What is the Great DonationCoder.com GTD Experiment of 2006?

[mouser]

now i'm intrigued, since you are usually a skeptic and cynic about this stuff.
how about filling us in a little on what you like so much.  and which book of his did you read? one seems older but available everywhere - the other is newer and seems not available yet in the US.

[nudone]

Mark Forster - Do It Tomorrow

amazon.com http://www.amazon.co...4445-6226413?ie=UTF8

amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co...=266239&v=glance

what do i like about his approach?

well, i've yet to put everything he says to the test as i don't have any 'real' deadlines to do anything (aren't i lucky). so, i've still got to 'embrace' the rules of the game.

anyway, the things i like about his approach...

don't use to-do lists setting yourself priority tasks - you'll never get around to doing the lowest priority tasks, especially if you just keep adding to the list as you wipe off your done tasks. simple and obvious. instead use a closed-list with a realistic set of tasks that can be done in a day. do all the tasks - doesn't matter what order you do them - just aim to complete them all.

categorise out of control procrastinated tasks/lists as a 'backlog' and separate it away from your daily 'will-do' list. he has recommendations of how to work on this 'backlog' but i'm not explaining everything here.

work on 'batches' of tasks.

new/important projects and tasks should be acted upon first thing each day - before you allow yourself to start inventing other jobs to do.

it helps to work on longer projects by using shorter bursts of activity but on a regular basis - this keeps the project alive.

he also recommends using a method of tricking oneself into getting a task done or, more precisely, into tricking oneself to start a task you seem to keep avoiding. this is done by litterally telling yourself that you aren't really going to do the task but instead you will just perform the very first step of whatever the task may be, eg. don't want to mow the lawn but know you really must - tell yourself you are just going to look in the shed or maybe just clean the lawn mover - you'll often find yourself automatically carrying on with the full task once you've done the pretend start task.


no doubt all of this will sound all too obvious or blindingly simple - and so it should. the book expands on the points i've briefly outlined as well as describing others. i'm sure you'll find similar ideas by other authors on the web and in print. Mark Forster just seems to be someone that has tried the GTD system, realised it didn't work as well as it could and has changed bits of it so that now his version just sounds like common sense, i.e. why would anyone do it any other way.

now, i'm sure that many, or even all, of the self-motivation systems work if you have the discipline to follow them exactly as their rules set out. the problem is that some of these systems are less realistic than others - if you are a super disciplined kind of person then you'll succeed whichever path you follow - if you are not so super, then i think following a system that realises you are always going to be fallible and makes you aware of the limitations you'll encounter is a better one to buy into - GED, or Get EVERYTHING Done by Forster appears to be that system. the crucial thing to be aware of is what the EVERYTHING is for you - of course.

do i think he has the 'complete' system? maybe - for some people. but i'm sure the original version of GTD is perfect for some people. i don't think any system answers everything and i'm sure we'll find many novel and workable suggestions by the people who are going to participate in the DC GTD experiment.

  the future's so bright i have to wear shades.

[Jimdoria]

I'll join in too. I bought GTD a while back and got partway through it, but then it sat on my shelf. Time to have another go, and good timing since work and external commitments are both ramping up now.

I really DO hope however this won't devolve into competing "camps". :-P

BTW - In GTD it says early on that even if you don't implement the whole "system", just learning a few of the "tips and tricks" can make a big difference in how much you get done. I've found this to be true, and it's probably true of any other organizing system worth its salt as well. The journey is usually more important than the arrival.

[nudone]

welcome aboard, Jimdoria.

i don't think there will be need to take sides as we'll be sharing our experiences and techniques so there will be overlap between the well defined systems.

perhaps it needs to be stressed that the system that 'works' is the one that becomes just another habit in your life - after a few weeks/months the system ought to be second nature - the most natural way of doing whatever task(s) you are going to do. a system that is too much trouble to even maintain after a few months is obviously going to fail.

but that is why we are here - to find a system that becomes automatic - well, that's what i'm striving for.

[mouser]

I really DO hope however this won't devolve into competing "camps". :-P

BTW - In GTD it says early on that even if you don't implement the whole "system", just learning a few of the "tips and tricks" can make a big difference in how much you get done.

As Nudone says, different systems may work better for different people.  I think the main idea here is for everyone to make a serious commitment to figuring out a system that works for them, where it is GTD, GED, or some hybrid of your own making.

I think we will want to share ideas from many systems and encourage people to reflect and discuss what works for them, in an effort to get a crash course and tour in various possibilities, the better to help you decide what works best for you.

