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Starter Questions!
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realskydiver

Posted: Jul 21, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
Hi, I'm almost done reading the GTD book so naturally I have quite a few questions regarding my next step.
When I proceed through the in-box to put a next-action on every actionable task what should I do with projects? Should I just put the first action on it, proceed with the next task and once I'm done with my in-box go back to the projects and then determine every action to be done in order to finish the project?
I'm also not sure where to list actions of a project. Do I need to write it down on the project list and in the category it belongs to (next-action, waiting for, defer etc)? But writing it down twice seems a bit cumbersome.
I also haven't started using toddledo and Pocket Informant yet so I hope this solves the problem by putting an action into a project list and assign it to a category at the same time so it shows up on different lists. The other problem this could cause on the other hand is if I would write down every future task of a project to get a good outline which obviously would list actions that can't be done until I'm done with the previous one or is there a way to toggle actions on and off?
Hope this wasn't too confusing, thanks!

btw how can I get instant email notification when someone replied? I won't be able to use this forum otherwise.


This message was edited Jul 21, 2010.
realskydiver

Posted: Jul 22, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
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PeterW 

Posted: Jul 23, 2010
Score: 0 Reference
When I proceed through the in-box to put a next-action on every actionable task what should I do with projects? Should I just put the first action on it, proceed with the next task and once I'm done with my in-box go back to the projects and then determine every action to be done in order to finish the project?

I guess this is down to personal preference. My suggestion is that if you have any next project actions on your mind when going through your inbox, dump them out onto paper or into Toodledo before you forget them. You can always come back during a weekly review and scope out more next actions or refine existing ones.

I'm also not sure where to list actions of a project. Do I need to write it down on the project list and in the category it belongs to (next-action, waiting for, defer etc)? But writing it down twice seems a bit cumbersome.

You might want to do some experimenting with Toodledo to get a feel for how it works. It is a flexible environment so you can find a number of different ways of making it work.

For example, some users create a folder for each project, which means that you can then use tasks for next actions and also break these down into sub-tasks if needed, thereby providing a 3-tier hierarchy. Others have a single folder for all projects, with each task representing an individual project and sub-tasks to handle all project actions.

You mentioned 'category' - I assume you are referring to the 'status' field in Toodledo? This field is one way of handling GTD task status. Another would be to turn this field off and create folders named Next Action, Waiting for, etc. Using this approach, you can simply move a task from one folder to another to change its status.

I also haven't started using toddledo and Pocket Informant yet so I hope this solves the problem by putting an action into a project list and assign it to a category at the same time so it shows up on different lists. The other problem this could cause on the other hand is if I would write down every future task of a project to get a good outline which obviously would list actions that can't be done until I'm done with the previous one or is there a way to toggle actions on and off?

There isn't a way to toggle actions (tasks) on/off (e.g. active/inactive) but you can handle this using different fields. For example, you could use tags or the star field to denote whether or not a project next action is active or is the next one.

If you want to follow GTD methodology in Toodledo, there are some good threads in the forums here that will help you consider the many options available to you.

btw how can I get instant email notification when someone replied? I won't be able to use this forum otherwise.

The forum doesn't support email notification. I haven't found this a big problem though - just bookmark the forums in your browser or even a specific thread you want to follow and all you need to do is make a quick visit when you want to follow up.
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