So today, we are going to explain the ins and outs of GTD (on the more technical side), and how you can utilize the GTD methodology / concept actually using technology (computer, PDA phone, etc,.).

GTD is a very very powerful system in my opinion. It helps you to get focused (I like that), organized (I definitely like that) and stress free. GTD allows us to take our workflows that you decide is best for us. But GTD also allows us to get ourselves right by using a number of different tools, in combination with the workflow. This marriage of the two brings forth a lot of opportunity for us as humans to leverage some many different areas and aspects at our fingertips nowadays, to keep our life sync. There are a number of them, but here are the one’s that David Allen identifies:

As you can see, there are lots of different tools available, but this does not mean that you cannot devise one yourself (keep that in mind as you continue reading on)! But after you have your workflow established, your goals in heart and mind, and your organizational tools ready, you are ready to begin the next step, getting your life organized and underway using GTD.

Projects are so very very important in terms of GTD. Look at a project like a folder if you will; this folder probably has a name that denotes what is in the folder, and then the contents inside the folder related to the folder name in some way, shape or form. Simply sit down and figure out what are your projects in your life. Your projects can be your short/long-term goals that you want to work toward, your projects could be that big home improvement task that you really need to get done at the house, whatever is pressing in your life or relevant in your life, outline that as your project(s).

Once you have an understanding of your top level projects (and things) you need to achieve, you need to go through each of them using David Allen’s Natural Planning Method, his planning model of choice. This method from Allen is based on how we naturally process information in our daily lives (this would very similar to your workflow or the GTD Workflow [see image to the left towards top of this page]). There are five steps in the Natural Planning Method:

• Define purpose and principles
• Outcome visioning
• Brainstorming
• Organizing
• Identify Next Actions

So now you need to scrutinize each and every one of your projects that you outlined earlier. How? Well ask yourself the following questions:

• Why do I want to do this project?
• Why do I feel I need to do this project? (This is not the same question as above. Why not? The first question wants to know the purpose of the project, the second question asks you to validate the purpose in regards to you and your stake in the project. This question helps you to truly determine a true purpose for this project!)

The above two questions will start to get your mind ticking and moving towards gaining an understanding of what the true purpose is. We spend some much time thinking of a project, from the start, as its end result, instead of how we are going to get there. The natural-GTD process allows us to put a backbone on our thoughts and prepare us for what are next tasks and actions will be in the process of this project.

Once you have found the purpose of your project, you need to then determine what it is that you want to achieve in the end with this project. You want to ask yourself questions like:

• What do you hope to achieve by working on this project?
• What do you want as the end result for this project?

This is where you align your purpose for the project, with a goal or outcome for your project. Do this give you a starting and ending point. Because from this point on (no it’s not smooth sailing yet), you need to determine how to get from your idea/purpose to your goal/outcome.

So how do you get there, from the start to finish of your project? Simple, you start to think about what all it will take for you to get from start to finish. This process, usually called brainstorming, requires you to think up what steps you need to take to get this project started and then completed. Brainstorming, you usually will think up everything that you need to do, not necessarily in any particular order, but just that correspond to the project at hand. For example, let’s say I am suppose to be cooking dinner tonight for a party (uh-oh watch out ), what in the heck do I do. I might brainstorm the following:

“Alright, I am cooking dinner tonight. I need to know: who all is planning on coming, what does everybody like/don’t like, how many ingredients do I need, how much will things costs, what time will they be here, how long will it take to cook everything,…..so on and so forth”

Now while you are brainstorming, you need to be capturing these ideas using some sort of tool: paper, computer, PDA, or something that is visual that you can see (if possible). The reason for this is because as you start to brainstorm, you will eventually hit some dead-ends and you need to be able to see what you are storming on and not, to make sense of your project and to also ensure that you weed out the stuff that you feel is truly not important. The brainstorming process happens fast, and you tend to not remember everything you brainstorm, because you mind is on brainstorming overload at this point. But once you start to see your ideas, thoughts and whatnot all written/drawn/typed out visually, you seamlessly move into the next stage of the process, organization.

NOTE: To brainstorm, you can use paper and pencil to write out ideas or draw out ideas in a process called Mind mapping – topic coming soon from zenthat! This does not disqualify a computer or PDA, if you have mind mapping software installed or have access to a blank email, notes, anything that will allow you to type out your thoughts and ideas, use it!

So now we are in organization, what do we do here? You take what you just brainstormed, and put it into a logical order that makes sense to you, on how to complete this project you have. There could be a task that you need to perform to work towards completing this project, that leads to you needing to schedule a meeting or a trip or something. You simply put the steps you brainstormed in an order condusive to you completing the project. This may seem simple, but this is the hardest part I think. You need to think ahead in some instances and begin to plan what you need to do to work towards completion. This will always be a work in progress, even as you continue on in the process.

Once organization is done (and you’re satisfied), then you need to determine your contexts and next actions to complete the project.

Contexts are basically buckets that you place your tasks/events/notes whatever within your GTD system, that represent something, usually a location. One context for me might be @Work, another would be @Home, or @Store. They all represent physical locations, named or unnamed. Now each context you have, can be moved along your workflow system by next actions, which are exactly what they sound like, the next action that you need to complete for the task at hand. I like to think of next actions as steps or stages I need to move my tasks through in order to complete them. Examples of next actions I have, Look into,Organize,Design,Finalize,Complete. These are terms (usually verbs) that denote that you “need” to do something. I won’t explain this too much because like your workflow, your next actions will differ; but just know that they are terms that force you to take action! (Click here for more reading on determining your next actions).

So now once you have all of the above in place, then Get Things Done!!! If you have a paper system, then you would work your project(s) using your workflow, pushing your things to do along your natural process to get that item done. That’s it! There is no more to it than that. If you are like me and love computers/pda’s/gadgets, you could then look into purchasing hardware or software to assist you with structuring your system together.

NOTE: Now I kind of glossed over much of the more advanced topics of GTD. If you are interested in knowing those at this point, click here!
Let me briefly explain to you my GTD system, so you can get an idea of everything I just spoke of:

I own a HTC Touch HD PDA phone/organizer. I use Microsoft Outlook (Hosted Exchange) and setup my projects using tasks (for now). From there, I utilize categories so that I can set my contexts and next actions. Now this is different, but because no one out there really has written applications for GTD, I have concocted my own system (keep that in mind). Using categories though, I also assign my context first, next action second (since it changes so often). Then from here, I have my tasks categorized so that whether I am on OWA (Outlook Web Access) or my PDA using PocketOutlook (Tasks) or something where I can apply a filter to my tasks, I can see what is in each of my contexts (buckets). Then I can do what I call “process” how much I like, when I want. Now couple this concept with FTF (next Part of this series). I essentially do the same thing, but then categorize my purpose for that task even more. That is soon to come though as Part III of this series, “What in the heck is FTF?” – Stay Tuned!