly that. I use @Waiting For for items where I need and/or expect a quick response. I created a new category @Tickler for things where I eventually (that is, beyond the range of weekly review) want a response. The @Tickler category is the only one where I put a "Due Date" and associated reminder (I'm using Outlook). It works great for me and has reduced my @Waiting For list (which I monitor daily) by about 80%.
 
Re: Waiting For vs. Tickler

beirne said:
I'm finding that my Waiting For list is sort of a black hole, although I do check it during my weekly review. I'm considering mostly doing away with the category and making things more action-oriented by deciding how long I have to wait before doing something. I will then put a call-again task in my tickler file for that date.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do, and it's working well for me. Every time I hand something off, I decide what date I should follow up, and it goes into my calendar as a dated task with @WF prefix (eg @WF Joe re ....).

I don't have a tickler file the way DA describes. I have one file folder for any paperwork associated with these items (it's called Pending - I work in a male-dominated environment). A "tickler" goes into my calendar as a dated task with low priority and @T prefix, and if there is any paperwork associated with it I will put "Pending file" into the task note.

Oh, I'm using Outlook.

Claudia Straka
 
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