Getting things done

Get t ing t hings done by David Allen How t o deal wit h an overwhelm ing num ber of t hings t o do wit hout feelings of st ress and anxiet y “Getting things done” An introduction to GTD ‘Getting Things Done’ •Background -Bestselling author, “Getting Things Done” -GTD system Brent Krueger Agenda • What is GTD ‘Getting things done’? • Why are we stressed? • To become silent water • Some thoughts about the brain and the consequences of ‘loose ends’ • Mastering the workflow • Workflow diagram • Manage your own projects (vertical dimension) • Various ways of implementation • References David Allen “One of the most influential thinkers on productivity” – Fast Company Magazine Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to concentrate. You ability to concentrate is directly proportional to your ability to eliminate distractions Distraction is created by mismanaged commitments. Your Mind is for Having I deas, Not for Holding Them D. Allen David Allen • Key concept -Think small. Get the details under control • Core principles - Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do What is GTD ‘Getting things done’? It’s an Action Management Method – we do not Manage Projects or Tasks – we manage actions! • • A Time Management System • Complements our inefficient “Mental Reminder System” – clean up all loose end • All about horizontal and vertical organization Do you experience st ress from … unanswered calls, t asks not delegat ed, unprocessed issues from m eet ings and conversat ions, personal responsibilit ies undone, e- m ails not dealt wit h, …….. Why are w e stressed? • Perception of having ‘Too much to handle and not the time to get it all done’ - Take on too many commitments - Having too many ideas - Too much involvement - Changing jobs with ever changing Know-how to grasp • Too many distractions – no appropriate focus possible • Ineffective personal organizational systems creating huge subconscious resistance – loose ends It’s All in Your Mind Key elements   Control Perspective Incompletes and Open Loops pull at your attention Identify those things that “ring your bell” To become silent like w ater First : Clear your mind by emptying it! Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind where you come back to regularly and sort through. To become silent like w ater Second: Clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it. To become silent like w ater Third: Once you‘ve decided on all the actions you need to take, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you review regularly make progress toward fulfilling it. Google Calendar/ Tasks Some thoughts about the brain and the consequences of ‘loose ends’? • Why is our mind not so smart?  Do you have a flashlight somewhere with dead batteries in it? When does your mind tend to remind you that you need new batteries? When you notice the dead ones! That‘s not very smart. If your mind had any innate intelligence, it would remind you about those dead batteries only when you passed live ones in a store! • Why do you think of stuff you can‘t make progress on?  Between the time you woke up today and now, did you think of anything you needed to do that you still haven‘t done?  It‘s a waste of time and energy to keep thinking about something that you make no progress on. • Stuff are open loops – Anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn‘t belong where it is and for which no outcome and next action has been defined! • Stuff has to be transformed in actionable items in a wider system. Managing Action • The key to manage your “stuff” is managing your actions • Horizontal and Vertical Action Management – Horizontal control maintains coherence across all the activities in which you are in involved. – Vertical control, in contrast, manages thinking up and down the track of individual topics and projects. • The major change: Getting it all out of your head! – The short-term-memory part of your mind – the part that tends to hold all of the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized “stuff” - is overloaded with Stuff. Stuff works like myriads of little monitors popping up arbitrarily and distracting your focus. Furthermore, if you have loaded much stuff there will always be conflict as you only can fulfil one task at a time. • This produces ongoing stress – stress that is ubiquitous like gravity Managing Commitments If it’s on your mind, your mind is not clear What is your commitment and what must be done?  voicemail, email, mailboxes, colleagues, notes from meetings Organize reminders of your action plan and free your brain from keeping track of everything Collect Incompletes – Why? Get st uff out of your mind into a system you trust  The brain is wonderful at solving problems  It can only do this for one problem at a time Like a single-core CPU with multiple processes, your brain will revisit unfinished tasks in time-slices Even at times when you can’t do anything about it.  …3am What ’s t he answer? 