A Pattern Language for Productivity

by Andre Kibbe April 2008 (from http://tools for thought!com"

Pattern #$: %utcome and Action

During the month of April Im going to publish a series of posts of individual best practices for streamlining workflow. Ill refer to these practices as patterns, an allusion to Christopher Ale anders seminal book, A !attern "anguage. Ale anders book weaved a rubric of #$% timeless, almost anthropological principles for architectural, urban and communit& design, in which each of its named and numbered patterns could be implemented individuall& or in combination with others. An e ample would be a pattern like 'i ()oot *alcon&, in which Ale ander observed that balconies less than si feet deep went unused, aside from hanging plants. !eople would not occup& them, since the space was inade+uate to install a table and chairs. Ale ander referred to the rubric , the collection of patterns , as a pattern language. "ater, the concept was adapted to software engineering b& -rich .amma in his book Design !atterns. /he practice of pattern classification spread to other disciplines, from web design to political activism. Im adapting it to productivit& here in order to separate more fundamental issues of methodolog& from the details of implementation. A term like lifehack risks conflating fundementals, like pro0ect lists, with particular solutions, like 1emember the 2ilk. /he first pattern in this series, and man& of the ones that will follow, are drawn from the everblogged .etting /hings Done 3./D4 methodolog&. *ecause so man& posts on /ools for /hought make reference to ./D, Ill be writing m& own review of David Allens .etting /hings Done later in the month. 5hile its true that the internet is saturated with ./D discourse, Ill review it here to provide m& outlook on the book and the s&stem for readers to compare and contrast with that of other pundits and bloggers.

Pattern #$: %utcome and Action

Issues, concerns, intentions, ideas and ambitions tend to weigh on the mind in an abstract wa&. 5e need a wa& to think about them more concretel&. An item that consumes our attention is an open loop in ./D parlance. It has our attention because we still need to define precisel& what successful outcome is needed to reali6e or resolve it , what will bring the open loop to closure. 5rite down one or more issues that are currentl& on &our mind. /he& might be things like, I need to submit m& application to 'tanford, I still need to arrange our vacation to *ora *ora this &ear, or 2& bookshelf stereo is broken. )or each of these items, ask &ourself the following +uestion7 &hat is the successful outcome' - actl& what result would have to happen in order for &ou to feel as though &ou could confidentl& mark it as done8 9otice that successful outcomes are implicit in man& of the items. 'ome are even e plicit. 'ubmit application to 'tanford is an e plicit answer to 5hat is the successful outcome8 :n the other hand, 2& bookshelf stereo is broken is a good e ample of an open loop whose outcome clearl& needs to be defined. If the stereo has been idle for the last seven months, and &ou havent missed it, the successful outcome might be Discard bookshelf stereo. ;ou ma& decide that &oud like a newer stereo, in which case the successful outcome might be 1eplace bookshelf stereo. (he first goal )ith each open loop is to process it into a successful outcome! 9ow take each of &our successful outcomes, one at a time, and ask7 &hat is the ne*t action' A ne t action is the ver& ne t ph&sical, visible action step needed to achieve the outcome. As a technical term in ./D, a 9e t Action 39A4 sometimes coincides with the t&pes of tasks that most people would put on a /o Do list. *ut not necessaril&, since the criteria for ne t actions are ph&sical and visible, not abstractions. /asks like Download application from 'tandford.edu, "ist <*ookshelf stereo, needs repair on )reec&cle, or 'ubmit vacation re+uest to =1 +ualif& as bona fide ne t actions. :n the other hand, an item like 'ubmit application to 'tanford is not a ne t action , unless the application has alread& been downloaded and filled out. 'imilarl&, 5rite research paper would not be a ne t action prior to having done the research. +e*t actions have no dependencies. /he& are onl& those tasks that can be e ecuted immediatel&, since the actions or resources re+uired to perform the tasks have alread& been fulfilled. If the& havent, theres a good chance that the preliminar& step is what &ou should be writing down is the ne t action, such as Call :akville =igh to re+uest transcript. In ./D, any outcome that re,uires more than one action step to accomplish is called a -Pro.ect!/ !ro0ects can range from ver& simple outcomes, like purchasing a book, to comple outcomes, like building a bridge. /he common denominator is that the& re+uire more than one action step. >eeping these pro0ects listed separatel& from ne t actions allows the pro0ects to remain identified as open loops when their respective ne t actions have been completed. If I call to re+uest a transcript, then cross that off of m& 9A list, the separate pro0ect heading, 'ubmit application to 'tanford remains as an open item, compelling me to either define another ne t action, or recogni6e that an& subse+uent action to move the pro0ect forward will depend on receipt of the transcript. Dependencies like the latter are called 5aiting )or items, which are often as important to track as ne t actions. /o recap, the fundamental thought process for getting things off &our mind consists of two +uestions that need to be asked and answered for each item7

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5hat is the successful outcome8 5hat is the ne t action8

Pattern #2: A Place for 0verything

*eing neat is different from being organi6ed. 9eatness is measured b& how well conspicuous disarra& is minimi6ed. :rgani6ation is measured b& how well storage and retrieval decisions are minimi6ed. 'tandardi6e as man& common decisions as possible. A librar& is a functional tool because societ& has agreed on a specific classification s&stem for arranging books. !iles of books arranged in an arbitrar& fashion would be useless. Its certainl& possible to make a fetish out of organi6ing, as critics have long pointed out. Imposing order on a world of entrop& can easil& become of full time occupation. 1ut organi2ation is ultimately concerned )ith arranging our environment for a purpose. 5e onl& need to decide where to put things until the decisions become automatic, allowing us to focus our attention on higher priorities. 5ithout a higher purpose, organi6ing becomes an end in itself. A few e amples7

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5here should the !D) &ouve downloaded and 0ust finished reading go8 =aving a 2& Documents?!D)s folder defined for all documents of that t&pe eliminates the need to make that decision in the future. It also makes it knowing where to find it a cinch. 5hich computer has that 5ord document8 2a&be its best to keep all documents on &our laptop, and avoid using &our desktop !C for storing critical files. =ow man& half(finished bottled waters are in &our car and house8 Installing a water filter and purchasing a reusable pol&carbonate or stainless steel bottle is one approach to prevent plastic bottles from reproducing. 5hat are each of those stra&, unconnected cables for8 'pend half an hour identif&ing the target device for each cable 3e.g. the charger for the *luetooth headset4. Coil each one in a @iplock bag, labelling each bag with the cables function. /hen put all of the bags in a transparent plastic bo . 5here should &ou look in &our laptop bag for the papers that come into &our life while in the go , receipts, fl&ers, business cards8 =aving a single folder labelled In can stop the spread of incoming stuff. ;ou can add its contents to &our home intra&, or process them in transit during down time. 'ome patterns to be discussed in later posts , general reference files, tickler file, activit& 6ones , will go into more detail on specific placement strategies. In the meantime, at a look around &our environment and look for an& piles that represent improvement opportunites. /he goal is not to hide clutter, but to prevent its accumulation in the first place. .et off of mailing lists, refuse unneeded bags at retail stores, reconsider whether or not an imminent purchase is necessar& or merel& impulse. 5hatever survives this pruning, ask &ourself, 5here should this item go8 -liminate the unessential, and assign a permanent home to the essential.

