The Fundamentals of GTD – Part 2

In part 1 of this series we talked about collecting all of your stuff. Now we need to do something with it.

The Processing Process
The processing of your things following the GTD system is pretty simple.

1. If the item is not actionable, file it.
2. If the item is actionable, decide what the next action is.
3. Once you know the action: Do it, Delegate it, Defer it or Delete it.
   

That’s it! Now let’s take a deeper dive into each of these steps.

First, decide if the item is actionable.

Non-Actionable items
If the first item you take from your pile of stuff is a receipt for the television you just purchased, put it in a file called receipts. If the item is a magazine you finished reading and you want to keep it for reference, put it on a shelf with your other reference materials (better yet, clip the one article you liked and only save that one article). If the item has absolutely no value to you and it was simply cluttering up your desk, by all means, throw it away!

Actionable Items
Next, decide what the next action is. Break your items down to small actionable tasks. Deciding on the next action is sometimes simple:
If you are faced with an unpaid bill, your next action is to write a check and mail it.

Deciding on a next action is sometimes more challenging:
If the item from your mind sweep was to plan a party, you could have many next actions. For GTD to work, you need to break things down into the smallest actionable tasks. Planning a party may include making a call to rent a room, going to the store to buy snacks, or sending invitations to your friends.

Once you know the next action, you can decide what to do with the item.

Do it
Be careful with this one. Keep in mind you just finished collecting everything and you should now be in processing mode. If you embark on a 2 hour mission to complete the action associated with something from your pile of stuff, it will be difficult to get back to processing. Use the 2 minute rule. If you can do it in less than 2 minutes, then do it. If it takes any longer than 2 minutes, this is not the right time to take action. Remember, you are in processing mode.

Delegate it
Are you the right person to action the item? You do not have to have people working directly for you to delegate. You might ask your boss to do something. A colleague, a friend, your spouse, etc.

To make sure things get done, I have a file with the name of each person I delegate things to. When I delegate something I make a note in the file and periodically review to make sure the task was completed.

Defer it
I keep 3 types of deferred item lists:

1. As soon as possible (ASAP). These are things that will take longer than 2 minutes to complete and I need to do them when I have time. I group my ASAP items into context related lists. Things I need to do while at work, things I need to do at home, things I need from the grocery store, things I need from the hardware store, agenda items for recurring meetings that I host, things I need to talk to my boss about.
   
   
2. Things to be done on specific dates. These are things I add to my Outlook calendar. A paper calendar would work just as well too.
   
   
3. Project work. For project, like “plan a party”, I keep a separate file with all of the tasks (action items) written out. When it’s time for me to work on my party planning, I pull out the plan a party folder and work the actions.
   

Delete it
This is my favorite. Don’t be afraid to simply delete it or in the case of non-electronic items, throw it away. Not all things that you thought were good ideas last week are good ideas this week. If you don’t need it, toss it.


Summary
In part 1 you collected all of your stuff into three buckets:

1. The list generated from your mind sweep
2. Your plastic/physical inbox
3. Your electronic-mail inbox
   

In part 2 we discussed processing all of these items by following these three simple steps:

1. If the item is not actionable, file it.
2. If the item is actionable, decide what the next action is
3. Once you know the action: Do it, Delegate it, Defer it or Delete it.
   

The third and final part of this series will focus on sustaining your newly organized system. This is called the weekly review. The weekly review is the key to keeping all your stuff current.