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Getting Things Done
Ep. 295: Fundamentals of Projects and Next Actions
00:41:59
This was the first of several planned GTD Skills Lab webinars. In this installment, we focus on the fundamentals of projects and next actions. Through a set of fun quizzes, engaging practice scenarios, and lively group discussions, this is a valuable...
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Okay, folks, welcome again. Thank you for joining, those of us who are just joining us. Wow. Stephen from Australia. So what's that? Midnight or something like that, I guess, for you. So, in any event, I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be joining John and all of you.
- [00:24]
B
And before Anna Marie goes further, I just want to say who she is, because some of you have heard her on webinars before. Some of you, she may be a new person to you. Anna Maria has several roles at the company, but the main one is that she is called the Super Master Trainer. That's. That might sound like overkill for.
- [00:45]
A
For that superhero from the.
- [00:47]
B
Superhero from the.
- [00:49]
A
Whatever they're called, from Marvel and one of the Marvel superheroes.
- [00:54]
B
She trains master trainers in countries around the world. If you're working with a partner in one of our other countries who has a master trainer training trainers, that master trainer was trained by Ana Maria. So she knows her stuff, and I'm happy to have her here.
- [01:13]
A
Thank you, John, and thank you for inviting me again to come join you. I think it's always more fun to have two of us, for you and for us. And also, as you probably all know, getting things done is one of those very interesting, let's call it methodologies for now, or intellectual properties, where there's a lot of, in a way, personalization, customization, tailoring. I mean, there's some basic principles that we don't violate that we all follow, but then it becomes very personalized. So it's always great to have more than one perspective. Talk about GTD or teach you about GTD or share about gtd, because maybe the way I say it doesn't ring a bell for you. And then the way John says that, it's like, oh, that's so clear. And I'm like, oh, God, you're killing me. I've been saying the same thing. But it happens. It happens to all of us. So I think it's great for the two of us to be here. I understand we have a group of experienced folks joining us and somewhat experienced, and perhaps some of you are more beginner or have recently joined GTD Connect. So I want to welcome you again and thank you for being part of this community and today's webinar that it's really meant to be a lab. That's why it was called Skills Lab, really, to help you and assist you more than testing your knowledge on GTD best practices. I want to say up your game or really look at how am I doing in relationship to projects and next action. So that's going to be, that's a big component of today's webinar. As we were, or as John was sharing with me what he wanted it out of today. And we were looking through the slides and the activities that we've created for you. Also we're gonna be having some polls, so quizzes is not so intimidating. But basically we're gonna be testing your knowledge or you are gonna be testing your knowledge for the purpose, of course, deepening your understanding again, getting better at. And there's going to be lots of practices today. It's really meant to be an interactive webinar. We're going to have a few slides with a few, you know, number of items on each and every one of them and then you're going to be practicing and hopefully asking us lots of questions, whether through the chat box or raising your hand or however you want to do that or however you feel comfortable with. So not so much really a lecture. It's going to be more a working session. So with that in mind, let's start with our first question here. And I want to ask you what is a definition of a project? And of course you have four possible answers. And for that we're going to have you answer your question on a poll. So go ahead John, and you can pull up the poll and then we'll let you look at the slide, think of your answer and vote. You've pretty much all voted and yes, of course, very good on all of you. C is the correct answer. Because the definition of a project in getting things done is any multi step outcome that can be completed within one year. And we can do more discussion as we work through your projects list because purposely I want to highlight or underline the word within one year because it can actually be a little more or a little bit over a year or of course can just be a few months, three, four or five or six. It doesn't have to be exactly one year. It's the. To me, the greatest way for me to decide whether it goes on my projects list or not is do I need to look at it weekly? Because remember that your projects list is the driver of your weekly review. So this is the one list that you're weekly coming back to. And it's one of those does this outcome is one that I need to be looking at on a weekly basis and if the answer is yes, no matter if it's 14 or 15 months, it still qualifies as a project. All right, great, let's move on to the next slide here. And basically we're going to have you take a little self assessment. So on a scale of 1 to 10, please type on the chat box. How well are you managing your projects? Obviously, one being I don't even know what a project is, and 10 being I have a complete project inventory that I calibrate every single week as part of my guided weekly review. Okay. So I see a lot of different numbers coming up. So, John, because you're so good at math, what's the average number?