Pattern #3: 4hec5lists

Checklists are mental inventories made ph&sical. Instead of tr&ing to hold &our thoughts on a topic entirel& in &our head, write them down as a list. - periment with making checklists for an&thing and ever&thing that has &our attention. =aving a list to review reduces the need to rethink what &ou need to consider about a topic. 'ince short(term memor& limits the number of items that someone can think about simultaneousl&, checklists provide a simple structure for spreading things out for reviewing in parallel 3see Distributed Cognition4. )or instance, a travel checklist would include all of the items &ou need to take with &ou on a trip7

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/icket *oarding pass Dress suit # casual shirts # casual pants /oiletries -tcA )or blogging, I brainstormed a checklist of future articles to write. I also have checklists of technical issues to resolve, design modifications, and themes I want to e plore. 5hen the time comes to write, its much easier to review the article checklist than to think about a new topic from scratch. 'ince I have over two do6en article ideas to choose from 3twice that if I include the !attern "anguage series4, I dont have to worr& about drawing a blankB I 0ust point and shoot. Checklists are a great wa& of seeding the mind for further thinking on a topic. -ach item on a checklist can germinate a checklist of its own. 5e can e tend our thinking on /oiletries from the previous checklist as an e ample7

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/oiletries to take Airport restrictions 5hats alread& available for free in the hotel room Drugstores and markets near hotel Commercial toiletr& kits /he first checklist was meant to be an inventor& of what to bring. !rior to leaving, &ou step through the list to make sure ever& item is accounted for. /he second checklist is a list of considerations7 we spell out all options, then review them to see which ones are practical or actionable. :ne option is to bu& a toiletr& kit that bundles ever&thing in a compact case,

making it unnecessar& to think about purchasing more items near the hotel 3its eas& to forget that were often too tired after a flight to run errands4. ;ou can spend five minutes creating a checklist of checklists that would be useful to make during windows of free time7

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Article ideas Career goals )amil& goals Investment opportunities to research DCDs to bu& "ibrar& books to check out .ifts to bu& =ome improvements Activities to best use leisure time 9ot /o Do 3i.e. time wasters4 Checklists are a great wa& to avoid reacting to problems in a knee(0erk fashion. /ake a minute to stop, list out all issues and concerns related to the problem, and the wa&s to recover from the worst(case scenarios , &ou can even write out problems and solutions as separate checklists. *ut the most important step is to get things out of &our head, where the& loom out of scope. 5riting an&thing down immediatel& makes it finite, observable, and potentiall& actionable.

Pattern #6: 4ollection

>eeping thoughts e clusivel& in the mind allows them to fester and die. As soon as a potentially significant thought enters your mind7 )rite it do)n! *uild in the habit of collection7 the act of spontaneousl& recording an&thing that has &our attention. /he faster new ideas are written down, the faster newer ideas will emerge in their place. Collection frees up working memor& to allow new information to come in. 8t also enhances focus by diverting distractions. 5hen &oure working on something, and a new thought thats not related to &our work emerges, at some level &our mind has to struggle between focusing on &our either &our main work or the new thought. 5riting the new thought down allows &ou to let it go. I keep a notepad ne t to m& laptop at all times. 5henever a thought enters m& head thats unrelated to the work Im doing on the computer, I write it down on the notepad, which acts as a mental sidebar. I could keep an open document on the laptop and switch to it when I need to write something down, but I find that switching awa& from m& primar& document breaks m& focus in a wa& that keeping a notepad to the side does not. If &oure alread& using a ruled notepad to take notes or draft something, and an unrelated thought occurs to &ou, &ou can create a sidebar one(third of the wa& in from the right edge with a downstroke spanning DE lines, or whatever number is suitable, making a second margin. 'ome stationer& providers make meeting note worksheets with e plicit sidebars for secondar& notes. 2an& people know to write things down, but the& tr& to evaluate their significance before deciding if the&re reall& worth writing down. /hat puts the cart before the horse, since people are often not in a conte t where the& can devote the attention necessar& to assess the their significance. )or our purposes, if it has even potential significance7 it9s )orth )riting do)n. A sill& idea might not be so sill& after all once its been thought through. An idea that cant be acted on now might be actionable later, when circumstances change. An idea might need a few more minutes of research than &ou have to spare at the moment. 4ollection tools need to be ubi,uitous to be effective. It should be as eas& to capture a new idea walking down the street as it is sitting at a desk. If &ou dont alread& have a ubi+uitous capture tool on hand, e periment with different solutions according to &our preferences7

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A pocket(si6ed spiral notebook A voice recorder A 2oleskine A folded sheet of paper A cell phone, leaving a voice mail or a te t message to &ourself Inde cards A 9otetaker wallet A !DA or smartphone All of these have their advantages and disadvantages. Its almost alwa&s faster to capture with pen and paper than with electronic devices, but the& re+uire double entr& if the notes are ultimatel& going into an electronic tool like .oogle Calendar. !DAs and smartphones have the benefit of s&nchroni6ing with certain !ersonal Information 2anagers 3!I2s , e.g. :utlook, iCal, !alm Desktop4, automating the data transfer, but capturing the information initiall& is often less fluid than writing it b& hand. -valuate factors like ease of use, ease of information transfer, weight, bulk, aesthetics and cost.

Pattern #:: Processing

'ome things that have our attention come from the outside world. /he phone rings, and we discover that a great home 0ust

went on the market. :ther things that have our attention come from within. !erhaps its time to look into going back to school as a grad student. In both cases, determining whether or not these opportunities are worth pursuing, and if so, what course of action is re+uired to pursue them, re+uires processing. !rocessing invokes !attern FD, :utcome and Action, b& taking each internal or e ternal input, deciding what it means, and what should be done with it. !rocessing an intra& involves taking each paper from the tra&, one at a time, and appl&ing a decision tree that begins with the following +uestions to ask and answwer7

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5hat is this8 Is with actionable8 If the answer is &es7 5hat is the successful outcome8 5hat is the ne t action8 /he ne t action gets put on a 9e t Actions list. If the successful outcome re+uires more than one action step to acheive it, the outcome is entered on a Pro.ect List. 'ince most outcomes re+uire more than one action, at least two lists will need to be maintained7 a !ro0ect list and a 9e t Action list 3or 0ust Action list4. :ptionall&, ne t actions can be organi6ed into a pattern to be introduced later, called Conte t "ists, in which each list represents the ph&sical conte t re+uired to take the action7 a separate action list for all ne t actions re+uiring a computer, another list for actions that re+uire being at home, and so on. If the answer to Is this actionable8 is no, we ask7

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Do I need to keep this8 If the answer is no, we toss it in the trash. If the answer is &es, we ask7 5ill this be actionable later, or is this reference8 If the item will be actionable at a later date, like an invoice, &ou two options. ;ou can enter the actionable date on &our calendar and file the original paper in &our .eneral 1eference )iling s&stem if it still needs to be kept to support the action. ;ou can also defer the action b& filing the paper in a /ickler )ile, a special set of folders organi6ed b& the date on which their contents will be processed. *oth filing s&stems are patterns that will be covered later in this series. If the item is not actionable, but ma& be of use later, create a file for it within &our A(@ general refence files. /his decision tree gets applied to ever& single item in &our intra&, one item at a time, until &ou get to 6ero base7 an empt& intra&. /his assumes, of course, that ever& potentiall& actionable piece of paper in &our environment has been properl& collected into &our intra& in the first place. Ideall&, the onl& paperwork on &our desk 3aside from the intra&4 is for the one pro0ect &oure activel& working on at the moment. If &oure not working on it, the inactive paperwork should have been either filed or discarded after processing. A workspace thus organi6ed firewalls &our attention to keep &our focus on the one thing &oure currentl& working on. !rocessing also applies to all items in &our internal environment. In the e ample of considering going to grad school, we decide in this case that were not &et committed to going back to school, but that we are committed to getting enough information about the graduate program to make a decision. /his t&pe of research ob0ective is called a process pro0ect, which usuall& gets entered on a pro0ect list as "ook into G, or 1HD G. /he ob0ect of process pro0ects is not open(ended information gathering, but to research an option 0ust enough to make a decision on it. In this case, we want to get enough information to decide whether or not we want to commit to enrolling in graduate school. 'ince research is an actionable item, we decide what the ne t action is7 in this case, we put, .oogle *est graduate programs in *iolog&, on our ne t actions list. 'ince this is onl& the ver& ne t action in our research, and others will follow, we put 1HD *iolog& 2asters degrees onto our pro0ect list. /his clarifies our immediate goal, and the ver& ne t action step necessar& to acheive it. Internall& generated items that re+uire processing must first be e ternali6ed though a mind sweep, a list of ever&thing thats on &ou mind7 errands to run, people to call, travel plans to make, and so on. ;ou keep listing items until theres nothing further to put down , until &our head is empt&. :nce &ou have the list in front of &ou, each item on the list gets processed one at a time and crossed off. :nce ever& item is crossed off, &ou should have and outcome and action corresponding to each item if thats actionable. If &ouve decided that an item is not actionable, theres nothing further to do be&ond crossing it off. If the item is something &oud like to consider to later action, like Cacation in 1ome, put it on a separate list called 'omeda&I2a&be, which is similar to the pro0ect list, e cept that 'omeda&I2a&be onl& contains items that &ouve decided are not active pro0ects. Jltimatel&, processing to 6ero base takes ever& new item , ph&sical or mental , that enters &our world, and parks it somewhere in &our e ternal, trusted s&stem.