2 key principles: 1) capt uring ALL t he t hings t hat need t o get done – now, lat er, som eday, big, lit t le, in bet ween – int o a logical and t rust ed syst em out side of your head and off your m ind. 2) disciplining yourself t o m ake front end decisions about all of t he “ input s’ you let int o your life so t hat you will always have a plan for “ next act ions” t hat you can im plem ent or renegot iat e at any m om ent . ….in ot her words…. The key t o m anaging all your “ st uff” is t o m anage your act ions – and each act ion oft en requires only a m inut e or t wo, in t he appropriat e cont ext , t o m ove a proj ect forward. You can’t do a proj ect - only an act ion relat ed t o it . MASTERI NG THE WORKFLOW We (1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they m ean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do. With (5) it is important to choose according to the following criteria: What can I do? What can I do in the time I have? What do I have the energy to do? “st u ff” “ I n- basket ” Trash I s it act ionable? NO Som eday/ Maybe YES Proj ect s ( planning) ( t ickler) What ’s t he next act ion? Proj ect plans ( review for act ions) Will it t ake less t han 2 m inut es? Reference ( file) Wait ing YES NO Do it Delegat e it Calendar Defer it Next act ions ( for som eone else t o do it ) ( t o do at a specific t im e) ( t o do as soon as I can) Workflow diagram Th e m a j or ch a n ge is…. Get t ing EVERYTHI NG out of your head = 100% of all your “ st uff” ( 1) Collect it …. • I n- basket s • • • • Not e books PDA’s E- m ail …. “ Offload what needs t o get done int o a “ bu ck e t ” Collect Capture everything that you need to track or remember or act on in what Allen calls a 'bucket' Get everything out of your head and into your collection device, ready for processing All buckets should be processed to empty at least once per week. If Not Now When? If Not Me Who? • ( 2) Pr oce ss Start at top Deal with one item at a time Never put anything back into 'in' If an item requires action   Do it (if it takes less than two minutes) Delegate it, or defer it. If not    File it for reference Throw it away, or Incubate it for possible action later. D e le ga t ion – 1 0 Re a son s To 1. You can’t do it all. 2. You can reduce your burden. 3. Get more done through others. 4. Best return on your personal investment. 5. Makes you indispensable – and unpromotable! 6. Decrease your stress if you can’t be in office. 7. More time to handle important matters. 8. Helping company grow by developing others. 9. Some jobs might be better done by others. 10. A one person army seldom won anything. ( 3) Organizing…. Trash Someday/ Maybe Reference Projects Project plans Waiting Calendar Next Actions > > Em pt y t he in- basket ( 4) Review Review your list s as oft en as you need t o, t o get t hem off your m ind…. ….. but at least once a week The weekly review Gat her and process all your “ st uff” Review your syst em Updat e your list s Get clean, clear, current , and com plet e Creat e a “ t ickler file” in order t o help refresh your m em ory Next actions a.k.a. to do list The very next physical action you need to take to get something done Next Actions Within each context, items to do are Next Act ions    Break tasks into smaller physical actions The next action to move your work along Finishing next action may suggest a new next action Projects Proj ect : any desired result requiring > 1 action step You don’t do projects, they are a measurable result    GTD projects can be small Reminder of what you’re working toward. Without the reminder, it will slip back into your brain’s obsession-loop. Projects and Contexts A project often has many next actions You can do any of them Project: Find a general contractor Next Actions: ask colleagues at work ask neighbor who just finished renovation determine budget … System: “Next Actions” List “Action-oriented” Tells you what to do Complex or Simple     Context Due Date Priority “Energy Level” Premise: “Views” of Life 50,000 ft: Life goals 40,000 ft: 3-5 year goals 30,000 ft: 1-2 year goals 20,000 ft: areas of responsibility 10,000 ft: personal projects Ground-Level: “next actions” Autofocus2 example At the beginning of the day, pick up to 3 35 Autofocus2 example Select the next one that “pops out” 36 Autofocus2 example Go to my bank site on line and check balance Find phone number for the restaurant THEN make re 37 Read consultant comments re: draft report ( 5) Do it Every decision t o act is an int uit ive one. Most t im e- and priorit y- m anagem ent syst em s can’t do t his for you. The challenge is t o m ove from hoping it ’s t he right choice t o t rust ing it is. Workflow Filter incoming stuff from inboxes into: Non-act ionable it em s    Throw away Put into “Someday/ Maybe” lists/ folders Archive in storage Act ionable it em s    Act on in < 2 minutes, Delegate to someone else or defer action until later in the appropriate cont ext Result s? Collect ing ALL your “ st uff”  No st ress about forget t ing Doing t he “ next act ion”  Great er product ivit y  Great er peace of m ind What if I st ill have negat ive feelings or st ress? Don’t m ake t he agreem ent Com plet e t he agreem ent Re- negot iat e t he agreem ent Just let som e t hings go! ! More Tools Tips and Tools from www.davidco.com Lifehacker.com Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In  http:/ / gtdsupport.netcentrics.com GTD for Lotus Notes GTD for Blackberry  www.blackberryinsight.com Thank you