[BwanaZulia]

For me, (GTD'er) the Next Action lists simplifies what needs to be done at any moment. If you think about it, it is really just a filter:

Show me what things I can do where I am right now that will move any of my projects along.

The other thing to point out from a GTD perspective is the two other factors when actually getting to the "doing" of things.

1. Time
2. Energy

That is why priority isn't a factor in GTD. You could have a tiny amount of time and very little energy but under your high priority list is a BIG ITEM that would take lots of both.

In GTD, you use context to figure out what you CAN do and use Time and Energy to filter down on that list.

Example: In the morning, I have high energy and an hour at the office so I hit my "Office" context to see what is there. I see a few 5-10 minute things, but since I have big energy (lots of coffee) I pick out that one that is about 50 minutes worth of work. The opposite of that is on a Friday afternoon after lunch. I am low energy and wanting to get going on the weekend so I pick a low energy task from my "Internet" context possibly about posting something or just checking up on the OmniGroup forums. :)

Example: I am walking down the street heading to meet the wife out to dinner. I can't do much (although the iPhone helps) so I flip over to my "Calls" context and see a few calls that I could make. A few of them could turn in to lengthy discussions so I go to another that is just a quick change of appointment. After I make that call, I still have a little time to I go to my "Google" context and see if there is anything I can quickly lookup before I get to the restaurant.

With priority, I would have been stuck in those situations looking at the highest priority task which most likely couldn't be done in those two situations.

BZ

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

For me, (GTD'er) the Next Action lists simplifies what needs to be done at any moment. If you think about it, it is really just a filter:

Show me what things I can do where I am right now that will move any of my projects along.

The other thing to point out from a GTD perspective is the two other factors when actually getting to the "doing" of things.

1. Time
2. Energy

That is why priority isn't a factor in GTD. You could have a tiny amount of time and very little energy but under your high priority list is a BIG ITEM that would take lots of both.

BZ,

Prioritization is a part of canoncial GtD. Allen list four things to consider when picking an action to work on. In addition to context, time, and energy, he lists priority. I actually find Flagging in OF to be sufficient for recording just enough priority information for when I'm "doing" actions. If I'm at my computer, have 30 minutes, and am well-caffeinated, then I should really do the highest priority action that fits within those other constraints. (Though I won't kick myself if I don't. I might just crank off a half-dozen lower priority actions. This is sometimes called "productive procrastination".)

I've found that GtD works best for me if I am ruthless about paring down my projects list. I use On-hold projects (in OF) and a separate Someday-Maybe List (in OmniOutliner) to keep only my truly important projects "up front". Thus prioritization is mostly done at a project level rather than an individual action level.

[brooce]

Originally Posted by brianogilvie

"Operationalize" is apparently also used in the business world as a fancy synonym for "do," but that's not what I had in mind.

I prefer 'monetize'...

[Terry]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I use On-hold projects (in OF) and a separate Someday-Maybe List (in OmniOutliner) to keep only my truly important projects "up front". Thus prioritization is mostly done at a project level rather than an individual action level.

Very good! I believe I'll use this same method.

It's nice to have forums and see all the possibilities.

[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

BZ,

Prioritization is a part of canoncial GtD. Allen list four things to consider when picking an action to work on. In addition to context, time, and energy, he lists priority. I actually find Flagging in OF to be sufficient for recording just enough priority information for when I'm "doing" actions. If I'm at my computer, have 30 minutes, and am well-caffeinated, then I should really do the highest priority action that fits within those other constraints. (Though I won't kick myself if I don't. I might just crank off a half-dozen lower priority actions. This is sometimes called "productive procrastination".)

I've found that GtD works best for me if I am ruthless about paring down my projects list. I use On-hold projects (in OF) and a separate Someday-Maybe List (in OmniOutliner) to keep only my truly important projects "up front". Thus prioritization is mostly done at a project level rather than an individual action level.