- [05:46]
B
Right before you said that, the thought that went through my mind is, please don't ask me to add these up in my head as they're going by. So my rough count is we're averaging in the five to seven range. Yeah.
- [06:01]
A
Yeah. Which means then obviously that there is room for improvement. And that's the whole purpose of today's webinar, that you identify those gaps and those places where you can improve. So let's move on, I think, to what we have prepared for you as our second poll. Or is this not a poll, Don? Our next question here, Don, if you want to put it up, is now, what is the. The definition of a next action, obviously, in getting things done? So we're going to pull up the poll and I'm going to give you 30 seconds to answer the poll. And once 30 seconds have gone by, we will close the poll.
- [06:39]
B
I can tell we're dealing with some experienced GTD practitioners here.
- [06:45]
A
And yes, very, very good, you all got the right answer. John, you made this too easy for this, folks.
- [06:52]
B
Next webinar is going to be harder questions if we can come up with any.
- [06:56]
A
But again, if you want to highlight here the answer on this slide, I want to underline a couple of key words in our definition because of course, it's the next physical visible activity that progresses something towards completion. Physical visible are keys, and you will understand a little more or a little better or further what, what I mean by that as we progress in today's webinar, because it's really important that you see yourself completing the action. So whenever you're thinking of next actions and you're thinking of choosing the verb that best defines that next action for you, keep that in mind that you always have to be able to see yourself doing it. So that's why we like to underline physical visible as well as next, because it's not the one after next or the one after after next, it's the one that it's next, that it's all what a next Action is it would not only be a next action that would bring, you know, the outcome to completion, it's a next action that will progress you towards or closer to completion. So it can be an either or. So go ahead, John.
- [08:16]
B
One of the things that I often see when somebody's saying, oh, I'm not really all that drawn to my lists, they just seem kind of vague and mushy, is that they'll have a mixture of next actions with sequential dependent actions, things they can't really do yet because they rely on something else to happen first. So that's the other thing with next actions is we could just call them actions, but they're very precise next actions so that your next actions lists don't get mixed with actions that may show up later in the future that you could do, but you can't do them now.
- [08:50]
A
Correct. So sometimes it's adding onto the next actions list the future actions, as John is saying. And many times it's in a innocent attempt or in a safe attempt of going, well, if it can be on my mind, isn't it supposed to go on a list? But maybe not yet. So then where does it go? And again, we'll talk a little more about that later today. But if it's not the next action, that it does not go on your next action list, neither does it go on your mind. It will go someplace else. And we'll talk about that in a moment. All right, great. So on a scale of 1 to 10, then how well are you managing your next actions? And, you know, where do you see your gaps and you can think of this answer, maybe not just the next action as in the next action itself, but maybe even the next actions lists, given what John and I were just talking about a moment ago. So is there room for improvement? Let's put it this way. Either in your next action thinking or your next action lists management. I think you have a second question on that slide.
- [09:54]
B
Yeah. Where are your gaps?
- [09:56]
A
And again, as I see you self assessing, I see you know, there is room for improvement. So that's great. Well, David, you're good. You're an eight. Not pune future items on next actions list. That's right, Nicole. And we will help you today identify where then should you organize them. Not reviewing them regularly yet. And then I'm sure they go outdated. You know, they get outdated crystal or, you know, they're no longer giving you the payoff they're designed to.
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B
David says collecting immediately is a gap.
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A
What do you mean by that? David, you want to write Something more on that, please.
