As promised, I told you I'd share with you a little bit about my initial process and collection phase. I've been with the GTD system for a few weeks now, and I'm beginning to flesh out some more things as I go. Lifehacker recently asked its users How Have You Modified the GTD System to Fit Your Needs? and I have popped my head in to look and throw in some comments.
But I digest... (<= name that allusion)
Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do. That's the mantra of GTD (wow, I actually spouted that from memory!). In my first GTD post I mentioned that before collection can even start, you need to set up your workspace. I've done that -- and I have to admit, I've really managed to keep it clean and functional now that I have a place for everything!
Collect & Process. After you've gotten your workspace ready to handle all this, you need to go through this mass collection phase. This is where you collect everything, starting with your workspace (and eventually moving through your whole office, your house, and then the depths of your brain), and dump it into this "Inbox." That's this generic placeholder for stuff you know you need to do SOMETHING with, but don't know what (or maybe you do, but doing it would take more than two minutes). David's "Two Minute Rule" has really helped me out. "If x takes 2 minutes or less, just do it." It's really helped me to know where the line is with responding to client emails, cleaning something up, etc. It's made me less lazy (bringing these dishes downstairs takes less than two minutes, I should just do it) and helps me stay clean. So, we get to this collection phase where there's "stuff" you need to "deal with." This was my inbox when I began on day 1:
Boxes, coats, a backpack, a guitar, a set of books, numerous papers... I had quite the pile! But, after I collected all that stuff (that included over 50 index cards with things written on them that I couldn't physically put in my inbox, like "paint the living room" and "remove cobwebs from ceiling"), I began to Process.
Processing involves grabbing one thing off the pile (the inbox) and right away, doing something about it. You are not allowed to put it back (I cheated on this a little, or at least selectively grabbed some things, but I eventually processed it all)! Many times, your action will just be to record that item in your trusted system (put it on your lists, lists are part of the "Organize" phase). What you're trying to do with process is come up with the very next action that you need to move that project forward. For "paint the living room" that just became a project and went on my "Someday/Maybe list." Anything taking 2 minutes or less you should just do right then and there. (The guitar I "just did." The guitar needed to get put away in the downstairs closet... maybe that took three minutes instead of two, but it got done.)
For me, my trusted system is online (not paper). As you'll note from my previous GTD post, I use a physical inbox and tickler file, but the bulk of my tasks are stored in a custom Drupal installation I made (with some custom modules, etc). More on that later!
