Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets. This is the seventh entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. So far, we’ve talked about two of the five major steps for getting things done: collecting all of the stuff you need to do and processing that stuff down. Today, the focus is on organizing – or where the stuff goes when you’re processing it. Allen suggests that there are seven specific destinations for stuff when we’re processing it. Although this looks complicated, all you really need for this is a trash can, some folders, and some paper. Trash This is pretty straightforward. Maybe/Someday “Maybe/Someday” refers to a collection of lists.
What do I mean by this? Each of these lists is just that – a computer document listing all of the items that fall under that specific category. I really don’t worry too much about a filing system. What’s in each folder? Getting Things Done: Keeping Your System Functional. This is the eighth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. So far, we’ve talked about three of the five major steps for getting things done: collecting all of the stuff you need to do, processing that stuff down, and organizing by putting all of that stuff into appropriate places. But how do you keep all of this running? Review. It’s the key element to making sure all of this works, in my opinion. Allen makes the case for a review right off the bat, on page 181: The purpose of this whole method of workflow management is not to let your brain become lax, but rather to enable it to move toward more elegant and productive activity.
Here’s the truth of the matter. The solution to this is to review things regularly. Daily Review I usually do this type of review at the start of each day. I check my calendar for the day. Getting Things Done: Getting “In” to Empty. This is the sixth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. Last time, we focused on going through your mind, your home, and your workspace to collect together all of the loose ends and undone things in your life. Getting these things into one central location makes it possible to direct all of your energy and mental focus on dealing with these things directly instead of having to keep them in your mind. What do you do after collecting all of those things, though? Quite often, the reason all of these loose ends were out there is because you didn’t have any sort of process for dealing with them.
What you basically do is this: you go through each item in your inbox and ask yourself a series of questions about it. Let’s walk through each of these steps. Does This Item Require An Action From Me? Here’s what I do. What’s Left? Getting Things Done: Corraling Your Stuff. This is the fifth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. Last time, we discussed what exactly you need to have in place to get yourself organized (time, a bit of space, and a few supplies). What’s the first step in that organization process? Collecting. What exactly does that mean? It takes longer than you think. When I coach a client through this process, the collection phase usually takes between one and six hours, though it did take all of twenty hours with one person (finally I told him, “You get the idea”). Most people expect that the process will take just a few minutes, but it doesn’t work like that, not if you’re thorough.
Every once in a while, I do the whole thing again, just to make sure nothing I need to be addressing has fallen through the cracks. So How Do You Actually Do It? What did I think about? Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Time, Space, and Tools. This is the fourth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. Last time, we discussed how exactly to plan a project and fit it into the context of focusing entirely on the next specific action. Prior to that, we discussed the five stages of a task and information management workflow (collect, process, organize, review, do). But how does all of this work in a coherent system? Right off the bat, though, Allen makes the point that implementing such a system is a lot about “tricks.” If you’re not sure you’re committed to an all-out implementation of these methods, let me assure you that a lot of the value people get from this material is good “tricks.”
If it all sounds too overwhelming, just focus on picking out the specific bits that work for you. I’ll say this from my own experience. Time I’ll be blunt. Rubber bands Nope. Getting Things Done: The Five Phases of Project Planning. This is the third entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. Last time, we looked at the five stages of a healthy task and information management workflow (collect, process, organize, review, do). Of course, one of the big revelations is that while this works really well for short, individual, discrete tasks, it doesn’t immediately seem to work all that well for larger multi-step tasks, i.e. projects.
Without these larger tasks, the whole system is easy. The key, of course, is to break down these larger projects into bite-sized pieces that you can take action on right away. You’re already familiar with the most brilliant and creative planner in the world: your brain. A great way to demonstrate this process is to look at how I think about preparing supper. First, I decide on my purpose and principles. Next, I imagine the outcome. Getting Things Done: The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow. This is the second entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16. Last time, we talked about why an effective time management system is useful and also the basic ideas behind what a successful one would be.
Namely, a good time management system allows you to get the things that occupy your thoughts out of your head and into a trusted system, which frees your mind to focus on the task at hand, making you more efficient and more likely to produce excellence in whatever you’re doing. Knowing this, though, presents a new problem. If you simply toss down whatever is in your mind onto paper, it quickly dissolves into a disorganized, unmanageable mess. Trust me, I’ve done it. There has to be a better way. Collect This is really the only portion of the process that’s an ongoing thing. I walk outside to get the mail. Review: Getting Things Done. Each Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal productivity or personal development book.
From my perspective, David Allen’s Getting Things Done is the book on modern personal productivity. It really has changed my life significantly, as I’ve written about in the past and alluded to a few times, but I’ve never really reviewed the book itself in detail. To alleviate that, I pulled out my well-worn and repeatedly hand-annotated copy of Getting Things Done and read through it again, trying to see it again through the eyes of someone who is unfamiliar with the philosophy. What follows are my notes on this walkthrough, which hopefully will provide more than enough detail to get the general ideas in the book and also make up your mind whether or not it’s something that’s right for you. What’s The Basic Premise? A Stroll Through Getting Things Done Allen suggests a “test the water” exercise that’s worth repeating here. Process When you’re ready to start accomplishing, process your inbox.