Pattern #;: <eneral =eference >iles

:ne of the main obstacles to decluttering is the lack of a designated area, other than the wastebasket, to move clutter to. /he main difference between a librar& and a pile of books is that the librar& imposes order on disorder, making the collection a functional s&stem. /he same principle can be applied to virtuall& an& pile or scatter of papers in a home or office. (he antidote to paper clutter is an simple A to ? general reference filing system . As the sa&ing goes, )ile,

dont pile. .eneral reference files hold all the paperwork in &our environment that &ouve collected and processed. Is that piece of paper on the kitchen counter trash, or is it worth keeping8 Is it something that re+uires an action, or is it something that 0ust needs to be saved for reference8 If the answer to these +uestions are the latter in both cases, the paper either gets put in an e isting file, or we create a new file for it , even if its onl& a single piece of paper. 8f it9s )orth 5eeping7 it9s )orth filing. As the name implies, general reference files are not intended to store speciali6ed records, like bookkeeping, that re+uire whole filing cabinets to themselves. /he A(to(@ s&stem creates a set a placeholders for new paperwork, though theres nothing that actuall& prevents using the same s&stem for bookkeepingB its 0ust a matter of having enough cabinet space for all of the files. )our drawers are the norm of most individuals home and office needs, though Ive pared m& files down to fit in a single two(draw file cabinet. /he top drawer holds m& tickler file in the front, and m& suppl& of blank folders and hangers in the back. /he bottom drawer holds m& A(to(@ files. (ry to 5eep the dra)ers under three ,uarters full. :nce &ou anticipate having to stuff a new file in with effort, &oull start to unconsciousl& resist making the file in the first place. 8nvest in a good file cabinet7 one )here the dra)ers roll in and out smoothly )ithout much friction . )or a &ear I tried to cut corners b& using a plastic file cabinet at home that looked nice, but had drawers that became hard to pull out once the weight of additional files began to bear down on them. /he usabilit& contrast between the m& home file cabinet and m& metal office file cabinet 3which rolled in and out smoothl&4 made it obvious that plastic file cabinets were a false econom&. Its more frugal in the long run the best file cabinet &ou can afford. In ./D, the recommended practice use a typeset labeler for creating files. 5hile this does make labelling a little slower, the increased legibilit& that results from having a drawer of t&peset(labelled files make retrieval much faster. Keep the labeler on or in your des5 at all times7 and al)ays have a supply of blan5 file folders on hand 3I recommend third(cut4. =aving these readil& available helps minimi6e the resistance to creating new files b& eliminating the need to search for their components. 4reating a ne) file should ta5e less than ;0 seconds7 other)ise the practice is li5ely to taper off as an ongoing habit. Another practice in ./D canon is to use hangerless files. =anging file s&stems like !endafle add unnecessar& overhead to filing, unless the file cabinet being used lacks a follower block 3the ad0ustable backstop that keeps the files upright4. If a hanging file s&stem is alread& in place and cannot be modified due to compan& polic&, or because the cabinet lacks a follower, a good strateg& is to assign one file per hanger, and label the folder itself instead of attaching the plastic labelling tab to the hanger. If &ou have an empt& drawer to spare, its a good idea to use it for storing &our blank folders , and if necessar&, &our empt& hangers.

Pattern #@: Activity ?ones

Designating a place for ever&thing is necessar& for good organi6ation, but not sufficient. /hings need to be accessible where the& will actuall& be used, not 0ust where the& should be used. :rgani6e resources around &our activit& 6ones. If someone fre+uentl& reads in a living room chair facing a television, its not practical to keep the librar& D$ feet awa&. At the least, it would make sense to install a satellite bookshelf a couple of feet awa& from the chair, where the persons current reading can be accessed b& simpl& leaning over rather than having to get up from the chair and walk. /o better organi6e tools and resources, pa& closer attention to &our actual usage patterns than to formal or conventional placement strategies. Ask &ourself, 5ould I be willing to put this back here if I were tired or la6&8 If the answer is no, consider moving its repositor& or workspace to accommodate real life. /he best place to store something is as close as possible to where &oull actuall& use it. A general reference filing cabinet is best placed within swivel distance of &our desk , not swivel(and(roll. If &ou t&picall& open &our mail in the kitchen instead of &our work desk, consider installing an intra& on the kitchen counter and process &our mail there. ;ou can use a plastic folder labelled /o Desk for an& documents &ouve processed that need to be carried over to &our work desk for filing. 'ometimes its worth spending the e tra mone& to bu& duplicates of things &ou use in two places. 5hen I was an architecture student, I often found m&self getting assignments that re+uired access to m& drawing and model(building tools, and carr&ing m& toolkit from home to campus and back was labor(intensive. 'o I 0ust bought another set of the same tools, and kept one set at home, and one set on campus , then I could start work immediatel& after getting an assignment, and not have to wait until I got home. -as& access is critical for friction free workflow. Dont rel& on an organi6ational scheme that re+uires e ceptional disciple. 5ork hard at designing s&stems that allow &ou to be la6&, and &oull become more en0o&abl& productive.

Pattern #8: (yping Apeed

)or most of us these da&s, the computer is the hub of our production, research, entertainment and even sociali6ing. :ne of the most critical ke&s to computer fluenc& , more than word processing, spreadsheet manipulation or even web browsing , is increasing t&ping speed. /he ke&board is the primar& interface on all desktop computers and most applications, so training the fingers to know their wa& around it autonomicall& build helps build confidence and competence in 0ust about an&thing that needs to be done in a digital world. Increased t&ping speed is a rising tide that lifts all boats. /&ping speed doesnt need to be e ceptional to be effectiveB it 0ust needs to be fluent. Bunting and pec5ing re,uires at least some degree of conscious effort7 ma5ing it a persistent distraction . -stablishing a mature, error(free t&ping speed shifts the emphasis from how to t&pe to what to t&pe.

>ifty )ords per minute is a good baseline for fluent typing . -ver& increase in speed be&ond this is a commensurate gain in productivit&. .iven the same rate of composition, writers 3people writing an&thing from a novel to an email4 who double their t&ping speed obviousl& double their output. 5hile some writers to self(consciousl& deliberate ever& word, man& writers think out sentences faster than the& can t&pe. )or the latter group, t&ping speed becomes their bottleneck. 'low t&ping also prevents man& people from repl&ing immediatel& to emails that could be answered in under two minutes at the baseline rate. Bunting and pec5ing ma5es email far more labor intensive than it needs to be . (yping trainers /here are man& different approaches to developing t&ping skills, from t&ping classes to books, but I would recommend either training software designed for the purpose, like 2avis *eacon /eaches /&ping, or an online t&ping trainer, like the )lash(based web application at /&ping(lessons.org. Ahortcut 5eys "earning to use the shortcut ke&s for &our operating s&stem, office suite, browser, or an& applications being used on a dail& basis will eliminate another speed bottleneck7 the mouse. (he shortcut 5eys for clipboard commands (e!g! 4trl 4 for 4opy on &indo)s" are four times faster than using a mouse to navigate to the menu . A good habit to get into when using the mouse is clicking on the menu with the command &ou want to selectB then instead of selecting it with the mouse, use the shortcut ke& combination listed to the right of the command. ;oull memori6e the shortcuts for &our most fre+uentl& used commands ver& +uickl&. )ind out where the shortcut ke& reference is in the applications &ou use the most. In the te t editor I use for blogging, KDE, all of the shortcuts are listed in the =elp card that comes up b& hitting )D. In .oogle applications like .mail, the +uestion mark 3'hift(I4 brings up the shortcut ke& reference.