- [10:33]
B
Now we're getting more gaps, putting things on the list. I'm not committed to moving on the next thing too quickly and not putting the next action in my system. Ana Maria, what do you think about that one?
- [10:44]
A
Moving on with the next. Which one was it, John? The one from just.
- [10:48]
B
Yes. Moving on with the next thing too quickly and not putting the next action in my system.
- [10:53]
A
Well, it depends. Just. I mean, sometimes that is not an error in approach, because if you are depending on what are you doing based on what you've decided, it's either defining work, doing predefined work, or doing work as it appears it may be appropriate. I mean, if you're on the flow of things and you end up one next action which then leads you to another one and then leads you to another one because you have decided to basically do work as it appears, meaning as soon as I complete one, I identify the second one, and that is the right thing for me to be doing right here at this moment. I don't see an error in approach. But if, on the other hand, you are in the process of defining work, meaning getting your in to zero, or also known as your second step in mastering workload, clarify and you now start getting detours. Right. Of completing one thing and then moving to another and then doing the next thing and then doing the next thing instead of clarifying whatever the next item is, then I would have to ask you, was that the best use of your time? Was that the top priority in that moment? Why did you choose to change from defining work to what we identify as, or what we've titled as doing work as it appears? So it's hard to say what is right and what is wrong because it's really based on what decision you're making in that moment.
- [12:22]
B
Yeah. Another one is somebody saying, it feels like I need to spend lots of time defining what my next action is. Next action feels like a planning activity, and I end up with large lists to define. So we have some help for that coming up in a couple more slides. But one of the things I can say about that is practice helps if you, or as David Allen would say, become like Teflon so that as a next action shows up, you are really good at quickly determining when you're in that clarify phase what the next action is and getting it on your list so that when it lands on your next actions list, it's already clarified enough that you don't have to define it any further.
- [13:09]
A
And also, Steven, as I read what you wrote, when you say it feels like I need to spend lots of time defining what my next action is, sometimes for some folks, there's a lot of it depends inside of them when they're thinking of the next action. And then that sort of slows them down or kind of gets in their way of defining the next action, because there's a lot that they are kind of pondering inside. So one trick can be choose one and then if for whatever reason that was not the right one, change it. But as you practice and your mind goes into, well, it depends. It could be this, it could be that, but what about this or what about that? You want to start kind of training your mind so that it chooses one knowing that it can always change it. Because I have found in my years of coaching folks that sometimes that it depends in their minds can be what delays their next action identification or decision.
- [14:19]
B
This looks like. Yeah, Ariadne saying, having next actions get stale or old on your lists. I don't have the link in front of me now, but if you go into GTD Connect and look on the homepage, there's a section GTD Perspectives. If you click on that, there's one in the last, just the last one or two of those that the topic is, why are you still here? It's one of our trainers addressing his to do list and saying, I've got old, stale stuff. So I ask myself, why is that item still on my list? And he has some tips about how to work with things on your lists that are older, stale.
- [14:55]
A
Yeah. And also with that and another one further down, I think, John, that he talks about some next actions don't get hold on something about current that I read. Again, all of that, truthfully, at the risk of being obnoxious, it's resolved if you're doing your weekly review.
- [15:12]
B
Because I'm glad you got to be the. Be the bad guy to say that.
- [15:17]
A
The bad guy today.
- [15:18]
B
That's what I was going to say to Clayton as well, because, yeah, it's okay that you complete a next action and don't immediately go to your project and develop the next action because you'll catch that during your weekly review.
- [15:32]
A
Correct. I have next action sitting on my list that they've been there for four months and I'm fine with it because every time I do my weekly review, I go, yeah, even when I get to be at that location and I get to have the time and I get to have the energy, yes, I want to get that action done. But until then, still, you know, it Stays on the list. At some point, it's either completed, so stick off my list because I did it, or it lost its meaning, so I delete it. It doesn't really matter. If you're doing your weekly review and you're renegotiating with yourself week after week, that's fine.
