The Importance of a Central Project List
I can’t escape the fact that having a real centralized project list for the things I’m doing is helping. I want to believe that I have tons of excess capacity in my brain. I want to think that I remember everything I’ve got on the go. But I don’t. And maybe you don’t, either.
I’ve recently started using the Mac program iGTD as a central repository. It does a great job of sorting out contexts and projects such that I can sort things by project or context and get whatever done that I can. I’m sure you can recommend the PC or LINUX equivalent in the comments section, right? But to me, it’s not about the software. It’s about the way one uses the product to create a workflow. Here’s what I’ve been experimenting with:
30 Minutes in the Morning
I wish I could use less time to do this, but I find that if I give the first 30 minutes of my morning towards wiping out my inbox and either turning the mail into projects or acting immediately, it goes a long way on improving my day. So that’s what I do.
- Open email
- Process mail into a project –> add to iGTD or
- Act on mail immediately: respond in a way that closes the loop with the other person.
- Close email and try to forget for an hour.
- Try to nail some action on a project, hopefully in order of deadline.
Nothing magical here, but getting into the rhythm of it is where the power comes in. I’m starting to come to my iGTD project list to look for what needs doing. And when I identify that something’s not there, I put it on to add it to my active queue.
Perform Project “Blasts”
Instead of focusing on any one project, I scroll through my project list and try working on closing out the ones due next, and/or the ones I think I can complete in short order. I try to do a mix of these and a few swipes at tasks on REALLY BIG projects. Because I’ve got this set up as projects with tasks underneath, it’s as easy as working on Next Actions. This requires discipline. I find that if I don’t break a project into tasks, then I don’t dig in as quickly to take a next action on something.
Daily Review
I do a weekly review, but I also do a daily endcap to see if I’ve moved the ball forward on enough of my projects. Because my particular work is almost always scattershot, I look to see that what I’ve done has had any impact on a daily basis. Thus, I can try and influence my next day more.
Your Thoughts and Improvements
This is the system I’m using to manage my workload right now. How are YOU working? What are you doing differently? Have you tried a program that you like more than iGTD? Talk about it. We’d love to hear.
Chris Brogan blogs at [chrisbrogan.com]
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Comments
Diana says on July 30th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Can someone please suggest a good PC software that does similar project organizing like the iGTD? Thanks!
Jeroen Sangers says on July 30th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
@Diana: Though not as sexy as iGTD, you might have a look at Thinking Rock (http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/)
Karthik Bhat says on July 30th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
You could try http://nozbe.com
Kristof Sals says on July 30th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Hi Diana,
Think this is kinda what you are looking for.
http://www.atpm.com/13.02/next-actions.shtml
Elbesales says on July 30th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Here’s a list of available programs; I haven’t selected one yet, but Accomplice,
Tudumo, and What’s Next appear interesting.
http://wiki.jeffsandquist.com/.....Tools.html
Paul says on July 30th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Comparative list of GTD software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....D_software
Anja Wassenaar says on July 30th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I just moved all my contexts and projects from actiontastic into iGTD and I suspect it is great! You can catch your thoughts, process your mail, manage your projects etc. It works great with the Quicksilver integration, And realy important; the short-cuts work realy well. Using Quicksilver you can use @ and [....] to move your task directly into a certain project and/or context, using F8 you can put mails and url’s directly into your inbox. the search engine is perfect, you can add priority and effort to your things-to-do among other things.
Lynn O'Connor says on July 30th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
I’ve been using Vitalist (online http://www.vitalist.com) the way you’ve been using iGTD. I tried the latter, but the printouts weren’t as efficient for me as those from Vitalist and I still haven’t used all the possible features. You’ve reminded me to pay more attention to my project lists –I let days go by and forget whole projects. Great post, thanks.
Richard says on July 31st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
There’s also a list of apps in the Ultimate GTD Index:
http://gtd.marvelz.com/blog/gtd-index
Terra Andersen says on July 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I can’t function nearly as great without a central list of projects and tasks. However, I am on a PC, so I don’t get to try iGTD *=(
Thomas says on July 31st, 2007 at 8:16 pm
I like Life Balance for this job, it runs on Windows, Macintosh and… Palm OS! So Palm users can take their list with them. The Palm version can of course synchronize with the PC version.
Trial version at http://www.llamagraphics.com/
Jeff says on July 31st, 2007 at 10:31 pm
I recently started using GTD-php (http://www.gtd-php.com, with a demo you can try out) and it’s exactly what I need. What I like about it is that it’s all open source, so if you know a little html, php and MySQL, you can build in whatever functionality you need, if it isn’t there already. Although that does add to the overhead of getting it up and running, depending on how technically inclined you are. My work strategy is very similar to what you describe above, and this program works very well for that.
Andrew H says on August 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 am
I’ve used both LifeBalance for PC and my Palm Treo 650. While it’s great, I did find myself battling the tool too much. I would like to second the mention of Vitalist.com. I’ve been using it for a few months (they offer a very full featured free version) and just upgraded to the paid version. I like it since my list is available from any internet connected pc. They also have a mobile version that’s streamlined for smartphones that have a limited browser. So again..about 95% availability no matter where I am. One great feature is that you can email yourself actions if you’re on the run and in a hurry but want something on your list. I’m using this more and more. (no, I don’t work for them )
Pablo says on March 16th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Im starting to get into this iGTD groove but it really messes with my mind that i dont have online access to it.. its like i need to have my laptop everywhere to use it properly.. Cant i get igtd to export to an online list??
websim says on March 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I can recommend mylifeorganized for PC