Weekly Reviews and Checklists

[Desultory]

Now that we've all got Weekly Review on our minds, I have a question.

I started out totally oldschool with my Weekly Review. In time I've adapted most of it to my process, but I have yet to figure out how to use the section on Checklists.

Review any Relevant Checklists Is there anything you haven't done that you need to do?

I think I needed to generate a bunch of checklists to even get a glimmer of what he means. Now my checklists range from "books I want to read" to "researching a company to decide if I want to buy its stock."

So I think the latter is an example of a "relevant checklist". Any suggestions for how to check a checklist to make sure I haven't missed anything?

 

[CJSullivan]

Any suggestions for how to check a checklist to make sure I haven't missed anything?

I remember David saying that his checklists arose from having something fall through the cracks. So, instead of arbitrarily making up a checklist, his came out of a "need." So if you come to the end of whatever process you're engaged in and say "Woah! I forgot to..." then you add it to the checklist.

Not the answer some folks want to hear who want to avoid the "whoops!" in the first place, but I think you can only anticipate what you anticipate, and the rest you have to chalk up to "learning experience"!

 

[jac]

Relevant Checklists

I have 3 checklists that I review at each Weekly Review. These mostly contain regular householdy type chores (eg clean kitchen). I review the lists to make sure I'm on track - if I've missed anything I would probably create a Project/Next Action for it. (You could argue that a lot of these things are Projects and Next Action but I don't want to clutter those lists up).

My lists are:-

Tasks - Daily
Bathroom
- clean sink
- clean toilet
- check bin

Kitchen
- clean sink
- check bin
- milk bottles out
- re-cycle

Outside
- water plants
- tend to guinea pig

Tasks - Weekly
Clean bathroom
Clean kitchen
Clean lounge
- settee/chair
- dust
Clean playroom
Clean guinea pig
Clean hall
Clean stairs
Clean landing
Clean bedroom 1
Clean bedroom 2
Clean bedroom 3
Clean bedroom 4
Wipe upstairs window sills
Wipe downstairs window sills
Check car
- tyre pressure
- oil
- water
Clean car inside
Clean car outside
Mow lawns
Shopping (Beck)
Washing (Beck)

Tasks - Monthly
Wash bedding
Clean ovens
Clean fridge

 

[spectecGTD]

Checklists were one of the few things about GTD I was doing fairly consistently before reading David's book and listening to the tapes. I will have to add that David made me feel slightly less geeky and compulsive about my checklists, so for that I'm grateful.

My observation about how to develop them, after many years of using them, is that if you try to develop a perfect checklist before putting it into use you will never get a useful checklist put together. Checklists just need to be started and then refined as the need arises, or as David says "when something falls through the cracks."

A good checklist is always a work in progress to some degree.