Your mission is to have a real "system" in place at the end of 3 months, that you actually follow, which will positively effect your productivity and happiness for the rest of your life.

IMPORTANT: Which techniques work best for you is going to be something you are going to have to discover.  But it's your repsonsibility to have on at the end of the 3 months - no excuses that you couldn't find one that "fit your style."  If you can't find an existing system in this 3 months, it's your job to *create* one for yourself within that timeframe that does (and share your insights with others).

[nudone]

well said, mouser.

[patteo]

I'm in.  I purchased MLO with DC's discount, with an eye to applying a GTD approach but, after a good start, I got distracted and fell off the wagon.    Thanks for offering a great way for me to take another run at it.

-david.intp (August 18, 2006, 02:03 PM)

Me too. I have had David Allen's book for a couple of years now. I'm struggling to restart and perhaps this experiment with give me a jumpstart.

Just a side note on MLO discount. Since we are talking of this experiment, it would be great if Mouser and/or Superboyac (credit for introducing MLO goes to him) can get the author to extend the discount again to donationcoders.

Also the since the discount expired before MLO PocketPC version was launched, although he does offer the MLO PPC version for $18 instead of $29.95 if you bought the MLO professional.

It would be nice if he can extend the discount for those who would like to get going for this experiment, and off course even a discount from the $18 for those who bought MLO Professional and have yet to buy the PPC version.

Personally I think if you use MLO Professional, you will eventually need the MLO PPC version so that you can update on the go.

Why did I fall off the MLO (GTD) chair ? I think one of the key reasons was that yes, you can prioritize Tasks with MLO with the in-built computed score priority method, but unfortunately (at least to me), you cannot see if based on the importance and priority of a task, there was no visual feedback in the Outline tab whether the task would appear in the To-Do tab that shows your so-called Next Action. I mean, if I thought that submitting my Tax Return next week was important and urgent, it certainly should appear as my Next Action, and hence there should be a quick visual feedback that it would indeed appear.

That left we with a nagging fear that something that I expected to be in the To-Do tab would not be there and I would miss it especially if it was critical.

I thought that this detracted from David Allen's dump from your brain principle.

I wrote to the MLO forum but I don't remember a response from the author.

Maybe another MLO user here can give me a solution to this.

Perhaps, this is probably due to my lack of understanding of how the whole system works and maybe through this experiment, I will gain a much deeper insight.

Having said that, I still think MLO (www.mylifeorganized.net) is probably the closest one can get to a software that follows closely the principle behind GTD, that also includes a version for the PocketPC.

[nudone]

i think/hope that urlwolf will be making a post soon about 'ToDoList' http://www.codeproje.../tools/ToDoList2.asp and the way it might be customised to fit in with what we are doing here. when he does i am expecting that we will not really need MLO.

[patteo]

Hmm,

I wonder if it has something that can be used on PocketPC to cater to those on the go.

[urlwolf]

Ok, guys, here is my review of toDoList:
https://www.donation...57.msg35213#msg35213

Note the naming crash of this application and our very own app's tool also reviewed here at donation coder.

Sorry about the crosspost .

Just so you know, we (Nudone, Mouser and me) have been considering the posibility of 'standarizing' the data collection and scoring as a plugin for this program. It's kind of a big issue to ask people to use the same program, but it would mean a lot of integration and simplicity for the people involved in the organization of the experiment.

[animelover120]

That task was pretty easy. I just had to clear off all the extra papers off my desk for the most part and reorganize some things. (Come to think of it, I shoud've done that a month ago...)

[yacht_boy]

Just found out about this--I'm in!  Have had GTD sitting in my room for almost 2 years now, but have never been able to get myself to read it.

[app103]

Ok, guys, here is my review of toDoList:
https://www.donation...57.msg35213#msg35213

Note the naming crash of this application and our very own app's tool also reviewed here at donation coder.

-urlwolf (September 02, 2006, 08:30 PM)

Yes, I noticed that. 

Seems that one is pretty popular, and people have decided to refer to it as 'TDL'.

I think to lessen the confusion, maybe mine should be referred to as 'tdo', in lowercase because it's a small app, after the file extension it uses for todo lists.

Unless someone has a better idea for a new name for mine.

[momonan]

How about WhatToDo?  WTD.   

[hugosanchez]

I will try it.
hugo

[tomos]

Hugo,

check out:

https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5123.0
&
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5034.0

(the first two assignments in this project)