Okay, let's talk about use.
I don't need to do anything to the following project:
Yard is maintained
-mow grass start - July 12th, 2009
because it is moving forward.
However, this project,
Yard is maintained
is not moving forward and will be stuck until I see that it has no actions to move it forward. At which point I reassess and either complete it, or add actions to it.
What tools do I have in OmniFocus to find all my stuck projects and add actions to them so that they move forward to completion?
I have the stalled project filter.
However, when I look at the stalled project filter, I have to mentally rethink every action I see in there.
I get no satisfaction of processing something to 0 and making sure that all my projects have at least one action to move it forward.
The large benefit of using GTD is not rethinking every action constantly. I don't have to look at actions that I have no chance of doing because I am not around certain tools or locations.
It is not efficient to have a large list and to be constantly scanning it to see what I can do. The point of GTD is doing that thinking first, placing actions into contexts, and then switching into non-thinking-action-doing mode and just doing. Do the work of thinking about an action 1 time, not everytime I see the action.
One metaphor is with labeling.
Let's say I have 50 boxes that look the same. Inside each box is a different plastic toy. For one hour, I'm going to have 50 kids come up to me and ask for a specific toy. My job is to give them the toy.
The most efficient way is to open all the boxes before the kids get there, see what's inside, close the box and put a label on it.
When the flood of kids arrive, I won't have to open every box to see what toy is inside and give it to the kid.
If I don't label, then I'm going to be opening up the same box over and over to see what is inside. This is work that only needs to be done one time.
If a person is processing a list of actions, and every time they get to an action they have to stop because they don't have the right tools, or they are not in the right location (contexts) so they can't do that item, then a person begins to not trust the system. Resistance builds up and the list becomes a stagnant mush.
I don't need to do anything to the following project:
Yard is maintained
-mow grass start - July 12th, 2009
because it is moving forward.
However, this project,
Yard is maintained
is not moving forward and will be stuck until I see that it has no actions to move it forward. At which point I reassess and either complete it, or add actions to it.
What tools do I have in OmniFocus to find all my stuck projects and add actions to them so that they move forward to completion?
I have the stalled project filter.
However, when I look at the stalled project filter, I have to mentally rethink every action I see in there.
I get no satisfaction of processing something to 0 and making sure that all my projects have at least one action to move it forward.
The large benefit of using GTD is not rethinking every action constantly. I don't have to look at actions that I have no chance of doing because I am not around certain tools or locations.
It is not efficient to have a large list and to be constantly scanning it to see what I can do. The point of GTD is doing that thinking first, placing actions into contexts, and then switching into non-thinking-action-doing mode and just doing. Do the work of thinking about an action 1 time, not everytime I see the action.
One metaphor is with labeling.
Let's say I have 50 boxes that look the same. Inside each box is a different plastic toy. For one hour, I'm going to have 50 kids come up to me and ask for a specific toy. My job is to give them the toy.
The most efficient way is to open all the boxes before the kids get there, see what's inside, close the box and put a label on it.
When the flood of kids arrive, I won't have to open every box to see what toy is inside and give it to the kid.
If I don't label, then I'm going to be opening up the same box over and over to see what is inside. This is work that only needs to be done one time.
If a person is processing a list of actions, and every time they get to an action they have to stop because they don't have the right tools, or they are not in the right location (contexts) so they can't do that item, then a person begins to not trust the system. Resistance builds up and the list becomes a stagnant mush.
Linear Mode