Pattern #C: (ic5ler >ile

'ome paperwork is relevant now, and some wont be until later. If the car insurance bill is due on the D%th, but &ou get paid on the Lth, &ou can put the pa&ment reminder on &our calendar. :r &ou can write the check now, stick the bill and check in the envelope, and file the envelope in a dated folder in &our tickler file. A tickler file 3or suspense file4 is a file drawer comprised of M% folders7 one set of folders numbered from D to %D representing the da&s in the month, and another set D# folders individuall& labelled for each month. /he folder at the front is the one numbered for tomorrows date, followed b& the folders consecutivel& numbered through the rest of the month, then the ones leading up to toda&s date. *ehind the da& folders are the set of month folders , the upcoming month at the front, followed b& the subse+uent months. &henever you get any paper based material that9s not actionable until a later date7 you drop it in the appropriate folder in the tic5ler file. If the later date is in the current month, drop it in the folder numbered for that date. If the date is on a later month, drop it in the folder for that month. 0ach morning7 you empty the contents of that day9s folder into your intray7 and file the empty folder at the bac5 of the day folders! At the beginning of each month7 you ta5e the contents of that month9s folder and distribute each item into its appropriate date folder! /he tickler file essentiall& works as a three(dimensional calendar. 9ot ever&one will need or want a to set up one. A calendar might be enough, especiall& if &our work environment is largel& paperless. *ut a tickler file does have its advantages7

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)iling the source material is usuall& faster than writing a calendar entr& ;ou can keep &our calendar clear of date(specific items that arent mission critical )iling the entire document to reference on the date &ou need to see it avoids having to separatel& file the item and make a calendar entr& for it ;ou dont have to cop& parts of the document for reference, since &oure storing the whole document ;ou can defer a thorough reading of a comple document to a date that &ou anticipate having more time to concentrate ;ou can file reminders for making a decision on something later, and keep &our calendar for firm commitments e clusivel& /he biggest disadvantage to a tickler file is that you have to actually use it daily. ;ou cant sort of use one. )iling a bill for a later date is onl& effective if &ou can trust that &oure updating &our tickler file ever& single da&. If &oure 0ust setting up the habit, &ou ma& to start out b& duplicating an& mission critical items on &our calendar as a fail safe. Dses *ills are the most obvious application for a tickler file, but there are plent& of others. ;ou can write reminders to &ourself to resurface on a specific or arbitrar& date. If &ou come across an article from a maga6ine, or printed from the web, &ou can file it for some date after a crunch period when &ou have more time. If a thought occurs to &ou that &oud like to bring up at ne t /uesda&s meeting, write it down and drop it in the file for that da& , &ou ma& wind up with a pile of ideas that accumulated over the week to bring up during the meeting. If &oure stud&ing, &ou can reinforce &our memori6ation of the material b& asking &ourself, 5hen will I start to forget this8B then file it for review to avoid the risk of forgetting what &ouve forgotten. ;ou can appl& the same techni+ue to reinforcing the motivation to establish a new habit7 5hen will m& enthusiasm start to wane8 ;ou can drop in +uotes or

essa&s from virtual mentors at determined or random future dates. 1eminders like these would be harder to cram into a calendar.

Pattern #$0: 4onte*t Lists

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Conte t lists are a wa& of organi6ing ne t actions b& the ph&sical place or resource needed to e ecute the actions. A shopping list is a familiar conte t list. Instead of adding shopping items to a /o Do list, we segment the items we need to purchase at the store, filtering out the other things we need to attend to. /hen when were in the store, we can concentrate on what we need to specificall& do there without worr&ing about the phone calls we have to make, or the other errands we need to run. /he principle behind the shopping list can be applied to other conte ts. A list e clusivel& for actions that have to be done at the computer, one for things that have to be done at home, and another for things that can onl& be done at the office are e amples of practical conte t lists. 5h& maintain separatel& lists8 Isnt it simpler to have a single list for ever&thing8 1y filtering out a vie) of )hat you can9t do in a certain conte*t7 you9re left )ith a list that inherently doable . 5hen &oure at a computer, &oure confident that when &ou look at &our NComputer list, the list contains ever&thing that &ou actuall& can do, and nothing that &ou cant do. /asks that cant be done at the computer 0ust add clutter. /he most effective task list is one that onl& has items that are actionable. (he easiest )ay to go numb to a tas5 list is to combine actionable items )ith inactionable ones . 2ultiple lists can obviousl& get out of hand. ;oull need to e periment with different list organi6ations before finding the optimal arra& of lists that work with &our lifest&le. If &ou work at home, &ou ma& not need separate action lists for NComputer, NCalls and N=ome 3the N s&mbol is a common notation for conte ts4. *ut sometimes it helps to create separate conte ts an&wa&. It forces &ou to define a task as a ph&sical, visible action. Does Contact Oohn translate to Call Oohn or -mail Oohn8 A )ell defined ne*t action list should hold the results of your thin5ing so that acting from it re,uires little or no further thin5ing. 9earl& ever&one needs to customi6e his or her conte t lists at some point, but here are the most common ones7

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N=ome NComputer N:ffice NAn&where N-rrands NCalls NAgendas /he latter conte t contains issues that need to be discussed with a particular person. /here are two main wa&s of organi6ing agendas lists. ;ou can simpl& create separate NAgendas lists appending an individuals name to each list 3NAgendas()red4B or in an electronic organi6er, &ou can usuall& create a nested list7 the names of the individuals are listed in NAgendas, and the actual agenda get listed in the note field for each entr&. If &ou use a !alm organi6er, see =ow to 'et up ./D on a !alm for more information. 'ome uncommon, but potentiall& useful conte ts7

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NComputer(:nline 3if connectivit& is not constant4 N"ibrar& N9otebook or N5riting NPsecondar& work siteQ 9ever hesitate to add a new list if &ou suspect that theres a better wa& of filtering &our tasks, and importantl&, dont hesitate to drop and consoldate lists if the&re 0ust adding overhead. /he goal is to have a few lists as possible, but as man& as &ou need.

Pattern #$$: Bard Landscape

A calendar serves two purposes7

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It shows what times are committed It implies b& omission what times are available /he first one is obvious. /he second one contains a subtle corollar&7 A calendar is not a (o Eo list. /he +uickest wa& to erode the authorit& of a calendar is to fill it with tasks that ma& or ma& not get done that da&. Jse a calendar for planning, not goal setting. (as5s fall into t)o categories of time commitments: hard landscape and discretionary time . In landscaping, hard features like patios and fences are non(negotiable fi tures, unlike plants and rocks that can be moved to accommodate shifting design priorities. In a task management s&stem, a calendar is most effectivel& used for fi ed

activities like meetings, deliveries and scheduled performances. (he )hitespace on the calendar is used for )or5ing off of +e*t Actions lists. /hree main t&pes of entries go on the calendar7

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Appointments Commitments to and from others :ptional events or information specific to a da& and time "ook at the calendar not 0ust for things to do, but for intervals of discretionar& time to complete the highest priorit& ne t actions that can be done in that time in &our current conte t. (he calendar and action lists )or5 together! %ne is not a substitute for the other. :ptional events are time(dependent events like a concert, seminar or television show. /he&re not hard landscape in the sense that the& have to be addressed, but that the& happen on a specific da& and time that makes the opportunit& lost afterward. 'ome items are specific to a da&, but not necessaril& to a particular time. /hings like filing ta es or shipping an order need to happen b& the end of the da& or the workda&, an& time within the da& is fine. Da&(specific items can be entered as All Da& or 9o /ime events on &our electronic calendar. :n paper calendars that organi6e the da& in hourl& line items, place da&(specific entries in the /o Do sidebars to avoid binding them to a certain hour. (a5e care of the calendar entries before ne*t action items. Items that are time(specific, of course, go on the calendar at their appropriate time. /he advantage of taking the hard landscape approach is that &ou keep as much clutter as possible off of the calendar, so that when &ou look at it, &oure sure that the entries for that da& are the ones that actuall& need to get done, and not 0ust shoulds.

Pattern #$2: Eeferred &or5

Do it nowR is often good advice, but depending on what needs to be done, now is not necessaril& the most strategic action choice. Fany times )e prioriti2e our reactions to information based on ho) recently it entered our )orld7 or ho) much emotional charge it carries. Acting on an& intention the moment it occurs ma& even be a form of procrastination when priorities are taken into account. 5e want to do better than react to latest(and(loudest. A task can be done, delegated or deferred. 'ince we can onl& do one thing at a time, but often think of more things faster than we can act on them, the discipline of collecting and processing an& thought other than the one thing were activel& doing is the master ke& to maintaining focus. (rying to 5eep one thing in mind )hile )or5ing on another inevitably compromises one of the t)o. Attention is diverted from the active task in the effort to hold the unrelated information in short(term memor& , mental 1A2. /heres no wa& to do ever&thing at once. /heres no wa& to do even more than one thing at once. 5hats usuall& called multitasking is actuall& rapid switching between single tasks. Ouggling rote tasks doesnt consume mental 1A2, but as soon as one task re+uires concentration, it becomes essential to eliminate secondar& tasks to prevent the overhead of regrouping. As soon as a ne) thought occurs that9s not immediately actionable or applicable to )hat you9re currently doing7 )rite it do)n. /hen process what &ouve collected b& deciding if theres an& action re+uired on it, and if so, identif& the successful outcome and the ne t action. :therwise, decide if its 0ust a thought &ou can scrap or stage for review at a later date. /here are four placeholders, or buckets for deferring work in a trusted task management s&stem7

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A +e*t Actions list for tasks with no time dependencies A calendar for hard landscape items that are time dependent A Aomeday/Faybe list, if its a potential pro0ect with no commitment on, e cept for evaluating in a 5eekl& 1eview A tic5ler file for items to review at a later date, but not during a 5eekl& 1eview An&one implementing a thorough ./D s&stem will review ne t actions, the calendar and the 'omeda&I2a&be list at least once a week during a scheduled self(consulting session called a 5eekl& 1eview, which will be discussed later in this series. /he tickler file defers an item until a specific date, at which time it goes into the intra& for processing. Determining the appropriate placeholder for each processed item, as well as filing non(actionable reference material, is know as the organi6ing phase, following the collecting and processing phases.

