This is a summary of the Getting Things Done system from David Allen. I use my style of it and find it very helpful. I have trained executives on this over the years and have always seen marked improvement when followed. It is the New Year and time to recommit to better habits!
Principle 1: Use your brain for processing not storage.
In order to get the most out of your brain you need to empty it. In computer terms RAM is for processing data, not storing it and as we all know the more available RAM the better your processing power. To accomplish this you need to capture all actionable items and put them in a trusted system.
Principle 2: All items must be processed.
To not process items creates bottlenecks, piles and will let less important things get in the way of more important things. Thus everything is important and should be processed before assigning actions and priorities.
Principle 3: Master Workflow.
There are five stages to mastering your workflow:
1. Collect. Gather all physical things you need to process: paperwork, business cards, notes, etc. Do a mental mindsweep of everything you need to process, professional and personal.
Tools: Use in-baskets, notes, voice & email, and other technology to collect 100% of everything.
What I Use: Wire in-baskets (home, office), Mac Mail, Evernote (on Mac and iPhone).
2. Process. After collecting everything, you need to process it. This means you should:
- Trash what you don’t need.
- Complete any less-than 2 minute actions.
- Delegate stuff you can’t complete to others.
- Sort into your system reminders for actions that will take more than two minutes.
- Identify any larger commitments, or projects, that you have.
- Identify things to save for later and use as reference material only.
Tools: See workflow diagram, email, to-do software, planner, project management
What I Use: Mac Mail, Things, iCal, various group tools (basecamp, CRM)
3. Organize the results. Categories of things you have processed and will want to keep track of:
- A projects list.
- Project support material.
- Calendared actions.
- Next actions: could be categorized by type of action: calls, computer, email, errands, at home, at work, agenda, or read/review.
- A “waiting for” list (waiting for others to complete).
- Reference materials.
- Someday/Maybe list (i.e. CD’s to buy, websites to visit, recipes to cook, etc.)
Tools: Folders, calendar, planner, to-do software, project management
What I Use: Mac Mail, Things, iCal, various group tools (basecamp, CRM)
4. Review next actions. Review your calendar first as these items are bound by time, and then your action list. Do a weekly review and period ‘big picture’ reviews.
5. Do the actions. How to decide what to do:
- Determining actions in the moment are processed in this order: 1. context, 2. time available, 3. energy available, 4. priority. (this is a key to the system)
- Evaluating daily work: a. doing pre-defined work, b. doing work as it shows up, c. defining your work.
- Reviewing our work: work from the bottom up a. runway (current actions), b. 10,000 feet (current goals), c. 20,000 feet (areas of job responsibility), d. 30,000 feet (1-2 year goals), e. 40,000 feet (3-5 year vision), f. 50,000 feet (life goals)
Tools: Planner, software, note pad
What I Use: Mac Mail, Things, iCal, various group tools (basecamp, CRM)
Principle 4: Five Steps of Project Planning.
For projects (project = work that takes more than one action step to complete), here’s how to handle it:
- Step 1: Define purpose and principles.
- Step 2: Envision an outcome.
- Step 3: Brainstorm.
- Step 4: Organize.
- Step 5: Identify next actions.
Tools: Notepad, WordProcessor, MindMapping
What I Use: MindManager, Evernote
Principle 5: The Power of the Next-Action Decision.
You can only take the next action so if you have done the above steps correctly you can now start eating the elephants a bite at a time, taking a journey with the next step or insert any other metaphor on this simple fact; by intelligently chopping up your projects to clearly defined next steps in proper context it makes cranking out work easy, less intimidating, less stressful and ultimately you get more things done!
Do you use GTD or similar systems to get the most out of your time, work and life? I would love to hear about it.