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Over at idiomdrottning.org Sandra describes three dead ends for the Getting Things Done work flow:
Bad path number one: writing down everything but not processing it properly.
Bad path number two: writing down and processing everything but not actually doing the stuff.
Bad path number three: having lots and lots of well-organized lists, doing the stuff, and getting stressed and exhausted.
gemini://idiomdrottning.org/gtd-bad-paths
I would like to add: This is NOT genuine to GTD, but any procedure aimed at helping one out of the mess. I personally use parts of Zen to Done by Leo Babauta. But I'm not good at it.
Why does it not help me as much as I wished for?
Now should I just live a free life by ignoring all the procedures? Well, it's more complicated than that, of course.
For once I hate ticket systems, no matter which one. They never show the real state of affairs to some credible detail. Plus often someone walks up to my desk with a problem. Many times I just walk off elsewhere to look at something. And of course I do not clock out of a ticket first or something such. Especially if assembly is involved, I drop everything else immediately. "Event triggered" work this is called, iirc. And it is inherently hard to deal with[a].
I do collect notes, todos and other items with emacs/org-capture into an inqueue file. That helps. I tend to create quite some duplicates, but better deleting a duplicate than forgetting something alltogether. Once per week, I write up a report of what I did, and what the results, advances and/or open questions are; what to do next on a given item; what to wait for, if applicable; links to tickets and documentation involved. This is the time, when I look at the inqueue file and move those items into a todo_list. That list is structured by areas of responsibility and projects (with a proper project number :). Items have to go into their respective place in this list. This is when to delete duplicates.
You guessed it: this todo_list is much too long to stand even looking at it. So I deliberately excluded TODO items from my Agenda View. Only if I advance an item to the NEXT state, it will show up. This makes for a short list, which is somewhat helpful. However, it is still too long to ever get everything done on it. So I have to reset items (or parts of them) to the (invisible) TODO state. I think, that is part of the "noping out" Sandra describes.
More importantly imho: If I work on project X12 at the moment, I consult the X12 section in the todo_list, to see, what else is there. My mind is entangled into this project already, so working on a few more items in the same area is not as demanding as starting from scratch. And I believe, this is what ultimately enables me to stay on top of the wave on my desk.
Back to the weekly report: I consult my inqueue, lists, calendar, email, and write the report into may daily journal. This clears my mind and enables me to report the state of affairs in the weekly team meeting. I send this report to my manager and the involved project managers. I do have a role, which supplies several projects, so there is more than one involved project manager. And they actually appreciate the report.
Which means: I'm not completely unorganized:
I am keeping work files and private files completely separate.
For a long time I could pretty much rely on my mind to come up with the right puzzle pieces at the right time. I rarely forgot important TODO items or appointments. But this has changed noticably over time and I have to note appointments on the paper calendar in the kitchen. That way my wife tends to remind me. Which is very nice of her, but maybe not as good as not needing her reminder.
I use the same tools as listed above: inqueue, structured todo_list, daily journal. Additionally I use org-habits a lot more. Habits show up in my Agenda view as a reminder for desirable daily actions and more important weekly actions. I do follow a weekly routine to check, what I did, what communication occured, what was accomplished. So at least I can see regularly, that I did something after all. And no, housework and cleaning does not show up in TODO lists, garden work maybe does.
The amount of items in my todo_list at home is simply overwhelming. There are so many interesting things I would like to try out. There are so many things to fix or advance in my little projects. Even though I do not waste time watching TV or so called social media, I do know and accept the fact that the list is too long for the remainder of my life. I also use it as sort of a surprise box to peek into and pull something interesting or shiny out, whenever I like. That means most of my projects drag on for many months. This does bother me sometimes.
However, within the last three years, my health has declined noticably. It is still unclear, what exactly is going on. But I'm not optimistic about fundamental changes for the better. This makes me a lot slower, physically and mentally as well. It is fairly obvious that I have to let go of a substantial number of ideas and plans and voluntary duties. I ditched some, but not anywhere near enough.
So, I hope for a few advances in my little projects, and a few nice surprises. New Year is coming up, so new hope may grow.
Cheers,
~ew
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[a] And no, I'm not sending away the folks, who are actually creating the thing, that will be paid for by the customer, thus enabling my salary. Development is important, but not any more than all the others involved in this long chain of events leading to a working and paid for machine at customers site.