Pattern #$3: ()o Finute =ule

'ome tasks are better put off until higher(priorit& tasks are completed. If &oure working on a sales report, and suddenl& think about researching a new car &oud like to bu&, its best to put 1esearch car purchase on &our pro0ect list or "ook up !rius on Consumer1eports.com on &our NComputer list, and handle it later. (he time and attention it )ould ta5e a)ay from finishing the sales report )ould ma5e it counterproductive to do no) . *ut if an action is ver& short, its more efficient to do at once than add to a list. /he /wo 2inute 1ule is a guideline to keep &our lists free of minutiae. /he rule is simple7 8f an action ta5es less than t)o minutes7 do it no)7 even if it9s a lo) priority item!

/heres simpl& no point in putting it off. 'ince a ne t action thats not being done in the moment would otherwise need to be written down to sta& out of &our head, &ou need to think about whether or not its more efficient to add it to a ne t action list, or to get it done once and for all. At t)o minutes or less7 it )ould ta5e longer to )rite an action do)n7 revie) it later7 and chec5 it off than it )ould be to .ust do it in the first place . /heres another advantage to appl&ing the /wo 2inute 1ule. 1y consciously as5ing yourself7 -&ill this ta5e more than t)o minutes'/7 you9re less li5ely to become engrossed to relatively short actions aren9t short enough to prevent becoming digressions. Is that +uick lookup on 5ikipedia reall& a two minute action8 1eading the article might take a few more minutes than e pected. It might be more strategic to look up the article, print it, put it in a 1eadI1eview folder, and read it when &ou have more time and attention to devote. /he /wo 2inute 1ule is a guard against serial digression , rabbit trails. :ne fre+uent reservation about the /wo 2inute 1ule is that a person risks spending all da& on small items, never getting to the larger, more important ones. (he first ,uestion that needs to be as5ed about any action is: Eoes this need to be done it all' If the answer is &es, the onl& alternatives are to do it now, or write it down for doing later. /he more items &ou see on &our list, the more likel& &ou are to resist looking at the list, even if half the items on it could be done in %E minutes combined. 'econd, the number of items that actuall& take less than two minutes is much smaller in realit& than it is intellectuall& when &ou appl& the rule for each action as it comes up. /he whole idea of spending all da& doing two minute actions is based on assumption, not putting the rule into practice. /hird, .ust because an action is short doesn9t ma5e it unimportant. 9ot taking one minute to approve a purchase order can hold up a ver& large pro0ect. Its not uncommon for si6able pro0ect to get held up for hours or da&s simpl& because someone shoved the paperwork involved to one side, and didnt look to see that all that was re+uired on it was a signature. I once took over a 0ob processing orders in DE minutes that the previous emplo&ee kept piled for an average of four da&s. 5ith email, its critical do decide whether or not a message can be answered or addressed in two minutes or less. -mail accumulates too +uickl& to simpl& ga6e at each message without making a decision about it. Eecide no) if an email can be trashed7 archived7 addressed or ans)ered in t)o minutes. If not, immediatel& identif& the outcome and ne t action re+uired, and place them on &our pro0ectIne t actions list.

Pattern #$6: =ead/=evie) >older

Information overload is the stress of infinite opportunit&. In a world of bottomless information resources, the need to ruthlessl& gatekeep our information intake is absolute. 5orking online is a walk through a minefield of time sinks disguised as +uick lookups. %ne of the best reality chec5s against getting dra)n into interesting articles is applying the ()o Finute =ule: -&ill this ta5e longer than t)o minutes to read'/ 8f the ans)er is yes7 read it no) if it9s appropriate 3as adults, we know when and what to read at work4. 8f the ans)er is no7 print the article and put it in a folder labelled =ead/=evie)! Dse any odd )indo)s of time during the day to read these items. If a meeting starts late, if &oure on a train, if &oure stuck in a long line, chip awa& at &our 1eadI1eview folder. Jse the 1eadI1eview folder for an& paper(based discretionar& reading , not 0ust printouts of online articles, but memos, maga6ine clippings, or an& other materials that fit. (he =ead/=evie) folder is for discretionary reading7 not for active pro.ects. !ro0ect support material should be put in appropriatel& labelled pro0ect folders, which will be addressed later. Content in 1eadI1eview is unsorted and unprioriti6ed. /here are other, possibl& more ecological, wa&s of collecting 1eadI1eview material. ;ou can bookmark articles, email them to &ourself, or archive them if the& arrived as 1'' feeds. *ut a ph&sical folder has a few advantages7

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It can be read through an&where, particularl& offline !aper immediatel& gives &ou a sense of how much volume &ouve committed &ourself to reading, encouraging &ou to eliminate the nonessential It corrals papers that didnt originate online, preventing them from spreading out over ever& surface in the home and office 'eparate placeholders for discretionar& reading and pro0ect support material prevents perceiving all paperwork as a single mass that cant be easil& prioriti6ed >eeping articles off of &our 9e t Actions keeps &our lists manageabl& short 1eadI1eview can work in combination with a tickler file if &oud like to manage the total amount of reading that goes into &our folder each da&. Instead of filing an articles directl& in 1eadI1eview, &ou can distribute articles across future dates in the tickler file , one article each da&, for e ample.

Pattern #$:: Pro.ect >iles

!aperwork should not be used as a reminder of what to do with it. %nce the pro.ect and ne*t actions associated )ith a document have been identified and placed on their corresponding lists7 the best practice is to 5eep the document out of sight until it9s actually needed. "ike books in a librar&, documents should be retrieved on an as(

needed basis, and filed awa& when not in use. =eserve the surface of your des5 for your one current tas57 and immediately file a)ay unrelated materials. 5hen determining what to do ne t, refer to &our calendar and ne t actions list, not &our paperwork. !aperwork associated with an action or pro0ect should be filed awa& in a labelled pro0ect support file. )or e ample, if the pro0ect is purchasing a new car, an& printed specifications, +uotes and other materials can be collected in a file labelled Car 1esearch, then stored in &our A(to(@ general reference filing s&stem. /he paperwork never gets a chance to mi with other paperwork on &our desk, since it and the paperwork for all of &our other pro0ects reside in &our file cabinet. 5hen &ou need ask the sales representative a +uestion, &ou can pull out the pro0ect support folder and have &our information at hand when &ou need to refer to it, then put it awa& at the end of the conversation. (he reference material is never in your )ay7 physically or mentally7 )hen you need focus on other tas5s . *& keeping pro0ect and action support material in labelled folders, and keeping discretionar& reading 3wiki printouts, interesting web articles, etc.4 in a separate 1eadI1eview folder, your brain )ill trust that if you need paper)or5 that9s related to an active pro.ect7 all you have to do is thin5 of the name of the pro.ect7 and you9ll 5no) )here to find it. Discretionar& reading does not need to be methodicall& inde ed. "et its current relevance and &our interest be &our guide. Active >olders 'ome files need to be retrieved throughout the da&, making repeat reaches to the file cabinet inconvenient. >or those fe) files7 5eep them in a tray on your des5 underneath your intray. *e sure to retire them to the file cabinet when the& no longer need to be close at hand. Gour des5 should be a )or5space7 not a storage bin. ;our 1eadI1eview folder should also have a tra& of its own. Labelling (ips Dse typeset labels. Jsing a t&peset labeler to label &our files instead of doing so b& hand is somewhat slower on the front end, but greatl& streamlines the retrieval process , especiall& when &ou see a cabinet of entirel& t&peset(labelled files. Aince each file is created once but retrieved many times7 ma5ing it as easy as possible to scan and locate the file is )orth the additional setup time. >eep the labeller as a permanent fi ture on &our desk, close at hand, to keep setup time to a minimum. *e sure to have a least one replacement cartridge on deck at all times, otherwise &ou ma& wind up a da&s worth of unlabelled files. 8f labelling is not fast and convenient7 you probably )on9t do it. (o ma5e folders reusable7 apply clear tape to the tabs. As mentioned in !attern FS7 .eneral 1eference )iles, we want to the tab on the folder itself, not a plastic tab that attaches to a folder hanger. If &ou put clear tape on the folder tab, an& t&peset labels &ou stick on will come off without much effort, allowing &ou to reuse them. If &oure setting up a new filing s&stem, &ou ma& want to spend the e tra time putting clear tape on all of &our folders. /his will save man& trips to the office suppl& store, not to mention mone&. >or fre,uently used pro.ect folders7 add a duplicate label at the bottom edge . )or the tra& that holds &our fre+uentl& retrieved folders, insert the folders with their spines facing &ou, so that &oure not looking at the tops of an unidentifiable bundle of papers. If the files are given a label toward their spine, &ou wont waste time shuffling through papers to find the right set.

