[curt.clifton]

Christopher,

I'm glad these were helpful. Here's my weekly review checklist:

- [ ] Collect: Empty your head, brainstorm actions, projects, and
      somedays
          Just dump ideas into Inbox.  If you try to put them into your
          system now you'll just find yourself processing and
          organizing instead of collecting.
    - [ ] Review Monthly Goals for triggers
    - [ ] Review Active documents for triggers
    - [ ] Identify any issues to discuss w/ Lisa
    - [ ] Review past week's calendar to trigger other ideas/actions
    - [ ] Review next week's and month's calendar for actions
    - [ ] Review on-hold projects, any items to make active? to delete?
              Show On-Hold Projects Review perspective
- [ ] Process: Integrate all your notes from the collection phase into
      your system
- [ ] System Review
    - [ ] Review action lists
    - [ ] Review waiting-for list — reminders needed?
    - [ ] How's your balance?
        - [ ] Review distribution of completed tasks across roles

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.clifton]

jenniferp asked for more detail about how I set up iCal to open the review checklists. Here's what I did to automatically open my Evening Review checklist:

1. I created a new calendar in iCal called Reminders. Having a separate calendar lets me hide the items that trigger the reviews so my usual iCal view isn't any more cluttered.
2. I created a new event in iCal set for 9:45pm with time zone floating. (This makes the event happen at a consistent local time, even when I'm traveling.)
3. I set the event to repeat every day with no end date.
4. I added an Alarm to the event to open my Evening Review file.
5. Finally, I selected a different calendar in the sidebar and unchecked the Reminders calendar. This hides the reminders, but they still fire.

There's only one catch. We have an old PB in our family room that we use as a media server. I sync calendars on it and my MBP using MobileMe. When the Evening Review alarm fires on the PB, it can't find the checklist file, so I get an error dialog on that machine. Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of.

[jenniferp]

Great, thanks for sharing!

[bigcloits]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I don't really see an advantage personally to putting these checklists in OF. I don't need a record of having completed each step, and I complete all the steps in one sitting. Having the checklist in OO lets me Cmd-Tab between OF and OO and flip between windows and perspectives in OF without losing my checklist.

I evolved something almost exactly like that. I call my review checklist my “morning meta”, and it’s actually a nicely typeset .pdf — it’s typographic strength is somehow emboldening to me, makes my review a little more formal and firm feeling. I follow the steps laid out for me, frequently Cmd-Tabbing back to the checklist Preview as I bounce around the system processing various virtual inboxes.

[Grail]

I'm not always near my computer (no, not even my laptop is always with me), but I am always near my iPhone. I have a "Note" note which reads as follows:

GTD Daily Review

Start iPhone sync and laptop backups
Collect stuff from mailbox -> intray
Loose papers from backpack or computer bags -> intray
Mouse and camera batteries on charge

c/f GTD Flow Chart
Paper mail
email
Delicious "todo" bookmarks
Tickler & Daily folders
Check calendar for the coming week

Paper, email and OmniFocus inboxes empty?

What is my next action?

As you can see it's rough and ready - when I am not home I can still go through it (I collect my PO Box mail, at the very least) and be somewhat organised.

Not as thorough as Curt's lists, but it is enough for me to get focus my attention onto planning things in my life instead of having life happen to me.

[lucaatalla]

* OmniFocus Inbox Perspective opens in new window, project mode, focused on inbox, sidebar closed, view bar hidden, toolbar hidden
* Active Project Review Perspective opens in new window, project mode, sidebar closed, view bar hidden, active projects, grouped by next review, unsorted, remaining actions, any duration, any flag status
* Important Perspective opens in current window, context mode, active contexts, grouped by context, sorted by due date, available actions, any duration, flagged
* Urgent Radar Perspective opens in current window, context mode, active contexts, grouped by due date, sorted by due date, remaining actions, any duration, any flag status
* Ticklers Perspective opens in new window, context mode, sidebar closed, view bar hidden, remaining contexts, grouped by start date, sorted by due date, remaining actions, any duration, any flag status, all groups collapsed except start today and start tomorrow
* Errands Perspective opens in new window, context mode, sidebar closed, view bar hidden, remaining contexts, grouped by context, sorted by flagged, available actions, any duration, any flag status, just Errands contexts selected in side bar

Curt:

I was studying the perspectives you've listed and one thing caught my attention: you only have one perspective in project mode and it has the side bar hidden. Is it not confusing to browse through all your projects this way?

Also, don't you have any Someday perspective?

Regarding your routine (Morning review, to be more specific), you first review all actions and later you actually do them, right?

So, when is the actual time to do, which perspective do you use?

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by lucaatalla

I was studying the perspectives you've listed and one thing caught my attention: you only have one perspective in project mode and it has the side bar hidden. Is it not confusing to browse through all your projects this way?

I didn't list all of my perspectives. For project planning I have a separate perspective that is like the built-in Project perspective, but only shows Active projects.

Also, don't you have any Someday perspective?

No, I don't. I have an On-Hold Project Review perspective that I use during weekly reviews. It's just like my Active Project Review perspective, but it shows only on-hold projects. I keep my Someday/Maybe items in a separate OmniOutliner document.

Regarding your routine (Morning review, to be more specific), you first review all actions and later you actually do them, right?

Right. A cardinal rule is to separate collecting from processing from doing. So, my inbox items get filed to the right context and project during the review. Any emails that take more than a few seconds to deal with get turned into OF actions. (Also, I do not review all available actions everyday, only the Urgent ones and the Important ones. I do a full action review weekly.)

So, when is the actual time to do, which perspective do you use?

I use an Urgent perspective first. Once the fires are put out I use an Important perspective. Urgent is like my Urgent Radar perspective, but only shows available actions. Important is like the built-in Flagged perspective, but also only shows available actions. From those perspectives, I'll frequently double-click items to open projects and then crank through a series of actions on a single project.

[lucaatalla]

Curt: Great tips, like you always give.

If I were you, I would create an active project to "Write a book on how to implement GTD with OmniFocus".

Actually, it could be even better (and broader): GTD in a Mac Environment -- Tools, Programs and Configuration (with a more creative title, of course).

I guess all members here would push it to #1 in the NYTimes list.

Thanks for the advice... If you liked martial arts, I would send you an annual subscription of GRACIEMAG (www.graciemag.com) as a gift -- didn't find anything referring to that in your website though.

PS. Would be great to see all your perspectives... But I guess it is too much to ask.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by lucaatalla

Curt: Great tips, like you always give.

If I were you, I would create an active project to "Write a book on how to implement GTD with OmniFocus".

...snip...

PS. Would be great to see all your perspectives... But I guess it is too much to ask.

Kind words. Thanks! Starting a blog on the topic is on my someday/maybe list.

This thread captures most of my perspective. The others are variants of these that focus on certain projects or certain contexts (e.g., Home Actions--Urgent).

[mianwright]

Okay. Good stuff. Re: the alarms on your PowerBook. I too share machines and calendars with others. How can I send myself alarms outside of iCal. (I guess I am asking for app recommendations. Does OO do this?)