My day, or another way to implement Getting Things Done
A few months ago, or maybe a little more, I discovered the method Getting Things Done, by David Allen. I first though this was just another fucked up methodology to sell paper and books. I gave it a try though. And I realized I was wrong.
I won’t explain what this method is. Many blogs and the author himself do it well. I just do something different that fits to my need. I won’t say this is missing in the method, or that I do better. No. This is just better for me.
I just consider the Next category of the method as being My day. This is a sort of daily review, instead of having a weekly one as described in the methodology. At the beginning of the day, I clear the Next of any task. Then I go into the Waiting and the Someday. I review the tasks, and decide what I would like to do today.
Then, for each task in the Next, I can either finish it or have to wait for something. If I have to wait, I just move it to Waiting, basically. At the end of the day, any remaining task stays there, until the day after.
This approach may seem to be naive, or not revolutionary. Actually, it isn’t. It just helps me to have tasks as atomic as possible (understand the smallest possible), and have a really fast feedback loop. I can see fast the progression and being satisfied to be productive. This is a personal satisfaction to see the work being done. And the subjects that don’t progress can be fast identified and fixed.
The fast feedback loop is what works for me. And you, have you tried any adaptation of the method that better fits your vision?