Pattern #$;: (en Finute Eash

Action is e periential. /he more we e perience doing, the less effort we reali6e it takes. /he more we imagine doing, the more effort it appears to take. &e need a )ay to e*ternali2e our thin5ing, a tool to b&pass our mental process. )ortunatel&, theres a time(tested wa& to 0ump start an& daunting task7 Aet a timer for $0 minutes! Attend to the tas5 )ithout interruption until the timer goes off! :nl& &our presence is re+uired. If &ou can fill the DE minutes with constant output, so much the better. If most of the time is spent doing nothing but thinking about how to start, thats fine , &ou were doing that an&wa&. (he ob.ective is not production7 per se7 but disrupting inertia. /he onl& rule is that &ou have to be where the action is for DE minutes, and do either absolutel& nothing else, or do nothing at all. :nce the timer has goes off, &ou have two options7 take a break, or set the timer for another uninterrupted session with a length of &our choosing. ;oull find, more often than not, that &oull want to continue. &hether you choose another $0 minutes7 30 minutes or 3 hours7 you9re committed to doing nothing else7 so choose the session length )isely . Dont bite off more than &ou can chew. 5hen the new session is over, take a break or do another session, repeating the process as often as necessar& or desired. /he initial DE minute length is arbitrar&, and can be ad0usted. If even DE minutes makes &ou an ious, set the timer for five. *ut be sure to use a timer. Eon9t 5eep time in your head, which is as inefficient as a professional musician practicing scales without a metronome. /racking time in &our head while tr&ing to focus on a task is like running a resource(intensive background application. ;our attention inevitabl& has to break awa& from &our primar& task to refocus on time orientation. :ne important e ception to single tasking, here or in an& conte t7 >eep a collection tool like a notepad close b& at all times. 8f a thought unrelated to your committed tas5 enters your head7 )rite it do)n7 then return to the tas5 . 5riting it down is not an interruption. ;oure writing down and diverting the interruption.

Pattern #$@: 1atching

1epetitive tasks are usuall& not high(priorit& ones, but the& still need to be done. /he fact that the& need to be done doesnt mean the& need to be done the moment the& have &our attention. Let them accumulate7 handling them at

optimally infre,uent intervals7 bet)een )hich you spend the bul5 of your time focusing on higher impact tas5s. Instead of making a commute for each new errand, write all errands on &our N-rrands conte t list 3after deciding that it reall& re+uire a ph&sical trip instead of, sa&, a phone call4, and aim to batch the completion of all errands in a single loop between home and work. Instead of making numerous non(emergenc& calls throughout the da&, set specific times to place and return phone calls. )or knowledge workers, email )ill be the single most repetitive tas5 that can benefit from batching . A common recommendation is for two email sessions per da&7 DD7EE am and M7EE pm, for e ample. Another is for once ever& hour. 1esponse re+uirements will naturall& depend on &our 0ob , batching is a non(starter for financial traders , but few 0obs actuall& re+uire the persistent availabilit& thats usuall& assumed. >ine tune your email batching by starting )ith once an hour7 then gradually increase the length bet)een sessions. 'ome people will find that even once a da& is enough. -scape the inbo . )ocus primaril& on output. /urn off email notifications and decide to let email collect in sufficient +uantit& to 0ustif& processing the entire inbo in one sitting. Checking email at arbitrar& times leads to a habit of looking for emergencies, which &oull inevitabl& find as a self(fulfilling prophec&. 2ost of us our have at least some inefficient people in our lives who impose manufactured emergencies on us in order to make themselves feel important. A protocol of ans)ering email at regular intervals helps put you in control of the information flo)7 thin5ing instead of reacting.

Pattern #$8: &aiting >or List

/o bring a pro0ect to closure, we need not onl& to keep track of our own actions, but those of others. "egac& /o Do lists are not designed to track e ternal dependencies. 5e need a language to identif& all components of a pro0ect, not 0ust the proactive. &henever a pro.ect re,uires information or a delegated action from others7 put it on a list called &aiting >or . An e ample of a short 5aiting )or list would be7

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2ichael TI#D7 .antt for store remodel "aura TI#E7 artwork for client presentation Ama6on.com TI#E7 Andrei 1oublev Criterion DCD )ranks Auto TIDL7 status on transmission replacement 0ach item contains the person or organi2ation from )hich you need a deliverable7 the date )hen the action )as delegated or )hen the information )as re,uested7 and the action or information itself . :ther information potentiall& helpful to include are due dates, phone numbers or email addresses of the parties involved. If &ou have an electronic organi6er, &ou can paste sections of pertinent emails or information from relevant websites into the note field of the corresponding line item on &our list. /he 5aiting )or list needs to be reviewed as regularl& as other conte t lists , at least once a da& in &our dail& review, but as often as &ou need to ensure that &our pro0ects arent being orphaned b& the inaction of others. If &oure responsible for the pro0ect, &oure as responsible for the component actions of the pro0ect &ou delegate to others as &our own actions. Avoid 5eeping a mental account of )hat others need to bring to the pro.ect . A bus& office culture fre+uentl& makes ever& attempt to stop and think seem frivolous, and its tempting to take the shortcut of assuming that others will do 3or remember accuratel&, if at all4 what &ou ask of them. If its important enough to be done, its important enough to write down and track. =aving a 5aiting )or list is essential for identif&ing dependencies that need to be resolved before &ou can take further action on a pro0ect. )inali6ing the budget for a remodel re+uires 2ichael to present a plan that includes a timeline with estimates on labor and materials. /he client presentation cant be rehearsed until the !ower!oint file is finished, re+uiring artwork from "aura. :nce &ou get in the habit of having a current list for ever& incompletion, it becomes much easier to identif& potential problems before the& become actual.

Pattern #$C: Aomeday/Faybe List

/he flip side of managing commitments is managing options. (here9s a subtle but fundamental difference bet)een choosing not to act on an option and not choosing to act on it. /he former is proactive triage, the latter is indecision. 'ome things are not worth doing now, but possibl& later. 'ome things, though interesting, are not realisticall& worth committing time or energ& on, now or later. >or any pro.ect that you9re not able or )illing to commit to no)7 but possibly later7 put it on a list called Aomeday/Faybe. A few items on the list would be things like7

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/rain for and complete a marathon Install hardwood floors 'tart a speech consulting business

Cacation in "uang !rabang 'omeda&I2a&be completes an organi6ational framework of five ma0or placeholders. Intra& paperwork and inbo email will either get discarded or processed into one or more of the following categories7

