Getting Things Done - GTD
Basic GTD: Organizing Projects
AUTHOR: Francisco Sáez
In addition to organizing your actions, you need a Project List to keep all those results that require more than one action step to get done. This is an index that will remind you that, even if you have defined any actions in this regard, there are still more action steps needed to reach the final result.
Unlike the lists of actions, the list of projects is not part of your daily work (you don’t do projects, you do their actions). Its real value is that, when reviewing it often (at least once a week), you ensure that all projects have at least one action in progress and don’t get stuck. It is a simple way to have your workload under control.
You can have one or more lists of projects. If you separate personal from professional projects, don’t fall into the trap of not reviewing your personal projects in the same way as the rest. Depending on your job and the variety of activities you perform, it may make sense to divide the list of projects into several lists for different types of projects.
Organize your lists of projects in a way that makes sense to you. No matter how many sublists you have, if you review the contents of all of them during your Review Weekly.
Likewise, you can split a large project into several subprojects or simply define each subproject as a whole project. Your choice. The important thing is that none of them are left out of the Weekly Review.
Project support materials do not require actions nor reminders, therefore, they must not go on any list of actions. This is auxiliary information that will help you think, analyze and make the best decisions to complete the project. This materials must be fully accessible because you have to consult them to perform some actions and, of course, during the Weekly Review.
Organize your physical materials on specific files or folders for each project. Try to organize your digital files in the most centralized and secure way you can, but also consider the value of making them available from anywhere.
This is the second of three articles related to organization:
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