Getting Things Done (GTD) is a book written by David Allen. It describes a method to increase your productivity by identifying actionable tasks, organizing them in context, and reviewing your tasks regularly. Biblioscape can help apply GTD principles in your research information management. If you have not heard of GTD before, it is highly recommended that you read David Allen's book. Since the book was first published in 2001, GTD has received a cult-like following in business world. There has been software created solely for implementing the GTD method. There are also many integration solutions available for popular programs like Outlook and Mind Manager. Since Biblioscape users are mainly researchers, GTD is implemented in Biblioscape to meet their needs. You will like this implementation for its simplicity and flexibility, as well as its integration with the references and notes modules.
Prerequisite
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To apply GTD in Biblioscape, you first need to create a categories folder named "GTD". You cannot use any other name because Biblioscape will open a tasks folder differently when "GTD" is selected in the categories tab. Under the "GTD" categories folder, add the following categories: Focus, Places, Projects, Areas, and People. Under the "Focus" category, add the following sub-categories: Today, Next, Scheduled, Someday. Under the "Places" category, add the following sub-categories: Computer, Errands, Home, Lab, Meetings, Phone. If you have to accomplish something that requires several steps, enter it under the "Projects" category. You can also divide your tasks into several areas. For Biblioscape users, these could be your research areas. Under the "People" category, you can enter your colleague's names, your professor's name, or anyone who might be involved in your research projects. When you design your GTD tags, keep in mind that they don't have to be mutually exclusive. A task can be dragged into several GTD tags. |
Collect
The goal of GTD is to make you productive without much stress. The source of stress for most people is the feeling that you have not done what should be done. Some people never write their tasks down, and keep them all in their head. To remember all those tasks by itself could be a source of stress. Once the number of unfinished tasks accumulates, people will get a feeling of guilt and become stressed. So, the first thing is to get all the stuff you need to do out of your head. In Biblioscape, click on a tasks folder, enable Quick Add, and just start typing. After you finish writing down one task, press the Enter key and start typing the second one. When you enter tasks by Quick Add, don't worry about the start date, due date, priority, etc. Just dump all the things that need to be done into a tasks folder. After this, you will feel relief. Besides entering tasks by typing, you can also drag Biblioscape references or notes into a tasks folder to create a new task.
Process
After dumping all your to-dos into a tasks folder, it is time to process them one by one from the top. There are two main types of to-dos: actionable and something that doesn't require action. Identifying actionable things is one of the key ideas in GTD. You cannot do a project, you can only do an action. When you see a task like "Do my taxes", you should translate it into something like "Buy TuboTax at Costco". The goal of this "Process" step is to identify what is actionable and separate them from the rest. For things that are actionable, if it is something that can be done in under 2 minutes, just do it and mark the task as Complete. If you can delegate the task to someone else, do it and drag the task into the "Waiting" category. For all the other actionable things, defer them. We will talk about how these should be done in the next section, "Organize". For all the non-actionable tasks, if it is something that cannot be done now, but could become actionable in the future, drag it to the "Someday" category. If it is an idea that can be used as a reference in the future, file it as a reference. We will discuss this later in detail.
Organize
This step (Organize) and the last step (Process) are performed at the same time. The key of the Process step is to go through each task and determine its action. After this important decision, you need to organize the task immediately. A successful GTD implementation depends on this step. This is also the step that sets GTD apart from other task management techniques. Traditional task management is driven by deadline and priority. GTD is driven by context. There are many aspects and levels of GTD context. They can be divided into the following main groups.
| • | Focus: A to-do is something you do at certain time, in certain place, about certain things. Focus is about time. Under Focus, there is: Today (all the things you want to do today), Next (all the actionable things that can be done next), Schedule (things that needs to be done on certain day or at a certain time), Someday (tasks that cannot be done now), Waiting (tasks that have been delegated to others) |
| • | Places: This category is about locations. You do these tasks at a certain place. When you group tasks by places, you can easily find out what else can be done at the same place. A popular list includes Computer, Errands, Home, Lab, Meetings, and Phone. Under meetings, you can list several meetings you have to attend regularly like "group meetings", "seminars", etc. |
| • | Projects: If you need to perform several tasks to accomplish a goal, you can group them under a project. Under the "Projects" category, first create a sub-category named "Completed". You can create a project category as needed and drag tasks into this project category. When you finish all the tasks under this project category, you can drag and drop them to the "Completed" category. |
Actionable tasks and non-actionable tasks are organized differently. The above categories are designed to handle actionable tasks. For non-actionable tasks, it should be filed under the "Reference" category. Under the "Reference" category, you can create many sub-categories. This is your filing system. It should be simple and ideally organized in alphabetical order. When you see a non-actionable task, you can just drag and drop it to a filing category.
Review
Now that you have processed your actions, and organized them based on focus, places, and projects, you need to review them at least once a day. For daily review, you should first review the "Today" list. Mark those you have done as Complete. Decide what to do with those you have not worked on. The next list to look at is the "Schedule" category. To practice GTD correctly, you need to do a weekly review. This includes emptying your head, going through the process, and organizing steps as described above.
Do
Ideally, you should browse a few tasks lists several times a day. During the day, we have different moods and different energy levels. When you are in the mood for writing, you can click the "Computer" category, see all the tasks there, and pick the ones you want to do. When you are tired of desktop work and want to drive somewhere, you can click the "Errands" category and do several things while you are on the road. Because GTD organizes tasks by context, you can have a clear view of what needs to be done in a certain context. A key point in GTD is to break down a big task into doable actions. Once you have an identifiable actions list in context, you are less likely to procrastinate.