7Breaths

gtdfrk over at Getting Things Done has a post of his weekly review checklist. He wonders about other peoples weekly reviews so I thought I'd post an outline of my current one. I keep this of course in OneNote and have just copied it over, so some formating etc is missing but the basic scheme is still there.

I like to have done all my processing already done before the weekly review. I used to spend so much time emptying my inbox and processing stuff that had accumulated that I found I had less time than I would have liked on the actual planning stage of the weekly review. I therfore try to process my inputs each day during the week and do a final processing several hours before sitting down to do my weekly review which I use for "Planning Not Processing".

Here's whats in my Checklist:

'PLANNING not Processing'

YOU ARE REVIEWING AND PLANNING NOW

PREPARE
Ensure Daily review already done .
Disconnect from the net
Sit & Think
Final Mindsweep and keep open

REVIEW WHERE YOU ARE:

Review previous weeks schedule
Did you keep your commitments
Did you work on all your roles
Did you use your time effectively

Review next weeks schedule
What commitments do you have
Are you prepared for these
Support Material
Agenda

Review Current 90 day goal list
Do all goals have supporting projects
Are you moving towards succcesful completion
Do any more projects need starting this week

Review Project list
Ensure all projects have a next action
Ensure all projects have a role assigned
Schedule time to work on each project
Any stagnating projects
Shedule time
Dump
Someday / May be
Is there a balance of roles during the week


REVIEW WHERE YOU ARE GOING:

4 week Brief Overview
Any commitments upcoming which need work now
Birthdays / Aniversaires
Events
Holidays
.....

Review Someday / Maybe list
Can anything be moved to active
Can anything be dumped

Review Dream list

Read and commit to yearly goals

FINISH

Process the mindsweep
Look at the coming week again
Visualise Successful Action
Reconnect to the net
Relax & Enjoy

In my last post I can't do it all... I began to discuss the problem I was having with my workflow - that of taking on too many projects. Jeroen commented regarding using the GTD Horizons of Focus during the weekly review to help decide what you should or should not be doing, whilst SpiKe had not found this approach useful. I've blogged about Higher altitudes previously and have tried to apply Davids horizons to my own life. I found the levels he used did not fit with my thinking - so have slightly adapted things to give me a little more focus - I've tried to represent things in this diagram.

• I began by looking at my long term goals and vision - I've labeled these ambitions. These are not written down - after all if you need to write down your lifes vision to help you remember it, it can't be that much of a vision.

Next I have decided what I need to do in the next year to move me towards my ambitions. I've made a checklist of these so I can reward myself for checking them off as the year goes by - just "cranking widgets" on a bigger scale.

For each yearly goal I then set 90 day targets to move towards acomplishing the goal. I find 90 days long enough to get some significant work done, but short enough to allow me to see progress to my yearly goals.

Each 90 day target can have several supporting projects ongoing at the same time, and of course each project will have next actions.

When I do my weekly review I ensure that each 90 day target has active supporting projects - if not I will decide what I need to do and start a project off. This helps keep my focus on doing what I want to do. After ensuring all 90 day targets are moving forwards I then check my projects. What projects do I have which do not seem to support a 90 day goal. These are the "reactive" projects I've picked up during the week. I very carefully review these and ask "What's in it for me?". Sometimes Projects need to be done which don't fit in with your goals, but often just the practice of reviewing them in light of your 90 day targets makes you realise that you should be re-negotiating or dumping the project.

By applying this method I've reduced the number of projects I have ongoing at a time. However I still find I can take on more than I can do if I don't consider the actual time I have to spend each week working on them - this will be the theme of my next post...

One criticism raised about the GTD methodology is its bottom up rather than top down approach. David Allen defines certain "altitudes" as a metaphor as to where your focus is at any time.


50,000 ft ... Purpose and core values, our ultimate intention.
40,000 ft ... Vision ... long-term outcomes and ideal scenarios.
30,000 ft ... Goals and objectives for the next 12-24 months, in order to make the vision happen.
20,000 ft ... Areas of focus and responsibility.
10,000 ft ... Current projects.
"Runway" ... Next actions.

Unfortunately, with the way GTD is practiced you do tend to get stuck at the lower altitudes and life can just become about "cranking widgets".

In my case I find that I'm fine dealing with things that get my attention - I just write them down, process, organise then act on them and review progress each week. The perfect GTD machine.

The problem is that I have become reactive rather than proactive. I feel a need to take stock and decide where I want to go rather than just reacting to inputs as I am tending to do at the moment. Continuing David Allen's metaphor - I need to raise my eyes from the ground and look to the sky.

With this in mind it's time to pull back for a week - to spend time focusing on where I want to go rather than where I am at present. I'll be analysing all aspects of my life - and one of these will be this blog.

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to show how I used OneNote in conjunction with GTD. I thought it was a useful contribution to the conversation on Getting Things Done and from the feedback I have received It seems people have found it useful. However there is only so much one can say on this topic - the question I am now struggling with is what direction I should be taking the blog in the future. I still have things to say about GTD and OneNote but I'd like to continue Blogging and contributing to the GTD and OneNote Communities once this is exhausted. I have a few ideas about how I see this blog evolving - but I would value feedback from the community on what areas you would like to see covered. In the end Blogging is a conversation - so please let me know what you think.