Skip to main content

Home/ Moiasis: GTD and Productivity related/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by moiasis0923

Contents contributed and discussions participated by moiasis0923

Simple Middle Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics
moiasis0923

What is (not) a GTD context? | Evomend - 0 views

www.evomend.net/...what-not-gtd-context

GTD tip productivity GTD context help guide

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • Types of contexts and how to handle them
  • People
  • real life savers when your stress level is extremely high and you need to fly by autopilot.
  • ...28 more annotations...
  • Roles and service providers
  • Locations
  • Allocated time spans
  • Recurring event agendas
  • Recurring idle time spans
  • @Commuting.
  • Errands
  • answers will be different for each type of action.
  • Required resources or tools
  • Fake context types
  • Actions or Projects
  • A better option than calling the above contexts would be to ask yourself: in which context will I be able to brainstorm, decide, print, read, etc.
  • @Reading, @Creative.
  • So there is a hidden context here.
  • Singular Events
  • Available time or energy levels
  • three factors that guide your choice of the next task to be completed: priority, energy level, available time
  • Turn one of them into a context and the other ones become second-class citizens of your reliable system.
  • Priorities
  • indicator that you've fallen back to traditional «time management» methods.
  • not helpful to know that a next action is urgent if you can't act upon it where you are right now.
  • Invariant time spans
  • The intersection problem and how to solve it
  • When you see two or more context candidates for a next action, you've bumped into the intersection problem
  • Favor the generic context over the specific one
  • Merge contexts
  • Favor frequent contexts over rare ones
  • Favor permanent contexts over temporary ones
moiasis0923

Back to GTD: Simplify your contexts | 43 Folders - 0 views

www.43folders.com/...simplify-contexts

GTD tip productivity GTD context help geek

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • GTD contexts lose a lot of their focusing power when either a) most of your work takes place at one context (e.g. “@computer”)
  • using contexts more for taxonomical labeling than to reflect functional limitations and opportunities.
  • these problems can collide catastrophically for many knowledge workers, artists, and geeks.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • While it’s definitely a kind of “first world problem” to have, facing the unlimited freedom to chose from any of a bajillion similar tasks from similar projects with similar outcomes is not nearly as fun as it first sounds.
  • Consider the contextual hairballs of certain jobs and tasks:
  • Developer
  • writing new code, fixing old code, or testing code.
  • require essentially the same tools and environment
  • how do you apply real contexts?
  • Writer - Needs to research, draft, revise, and edit manuscripts.
  • how do you satisfactorily “context-ize” this physically identical work?
  • Designer
  • print layout, web design, or what will become a physical artifact
  • how do you segment the work further than “@photoshop” and ”@illustrator”?
  • think the solution may be to toss out or consolidate any contexts that don’t have unique functional attributes.
  • keep them if they’re working for you, but if you find yourself spending more time deciding where to file tasks than actually completing them, you might consider dialing your contexts back as far as you can stand.
moiasis0923

SMART criteria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...SMART_%28project_management%29

GTD tip productivity project management

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10
     
    Writing Tips when creating to do lists and projects. Write in a way such that you it becomes 'SMART'. Not only will it be easier to read & understand, you can see the motivation/purpose behind an action.
  • moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10
     
    Writing Tips when creating to do lists and projects. Write in a way such that you it becomes 'SMART'. Not only will it be easier to read & understand, you can see the motivation/purpose behind an action.
moiasis0923

