Getting Things Done review: Chapter 3

Getting Projects Creatively Under Way: The Five Phases of Project Planning

Initial expectations

In chapter 2, we defined a project as any "open loop" that requires more than one action to get it "done". This chapter should go into more detail about how to deal with these multi-step projects. At the end of the chapter, I should know what to do when a "project" lands in my inbox.

Chapter Summary

Whereas the previous chapter took a "horizontal" aspect of productivity, by defining a framework for capturing and dealing with all the "stuff" in your life, this chapter delves into the method behind detailed project planning. This requires a more "vertical" view. Here, Allen presents us with the five phases of project planning.

The Natural Planning Model

• Defining purpose and principles - This is the starting point. Before progressing any further beyond the identification of a project, determine why you are doing it, and the standards and values with which you are ready to work. This step defines success, creates decision-making criteria, aligns resources, motivates, clarifies focus, and expands options. If you don't know why you're working on a project, then it will be difficult to complete it effectively.


• Outcome visioning - Here, you develop a focus on the outcome you are looking for from the project. Essentially, take a view of the project from beyond the completion date, and then envision a "wild success" outcome, in as much detail as you can imagine. This will develop a picture of what you are working toward.


• Brainstorming - This is the idea-generation phase of planning. Having defined the purpose of the project, and the desired outcome, start throwing out every idea that occurs to you. This step is really a purge of everything floating in your mind that may be related to the project; you'll evaluate the individual ideas in the next step. Just throw everything out there, without judging or criticizing.


• Organizing - Here we sort through the ideas that were captured in the previous step. Look for natural patterns and relationships, and sort the information accordingly. The level of detail required here will be different in every case.


• Identifying next actions - Finally, we get to making decisions on allocating resources to get the actual work done. In some cases, all the "moving parts" defined in the organizing phase will have a clearly defined next action; in others, the next action will be to do more planning.

Allen contrasts this planning model with the unnatural, or "reactive" planning model, which is essentially the exact opposite: start with action, and work your way back to the purpose. This reactive approach is counter-intuitive and counter-productive, yet it is all too often the default method used in business contexts. Following the natural model uses the way the brain is used to working to get a project effectively under way.

Did this chapter deliver?

This chapter seemed fairly dry, but it was very effective at laying out the steps in planning a project. It was interesting to me to see the reactive planning model laid out, as I can think of dozens of cases where I've seen this unnatural approach used at work. Contrasting the natural and reactive models really drove home the effectiveness of the natural model.

It's good to get a sense for the "vertical" aspect of GTD, as I expect much of the book will focus on the horizontal capture-and-action cycle of dealing with work across all your projects.

Want to read more?

Go to my GTD review index page.

Getting Things Done review: Chapter 2

Getting Control of Your Life: The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow

Initial expectations

This one's pretty straightforward: this chapter should cover the steps in the GTD process.

Chapter Summary

This chapter outlines the five stages:

• Collect
  The first stage in managing your workflow is to capture, or collect, 100% of the "stuff" you need to do. This means identifying every single open loop you currently have. 100% is not an exaggeration; it's important to identify everything, so that you can clear all this stuff out of your mind. Allen talks about a general "inbox", where stuff is collected. This will usually be composed of several different input channels, including e-mails, written notes, voice mails, etc.


• Process
  Simply collecting the stuff is not sufficient; you need to empty your inbox on a regular basis in order to make headway. Allen provides a simple decision process for dealing with every single piece of stuff in your inbox:
  
  
  1. What is it? - Identify the basic nature of the item.
  
  
  2. Is it actionable? - Either this is something that will lead to a direct action, or it isn't.
  
  
  3. What's the next action? - If it's actionable, identify the very next step that needs to be taken.
  
  
  4. If the item will take less than 2 minutes, then do it. Otherwise, either delegate or defer the item.


• Organize
  Here we deal with the "results" of the decisions made above:
  
  
  1. If the item isn't actionable, then do one of the following:
     
     • Trash it (if it has no value)
     
     
     • Incubate it (set it aside as a "someday" action)
     
     
     • File it (for future reference)
  
  
  2. If it is actionable, then determine whether it's part of a larger project. If so, add the project to a "current projects" list, and determine the next action. This next action is what you're now processing.
  
  
  3. If the item will take longer than two minutes, then do one of the following:
     
     
     • Delegate it (if you're not the best one to complete it)
     
     
     • Defer it (either to be done at a specific time, or as soon as possible)


• Review
  The gist of this is that you need to have a periodic, consistent review of your next actions (Allen recommends a weekly review), to ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks. Think of the way you feel just before you take a vacation: everything is wrapped up and ready to go. Why not have this feeling at the end of every week?