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9e t Actions 3optionall& organi6ed b& conte t4 !ro0ects Calendar 5aiting )or 'omeda&I2a&be Putting items on a Aomeday/Faybe list allo)s you to consciously decide )hether or not to 5eep them as future options. .oing to graduate school might be a worthwhile pro0ect, but not actionable until &ouve fulfilled certain short(term career goals. !utting a down pa&ment on a car might not be a priorit& until &ouve established an ade+uate emergenc& fund. Changing cell phone carriers might be an option to take after the contract with &our current provider has e pired. 'ome pro0ects seem like remote possibilities, like starting a newspaper, but no matter how much &ou tr& to dismiss them, the& keep haunting &ou. Keep them on your Aomeday/Faybe list7 and out of your head . -ach week &ou get a chance to review each item on the list and decide that its still a 'omeda&I2a&be, that its time to make it an active pro0ect with a ne t action, or that its time to cross it off the list once and for all. In a world of infinite options, theres alwa&s the danger of the 'omeda&I2a&be list getting out of hand. 2ost people who keep the list find that it becomes larger than their !ro0ect list. 'o how to we decide whether to put it on 'omeda&I2a&be, or leave it off entirel&8 8f there9s a strong possibility that you9ll thin5 of the item again over time7 it should probably go on Aomeday/Faybe. /here are other wa&s to manage options. If &ou have a tickler file, &ou might want to write a note to &ourself, and file it for review at a date thats arbitrar& 3e.g. in two weeks4 or relevant 3three da&s before an event4B then its out of the regular review process. ;ou can defer a decision b& putting the item on &our calendar, and review it on that date. 8f you have many options that fall in a single category7 li5e EHEs to buy or boo5s to read7 it9s more manageable to 5eep them in their o)n chec5lists. 'omeda&I2a&be is ideal for items that &ou would potentiall& migrate to &our !ro0ect list. )or instance, I keep a backlog of article ideas on a checklist, articles currentl& being written on m& !ro0ect list, and imminent writing pro0ects on 'omeda&I2a&be. *ut how &ou manage future options is more of an art than a science. - periment until &ou come up with a set of placeholders that makes intuitive and logical sense.

Pattern #20: Process Pro.ects

5hen were undecided on whether or not to commit to a pro0ect, one option is to shelve the pro0ect on a 'omeda&I2a&be list. *ut sometimes indecision stems from insufficient information. 5e need to get enough data to make sure that deciding not to do something is a proactive choice, made from reason or informed intuition, not intellectual la6iness. 8f you don9t have enough information to commit to a pro.ect7 ma5e getting the information the pro.ect . ;ou want to start a speech consulting business, but keep putting it off due to a tacit uncertaint& that theres enough of a market for it. *efore embarking on a pro0ect called 'tart a speech consulting business, the first pro0ect that needs to be completed is resolving the uncertaint&7 Assess market for speech consulting services. /hen determine the ne t action or subpro0ect. An e ample would be 'et up .oogle Adwords campaign for multivariate test. 'ince this is not something most people have the knowledge to do in one step, it would probabl& best go on the !ro0ect list. /hen we need a solid ne t action to move the pro0ect forward , ma&be 1ead introductor& pages on adwords.google.com. &e9re basically processing an potential pro.ect to see if it9s )orth doing . Its a feasibilit& stud&. !rocessing a pro0ect is a pro0ect in itself , a look into or process pro0ect. 1HD is a common shorthand for process pro0ects on a !ro0ect list, as in 1HD7 .etting a financial advisor. ;ou might prefer others7

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Assess "ook into 1esearch Determine -valuate Compare /est Draft *rainstorm 9otice that the latter two phrases involve getting information from yourself rather than outside resources.

'ometimes &ou 0ust need to know if &ou know enough to move a pro0ect forward. (hin5 t)ice about refle*ively consuming more information instead of thin5ing proactively . If &ou draw a blank, the information resources will still be there. Process pro.ects are not open ended information buffets! (he ob.ect is to determine either )hether to proceed )ith the target pro.ect7 or ho) to proceed )ith it. )or action we need sufficient information, not complete information. If the target pro0ect is affirmative, put it on the !ro0ect list along with an& subpro0ects that might be involved 3an& multiaction task is referred to technicall& as a pro0ect, so subpro0ects also go on the !ro0ect list4. If its determined that the pro0ect is not worth pursuing at this time, but possibl& later, put in on the 'omeda&I2a&be list. If its determined that its not worth doing now or later, dump it out of the s&stem.

Pattern #2$: &ee5ly =evie)

A common problem with task management s&stems is the length of time that entries remain une amined. Action lists contain items that no longer reflect current realit&. /hings that seemed like good ideas at the time the& were written down are no longer priorities, no longer practical, or simpl& no longer interesting. =ard landscape items on calendars are as valuable for seeing the discretionar& time between them for working off action lists as the& are for tracking the appointments themselves. >or calendars7 action lists7 and other support material to )or5 effectively7 they need to be e*amined and updated regularlyI other)ise they fall into disuse7 and the mind ta5es up the slac5 for trac5ing actions and pro.ects7 )hich is unscalable . /he short(term memor& space, the mental 1A2, that defines our attention span is too limited to track do6ens of pro0ects simultaneousl&. 2an& people are surprised to find that when the& collect and process ever&thing in their lives for the first time 3paperwork, email, verbal commitments, inchoate plans4, the& t&picall& wind up with ME to SE pro0ects and DEE to #EE ne t actions. /his load is overwhelming directl& to the degree its kept in the mind instead of an e ternal s&stem. /he s&stem needs to be complete and current for the mind to trust it. /he goal is to keep &our mind clear. (o maintain a trusted system7 schedule a meeting )ith yourself at least once per )ee5 J a &ee5ly =evie) J to add missing actions and pro.ects7 to eliminate completed ones7 to eliminate or reevaluate ones that are stuc57 to update support materials7 and to reconsider active pro.ects and someday/maybe options . Achedule the )ee5ly revie) in advance. As with ph&sical e ercise, weekl& review sessions should be done to a protocol, not on a whim. Doing a weekl& review when the mood strikes is a formula for failure. Bo) long should a )ee5ly revie) ta5e' (he honest ans)er is: as long as it ta5es to no longer have anything on your mind . As &ou complete &our review, &ou reach a tipping point where &ou can start to feel &our stress and preoccupation with all the things &ou need to do melt awa& , it becomes like a #Dst Centur& form of meditation. ;ou catch up with &ourself, bringing &our relationship with the small and large changes in circumstance that have accrued over the last seven da&s into harmon&. (he practical ans)er is: one hour. 2an& erstwhile adherents of ./D undermine their once(per(week discipline b& either scheduling two or more hours for the weekl& review, or not scheduling the review at all. If &our review is e cessivel& long 3scheduled4 or open(ended 3unscheduled4, &oull end up looking for or creating gratuitous actions and pro0ects to fill time. A more refined ans)er is: start )ith one hour7 then ad.ust the time incrementally as needed . ;ou ma& actuall& need two hours, or possibl& %E minutes , when ever&thing is off of &our mind, &oull know. *ut to get the ball rolling, commit to a one(hour dash, then reflect on whether or not &ou have an& open loops that still need to be closed. &hen should the )ee5ly revie) be done' (he best )ay to 5no) is to e*periment. As a freelance writer I have the lu ur& of doing a weekl& review an& time, but I schedule a LE(minute block on 'aturda& mornings between U7EE and L7%E at the cafV around the corner from me. 5hen I had a real 2onda&(to('aturda& 0ob, I scheduled the review on 'unda& morning. 8 personally prefer doing )ee5ly revie)s on off days7 since nothing gets )or5 off of my mind li5e a )ee5ly revie)! %thers prefer to do their revie) during the )or5)ee57 in the office . A fre+uent opportune time is )rida& afternoon, when work is winding down but coworkers, clients and vendors are still accessible. 'ome people schedule theirs on 5ednesda& to get a second wind in the middle of the week. I found that I was too conscious of the surrounding bustle to do a focused weekl& review at work. I should have had the discipline to disengage from the commotion, but couldnt muster it. :thers find that having all their workstations resources at hand , from general reference files to personnel , makes a comprehensive review easier. &hat should the )ee5ly revie) consist of' 8t9s al)ays a good idea to )or5 from a &ee5ly =evie) chec5list to )or5 from rather than memory. /he se+uence can ver& according to &our preferences, but a checklist for a thorough review should include at least the following7

% % %

4ollect all loose papers, from receipts to contracts, and put them in &our intra& or In folder Process all email in your inbo* until it9s empty 3see Inbo @ero for the true meaning of an empt& inbo 4 =evie) your calendar for the previous )ee5, deleting or rescheduling items as needed

% % % % % % % %

=evie) your calendar for the follo)ing )ee5 and beyond, ensuring that its up to date, adding new items as needed =evie) any relevant pro.ect support materials, like plans and checklists Eo a mind s)eep7 write down an& thoughts or intentions that are potential actions or pro0ects Process your papers and your mind s)eep, discarding, filing or crossing off each processed item =evie) your +e*t Actions, eliminating now(irrelevant ones, reevaluating undoneIunclear ones 3the& ma& simpl& need to be reworded4, replacing completed ones with new ones for their respective pro0ects =evie) your Pro.ect List, adding new pro0ects, deleting completed and abandoned pro0ects, ensuring that each active pro0ect has at least one ne t action &ou can take to move it forward, and moving uncommitted pro0ects to 'omeda&I2a&be =evie) your Aomeday/Faybe list, adding newl& postponed items from &our !ro0ect list, adding new potential pro0ects, eliminating items no longer worth considering 1rainstorm and capture any ne) ideas that ma& have occurred as a result of &our mental housecleaning /he e ercise analog& holds. (he longer you )ait bet)een revie)s7 and harder it is to resume the habit. ;our mental inventor& keeps piling up, making the process of dealing with it that much more daunting. 'o do &our best to make weekl& reviews weekl&.