5 More GTD Pitfalls : Getting Things Done - 0 views

gtd.marvelz.com/...5-more-gtd-pitfalls

GTD tip productivity pitfalls guide

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • 1. using your diary for next actions
  • You need to write down next actions (there is a subtle difference with to-do items!) on your next actions list and nowhere else.
  • Keep your GTD system consistent, that is, write down next actions where you expect to find them later
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • 2. too many inboxes
  • If you have too many inboxes, it will become increasingly difficult to frequently and consistently process all the “stuff” in each and every one of them.
  • 3. from tickler to inbox… and back again
  • I encounter some item in my inbox, realize I don’t really know (or don’t want to know!) what to do with it right now, so I stuff it into my tickler file some days or weeks into the future.
  • Things you do not want to think about at all, should be thrown away instead of clogging up your tickler file.
  • better solution is to only put stuff you need on a specific day or month into your tickler file.
  • Things you would like to think about later should be put into your reference system and tracked on your projects or someday/maybe list.
  • One solution for this could be to not allow yourself to put an item more than once in your tickler file
  • 4. no project outcome
  • Don’t put stuff on your project list just to get it out of your mind.
  • Projects need project support material that contains the current status of the project
  • upcoming next actions and most important a clear and SMART project outcome.
  • a project outcome will seem insurmountable and daunting.
  • Without a project outcome it will become difficult to come up with meaningful next actions and you will never know when a project is successfully completed.
  • 5. writing about GTD
  • It is a great way to prevent myself from actually getting (other) things done!
  • Practice what you preach, stop thinking about GTD, start cranking widgets!
moiasis0923

Common GTD pitfalls (part 1 of 2) : Getting Things Done - 0 views

gtd.marvelz.com/...ommon-gtd-pitfalls-part-1-of-2

GTD tip productivity pitfalls guide

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • 1. collecting and processing but not doing!
  • At the end of some days I’m just happy to get my inboxes back to empty and everything processed into my GTD system!
  • annoying feeling that my lists of projects and next actions simply keep growing instead of shrinking! In other words, I’m not actually getting (enough) things done!
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • 2. reviewing infrequently
  • If you do not update and review your trusted GTD system as often as you need to, you will end up with an incomplete and untrusted system.
  • An untrusted system doesn’t exactly inspire you to get things done.
  • My solution to this situation is to do a short review at the end of every day, so my weekly review becomes less of a burden.
  • 3. playing with your system
  • I now know it is best to settle on a simple system that is easy and fun to set up and maintain.
  • When you feel comfortable with GTD and you are actually getting things done, then you might find it useful to play around with other GTD systems and tools.
  • 4. keeping stuff out of your system
  • did not put “everything” in my inbox in the beginning, but just the more “recent stuff”.
  • I frequently catch myself jotting down to-do items on a piece of paper or even in my diary, even though I always carry my mobile GTD system with me.
  • are kept out of the system.
  • bad thing here is that keeping stuff out of your GTD system renders it incomplete and sometimes untrusted, by definition!
  • doing next actions or even whole projects that are not even listed in your GTD system, makes you feel you didn’t accomplish anything during the day because there is no record of it in your GTD system!
  • solution is simple but tough to keep up: use an easy-to-use mobile GTD system
moiasis0923

A Month of the Pomodoro Technique « Aspirations of a Software Developer - 0 views