- [16:10]
B
Yeah, let's see. A couple of. Couple of folks said one of their gaps is putting something on the next action list that they're not really committed to. Off the top of my head, my answer for that would be, again, the weekly review. When you see that, if you realize you're not really committed to it, you can move it to someday, maybe.
- [16:33]
A
Correct.
- [16:35]
B
Or delete it if it's no longer a commitment and you're sure you won't want to in the future.
- [16:40]
A
I see that from Masha. Same as Kurt. Putting items on the list that I'm not committed to. Accomplish it, then don't put it. If I was coaching, you and I would.
- [16:50]
B
We want you to feel good about your list, so why bother? Don't set up feeling guilty about something just because it's on your list and you're not doing it.
- [16:58]
A
And again, you know, Masha and sorry if I'm not pronouncing your name correctly. And Kurt, if you go, well, look, it's not a Sunday, maybe. Well, why don't you create a list, A list titled things I'm not committed to yet. I don't know. And that could be your placeholder, right? Because if it's not a next action, don't put it on your list. Do yourself a favor and don't put it on a list. Because then that's how you start corrupting your next actions list. That's how they start to lose value. That's why you may end up feeling overwhelmed by them. That's why you may be feeling repelled by them. Because you have a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong there, but at the same time you go, no, but it's not something maybe. I'm not joking. Create a list title things I'm not committed to yet, and just drop it there and see what happens on the next weekly review.
- [17:43]
B
Yeah, yeah, here's one for you. Is your next action ever to get someone else to do something that's got. There's a lot going on with that question.
- [17:58]
A
No next actions as well as projects. You want to think of anything and everything, that it's somehow under your control, that it's for you to get done. Yes, it may involve other people, etc. Etc, but look, if it's hard enough for ourselves to change ourselves and get things done by yourself, what do you think it's going to be like for others? So no, I would never have to get someone to do something. No, I will have waiting force, definitely that involve other people's right answers, completions, decisions. But I don't have a next action ever that says something. Next action. Get John to A, B, C. No.
- [18:47]
B
What'S underneath that is Ana Maria and I, and I assume all of you with the people you work with and your families, you have some kind of level of implicit or explicit agreement that when you ask them to do something, they agree that that's theirs to do. So then you can put it on your waiting for list and check in with them regularly. If it shows up on your waiting for list and they're not doing it yet and at that point you could say to them, you haven't done this yet, what's your timing on it? Do you still treat it as something you're committed to doing and getting back to me about? But that's going to come down to things like what's your company culture and who's allowed to delegate to whom. That was. Like I said, that question had a lot underneath it.
- [19:31]
A
Yeah, it has a lot. But I think it was a yes, no question. So my answer was no, right?
- [19:37]
B
It was.
- [19:39]
A
And Clayton, I see what you're saying here at the end, John, you may see what he's saying. You know, the reason my weekly review didn't identify the next action is because the project wasn't on my projects list. So I get what you're saying. So I, and I can't recall exactly your previous post, Clayton, I would have to scroll up, but sure. I mean when you're clarifying guys, and you know that the clarify step is to step number two in mastering workflow. And it's meant to be the step where you actually do your mental gymnastics or where you apply the fundamental thought process. And the fundamental thought process is made of two questions. What's the desired outcome and what's the next action? Or inverse the order? It doesn't matter what's the next action? And if this action does not complete, you know, the outcome and a master, then what's my desired outcome? In other words, what's the multi step outcome that I've committed to that will be done within one year or in GTD terms, also known as a project. So Clayton, when you're clarifying, you just want to pause enough or slow down yourself enough so that you identify both ends of the spectrum if needed. Meaning if there's a project, make sure you capture, I'm sorry, you clarify and organize that project on your projects list and then come up with the very next action. Or if it's only a next action, or if you started with the next action, confirm that there is no project and if there is, put it on your project list as part of clarify so that indeed what you're referring to doesn't happen. If you are in the moment and somehow something shows up in your world that it's an input that you have now taken action on. But it was not part of clarity, it was more part of doing work as it appears. As you get better and better, you will be training yourself and your brain will be faster at catching it and saying oh, that one thing I just did actually still has more to it and there is a project that I'm going to have to add to my list that it's not there yet. So you could do it right there, right then and that way you're safe for your weekly review or if you were moving too fast, that didn't happen for whatever reason. I still think when you do your weekly review and you take the step of reviewing the week prior, that may trigger, and you may kind of remember that oh I did that and I forgot to add that project. So and look, if it goes one or two weeks, you know, out there in the atmosphere without you catching it, it's way better than never catching it. So you may have a week or two delay, that's fine. But I think you just keep on training and training yourself.
