Look at your to-do list. Does every entry describe something you can actually do?
‘Email the proposal’ is a task. But ‘New website’, ‘Resolve the staffing issue’ and ‘Improve team morale’ need more thought.
Some entries are
Treating them all as tasks can leave you trying to complete something you have not yet understood.
Continue reading Not everything on your to-do list is a taskMost productivity advice encourages us to eliminate spare capacity.
We fill gaps in the diary, batch similar tasks and streamline recurring work. We try to make every part of the system earn its place.
This can certainly make us more efficient. But it can also make us less able to respond when circumstances change.
Continue reading Why a little apparent inefficiency can make you more adaptableThe Getting Things Done (GTD) weekly review is often described as essential maintenance for your productivity system. You gather loose papers, process your inboxes, download your head, update your projects and review your calendar. This keeps your system current and trustworthy.
But the weekly review can do something deeper. It can help you notice when your understanding of a situation is no longer accurate.
Seen through Cynefin, the weekly review becomes a regular opportunity to notice what has changed and adapt our response.
Continue reading Cynefin and GTD: the weekly review as a sense-making practiceCynefin can help us manage uncertain projects in GTD.
One of the most useful practices in Getting Things Done is defining a successful outcome for each project.
What will be true when this is finished?
For many projects, the answer is reasonably clear:
A clear outcome helps us decide what ‘done’ means. It also makes choosing the next action much easier.
But the Cynefin framework reminds us that not every situation offers that degree of certainty.
Continue reading Some project outcomes must be discovered, not definedLean 5S is usually talked about in the context of factories, workplaces and production systems.
But it is also a powerful way to think about personal productivity.
At its heart, 5S is about creating an environment where useful things are easy to find, unnecessary things are removed and the system is simple enough to maintain.
That applies to a workshop. But it also applies to your home, your desk, your files, your inbox, your notes, your photos and your task manager.
Continue reading Lean 5S for personal productivity
