[mianwright]

Well, I just set up Google calendar to SMS me. We'll see how it works.

[malisa]

Just a revival for a thank you.

I'm back for a third swing at OF after getting overwhelmed twice by trying to make it do EVERYTHING (and working on a sickly old Powerbook). I'm back on my new MBP, coming from working on paper and slowly adding back parts that make sense, as the need seems to arise. I added my errands and calls contexts first so I could carry them on my iphone. Last weekend I added my project titles. This weekend, I added the actions on my active projects.

I'm using OO for everything below and above actions and projects. Below (not really below, but I'm using it for recurring things that always overwhelmed my OF system. And above, meaning Areas of Focus (hopefully above that in the near future) and also for Someday/Maybe stuff.

I remembered this thread and Curt's checklists. I'm glad I could dig it up. So thanks to Curt and all those who participated. I got some questions answered that I knew I was searching for answers to, and some that I hadn't defined as questions, but I had them as questions none the less.

I've set up an iCal Review calendar and have practiced having it to pop up OO lists. :D

I've been working off a paper system at work but this makes me REALLY want to take my MBP to work now. But I'll bide my time. One step at a time.

Thank you. Thank you.

[fedex]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

Christopher,

....

And here's my monthly review checklist, heavily laden with Steven Covey's first-things-first ideas:

- [ ] Go somewhere calm
- [ ] Review Personal Mission Statement.
- [ ] Consider each role
    - [ ] Brainstorm for any projects that should be started or put on
          Someday/Maybe
    - [ ] Are there any projects that are stalled or ideas that keep
          popping up?
        - [ ] Do you need to do some project planning?
                  See Allen's natural planning model (see GTD, ch. 3)
            - [ ] Is the purpose of the project clearly defined?  Why
                  do it?
            - [ ] Have you envisioned what a successful outcome looks
                  like?  What is success on this project?
            - [ ] Have you brainstormed possible routes to success?
            - [ ] Have you organized the steps in the process?
            - [ ] Have you identified clear, actionable next actions?
        - [ ] Need more clarity about what to do?  Move up the list.
        - [ ] Need more to be happening?  Move down the list.
    - [ ] Review Someday-Maybe Ideas
- [ ] Review Past Monthly Goals
    - [ ] Evaluate performance
    - [ ] Consider reasons for success
    - [ ] Determine reasons for failures, plan remediation
- [ ] Review general performance issues
    - [ ] Are you being conscientious about daily and weekly reviews?
    - [ ] Are you keeping appointments with self?
    - [ ] Have you maintained balance across roles & responsibilities?
- [ ] Set monthly goals in each role
    - [ ] Relate to One and Five Year Goals
    - [ ] “What are the one or two most important things I could do in
          this role this month that would have the greatest positive
          impact.”
    - [ ] Big Rocks First
    - [ ] Effective Goals:
        - [ ] are driven by conscience
        - [ ] are often Quadrant II goals
            - [ ] Q1 Urgent & Important
            - [ ] Q2 Not urgent but important
            - [ ] Q3 Urgent but not important
            - [ ] Q4 Neither urgent nor important
        - [ ] reflect our four basic needs (to live, to love, to learn,
              to leave a legacy) and capacities (conscience, creative
              imagination, independent will, self-awareness)
        - [ ] are in our Center of Focus
        - [ ] are either determinations or concentrations
- [ ] Flag monthly goals in project outline
          Show all flagged in project mode, select all, Cmd-Shift-L
          Set more frequent review intervals for flagged goals.

These checklists have evolved over time. My monthly review checklist is particularly detailed, because I need more help to do that well, and it happens less often.

Curt,

your monthly review template has some project planning steps under "Consider each role". Why do you brainstorm projects and next actions this early on in the monthly review, even before getting into next months goals? To me, this seems very operative on this high level review and something I do on a weekly basis. Does this has anything to do with reviewing current roles?

I'm also in the process of connecting GTD and Covey and your kind sharing of your lists has really helped me a lot.

Thanks!