- [22:25]
B
And I highly recommend that you get in the habit of putting any multi step action down as a project with the next action. Even if you, even if when you, it comes to your mind you think, well, it's only two steps, can I get away with putting both of them on as a next action or just a next action, but not really adding that to my projects list. You won't, you won't believe me until you experience it. But if you treat every multi step outcome as a project, have it on your list even if you're going to be finished with it by lunchtime today, even if it's a very short cycle project like that same day I put it on my projects list because I can't tell you how much mental relief that gives me. I don't have to have any part of it still tracked in my mind. And so before we move on, let's look at what is called and, and.
- [23:18]
A
I'll give you an another answer to that. I don't put it on my projects list. So who's right or who's wrong? I don't put it on my projects list because one, if it's, there's, there are a couple of criteria that I, that I use. If it's a self evident and it's something that once I, you know, again, as John is saying, by lunchtime today will be done. You know, I'm reviewing a setup guide, let's say. And in my process of reviewing a setup guide, there is more than one step, but you know, it's one of those that will be done within today's time or within a couple of hours or whatever. I don't need to put it on a project list because I'm not going to look at that project list until my weekly review. And today's Wednesday and my weekly review may be on Saturday. So yes, unless I want to experience cheap wins. And John, I'm not saying that's what you're after, but.
- [24:07]
B
Oh, I am. I'm a cheap guy. I'm always after cheap wins.
- [24:13]
A
Then I see no purpose for me and it doesn't give me the mental release that it gives John so I can understand why he's doing it. So please, again, that's the value of having two of us share. Because then you can go, oh, that matches me or that matches me better. I don't do it because again, I mean, I, I won't ever even make it to my weekly review because what the time I get to my weekly review. Well, I was done kind of thing.
- [24:39]
B
I suspect, Ana Maria, that you're better at estimating time than I am.
- [24:44]
A
Could be.
- [24:44]
B
I, I do. I add them to my project list partly because I've been wrong so many times, being optimistic about when this little project will complete and I'll think, oh, it'll be done by lunchtime. And then two days later it's not done and four more things have shown up that I didn't count on that are related to it. So for me it's a relief. I can see how with Ana Maria and the way she thinks and relates to it, it's just extra work. So you need to decide what's going to get you the mental relief. Try it both ways.
- [25:18]
A
Yeah. And when in doubt, put it on your projects list. I think that is obviously a safer approach. And also. Sorry, Don, I know I'm extending too much.
- [25:28]
B
No, we're having a great discussion.
- [25:30]
A
A lot of this has to do with. What's your job? John's job has a component that is very different to mine, John. It has more of a help desk approach to his job, if you know what I mean. Like, he's more in customer service. He can probably potentially get much more interrupted than I on any window of opportunity. And him not responding to that would be not doing his job, because there's a high percentage of his job that has to do with that, not mine. I get a lot to dictate my schedule. What I do not do, who I answer to, who I don't. Because I have a very different. Very different areas of focus and accountability from what John has. So I think there's an element of that that can also be playing in two things.
- [26:14]
B
One is an aha here. If I cannot visualize myself doing the next action in the given context, is this a hint that maybe this is not the actual next action?
- [26:25]
A
Could be.
