Getting Things Done in 5 steps
Step 1: capture
Put everything that asks for your attention in a fixed inbox. That can be a notebook, an app with 1 required field, your mailbox or a chat tool. Capturing has to be quick. If you are at a networking event and have to fill in a form with 30 fields, you miss half the conversation.
Step 2: clarify
Process your inbox at least once a day. What landed in your app yesterday is still fresh in your memory. Not everything you capture is important, and deciding not to do something is also a decision.
Use the 2-minute rule: if something takes less than 2 minutes, do it now. Clarifying, organising and picking up a task again later costs more.
Step 3: organise
Decide where each item belongs. According to GTD, anything with more than 1 step is a project. GTD prescribes a few lists:
Waiting for: tasks where you are waiting on someone else.
Someday list: ideas you keep without doing anything with them now.
Calls: conversations for moments when you have to wait somewhere.
Step 4: reflect
Most productivity systems die from a lack of reflection. Your child gets sick, you were too optimistic about a task, and your list fills up with overdue tasks. That is normal, do not give up.
The solution is the weekly review, once a week at a fixed moment. It takes less than an hour if you do it every week.
Get clear: gather loose notes, empty your inboxes and clear your head with a mini mind sweep.
Get current: look at your task list, your calendar for last week and next week, and your waiting-for list. Pick a new, realistic date for overdue tasks. Moving everything to tomorrow is a sure way to fail.
Get creative: is there something on your someday list whose time has come?
Step 5: engage
GTD is a means, not a goal. The point is that tasks and projects get finished, and that only happens by doing them. With a clear system, your attention is no longer pulled in every direction.
GTD in a team
Not the whole team has to use GTD. When 2 people use it, you feel the 1+1=3 effect: clear agreements, fewer follow-up emails, less fuss about who does what.
And now with agents
Steps 1 and 2 are the most boring part of GTD. At Livalos we let agents help with them. They create tasks, log what they did and mark them as done. That way I see in 1 list what is running, what is waiting on someone else and what is finished. That is the waiting-for list from step 3, but kept up to date by the team. Step 4 stays mine. I do the weekly review myself, because that is where I decide what counts.
Want to know how to set that up? See the training courses on AI.