Getting Things Done (pt. 2)
The most efficient way to manage your work, according to Allen, is to
follow these steps.
- Collect
- Process
- Organize
- Review
- Do
The collection stage is where you create procedures in your life that
physically captures every obligation, project, commitment you have.
Anything you want to get done or have to get done needs to be put on
paper or typed into a computer, and then each of these notes has to be
collected into an inbox of some sort. Allen states the importance
of making sure all of these elements makes their way into a collection
point with no holes. If you can't trust that everything is
collected, you'll continue to think about even the stuff that has been
written down.
In addition to that point, Allen states that the success of your
collection efforts will also depend on you minimizing the number of
collection points (the more places you have to look, the more likely you
are to forget to look in one of them) and empty them as often as
possible.
In the processing stage, you have to decide what to do with each of
the elements. It is at this point Allen brings out his
workforce management "Rosetta
Stone". I, personally, have used this image as wallpaper on my
computer for several years. It summarizes the entire five stages
all into one picture.
The processing of the items you've collected consists of a small
number of decisions. Is the item actionable? Is there
something I need to or can do about the item, such as send an e-mail or
put it on my calendar? If the answer is no, should I throw it out,
and where should I save it if I do?
If the item is actionable, and taking care of it would take less than
2 minutes, Allen says you should take care of it right then.
There's no need to schedule something that would take less time to do
than actually scheduling it.
Any item that takes some time, should be deferred to either a
calendar or to-do list or delegated to someone else. If the item
has multiple steps, it is considered a project. What to do about
projects, is dealt with in the next stage...
The Organization Stage.
