Projects, on-going activities, and areas of responsibility

In What's In A Name - GTD Project Naming Conventions, reader ispir asks Is it area of responsibility? and includes nice details to his question. Following is my answer and how it helped him. I invite you to email me similar questions - I'm happy to give my 2¢.

Note: Thanks to Pascal Venier for suggesting sharing my answer with you.

The Question

Now I am in the middle of my weekly review. I just have bad feeling about a project name, and search gtd project naming. thanks for this sharing. the problematic project name is "keep the blog uptodate". so there isn't any clear finish. therefore I thought this should not be a project. but then what is it? is it are of responsibility? some of my project names are:

• finish phd
  
• apply gtd
  
• save money
  
• improve salsa
  
• write my inner world
  
• write weakly status report for work
  
• apply unschedule
  
• call house owner to arrange house rent
  

My Answer: Projects vs. On-going Activities

This is a great question, and I'm happy you gave examples.

First, you're correct that this is category of on-going work that is outside of Allen's daily workflow method. This could fall under Allen's Area of Responsibility, if structuring your life that way works for you. (I don't personally use a list like this. Instead I have these in my mind, and, when I need to review, I review an on-the-fly mind map of my life.) The Area of Responsibility in this case might be "Maintain Blog." This area involves multiple activities, such as writing posts, responding to comments, and updating look-and-feel, say. Thinking hierarchically, "Maintain Blog" could come under a higher realm like "Establish myself as an expert in __."


problematic project name "keep the blog uptodate"

Quite so: This is not a project, though "create blog" and "promote blog" would be good ones. For something that doesn't have a fixed end, consider creating a checklist that reminds you of the activity as often as you need. This might be daily or weekly for your blog, for example. I have a weekly one that includes blogging, along with entering the week's receipts for my accounts and getting together with my wife.

The way it works is the checklist activates an action. It might be short one you can do at that moment (i.e., two or five minutes), but otherwise it should go on your actions list. Of course now the problem is you have to ensure you're looking at it - that you make it a habit. One approach is to put a repeating event in your calendar. This works great for me. The day you put it on doesn't matter, but I prefer earlier in the week to give me a leeway to get it done within a few days.

You can apply any habit-forming method to this. An interesting starting point is Effectively forming new habits. (This is doubly interesting as it talks about the "21 days to form a habit" origin.



some of my project names are:

Let's look at these.

• finish phd: Sounds like a good one. This may be what I call a "master" project if it involves multiple "sub-projects" like "finish index," "host peer review," etc. And don't forget an importante action/project :Celebrate!
  
• apply gtd: What specifically does this mean? Is "GTD is up and running" clearer?
  
• save money: I suggest making this one really specific, e.g., how much you save, and by when. Check out Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals.
  
• improve salsa: Yum!
  
• write my inner world: Sounds intriguing.
  
• write weakly status report for work: This one goes under the on-going category I talked about above.
  
• apply unschedule: I'm guessing you refer to Neil Fiore's The Now Habit. (For more see How to Unschedule your work and enjoy guilt-free play.)
  
• call house owner to arrange house rent: This sounds more like an action to me, unless it involves more steps than the call itself, such as "Find number of house owner," "Review rent status," etc.
  

Thanks again for the meaty question.

His Results

It was satisfying to hear that he implemented my advice:

Hey I am surprised that you gave me such a detailed answer. Thanks a lot. I use your advices and finally what I do is that:

• remove almost all the projects to another list such as responsibility
  
• create a new project list which are much more concrete and finishable.
  
• the new projects name are described the outcome in past tense
  
• my project number is doubled now, because of that responsibility have different projects. in this case your example is great: instead of uptodate blog "writing posts, responding to comments, and updating look-and-feel".
  

these changes boosts my gtd. thank you very much

Comments

[Dave]

In the world that I work in (and I'm sure in most...) there are two broad areas of activity; stuff that has a clearly definable end point - a Project - and 'operational' stuff that needs to be done on an ongoing basis. One word for it would be Operations, but in this context I think that Programs is a good word to use.

Strikes me that there is still some common ground. Whether a project or a program, all 5 of DA's Natural Planning steps (Define purpose/principles | Visioning | Brainstorm | Organise | Next Actions ) still hold.