- [26:26]
B
Could be. Yeah. Your list could be. Ought to be attractive to you. Yes. My approach means I do generate a lot of long. A long project list with a lot of very small projects, and then there's some very large projects on there as well. But yeah, Stephen, I could have many small related projects. All right, Cheap wins those also.
- [26:51]
A
John, I think. I think you're a balanced processor, right?
- [26:54]
B
Ah, yes.
- [26:55]
A
We're not going to get there, but.
- [26:57]
B
I have several things against me on this. I'm in the middle of three children, so I was always trying to kind of balance and reconcile between my older sister, my younger brother. I'm a Libra, which means I'm on the scales and I don't make decisions easily. And as Anna Maria said, I'm a 50 50, perfectly balanced mental processor. I'm half associative, half sequential. So I see too many possibilities.
- [27:22]
A
So I'm not. Guys, I'm the opposite to John's. I'm the little one. I get to always call my shots. I'm sequential, and I'm the boss of me. So it's very different.
- [27:32]
B
Yeah.
- [27:34]
A
All right, let's move on. Enough of us. So back to being interactive, John. Or. Or you want me to chew it up?
- [27:42]
B
Go ahead.
- [27:43]
A
All right, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to have you tell us if this is a project or an extraction. You're going to do that by typing on the chat box. So rebuild the website. Is that a project or an X action?
- [27:56]
B
We got a bunch of pros on the line here.
- [27:59]
A
Okay, so, yes, you got the correct answer. And again, I can go someplace else because we can go to it depends. But let's leave it as a project. What about the next one? Email Jake regarding web developers. Is that a project or a next action? All right, cool. What about the next one? Take trip to Amalfi coast. But what if you have a private jet and you have a house in the Amalfi coast and you just have all the money and time in your life and you just felt like going to the Amalfi coast? Maybe, maybe it's the next action. I'm only teasing. But. But a lot of it is. It's going to be just the same there. Yeah, it depends. Are you all packed? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. We're just kind of testing here, right. Because for most of us, as John says, these are example of multi step outcomes. No questions. So next one, John, renew passport. Yes. Everything can be. It depends. You're right.
- [28:54]
B
Yeah. We've got a lot of international travelers here who have been through the next action project.
- [29:00]
A
So yeah, renew passport. Technically I would say you could be an extraction. You're right. You show up to the embassy somehow or whatever. You renew your passports requires no appointment. It's one of those places where I know five people live and there's always an officer available to renew your passport. And you go, they renew, they give it to you and you're done. But I don't know what country in the world does that. Typically it would be a project just because you may have to schedule an appointment, you may have to go to the appointment and then you may have to wait for the passport to return to you. So there is photo correct prior to getting there. So there are steps involved whether we like it or not. All right, next one. Get clarity on buying a new laptop. Yeah, John, you were good. Is that a project or a next action? Neither. Nicole says neither. What would you say Nicole it is then it could be a Sunday. Maybe you're right. Why not? It could be a something maybe. Define get clarity as in understanding more, you know, more like you're more in, like in the mood in the mode of researching about. You don't know yet if you're going to get the new laptop until you get more information. So that's what get clarity means. But the point why we added this one here and we made it a project because there I'm sure there are many situations in your life where you don't have the clarity yet to make a decision on whether do I get the laptop or not, do I buy the land or not? Do we move countries or not? Do I change jobs or not? Do I get pregnant or not? You know, there's so many things out there that you might still be like, I don't know. So what do you need? I need to get clear on. And is the outcome of getting clear on one that is multi step? Yes. Because I may want to talk to my girlfriends, I may want to understand better what's involved. Let's just get pregnant. Which I'm not looking at wanting to get pregnant. I'm way beyond that time. But in any event, I may want to talk to my girlfriends, I may want to look into different doctors. I mean, there's a whole process of actions to getting to the outcome of getting clear that then qualifies that as a project or that outcome. So this is a great help for any and all of you who are out there in that place where I don't know, I just need to get clear. And then ask yourself, in order to get clear, do I need more than one action step? And if the answer is yes, then it qualifies as a project.