developeraspirations.wordpress.com/...-pomodoro-techniquethepositive

Pomodoro GTD tip overview review productivity

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • quick intro
  • pomodoro technique is a time management system for minimizing multi-tasking along with prioritizing activities.
  • Work is divided into 25 minute chunks called pomodoros that are separated by 5 minute breaks.
  • ...35 more annotations...
  • main idea is that for those 25 minutes you should be focusing 100% to the task at hand and avoiding internal and external distractions as much as possible.
  • rtifacts that the technique produces.
  • Activity Inventory, the daily Todo sheets, the memory maps, and the Record sheet.
  • activity inventory
  • try to leave at least 7 boxes free on the right hand side so I can draw in the pomodoro boxes.
  • lso try to write down everything I can think of, even if it isn’t work related but I want to get it done at some point.
  • others are just good notes to myself that I can read each day and give myself reminders
  • Todo sheet
  • Grid paper
  • eave 4 boxes empty to the left of each entry in case I need to add a U (unplanned) or small note to a task.
  • entries of things to do, one per line.
  • second sheet
  • record sheet
  • Each row contains one day, with the columns indicating the date, completed pomodoros, internal interruptions, external interruptions, underestimated pomodoros, overestimated pomodoros, completed tasks, incomplete tasks, unplanned activities added to the todo, and unplanned activities added to the inventory.
  • bottom
  • averages for each of these columns.
  • first is an overview
  • extended log
  • a copy of my todo sheet for the day.
  • name of the activity, the number of pomodoros spent on it, two columns for guess errors in case I guessed the wrong number of pomodoros to complete the activity, the number of internal interruptions, external interruptions, if the activity was completed (I just put in an x if it was), and any comments.
  • final sheet is a chart sheet
  • shows completed pomodoros for each day
  • use the data of the second column (completed pomodoros) from the first sheet to create this chart.
  • good indication of how well I was able to perform on each day and shows me some trends.
  • Positive Aspects
  • When starting a day, you can set a goal for yourself
  • If you end up completing every task, you can spend 5 minutes to add some more on and congratulate yourself for being so productive
  • enjoy the focus a pomodoro can give to me
  • e extended log in the record sheet and tracking how long each task takes me that it is easier to estimate new tasks that I get.
  • tend to have to break down tasks several times, but by doing that and adding all of them together you can get a rough idea of how long a task will take
  • you know how many pomodoros you can complete in a day
  • can estimate how many days longer tasks will take
  • Not As Positive Aspects
  • Pomodoros are an all or nothing affair
  • Either you work for 25 minutes straight to mark your X or you don’t complete a pomodoro
moiasis0923

How does a geek hack GTD? | 43 Folders - 0 views

www.43folders.com/...how-does-a-nerd-hack-gtd

43folders.com GTD tip productivity geek

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • discuss the way that productivity plans and methods designed for the business world can be reframed in a context that’s useful for developers, programmers, and garden-variety geeks.
  • tend to have work styles, deliverables, and skillsets that are markedly different from the average, notional GTD user.
  • prime example: “@computer.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • @tech - somewhat similar to a generic “@computer,” but functionally more similar to “@someday.”
  • additional geek lists
  • In short, if they follow the stock GTD setup, they will have a very, very long “@computer” list.
  • umping ground for any skill I want to learn, tool I want to play with, or setup item I want to tweak.
  • Once I commit to a given item, it gets moved to PROJECTS and a next action is generated.
  • scratch.txt
  • not a list but a great little hack; leave a “scratch pad” text file open all day and use it as the place for typing odd bits of information you’ll soon put someplace else. (Keeps you from having a dozen Temp files or “Untitled Document”s)
  • bunch of other ad hoc lists
  • specific to a certain context or that I only need for a short period of time.
moiasis0923

Does this "next action" belong someplace else? | 43 Folders - 0 views

www.43folders.com/...t-action-belong-someplace-else

43folders.com GTD guide help tip common mistakes productivity

shared by moiasis0923 on 23 Jul 10 - Cached
  • often items on my “next actions” list that hang around a lot longer than they should
  • discovered that most of the items are just in the wrong place, or, if you prefer, in the wrong time or context.
  • It is not a single, atomic activity
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • not a physical action
  • Acknowledging the multiple steps and identifying the logical next action usually does the trick for me.
  • a small project is masquerading as a single TODO.
  • not something I’ve actually committed to
  • not really the very next action I need to take
  • Change: walk backwards through your steps until you can derive the true next physical action.
  • Change: Reword it as a physical activity, preferably yielding a physical artifact or new next action.
  • Change: move to “Someday/Maybe/On-Hold” or “@Tech”
  • poorly defined or just badly worded
  • Try always beginning your next actions with a physical verb.
  • “Email,” “Call,” “Google,” “Recode,” “Visit,” and “Buy” all encompass physical actions, and often context.
  • nothing I can act on now
  • If an item on your list is something that has a dependency with another person or just takes time until follow-up, get it out of there
  • Alternatively, rephrase it as your physical followup that you want to perform as soon as possible
  • I have no idea what this means
  • Change: move to “Someday/Maybe/On-Hold” until you can remember what it means, or generate a followup next action.
1 - 8 of 8
Showing 20▼ items per page