I wonder whether it makes sense to schedule on additional activity on a periodic basis - a 'continual improvement' step to make sure that you get incrementally better and better at updating the blog / saving the money / etc.

regards

Dave

[Dave]

... Incidentally, Mark Forster (author of Do It Tomorrow) has just released a beta version of his new 'Autofocus' time management system. There are elements in the new system that could help with managing ongoing 'program' type activity. As well as a bunch of other stuff...

You can register on his site to get added to the distribution list.

regards

Dave

[matthewcornell]

Thanks for the heads up, Dave. Here's the latest post from Mark: [ The First Day of the New System! | http://www.markforster.net/blog/2009/1/6/the-first-day-of-the-new-system.html ] I didn't know about the feature you mention. Care to share your thoughts?

[matthewcornell]

Good breakdown, Dave: Projects (definable end-points) vs. Programs (ongoing operational types of activities). I'm not sure using "programs" will make sense to most people. The closest definition I found was "An ordered list of events to take place or procedures to be followed; a schedule: a program of physical therapy for a convalescent" ( [ program | http://www.answers.com/program ] ). However, the word has several other strong meanings. But the distinction is a good one.

> all 5 of DA's Natural Planning steps (Define purpose/principles | Visioning | Brainstorm | Organise | Next Actions ) still hold

> schedule additional activity on a periodic basis

Sure - scheduling is a great way to create regular reminders, and a Kaizen-based one is a great idea.

Thanks for your comment.

[Anonymous]

Hi Matt. Seems to me that Mark's new system caters for recurring, ongoing activity (or even an incomplete task) by simply allowing to to re-enter it at the end of the list.

D

[matthewcornell]

Yes, I recall that from his book. One of the less savory parts, IMHO. Reminds me of a stressful "revolving door," though I may not understand the idea well enough to comment.

[Dave]

The new Autofocus approach is somewhat different from what he describes in the DIT book. So far the fedback from his group of testers is pretty positive.

regards

D

[Davey]

Happy New Year Matt,

As I was reading through this post and comments, it struck me that maybe a tickler file would work well in this category: a recurring task that is not really a task, but a conscious stream of actions that need to be performed over time.

What has been your experience with this? Since my experiment list has been growing and the "mad laboratory's" hours of operation are finite, I'm going to start setting priorities. I'm still toying with combining productivity super powers, this has been more fun than productive to this point. I'm in "experiment" mode now, so "trusted" is not what you could call my system. I prefer "consciously working toward competence through identification, experimentation, and implementation". Which brings me back to the tickler file.

Please let us know if you've had any experience with others who've used a tickler file to manage recurring tasks over time. I'm still thinking on this one and need additional input.

Thanks again,
Davey

[matthewcornell]

> Happy New Year Matt

Same to you, Davey. As always, I enjoy your comments - thank you.

> used a tickler file to manage recurring tasks over time

Sounds like a fine idea. I'm not sure what kind of "task that's not a task" you have in mind. Do you mean the same tasks each time? I'd call this a checklist? Or are the tasks different, but you need a reminder to review/rethink? Maybe you could say more.

As Allen points out, once something's in your system then it's all about appropriate reminding, and the calendar is a great time-based tool for this. I use the tickler (I use my calendar for this, with associated papers stored in my Action Support folder) for things like my weekly reminder to enter checking account categories - very standard application of the tool.

> experiment list has been growing and the "mad laboratory's" hours of operation are finite...

I love it! You're mixing our life-as-experiment approach with the scientist-has-limits practicality of productivity methods. Sweet.

> toying with combining productivity super powers, this has been more fun than productive to this point

:-) Remember, Batman didn't happen in a day. Give it time; your powers will (to quote the outgoing president) "synergize."

> I'm in "experiment" mode now, so "trusted" is not what you could call my system. I prefer "consciously working toward competence through identification, experimentation, and implementation".

I'm stealing that for [ Think, Try, Learn (TTL) Home | http://www.thinktrylearn.com/ ]. I think of this as a cycle, not a path - a series of convergent and divergent phases, shifting as you learn more, try, and pick what works. Very mature approach, IMHO.

> Please let us know if you've had any experience with others who've used a tickler file to manage recurring tasks over time. I'm still thinking on this one and need additional input.

Sorry I can't say more, Davey. Give us a few examples, or give me a call on the phone. Thanks again for writing.