- [31:30]
B
This one reminds me of something that David said years ago that was helpful to me when somebody in a seminar was asking him. So I have my attention on a relationship with someone in my family. It's not ideal at the moment and I don't know how to call it a project. And David's answer was something along the line of just define it as get resolution on my relationship with family members. So something like get resolution on can be a project even if you don't yet know what the resolution is. You're just putting a stake in the ground to say, I know that eventually I want to have resolution on this or I want to have clarity on this. And just putting that stake in the ground can help you start to see more actions that would result in getting clarity or getting resolution.
- [32:21]
A
Yes. So you can always replace get clarity on with, look into research on, get resolution with whatever. It's different, Stephen, to what you're saying as things to define. Because to me, things to define have been those that have not been through the clarify step yet. What goes through the clarify steps equals what you've already thought about and the result of your thinking will be I just need to get clear. That's very different than saying I need to define it. So maybe it's just semantics, but there is a subtle difference in what we're saying. There's so much out there that it's probably creating unnecessary noise in your ambient environment or even inside of yourself because it's just a matter of calling it a project. Even though it's getting clear on something or getting clarity about trust us here, you may want to start playing around with that.
- [33:30]
B
Here's a question. What if I don't know whether it takes more than one step? Add it as a next. I would just add it as a next action and when I complete that, say, did that achieve the goal?
- [33:40]
A
There was more. Exactly.
- [33:41]
B
It'll tell you when you complete it whether there's more to do to get to the result you wanted. And would you put buy new laptop on your project list as well if you were looking to complete this within the next 12 months more than if I'm looking at that until I got the clarity.
- [34:02]
A
Well, let's say to me, I don't know. Again, Stephen, I'm being sensitive to your choice of words. Just because it's going to be completed within 12 months, it doesn't necessarily equal a project. It could still be a next action. What makes the difference is is it a multi step outcome or is it a one sitting outcome? When you say buy new laptop, is that something that you get it done once? You know, I go to the store, I buy and I'm done. I go online, I buy and I'm done or is is it going to be a multi step outcome? So don't use the time frame as what dictates, but more how many steps are involved? Book meeting with web team project or next action.
- [34:42]
B
Oh, interesting.
- [34:44]
A
Action extraction project. I wonder. So those of you that are, and let's reveal the answer, we have this as a next action because it's what needs to be done as a step towards and it's done by booking them with web team. But those of you that said project, I wonder why.
- [35:05]
B
Yeah. Tell us, those of you who said project, how is it that you see it as a project?
- [35:10]
A
For me, it involves multiple calls to different people. Will make sense. So to you it would be more like maybe, you know, organize meeting with web team and the verb organizer book are being used interchangeably. So I can understand that. Or set up meeting with web team if we're using them interchangeably.
- [35:26]
B
Yeah. Because syncing several calendars to find a date is hard. Oh, that's so true.
- [35:30]
A
Yep, yep. Yeah. And maybe if we had said email, you know, web team to schedule meeting, maybe in that case the majority of you, if not all of you would have said next action. But it's probably the choice of words and it's fine. Again, the value in this discussion is to have you think on why would it be a project for you or a next action.
- [35:53]
B
Right, right.
- [35:55]
A
And last buy new car. Is that a project or a next action? I know for the majority of you it is a project. And truthfully, like I can't remember who of you said earlier, it depends. The majority, all of them. The answer could be depends because again.
- [36:11]
B
Yeah, this one, this one comes down to what resources do you have if, if you have an envelope with $50,000 in cash and you know exactly which car you're going to buy and it costs less than $50,000 and you know the dealer is two blocks away and has that car in stock, you can walk down and within however long it takes them to fill out the paperwork, that could be a next action for you. For most of us it's going to be a project because we're either researching still or we need to arrange the financing for it or various things like that.
