actually getting things done.
I'm always overcommitted. Have been for years. So when the geekosphere started getting excited about David Allen's Getting Things Done, I sort of watched from afar with curiosity.
I finally read the book, and spent some time thinking about new systems for task tracking and email. Everything came to a head a few weeks ago when I installed Life Balance on my Treo, hoping to add a little GTD to my life and see what I thought.
I got about an hour into configuring it before I realized this is all wrong.
Here's how Life Balance works: each task includes a bunch of metadata. You configure the software by describing this data: I am at home during these hours; I am in the office during these. I can do this type of task at home, I can do this one on the phone, in the car, at work. This class of tasks is important to me, this is less important.
When you add a new task, you specify values for all this metadata. And then the software can magically tell you what you should work on! Well, no shit: you spent all this time setting up rules so it could decide. And now every task you add needs to fit into your little framework. Or, just hold on, I gotta add a new "location", now I have to set a few properties of that location... christ, all I wanted to do was remind myself to buy pens.
Screw that. The goal is to do things, not dick around with some meta-todo list.
Here's my system for getting things done:
- Tasks go into my Treo's todo list (and get synced to Palm Desktop). Treo = cellphone = always with me. When a todo item comes up, I type it into the Treo and forget about it. I roughly prioritize tasks: 1 = must do, 2-5 = get to it sometime. Tasks are more or less in one category, though I create separate categories now and then ("blog topics", for instance).
- I aim to keep my email inbox empty. I reply to emails quickly when I can; I consider every read email sitting in my inbox to be a pending task.
- When it's time to do stuff, I know which list to look at, and I pretty much know which things I should be picking from. The brain is good at these things. Go analog.
That's it. The rest of my "system" consists of reminding myself to have good habits.
The GTD blogosphere movement blows right by most of this. Evaluating productivity software, creating laser printable templates for your hipster PDA (holy moly, the net.clique around these things), deciding on just the right Moleskine notebook and pen, setting up a personal Wiki, choosing the right colors for your filing folder labels, these things are distractions.
I do agree with a few things from the book:
- The most important thing is truly living by your system. Consider a bug tracking system designed like this: "fix all the bugs on this list, but also there's a few bugs that we never bothered to write down and you should probably work on them too." Sounds stupid, eh? Eventually it falls apart and you disregard the system altogether.
- Tasks are best listed as next actions: "call Sean about artwork" is more useful than "release Plink EP".
But mostly, I believe in creating and living by lightweight, flexible systems that will last years without major modifications. Don't create a framework you can't keep up with. Don't keep changing your system. Don't try to solve every specific problem.
Some good things regarding this topic here: The Beginner's Mind.