• Do
  Allen basically runs through some models for working through your next actions list. How do you prioritize the items to make sure they actually get done? We'll get more details later in the book.

Did this chapter deliver?

This is a very nice, concise summary of the basic process of GTD. It seems very simple, but it makes sense. The whole premise of the book is that productivity doesn't have to be stressful or confusing, and the system that Allen lays out in this chapter certainly seems intuitive. I think the core is really the review step. I'll be interested to get into the details in future chapters.

Overall, this chapter provided just the right level of detail. The flow charts outlining the process and organize steps will be extremely useful for future reference.

Want to read more?

Go to my GTD review index page.

Getting Things Done review: Chapter 1

A New Practice For a New Reality

Initial expectations

From what I've seen so far, I expect to hear how yesterday's methods don't work in today's world. In our jobs and personal lives, we have so many responsibilities to keep track of, that we just can't trust ourselves to remember exactly what needs to be done when. We spend so much time and energy trying to keep a mental tally of our tasks, that we can barely find the bandwidth to focus on the actual tasks themselves. I'm thinking this will be Allen's "pitch", where he lays out exactly why we need the GTD system.

Chapter Summary

Allen breaks this chapter into four sections:

• The Problem: New Demands, Insufficient Resources
  Our definition of "work" has changed, and the old methods of keeping track of our commitments are no longer sufficient. It's much more difficult today to identify when a project is "done". At the same time, there is a push to "think of the big picture", although this actually works against our ability to deal with our day-to-day tasks.


• The Promise: The "Ready State" of the Martial Artist
  Here we have the promise of the GTD system: have total control of every level of your personal management system, at all times. You will maintain a "mind like water", having a perfectly proportional and productive response to all new information that you encounter.


• The Principle: Dealing Effectively with Internal Commitments
  Here Allen talks about the "open loops" in our mind: anything that does not belong where it is, in its current state. He has the reader go through an exercise to illustrate this:
  
  
  1. Think of a project or situation (i.e. an open loop) that is currently weighing on your mind.
  
  
  2. Think of what the state of that open loop would have to be in order for you to consider the project "done".
  
  
  3. Determine the very next step you would have to take to make progress toward closing this open loop.
  
  The essense of GTD is this process of identifying outcomes and next steps, and then putting reminders in a system you trust (so you don't need to trust your brain to remember them).


• The Process: Managing Action
  Here Allen underscores the importance of getting this "stuff" out of your head. The GTD system is all about recording outcomes and actions so that you don't need to remember them: you can refer to them. You then spend your effort on doing rather than remembering. This is a very "bottom-up" approach to projects, and Allen argues that there is a lot of value in looking at work this way, as it can actually free up your creative energy to do some "top-down" strategic thinking.

Did this chapter deliver?

This chapter has me excited to learn the details of the GTD system. That alone qualifies it as a success: it's hooked me into reading the rest of the book. Based on the level of detail that's been provided so far, the basic tenets of the GTD system seem to make sense. It's up to the rest of the book to deliver on the promise of being in total control of everything at all times.

Beyond the actual content of the chapter, I'm impressed with Allen's writing style. He has a very conversational yet professional style. He also includes numerous quotes in the margin to underscore the points made in the main text. So far, these have been interesting sidebars; I'll have to see whether these become a distraction as I read through the rest of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this first chapter, I like the tone of the writing, and I'm excited to read ahead. Not a bad start to the book.

Want to read more?

Go to my GTD review index page.

Navigating my Getting Things Done review

As I review David Allen's book Getting Things Done, I'll be updating this post with links to the corresponding chapter reviews. The following is a list of all the chapters in the book, and as I complete each chapter, I'll turn the chapter title into a link to its review.

Getting Things Done

• Initial expectations of the book

Part 1 - The Art of Getting Things Done

1. A New Practice For a New Reality


2. Getting Control of Your Life: The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow


3. Getting Projects Creatively Under Way: The Five Phases of Project Planning

Part 2 - Practicing Stress-Free Productivity

4. Getting Started: Setting Up the Time, Space, and Tools


5. Collection: Corralling Your "Stuff"


6. Processing: Getting "In" to Empty


7. Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets


8. Reviewing: Keeping Your System Functional


9. Doing: Making the Best Action Choices


10. Getting Projects Under Control

Part 3 - The Power of the Key Principles

11. The Power of the Collection Habit


12. The Power of the Next-Action Decision


13. The Power of Outcome Focusing


14. Conclusion

Getting Things Done

• Final impression of the book

Bookmarking this post will eventually provide links to the entire review.

