Getting Things Done (Part 3 of 4): Reviewing Your Process
I am not receiving compensation for the content written in this post. This book review is based on my opinion and personal experience.
In parts 1 and 2 of this series, I talked about the 5 Stages of Mastering Workflow from David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and the main groupings that your items should be placed into using the diagram below. I suggested using bins and lists to represent the groupings. Parts 1 and 2 covered collecting, organizing, and processing. In this post, I will discuss regularly reviewing your main grouping bins and lists to stay on track.
With the workflow diagram, you can ORGANIZE and PROCESS the results of the things you COLLECT. This gives you an opportunity to REVIEW them and DO the work needed.
To recap, the MAIN GROUPINGS are…
Trash
Someday/Maybe
Projects & Project Plans
Reference
Waiting For
Calendar
Next Actions
“Your brain must engage on some consistent basis with all your commitments and activities. Reviewing your system on a regular basis and keeping it current and functional are prerequisites for that kind of control,” Allen writes.
Daily Review
A daily review of your calendar and your next actions list should keep you on course for the day. Remember that your calendar can hold alerts for future tasks to be done as well as specific event times.
Weekly Review
I use this review concept most. It gives me an opportunity to review all my main grouping bins and lists as a whole. Dedicate time to it! At least 2 hours. Allen recommends early on a Friday afternoon, if possible, because the week is still fresh in your mind and you can go into the weekend ready for refreshment and recreation.
- Pull out all loose papers, receipts, meeting notes, etc. not already processed and determine where they go according to the 7 main groupings above.
- Review calendar data for future events that may involve prep work.
- Empty your head. Write down any new projects, action items, waiting fors, and someday/maybes to place in the applicable main groupings.
- Evaluate the status of your projects. What is the intended outcome? Do you have a kick-start action for it currently?
- Mark off completed actions on your next actions list. Review for further steps to take on incomplete ones.
- Record new actions on your “waiting for” list. Check off items completed.
- Delete items from someday/maybe list that are no longer relevant. Can any of the items be transferred to projects?
The key is putting everything, every task, every piece of paper, every e-mail in one of the 7 main groupings. The review is the time to purge and delete, tie up loose ends, and refocus. Once you get into the habit of really using the workflow diagram efficiently, the review time will decrease.
Part 4 of this Getting Things Done series will discuss the endgame and best choice actions.
Do you use a review method for getting things done?
How often do you review your calendar? Is it digital or printed?
I typically get derailed at the 'review your lists' stage and I'm also guilty of ignoring alerts and/or snoozing them into infinity. Someday I'll be free!
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I am guilty of those things too, Patranila. There's hope for us all. LOL
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This's especially important when you enter your midlife years! I couldn't tell what I had for lunch let alone what I wanted to get done last week! Great post! I found you on your Traffic Jam linky party!
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Isn't crazy how many days just blend into one another? So many tasks, so little time.
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{Melinda} I love the Weekly Review idea. I'm printing it out and using it. I think my stress level would go down about 1000% if I would just take the time to do this each week. Thank you!
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Happy to share it, Melinda. I'm getting so much better at staying on top of things when I take the time to review. Otherwise it's forgotten. Thanks!
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Sometimes I ignore my alerts! That's my problem but i love this system.
I need alerts for my alerts. LOL!
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Guess what? I'm a big GTD fan too! Actually I have David Allen's newsletter/e-mail pending to read when I get home. It's such a useful system, and it has helped to further simplify both work and personal schedules.
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I'm going to look into that, Alison. Actually my edition of his book is old. I'm sure he has some great tips on tackling tasks with new electronic devices. Thanks!
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