Chapter 7 of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen - Book Summary/Review

This post summarizes chapter 7 called Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets

Having a total and seamless system of organization in place gives you tremendous power because it allows your mind to let go of lower-level thinking and graduate to intuitive focusing, undistracted by matters that haven't been dealt with appropriately. But your physical organization system must be better than your mental one in order for that to happen. In this chapter, we'll study the organizing steps and tools that will be required as you process your in-basket.

There are seven primary types of things that you'll want to keep track of and manage from an organisational perspective:

• A "Projects" list (optional if, relative to many of David's CEO clients, you don't have THAT much to do.)
• Project support material
• Calendar actions and information
• "Next Actions" lists
• "Waiting For", "Follow-Up" or "FU" list
• Reference material
• "Someday/Maybe" list

It is critical that all of these categories be kept distinct from one another. Once you know what you need to keep track of (covered in the previous chapter on "Processing"), all you need is lists and folders for reference and support materials. You shouldn't bother to create some external structuring of the priorities on your lists that you'll then have to rearrange or re-write as things change. You'll be prioritising more intuitively as you see the whole list, against quite a number of shifting variables. The lists is just a way for you to keep track of the total inventory of active things to which you have made a commitment.

Calendar: There are two kinds of actions: those that must be done on a certain day and/or at a particular time, and those that just need to be done as soon as you can get to them. Your calendar should only show the "hard landscape" of the absolute essentials, around which you do the rest of your actions. What many people want to do, however, based on the old habit of writing daily to-do lists, is put actions on the calendar that they think they'd really like to get done next Monday, say, but that then actually might not and then need to be carried over (which is a significant psychological burden). Therefore, resist this impulse. You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard edges of your day's commitments, which should be noticeable at a glance while you're on the run.

Next action items should be organised by context reflecting the respective environment and/or tools that are required to complete the action. For example, you might like to consider the following possible headings/categories:

• "Calls"
• "At Computer"
• "Errands"
• "In Office"
• "At Home"
• "Agendas" (for people and meetings)
• "Waiting For", "Follow-Up" or "FU" (to track things you are waiting for to receive from other people)

This has huge practical benefits. While having a phone and a few minutes of free time, you can work through your"Calls" list or while having some spare time in the city after a meeting you might be able to complete your "Errands". You will also get a great feeling of relaxed control when you know that your "Waiting For" list is the complete inventory of everything you care about that other people are supposed to be doing.

Project support materials are not project actions and they are not project reminders. They are supposed to support your actions and thinking about projects. Therefore, do not use them for reminding, rather determine all "next actions" and record them in the appropriate lists so that your system offers a complete overview of everything you need to get done. Never leave action reminders just hidden in your project support materials. If you don't,then you'll actually go numb to the files and the piles because they don't prompt you to do anything and they simply create more anxiety.

Reference material is much of what comes across your desk and into your life in general. There is no action required, but it is information that you want to keep for a variety of reasons. The problem most people have psychologically with all their stuff is that it is still "stuff", i.e. they have not yet decided what is actionable and what is not. So, cultivate that habit of not leaving any items unprocessed.

Someday/maybe items are not throw-away items, but rather may be some of the most interesting and creative things you will ever get involved with. You may be surprised to find that some of the things you write on the list will actually come to pass, almost without your making any conscious effort to make them happen. If you acknowledge the power of the imagination to foster changes in perception and performance, it is easy to see how having a "Someday/Maybe" list out in front of your conscious mind could potentially add many wonderful adventures to your life and work. Ideally, you subdivide the list with a range of categories such as:

• Restaurant to try
• Clothing to buy
• Trips to make
• Skills to learn
• Hobbies to take up
• Books to read
• Movies to watch
• Party ideas
• Web sites to browse
• Ideas - Misc.

If you have an idea, which you like to review on a specific date, then putting it on your calendar as a day-specific action item is a great way of ensuring that you will do so on a particular day in the future. This will take the thing of the RAM in your mind and allow you to re-assess the idea when you need to. Go ahead and ask yourself: "Is there any major decision for which I should create a future trigger, so I can feel comfortable when I stop thinking about it now?" If yes, put some reminder in your calendar to re-visit the issue.

Similar to the someday/maybe list, you might also like to maintain a range of checklists for example in a convenient online location, such as Google Docs or Dropbox, so you can access them anytime anywhere:

• Personal Affirmations (i.e. personal value statements)
• Travel Checklist (everything to take on or do before a trip)
• Weekly Review (everything to review and/or update on a weekly basis)
• Focus Areas (key life roles and responsibilities)
• Key People in My Life/Work (relationships to assess regularly for completion and opportunity development)
• Buy New Clothing Checklist (noting down you current sizes for clothing items and any other important decision factors, such as questions to ask, when buying new clothing)

Based on: David Allen (2001), Getting Things Done, Penguin Books, p.138-180.