Getting to reviewing Getting Things Done

Nearly two months ago, I decided to read and review David Allen's Getting Things Done. There are two reasons for this decision:

1. Everything I've heard about this book and the whole GTD system indicates that it really does help to get past the mental muddle that comes from juggling multiple tasks, and allows you to be confidently and consistently productive. This is just the sort of thing I need in my work (and, frankly, in my personal life, as well).


2. By reviewing the book on the site as I read it, I hope to internalize the material to a degree I might not be able to match by casually leafing through the book before bed.

I've never reviewed a book before, so I'm interested to see how this pans out.

At any rate, the structure I proposed for my review was the following:

1. Before reading, post my thoughts of what I expect to get out of the book/chapter.


2. Read the book/chapter.


3. Report on what I actually got out of the book/chapter.

I want to to take this approach, because I'm interested in the contrast between what I expect to take from the book, and what it actually delivers. After all, I'm hoping to come out of this with a working personal productivity system, so I'm very interested in what I get out of it.

So, without further ado, here is what I expect to take away after reading Getting Things Done, based on what I've gleaned from the grapevine:

• A general philosophy of dealing with information as I encounter it, and taking the appropriate action immediately. As I understand it, this is the core of the GTD system: every new piece of information should be "processed" to determine what action needs to be taken. This action is then planned, and dealt with based on its importance.


• A decrease in the amount of "loose" information bouncing around in my mind. One of the tenets of GTD is that you take the pressure off yourself to remember the tasks you need to do, and instead rely on lists to do the remembering for you.


• Diminished stress and increased productivity, both at work and in my personal life. The consensus seems to be that, if you stick to the GTD system, you will be more productive, and you will find yourself less stressed. Essentially, GTD provides a framework for planning your tasks and actions, and lets you focus your brainpower on actually accomplishing those tasks, rather than on remembering what needs to be done.


• A better sense of just what the heck all the GTD terminology actually means. All through the blogosphere, I hear terms like "emergent action", and "process your inbox", and although I can take a guess at what these things mean, I'm looking forward to knowing exactly what people are talking about.

If I get all that out of reading this book, then I will be one happy camper.

Look for my reviews of the first two chapters this week.

Developing (and sticking to) a system

Trent at The Simple Dollar has a fantastic post today providing a visual tour of his organization system. I'm struggling myself with developing a system for managing my information and workflow, and Trent's post has given me lots of food for thought. He has a really slick mixture of paper and on-line information capture that I think I might be incorporating into my own system.

There must be something in the air, because Tim at Canadian Dream is also writing about developing a filing system for the paper in his life.

I think the most important part of setting up a system like this is having the ability to stick to it. Trent's system in particular hinges completely on how diligently he follows it. This is as true of a productivity or organizational system as it is of a budgeting or financial tracking system; if you don't keep things up-to-date, you really don't know where you stand, and the system is essentially broken, no matter how elegant or straightforward it may be. Lifehacker linked to an article yesterday on ways to fall off the Getting Things Done bandwagon. It's a humourous post, but there's a lot of truth there.

"Once per week" seemed easy enough on Monday...

I'm an incredible procrastinator.

I know that's likely true of most bloggers (after all, what better way to fritter away an hour than by updating your blog?), but I believe this is my single biggest shortcoming. I'll never do today what I can put off until tomorrow.

Case in point: on Monday, I stated as one of my goals for October that I would "blog once per week about productivity". This is an evolution of my failed September goal to "write five productivity-themed blog posts" for the month. It seems only natural that, as we approach the end of the week, the next iteration of this goal would be, "write a damn productivity post already!"

So, that's where I find myself.

I need help.

For years, now, I've been reading about Getting Things Done, the book by David Allen that revolutionized modern productivity. Sites like 43 Folders and Lifehacker extol the virtues of this Allen's system on a daily basis, from the Hipster PDA to custom Moleskine notebooks and countless software implementations, this is one seriously talked-about philosophy.

I'm familiar with the basic tenets of GTD: get the random, confusing "stuff" (tasks, schedules, etc.) out of your unreliable brain, and recorded in a medium that you can then "process" to tackle your to-do list in an orderly and efficient manner. Beyond that, however, all I've got is a lot of disjointed third-hand hacks and mods of a system I only barely understand.

I want to change that.

Taking a page from the book (pun, unfortunately, intended) of The Simple Dollar and I've Paid For This Twice Already..., I am going to read Getting Things Done, and I'm going to post my thoughts as I do. I'm going to use the following structure:

1. Before reading, post my thoughts of what I expect to get out of the book/chapter.


2. Read the book/chapter.


3. Report on what I actually got out of the book/chapter.

It's high time I did something about my organization and productivity, and from what I've read, this book is a huge motivator in this area.

Bring it on.