Rethinking my GTD system
Submitted by Earok on Fri, 06/18/2010 - 00:00Getting Things Done has been an interest of mine for some time now, but creating a GTD system I am comfortable with has been a real struggle.
Up until recently I was using ThinkingRock as the core of my GTD system. The problem I had with it was, despite being (or perhaps because of being) an amazingly thorough implementation of GTD, it became unmanageable for me when my list of tasks grew too long.
So I decided to go back to basics and come up with a new simplified strategy. The core of my new system (Powered by Remember the Milk so I can view or add to it from Web or Windows Mobile) has only four lists:
- Action
- Next Day
- Next Week
- Next Month
The Action list contains tasks that I am willing and able to work on immediately. For tasks that have sub-tasks (Projects) I use RTM's note functionality to keep track of these.
The other three lists contain tasks that I can't (Or just don't want to!) do now but have committed to reviewing them the next day/week/month. On a review I just look at each item on the list and decide if I want to promote it (move it up the chain), demote it, leave it there or delete it.
And.. that's it. Any suggestions?
Comments
Systems work as long as you have one and adapt it, I guess. :)
But systems can have weaknesses, for instance GTD suggests a 'daily to-do' list is redundant because tasks will need to be re-added every time you fail to do all of them.
I think, generally, the less effort that has to go into maintaining a task management system, and the less chance tasks will slip through the gaps, the more likely the system will be effective.
personally using http://teuxdeux.com . It's simple clean and you can drag and drop. No frills, simple and clean.
That looks pretty cool actually, really neat UI. Nice being able to see most of your lists at once.
Though, my main concern about the product though is it's focus on assigning tasks to specific dates. In my current task-management philosophy you never do that unless a task has to be done on that date. It's demoralising and a hassle to have to shift something you couldn't get around to doing forward a day.
That said, I suppose you could use the someday box for things that you could do at any time, and just use the day boxes for things that have to be done on that day. I'll give it some thought.
it automatically shifts it forward unless you cross it out. they just don't advertise that feature. Just found it out as my list did that for me.
Ah, okay that is pretty cool then. I'll stick with RTM for now but will look at TeuxDeux if it doesn't work out for me.