GTD Phase 3: Organize

Posted on May 1, 2007 by LJ

Originally published 31 Jan 2006

I am continuing with an activity I started while my PDA was in the shop. I am taking this time to review and re-read the book, Getting Things Done. In a series of posts, I’m going to go through each of the phases of the GTD methodology: Collect, Process, Organize, Review and Do, and list how I am using them.

Organize

The Organize phase is how I keep everything together once I have gotten through the piles. Projects, as David Allen defines them, are “any desired result that requires more than one action step.” So by that definition, my projects can encompass everything from “buy stamps on line” to “implement new garden bed” to “buy company x” (not that this last would ever appear on my lists!)

David Allen says that to organize my “stuff” I need the following:

a project list
a place for supporting files
Next Action categories
Next Action lists, to include time-specific actions, day-specific actions and day-specific info
a place for the three types of non-action items (trash, incubation, and reference)

The Way It Was

My Lists

At the time I first read this, I had a project list in Bonsai, but there were bits of it scattered elsewhere – parts in Agendus, parts in hard copy, and parts in Notestudio. I have since made an effort to put everything into Bonsai.

My Files

My files were also in a sorry state. I have two filing places: one drawer for reference material, stored away from my desk, and one drawer for support materials next to my desk. I also had a bunch of support materials in my briefcase, that I dutifully toted to and fro work, without ever opening them. I took a look at these files, purged the reference material drawer, then moved non-support materials from the close drawer into the far drawer. Then I purged my briefcase and filed what I could in the support drawer.

My Next Action categories have been my Palm to-do categories, and after looking at them, I decided not to change anything.

Moving On

Next Actions

There are four types of next action items: time-specific actions, day-specific actions, day-specific information, and non-day-and-time-specific actions (contextual actions). David Allen says to keep the first three on the calendar, and leave the rest in Next Action lists. I disagree with this. I keep time-specific actions (appointments) and day-specific information (like birthdays) on the calendar, but keep my day-specific actions in my to-do list, dated. Things only get dated if they can be done that day or not at all. The main reasons for this are I like my calendar relatively uncluttered, and I like to be able to check things off when done. The rest of my next actions are kept in the to-do list as well, but undated. My to-dos were originating from Bonsai and Agendus, and this had to be stopped as well. I determined Bonsai would be the holding place for my next actions.

Non-action Items

The next part, having a place for non-action things, was relatively easy. I have a trash can and recycle bin close to my desk. I also have my reference materials away from my desk. But I didn’t have a place to incubate…and far to often this got mixed in with support materials. So I set up a 12 month tickler, and placed many items in there. This is located in the drawer close to my desk.

Summary

All in all, I’m glad I looked at this again and made the changes. Already paper has less of a tendency to pile up around my desk, and I flounder a lot less looking for things. The temporary loss of my PDA taught me that it is important to have all the next actions in one place, because I had no means to join my various lists together.