GTD - Getting Things Done

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David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology is simple and effective productivity system.

 

"Getting Things Done (commonly abbreviated as GTD) is an action management method of The David Allen Company, registered trademarks of The David Allen Company, and the title of the book which describes the method by David Allen.

 

GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them somewhere. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks. What distinguishes GTD from other time- or action-management systems is the idea of grouping tasks by the context (defined as a place or set of available resources) in which they are to be performed."

 

Quote from the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done)

 

If you want to learn more about this great and popular system, please refer to official web site: http://www.davidco.com/ and consider buying a book.

 

GTD and Agenda At Once

 

If you wish to use GTD system, our software can help you with that. Note that method described here is nothing more than a sample, and you can adjust it according to your own needs.

 

1.Create category Next Action and optionally one category for each possible context (At work, At home, Calls, etc). You can also create categories Someday/Maybe and Waiting for, but you can also find more appropriate to use Status field for this purpose and create appropriate filters.

 

2.Create and save filters:

 

       Inbox

       [Categories] [is] [Empty]         AND

       [Status] [is] [Active]

 

       Next Actions

       [Categories] [contains] [Next Action]

 

       Context 1

       [Categories] [contains] [Context 1]

       (Add additional filters for each context)

 

3.If you are using Status field, you can also add these filters:

 

       Waiting for

       [Status] [is] [Deferred]

 

       Someday/Maybe

       [Status] [is] [Inactive]

 

4.Regarding projects, you can also use a Category field, but we think that it's slightly easier to use to-do hierarchy features. You can even use hierarchy for contexts, instead of categories, if you find it's more appropriate for you.

 

GTD describes five phases: collect, process, organize, review and do.

 

Collecting information with Agenda At Once is easy: just add a task and don't assign it to any category. If you look at Inbox filter above, you can see that new tasks will be easily accessed. If you are using Global Shortcuts it becomes even easier: press a keyboard shortcut, type few words and hit Enter. Your current work remain almost uninterrupted.

 

To process new tasks, switch to Inbox tab (filter) and take one task at the time. If it takes less than 2 minutes (GTD guideline), do it immediately. Otherwise, change status, file it to a Project or assign a category (Context). Once in a while (recommended at least once a week), browse through Projects (root tasks), assign Next Action to appropriate subtasks. Switch to and browse through Waiting for and Someday/Maybe list and organize each task.

 

See also

       Filters

       Categories