This Summer I decided to rethink how I manage my to-do list. The primary goal of this being to get the mess of mental reminders out of my head and into a system that would keep me organized. It needed to get the job done while not eating up huge chunks of my time to maintain it.
Previously I had been using Outlook tasks and Calendar synced to my Windows Mobile phone to accomplish this. But it was an unwieldy mess with limited ways that I can organize my tasks. While searching through task management applications in the iTunes store, I came across Toodledo. It's a Web site for tracking tasks that synchronizes with the iPhone application. I followed the link in the iTunes store to the Toodledo Web site, and found a wealth of information in their forums. As I scanned the forum posts, I kept seeing the term 'GTD' use, and in fact there was a separate forum dedicated to it. Not knowing what it stood for, I did some research and learned that GTD stood for 'Getting Things Done', an organizational method created by David Allen. It started with his book by the same name, and grew from there into a variety of services, applications, and other books on the subject.
In addition to the book, there is David Allen's Web site, Toodledo forums, a plethora of blogs, and many 3rd-party products based on the GTD method. But what is it?
The GTD method entails dumping your tasks from all sources( emails, notes, conversations, meetings,etc ) into the Inbox of your trusted system.
You then review each item and decide:
- This item requires action
- This item does not require any action
For items that do not require action, they might be:
- Discarded
- Stored short-term just in case you need them
- Stored long term for reference
Items that require action might be:
- Items that take less than 2 minutes to complete, which you should do right away.
- Items that you should do as soon based on context, time,energy, and priority.
- Items that should be delegated to someone else(delegated)
- Items that are waiting on someone else for completion(Waiting For )
- Items that need to be broken into smaller task, known as a project
- Items that you would like to do someday, but there is no compelling reason to do them at any particular time(someday)
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| Item Processing Flow |
Some of the important principles are:
Next Action
When you completed a task in a project, always decide what you should do next before putting it aside. People often know they need to do something, but they put off deciding exactly what they are going to do. For example, you think to yourself that you need to get new tires. Instead of writing down the vague "get some tires for car" , you should decide what you should do next. Something like "Call Discount Tires and see if they have tires that fit my car". You might go on to write "order tires" , then "make appointment to have tires installed" "have tires installed"..You don't have to do all of these right way, but when you are ready to replace your tires, you won't be delayed by deciding what you need to do, you'll just do it.
Trusted System
Your system has to fit your style, and has to work perfectly to gain your trust. If you don't trust your system, you won't use it, and it's worthless. Fortunately, the system is flexible, and you can organize it however best fits the way that you work. I work best on context, where I say to myself "I am at this location and have these resources, which of my tasks can I get done here?" Other people that work from home or can do personal tasks from work don't get much out context, and instead use the task status (next action, on hold, etc ) and a priority system to decide what to do.
Project
Any task that takes more than one step is considered a project. This allows you to make the steps needed to accomplish a task as granular as you like, while not losing site of the end goal. It also helps you organize the steps, as some may be done in parallel, while others may depend upon the completion of other steps.
Benefits
By capturing your tasks into a single system, nothing is lot, and you can reach the stage where you can just glance your todo list daily, and only review your entire system once a week to keep on track.
Focus
When you trust your system to store all of your tasks for you, your brain no longer needs to. It can focus on what you are doing now and not worry about what you need to do next because the system will handle that for you.
Efficiency
Armed with your list of tasks, you can often get things done during those little unplanned "breaks" during the day, where you have a span of unused time to perform a task based on the context, time, and energy available. If you are in a place with resources necessary for the task, have time and energy need to perform the task, you can get it done instead of despairing that your time is being wasted waiting in the doctor's office, for a meeting to start, or for a client to show up.
Sense of accomplishment
By clearing out all of those short <2minute tasks, you instantly start feeling in control of things again, and as you check off tasks as "completed", you get visual feedback that you are accomplishing things.
Tools
Filing System - Computer file system, hanging file folders, Evernote.
Task Organizer - Pencil and paper, PDA, Outlook, Toodledo, OmniFocus. ToDo, Don't Forget the Milk
Task Reminder - Toodledo, Outlook Calendar, Awesome Notes
What I use:
- Toodledo Web site with subscription to hold my "Trusted System"
- Toodledo application for the iPhone to manage tasks on the go.
- File cabinets and hanging file folders for hard copies.
- Copier/Printer/Scanner to digitize and print out documents.
- Evernote and Awesome Note for jotting down random thoughts and collecting data from the Web.
- Outlook forwarding to automatically turn emails into tasks based on predefined rules.
- Grocery IQ for shopping lists. I'm still struggling with the choice of putting a "buy this" task into the system, or keeping it in the app designed to keep track of things I need to purchase.
If you are interested in finding out more about this system, here are some links:
Finally, keep in mind that for many this system is a huge change from many were taught to manage tasks. It generally takes several days to get everything into the system, and even longer to make a habit out of using it. I can't stress the importance of designing the system around how you think If you find yourself going back to your old ways, ask yourself what it is about the system that isn't working, and change it.
