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Originally Posted by kioneo
But, it has introduced new complexities in how I plan projects (since I didn't really do it much before). I find myself, at least presently, trying to balance how much detail to plan. Too little and I feel like the project just isn't fully hashed out during review time, and too much and I feel like I am wasting time planning.
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"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."
--Obligatory Albert-Einstein-by-way-of-David-Allen quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by kioneo
How do you plan projects? Obviously the big ones require quite a bit, but what about small projects like "Mike's Party" where as a guest I have to buy a gift, pack car, make covered dish, etc.
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I brainstorm to figure out all of the requirements of the project -- for "Mike's party" it would be everything I need to buy or bring, people I need to call, etc. -- then figure out what next actions there are. (Buying a gift may require a task on my @Roaming list, calling Mike's wife for the name of the restaurant would be an entry on my @Phone list, etc.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by kioneo
Or how about nebulous projects like "Find a Better Way to Shave" which may include trying out shaving creams, razors, reading online, etc. But in the case of the shaving project, the whole project evolves constantly and it feels forced to set a strict plan together, but without something I feel like it just isn't complete.
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Projects where you don't have a clearly-defined goal -- one of my pending projects is "replace conventional water heater with on-demand heater" -- can be difficult to plan. So my trick, courtesy of Merlin Mann, is to come up with a clearly-defined target to start with. In my example, my Next Action is "Google for specifications and prices for two different models of heater." It may not be the best Next Action, but it is something I can start with; maybe I can't find any prices or specs online, but that should spur me to then look up the phone numbers and address of local businesses where I
can get that information.
I think the biggest hurdle for most people is that GTD requires you to trust your intuition, when most people are taught to make decisions "objectively". David makes a joke to the effect of, "you didn't wake up and say 'X plus Y squared times 53 means I have to do this today'".
The idea behind planning projects the GTD way is to come up with Next Actions, not to plot out every last detail of the plan. At the same time, you may not be able to generate Next Actions until you have at least a framework of what needs to be accomplished. I think it amounts to drilling down to the level of detail you need to get it completely out of your head.