- [36:45]
A
And yes, Mark, I would say if you have to budget and you know, kind of plan and prepare, it would be a project. All right, so let's move on and tell us. So what makes a good parenthesis project verb or an appropriate project verb or what are we looking for when we're deciding on a project verb? You just want to make sure that that verb describes the outcome you intend to achieve. So whatever that is. And I think you guys may have access to our project verbs list, but things like research, buy, publish, travel to or take trip to or finalize or look into or however many others verbs that are out there that basically the verb it's looking at describing the outcome. So it should include encomp and how do you pronounce that? And compass, Encompass, encompass, encompass all steps involved one way or the other.
- [37:51]
B
Yeah. And Brandon, for me, yes, if I have to complete a project in three in within a few days and it has three actions, yes, I put it on my projects list. But the general timeline we look at is about a year, about 12 months. It could be a little more, a little less. But it's the outcomes that have more than one step that you want to achieve within a year. I have lots of very short to a year, short term projects and long ones.
- [38:18]
A
Or you can think of it as up to a year. So that doesn't. That includes everything up to a year, but then up to a year, then people go past a year, that's fine too. Again, if it's something you are committed to and you need to look at weekly, then it's a project.
- [38:34]
B
Yeah. And then we have a comment about gravitating towards sub projects and yeah, if that's useful to you to create sub projects or. Or a larger project that then has small projects underneath it. If that's useful, go ahead.
- [38:48]
A
Our.
- [38:49]
B
We just go for the absolute. We recommend you go for the. At least at a minimum, you have a project outcome defined and it's on your project list that way, defined as that outcome. And you have at least one very next visible action for.
- [39:14]
A
I'd like to.
- [39:15]
C
Give a short message to those of you who've been participating and playing with GTD Connect for a while and sort of remind you that all of us with this GTD methodology and this set of practices go through cycles. You know, I still go through cycles myself initially. There's kind of the inspiration and there's a lot of material to ingest and to get familiar with. And so people oftentimes when they first come onto Connect are just potentially overwhelmed by how much information there is. In a way, it's just a huge library where we've been able to archive so much different information from so many different perspectives and people and points of view and so understood that it's like walking into a library. Oh, gee, where do I start? So that's oftentimes the initial phase of this and many people after a year or two, you know, probably get on some level or some plateau where they go, well, I kind of got it now, I've got my system set up and everything's fine and I'm fine tuning. And you may find yourself at that point also finding yourself saying, gee, I'm now becoming a resource of this methodology for people around me, you know, people asking me for assistance and help in this. And we've seen in the forums a number of people now sharing ideas about how to get your teams more involved or families more involved with this information. So some of that information is in there as well. But I think you'll find yourself going through cycles of this and you may find that much like if you've ever read a software manual. I remember when I learned Microsoft Word to begin with, for instance, I read the manual, wow, this is really cool. And I started to use the tool and didn't need the manual anymore. As a matter of fact, a good example of that right here, the manual for this camera that's designed taking this picture right now, initially I read this, got it all set up. That's really cool. And that's really fine. And so pretty much everything was onto cruise control. I didn't need to go back to my library to make this really work. And then, of course, as I started to get more sophisticated in terms of the stuff I wanted to do, got more inspired about some things I saw other people are doing, I go, how do I do that? Went back to the manual. I went, oh, God, I didn't realize I could do that. I didn't realize I could do that. I remember at least two or three iterations of going back to Microsoft Word back in the days when there actually was a manual for that, as opposed to just all online and realizing, oh, my God, I didn't realize that, oh, I could do that now. I could do that now. And I think that's what you might find with Connect, too, is that it's a gold mine of stuff. Many people have read getting things done more than three or four times, and every time they read it, they get something new out of it. So I think you may find Connect the same way and probably even easier because, hey, it doesn't take much to just click on, surf around, see what might be new or what might be of interest to you, and pay attention. You know, there's more than meets the eye in there.