GTD model for deciding: The Fundamental Process

In January's Productive Living Newsletter, David Allen presents an excellently simple definition of what I suggest is the essence of the "why" and "how" of GTD. Enjoy.

http://www.davidco.com/newsletters/archive/0210.html

Are you perceived as being responsive?

For a long time, I would get frustrated and stressed over what I labelled “poor responsiveness”. I would apply this label to people I worked with, friends and even family members. Mind you, not everyone got this label, only those I knew I needed to “track and follow-up” in order see a commitment carried out.

This behaviour is typically associated with procrastination, but manifests itself in all aspects of life. For example, you could be in a meeting where your colleague commits to taking an action after the meeting. Equally, you could be chatting to a friend on the phone and agree to talk next Thursday regarding going to a coffee or pint. Sometime after the event you realise neither has occurred.

In order to “manage” those that I felt weren’t responsive, I would create reminders in my “To-Do” system and then chase people down when I hadn’t got what I needed. This created unnecessary effort and the associated stress for all parties involved, because no-one likes being reminded of something they didn’t do.

I now know better.

I now understand what creates the perception that someone doesn’t respond appropriately. And I know how to be more effective in situations when someone doesn’t deliver on a commitment.

The first revelation is that the concept of “responding appropriately” is different across cultures, companies and communication mediums.For example, in your business you may expect a response to an e-mail query to a colleague on the same day. However you may not expect a response from an external customer for up to 3 days. On the other hand, if you receive a SMS Text message from a loved one, they may get concerned if you don’t respond almost instantly. Therefore, we must understand who we are communicating with and what is accepted as the “normal” level of responsiveness.

The other revelation, and more critical aspect, is to do with an unfortunate inadequacy in the tools and techniques most of us employ. For example, things just don’t get done because it is “accepted” that e-mail queries with-in the office should be answered on the same day or even actions taken on minutes during a meeting need to be completed before the next meeting. Unfortunately, whilst I believe most people honestly aim to deliver on a commitment at the time the commitment was made, their system for managing that commitment lets them down.
The root cause in our “system” in most cases is our short-term memory. Unfortunately short-term memory is very flippant; it is easily distracted by the latest and loudest thing that comes into our world. Therefore, whilst we may have honestly committed to do something, that something will be replaced in our consciousness at some point, be it later in the day, tomorrow, next week or even as you leave the meeting and get into a conversation with someone on your way back to your desk. Even if a commitment is written down in your notepad, if your personal system for reviewing and organising these notes isn’t adequate, you will still be relying on your short-term memory to get back to the notes and those agreed meeting actions.

Now that I understand what is behind my misconception, I am better able to manage it. For example, when looking for something from someone else, I will be very specific about the outcome I expect and by when. Where as previously a meeting action might read “Quarterly results report (Joe)”, it would now read “Joe to export October to December transactions into the reports spreadsheet and forward to Brad by Wednesday lunchtime”.

Furthermore, if someone is still struggling with their commitments and exhibiting stress is doing so, I help them understand more about how they might better manage their “to-do lists” and inadequacies of short-term memory.

How are you perceived by your colleagues, customers, friends and family? Are you seen as “responsive”? Do you know someone who is non-responsive? What actions do you take?

The Humble Task List isn’t enough

Why do we use task lists? When used properly, task lists can help us track what we need to do, when we need it done and for whom it needs to be done. We can use lists to manage our commitments and reach our goals. Even “Ticking” tasks as complete does provide you with a list of mini-achievements.

Is it enough? So does the humble, yet powerful task list offer a path to an ultimately happy and fulfilling life? Well no. Why? Because I believe, we need to do things in the context of what is most important to us. I propose that the underlying and fundamental human need here is linked to goal recognition or having a sense of accomplishment. If we do not often reach this sense of accomplishment we slowly but surely get tired, worn-out and bored with what we are doing. The things that used to have us bouncing out of bed in the morning do not matter any more. A sense of accomplishment comes simply by seeing in every action one takes, no matter how small, progress against a greater goal.

Where is the utopia? If we frame or categorise what we do in relation to where it fits into our lives, every little “tick” will bring us closer to where we want to be.
For example, suppose we have a list of things we need to get done today. When used in isolation this list may not totally excite us and have us humming through our day. However if we were to add some categorisation to each task that provides a link to a goal or even a greater purpose, then we have a better chance of seeing the bigger picture and end point.

By seeing completed tasks as steps towards a goal we will have a better chance of achieving the sense of accomplishment on a daily, hourly or even minute-by-minute basis.

Do you frame or categorise your individual tasks in terms of a goal or greater purpose?

Maximise your performance by minimising your interference?

Why is performance important?

To really perform at what we do, we need to constantly and consistently move things forward. To move things forward, we need to give each specific part of that thing our full attention, even if only for short burst. Giving something our full attention improves the quality and reduces the overall time it takes to get it done.

What is stopping us maximising our performance?

To answer that question, you should look at the work by Timothy Gallwey, called the Inner Game. The Inner Game as developed by Gallwey in 1974 builds on the notion of “Potential” and “Performance”. There is a gap between potential and performance which Gallwey describes as the thoughts which you have when going about an activity. These thoughts can be better described as “Interference”. Interference then is the self doubting thoughts you have that get in the way of your potential and reduce your resulting performance.

As Gallwey proposes, our performance is limited by interference caused by our thoughts. In a typical work place, that is not the only place interference comes from.

We are subject to continual bombardment, more so than ever before, from things we allow into our space, like e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and SMS text messages. Then there are the external things that we have no control over, like the phone ringing or perhaps the boss or a colleague wandering by and requesting something. And what about the meeting culture? Have you ever felt your whole day was full of meetings? How much can you get done if you are in meetings all day, surely that is interference also?

So how do we minimise the interference and maximise our performance?

The obvious answer is to just remove the inference right? So maybe lock yourself away from your colleagues, the phone, the computer, your mobile phone. And how about your own thoughts? Should you just stop thinking? Ok, so none of that is realistic, because you need your thoughts, you need your colleagues and you need all the tools.

What you can do however, is two things. Firstly, for short periods you should limit the interference from the things you can control, i.e. turn off e-mail notifications and try to give yourself the permission to not answer phone or text for a period. The second thing we can do is to clarify the things in our head, get on top of our commitments by writing them down in a list, then when done doing the thing you need to get done, you can review that list and get back to the other million and one things to do. Being clear and in control for these short periods by reducing the interference will enable you to perform much closer to your true potential.

Where does your interference come from and how do you reduce it?