Weekly review: Why review the calendar before your waiting for list?

[skoller]

Hello,
I've been using GTD for years and the Weekly Review always raises a question that I'd like your opinion on.
When I work through all the items in the Weekly Review in the recommended order, I check my calendar before I check my "Waiting For" list.
I often discover items in my calendar and add them to my "NextActions" list. Later I realize that there was already an entry in my WaitingFor list.
What is the reason for not checking the Waiting For list like the Next Actions before checking the calendar?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Stefan

 

[mcogilvie]

I use an integrated list manager where I see a pretty holistic view. I don’t have to follow the same order the recommended weekly review does, although that is what I look at as a guide for my weekly review. Calendar items are hard landscape, and I typically use backward planning to make sure I’m ready for them. I want to check that I will be done waiting for something before the need for it arises.

I am a bit unclear about what you are actually doing. You wrote

I often discover items in my calendar and add them to my "NextActions" list. Later I realize that there was already an entry in my WaitingFor list.

Can you explain more? Are you putting calendar items on your waiting-for list? Waiting-for’s on your calendar?

 

[cfoley]

I don't think the order is sacrosanct, but there probably is a logic to it.

I review my Waiting For list as the first part of the Get Current stage. I find that the Waiting For list is the part that is most likely to get out of sync with reality during the week. Reviewing it usually means that new items get added to other lists, and I would rather have those items there before I review the lists.

 

[skoller]

I am a bit unclear about what you are actually doing. You wrote

Can you explain more? Are you putting calendar items on your waiting-for list? Waiting-for’s on your calendar?

Thank you for your feedback. To clarify:
- I go through my calendar entries from the last two weeks and the future next week.
- When I read all the calendar items it often reminds me of something I'd like to do but I didn't see on one of my "Next Actions" List.
- So I create a corresponding entry on one of my "Next Actions " lists.
- Next step of the weekly review is going through my "Waiting For" List. At that moment it often turns out that the new entries I made before already existed on my "Waiting for" list.

I hope, now I explained it in a better and clearer way.

I'll just check the "Waiting for" list before my calendar, but I'm still curious about the deeper logic behind the original order of the Weekly Review.

 

[TesTeq]

I'll just check the "Waiting for" list before my calendar, but I'm still curious about the deeper logic behind the original order of the Weekly Review.

@skoller I think this logic relies on habitual creation of WaitingFors when they are needed. What WaitingFor can you create when you see old "Management Team Meeting" or "Dentist Appointment" in your calendar.

 

[mcogilvie]

Thank you for your feedback. To clarify:
- I go through my calendar entries from the last two weeks and the future next week.
- When I read all the calendar items it often reminds me of something I'd like to do but I didn't see on one of my "Next Actions" List.
- So I create a corresponding entry on one of my "Next Actions " lists.
- Next step of the weekly review is going through my "Waiting For" List. At that moment it often turns out that the new entries I made before already existed on my "Waiting for" list.

I hope, now I explained it in a better and clearer way.

I'll just check the "Waiting for" list before my calendar, but I'm still curious about the deeper logic behind the original order of the Weekly Review.

Thanks for clarifying! The weekly review is partially a time for catching up, but you can shorten the time required by capturing more on the front end and less on the back end (“Holy Succotash, I need to…”). With a good capture-when-it’s-fresh habit, I find that most of the things triggered by review of calendar items are little things I want to do less than 24 hours before a meeting or appointment. The real value of reviewing my calendar is not being surprised when I have less time for pre-defined work.

 

[Stefan Godo]

maybe just an easier explanation:
1. "next actions" and "calendar" contain YOUR OWN actions
2. "waiting for" the actions of others
it happens regularly that you wait for somebody else and they did not do it.
So you make an action for yourself (usually a "nudge them" type) - and put it on the NA o calendar (which you already checked, so your decision will be a bit more sound).

 

[gtdstudente]

I don't think the order is sacrosanct, but there probably is a logic to it.

I review my Waiting For list as the first part of the Get Current stage. I find that the Waiting For list is the part that is most likely to get out of sync with reality during the week. Reviewing it usually means that new items get added to other lists, and I would rather have those items there before I review the lists.

@cfoley,

Sequencing as a prudent protocol: to prevent inadvertent negligence(s), make double-checking more certain, less 'worrying', etc.?