Monday, May 22nd, 2006...2:58 pm
GTD Primer: Chapter 8
I missed the Thursday posting of Chapter 8 and then I was out helping my in-laws move on Friday, so this post got put in the @Waiting list.
- Michael
Chapter 8: Reviewing: Keeping Your System Functional
This is the chapter that details the hardest step in the process to actually complete…the Weekly Review. A recent poll from 43Folders stated that 32% of the respondents (75) found that reviewing was their GTD weakness. I believe that is how I voted in the poll.
There are some simple things that you can do day-to-day to keep up with your system. These will ensure that you will not let anything fall through the cracks.The steps are rather simple. Check you ‘hard landscape’ to see what time you have available. For me that is my Pocket Moleskine Planner and my Google Calendar (used now as a backup, but may be main calendar soon). Next, check your NA lists. This will put on your mind the general things that you need to do. You don’t have to do anything right now. You just want to take a quick survey of your system.
Now, David Allen recommends that we do a Weekly Review to empty our head again. This is the phase where we look at every item currently in our system, and make any modifications to it, add new items to our system and place them in the appropriate catagory, and then delete (or archive) any items that are completed and no longer need to be tracked.
Setting up a block of time will help you keep focused on the review while you are doing it. The first couple will take the longest, and be the most awkward. After a short time, the review will (hopefully) be second nature and be something that will take you under 30 minutes to complete.
It seems so easy. Take some time, block it off and go over everything in your system. Re-adjust when necessary. Done!
So why do we not do it more?
4 Comments
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:36 am
I guess we mostly don’t do it more because we don’t schedule it. I am experimenting now with a scheduled weekly review, just like if it were a meeting at a fixed time that can’t be missed. “If you don’t do it weekly, you do it all week.”
May 23rd, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Over at speakhead.com, he utilizes mind maps in his weekly review. It is a VERY interesting approach. Gary Slinger also has an older post where he uses mind maps in his weekly review.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Michael,
I started to use FreeMind when I found that Outlook tasks were not working for me. I needed to document multi-level projects (projects contained within projects) and using a text field in the task notes was tedious. Mindmaps have allowed me to manage a hierarchy of projects and someday/maybes, and to easily migrate these items back and forth as needed.
It would be nice if, like MindManager, I could easily sync the FreeMind data with Outlook and my PDA. For now I must manually copy the relevant next actions from FreeMind into Outlook. It still remains a great tool for brainstorming during a MindSweep.
Another tool that I am working with is EverNote Plus. I am using it as an Electronic Reference File. With the appropriate GTD templates from GTDWannabe one can manage Project Next Actions. One of the nice touches of the template is a desired outcome field which helps you clarify what needs to be accomplished. There is a limitation IMHO where one cannot easily create multi-level projects. I’m not an expert on EverNote, but it does not seem to allow you to create a reference to a note and use it elsewhere. If it did I could use the template to make a Project step refer to another Project. Again there is a limitation to syncing the data with Outlook and my PDA.
I’m using My Life Organized (MLO) on a 45 day trial basis to see if it can help in this area. I’m on day 3 and I have been able to MindSweep and lay out 11 Projects from an @Home context. When I compared this list to the FreeMind list I found many new items. For me, the tool has to facilitate the MindSweep process so I can clear my mind of Open Loops. In its most basic form, MLO is a great outliner and supports multi-level projects well. It has many GTD-like concepts built in: Places can be used as contexts, Task Effort can be used to specify required energy level and so on. It syncs really well with Outlook and then I can use ActiveSync from there. The downsides I see so far is that you cannot make connections between various Next Actions or Projects like you can with a MindMap, and it is not easy to show dependencies.
I could resort to Microsoft Project and Gantt Charts, but what fun would that be?
I view all of this transitioning and transformation as a GTD Implementation Journey and I’m excited to share my personal travels on speakhead.com
July 6th, 2006 at 1:37 am
[...] The weekly review! (If you need a refresher, Black Belt Productivity summarizes chapter 8.) [...]
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