I agree that priority is part of GTD, but IIRC DA talks about it being a part of you not your system.

In other words, nobody or system knows the priority of tasks better than you. GTD filters things down to contexts which help you focus on things you can actually do and all you need to do is quickly read the list (that is why I try to keep any context around or under 20 items) to set priority.

- Call Grandma
- Call Wife
- Call IRS

Only I know the priority to those tasks and can set and reset them faster than putting numbers next to them.

- Call Grandma (1)
- Call Wife (3)
- Call IRS (5)

What has the given me? Just numbers as yet another thing to track, update and confuse the mind when actually doing.

As Ken said, if you want priority in OF, flag the tasks. You want more? Change their order.

BZ

[omnibob]

MEP, thanks for the well written reply, it is helpful. You've basically described shifting the focus of deciding from weekly to daily; that is good, however my question about deciding what to do remains a valid one, even if shifted to the day or moment. You and others have provided some practical methods that I will try. The thrust of my question (if you remove the weekly review reference) is how to negotiate literally hundreds of possible things that can be done, without keeping them in your head. Most of what I do 8-5 weekdays is @computer, so contexts don't help a lot. The amount of time an action takes is useful, and OF allows filtering. For energy, I imagine some meta tagging would be required.

I understand a key of GTD is keeping things *out* of your head (and in a trusted system), but also that in the weekly review, you review "for reminders". It was the reminders part that I was trying to relate to using OF. If those reminders are in my head, they're not off my mind.

I understand that prioritizing mechanically is not the way to go, but at the same time, I was hoping to not have to view every @computer available action (even if constrained by task length) every day to make a decision.

But there are some good tools mentioned in this thread, and I will try them along with using intuition, as DA says. Three additional things worth mentioning: I need to eliminate (or move to someday/maybe) a lot of things on my lists; the idea I just read in Timothy Ferris' "The Four-Hour Work Week" <4hourworkweek.com> and here of figuring out two important things to get done the next day and doing those; and I need to work the entire GTD plan for a good while -- to give it a chance. Thanks to all for suggestions.

Bob

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

I agree that priority is part of GTD, but IIRC DA talks about it being a part of you not your system.

…snip…

As Ken said, if you want priority in OF, flag the tasks. You want more? Change their order.

I just wanted to clarify that priority is, in fact, part of the action selection "big four". As I've said elsewhere, flagging (along with separate On-Hold and Someday/Maybe lists) is plenty of priority information for me. But I didn't want GtD newbies left with the impression that priority didn't enter in at all.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by omnibob

I understand that prioritizing mechanically is not the way to go, but at the same time, I was hoping to not have to view every @computer available action (even if constrained by task length) every day to make a decision.

You might experiment with subcontexts here. I too spend a large part of my day in front of the computer. I have 11 subcontexts under my Computer context:

• Computer
  • Planning
  • Reading
  • Editing
  • Coding
  • Email
  • On-line
    • Web
    • Angel
  • PB
  • MBP
  • G5

I've tried to evolve a set of subcontexts that group similar activities. So, for example, I can just crank through all the tasks in my Email context. Then I'll switch to a different subcontext.

[MEP]

Originally Posted by omnibob

Most of what I do 8-5 weekdays is @computer, so contexts don't help a lot. The amount of time an action takes is useful, and OF allows filtering. For energy, I imagine some meta tagging would be required.

I think curt hit the nail on the head earlier when he talked about prioritizing by project rather than by task. All of your tasks may be in the context of @computer, but I sincerely hope they're all not part of the same project (yikes). I would use OF's "focus" button here. When you've decided to sit down and do some work, just look at your project list first (don't even look at the tasks in each project, just the list of projects alone; collapse all or something to make that happen). Decide what projects are higher priority right now, select them and hit focus, then go into context view from there.

You should only see the actions for the selected projects then and you can go through the rest of the GTD action selection process from there.

[dhm2006]

Great word. Thanks.