//Mattias

[curt.clifton]

Mattias,

I've found weekly reviews too frequent for a full, role-based mind sweep. My monthly review feels like about the right frequency for that. I like to do that early in the monthly review, because it feels like part of the collection process to me. Later in my review, when I'm actually setting goals, I'm focused on choosing from my identified projects and longer term goals. That's not the right time for me to add new projects to my system, lest I focus too much on new ideas instead of important ones.

[wilsonng]

I think a weekly review is a general guideline and not really a set rule. Many people seem to be OK with doing an intensive review once a week. Some other lucky folks who don't have as intensive a life can get by with doing it every couple of weeks.

Some other folks need to do it every 3 or 4 days just to stay on top of stuff.

I think the general rule is to do an intensive review as often as you need it.

I do like OmniFocus' ability to set the review frequency. Some projects need to be reviewed only once a month. Others need to be reviewed weekly. That's something I can't do in Things. In Things, I'd have to review everything!

[poritsky]

While contemplating ways to revamp my website, workflow, life, etc., I happened upon this thread. Curt, as always, you are a master. Not sure if this fits for me, but I put it all down into an OmniOutliner document so I can visualize/tweak. Sharing that here since it seems useful. Contains only Curt's input posted here in the same hierarchical setup. All 4 reviews are in this one doc, so you can pull them out as you please. Uploading OPML as well so you can use [insert tool here] if you please. On the go, I use CarbonFin's Outliner on iPhone and iPad. A worthy stand in until Omni unleashes OmniOutliner for iPad. Ooooh, I wonder what that app's gonna be like. Should we get on their case yet? ;)

[macula]

Curt, thanks for these posts.

A couple of questions, if I may, with respect to your monthly review:

1. These "monthly goals" are explicitly entered into OF, and if so, what is their exact form? Action groups, perhaps?

1a. Likewise, do you keep your 1- and 5-yr goals in OF or elsewhere?

2. Do monthly goals carry explicit deadlines? If so, doesn't this run counter to GTD principles? If not, in what sense are they "monthly"?

Also, may I ask you to clarify "concentrations" and "determinations"?

Thanks again.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by macula

Curt, thanks for these posts.

A couple of questions, if I may, with respect to your monthly review:

1. These "monthly goals" are explicitly entered into OF, and if so, what is their exact form? Action groups, perhaps?

1a. Likewise, do you keep your 1- and 5-yr goals in OF or elsewhere?

I track all the goals in OmniOutliner. (I also keep a copy in SimpleNote so I can do reviews on my iPad. Can't wait for OO for iPad!)

2. Do monthly goals carry explicit deadlines? If so, doesn't this run counter to GTD principles? If not, in what sense are they "monthly"?

By definition, a monthly goal is something to complete this month, so in that respect it has a deadline. I don't think Allen says that deadlines are wrong. We all have deadlines that we have to meet. He just says that it isn't helpful to set artificial deadlines. I treat my monthly goals as agreements that I've made with myself to focus on certain things. I'm free to renegotiate those deadlines if my world changes. It isn't unusual for me to decide during a weekly review that a monthly goal just isn't reasonable. If so, I strike through the item in OO and add a note about why I put it off. (The note is useful, because I like to look back over my monthly goals occasionally to see how I'm doing with my goal setting.)

Also, may I ask you to clarify "concentrations" and "determinations"?

This is a Stephen Covey thing. A "concentration" might be something like "remained open and communicative about Lisa's grad school plans". It doesn't really have a next action or project, but it's useful for me to think about regularly during the month. One way to think about a concentration goal is as a special prompt during my reviews. Maybe I'll notice that I haven't asked Lisa about her grad school application status lately, so I'll add an action to do that. On the other hand, a "determination" is something that describes the outcome of a project. An example might be "Started Productivity Blog and announced it to the OF forum community". Determination goals for the month have an active project in OF and are typically part of my daily review.

Does that help?

[macula]

Very lucid, Curt. Thank you very much!

[luminosity]

Just a quick note to say a big THANK YOU for sharing all this information about your process with GTD and OF / OO.

Much appreciated. I find it very helpful to see how other people go about implementing these systems... makes my own process evolve much faster.

Cheers.