Pattern #22: Eaily =evie)

A complete review of pro0ects and ne t actions held once per week is critical for keeping &our tasks management s&stem trustworth&, preventing stuff 3unprocessed agreements, intentions, information4 from piling up in mind to the point of distraction. &ee5ly revie)s can be empo)ering7 but they can be too empo)ering. )rom the repose of the weekl& review, ever&thing looks doable, and its tempting to commit to more than whats realistic. (he ob.ect of the )ee5ly revie) is to batch our thin5ing about everything )e have to do during the )ee5 into a single session! (hen during the )ee57 )e )or5 off of the calendar and action lists that hold the results of that thin5ing. If the calendar and lists go unreviewed during the week, the purpose of having them is defeated. 9ot onl& do we need to remind ourselves of what to do each da&B we also need to reevaluate what not to do, and remove, defer or delegate it. (o 5eep your system current7 schedule a Eaily =evie), in which &ou7

1. 2. 3. 4.

!rocess &our intra&, email inbo and voice mail Do a mind sweep 1eview &our calendar 1eview &our action lists /he last three shouldnt take long , DE or D$ minutes at the most. /he most time consuming component of the weekl& review, reviewing the pro0ect list 3aside from adding new pro0ects4, is not necessar& here. !rocessing will take the most time, commonl& an hour to LE minutes. Does an&one have that much time8 /hink of it this wa&7 you can handle the load piecemeal throughout the day7 regrouping each time you chip a)ay at your inbo*7 or you can batch process the bul5 of your ne) inputs into a single session. >eep in mind that whats being processed is work, not something in addition to it. It doesnt go awa& 0ust because its not processed. If processing is the &our first order of business each morning, &ou have the securit& and serenit& of knowing that &our inbo doesnt have an& time bombs lurking in middle of the stack. And when new inputs arrive during the da&, its much easier to process them in real time if desired, because the&re not part of a mass of une amined priorities. 5hat about the oft(repeated advice not to check email in the morning8 =ere were not checking emailB were processing it, responding immediatel& to under(two(minute messages, deleting or filing irrelevant or inactionable ones, and moving actionable ones to an NAction or )ollow(Jp folder , e tracting an& pro0ects or ne t actions. 1y methodically processing email instead of hapha2ardly chec5ing it7 )e get if off of our minds and into the system. 5hen its time to start working, were not preoccupied with our inbo because weve made decisions on ever&thing that needs to be done with what has now been cleared from it.

Pattern #23: Agendas

2an& activities can be batched, not 0ust repetitive ones. 5e have conte t lists that group like activities b& the location or resource re+uired , an NComputer list for tasks re+uiring a computer, an N=ome list for tasks that can onl& be done at home, and so on. 5e can batch the processing of paperwork and email into discrete sessions of minimal fre+uenc& , twice per workda&, for instance. &e can also batch our discussions )ith individuals. Instead of walking over to a coworkers desk ever& time we come across an issue that needs to be discussed, we can take a moment to evaluate the urgenc& of the matter, and in the likel& event that its actuall& not an emergenc&, batch it in a running track of issues that accumulate during the da&.

4reate a list called Agendas7 )ith the names of everyone )ith )hom you need to discuss non emergency issues7 then list the topics )ithin each of those entries Agendas is another list among the others to track in &our s&stem7 9e t Actions 3Conte t "ists4, !ro0ects, 5aiting )or and 'omeda&I2a&be. 5hile the latter ones are flat lists, the Agendas list is nested. 8n an electronic organi2er7 each person9s name is a line item in Agendas7 and each line item has a note attachment7 )ithin )hich the issues are added. 8f you maintain a list )ith only a fe) people7 an alternative to a nested list is simply having a separate flat list for each individual J KLohn7 KAusan7 etc! J then ma5e each issue a line item . /his is a good wa& to manage agendas if &oure using a paper(based s&stem. Depending on the nature of &our work, it ma& be a better idea to use an Agendas folder instead of 0ust a list. /his allows &ou to have an& support documents relevant to the conversations right at hand. Potential Problems *eware. &hen batching several topics into one conversation7 the other person J not accustomed to consolidated discussions J may disli5e the perceived additional time it ta5es . Despite the obvious fact that interrupting someone D# times a da& takes more time than handling D# topics in one sitting, man& people are so used to asking and answering +uestion at a time that an agendas list will seem like a burden. Lust because you have all topics in one list doesn9t mean that you necessarily have to cross everything off the list in a single discussion. /heres a point of diminishing returns where efficienc& and effectiveness diverge. ;ou ma& onl& get to work off a few topics at a time before the other person has to return or move on to some other task. !ick the highest priorit& items on the list that &ou can fit in his or her window of time, and do the best &ou can. In some cases, all &ou have to do is point out the advantage of handling ever&thing at once7 I could see that &ou were bus&, and I didnt want to keep interrupting &ou, so I decided to these things until we both had time to talk. >inally7 reevaluate your list7 and see if there aren9t some items )here another communication channel might be better suited, like I2, email, /witter or a wiki , especiall& for status updates. /he less interaction &ou need, the better the chances are that using these media would be a less time consuming and disruptive wa& to keep people in the loop.

Pattern #26: Bori2ons of >ocus

:ur priorities are based on our time frames. 5hen we eat an ice cream, weve made short(term en0o&ment a priorit& over long(term health and vitalit&. 5hen we postpone dinner with famil& and sta& late at the office to complete a pro0ect, were making another priorit& choice. (hese may or may not be the right priorities7 depending on their conte*t and personal values. /o keep our priorities congruent with our values, at helps to categori6e them b& levels of focus. (o clarify the impact and implications of your actions and pro.ects7 revie) them against your hori2ons of focus! Bori2ontal and Hertical >ocus )rom moment to moment, we make choices of what to do and what not to do. (he total impact of our lives is the sum of these choices. -ach completed action satisfies some need in a broader conte t. 2undane tasks, like shopping, satisf& subsistence needs, contributing to &our overall health. 1esearching a car purchase has implications for the image &ou pro0ect, and the transportation necessar& to support &ourself and &our famil&. 5hen we write down, think about or review discrete actions like grocer& shopping or reading Consumer 1eports, we are emplo&ing hori6ontal focus. Bori2ontal focus refers to anything on the level of actions7 errands, reading, phone calls, face(to(face conversations, purchases, drafts, email and so on. 5e need hori6ontal focus , its the level of practicalit& that turns visionar& aspirations into visible pathmarks. 5e need the single step that gets the thousand mile 0ourne& out of our heads and onto the earth. Bori2ontal focus is necessary but not sufficient. !articularl& in the wage earning service sector, routine often prevents workers from looking be&ond an immediate task, and the& wind up spinning their wheels, being bus& without being productive in a purposeful sense. -ven man& professional workers have trouble escaping the bus& trap. A single action, like writing an email, consumes more time and attention than the overall value it adds in the scheme of things. Hertical focus is the scheme of things! Bere )e add perspective to our action choices . In ./D, we look verticall& at five hori6ons of focus, using altitude metaphors7

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

=un)ay: +e*t Actions , the immediate tasks we need to track to move a pro0ect forward $07000 feet: Pro.ects , an& outcome that takes more than one action step to accomplish 207000 feet: Areas of >ocus , the aspects of our lives that need to be reviewed for balance 307000 feet: Ahort (erm <oals , outcomes that we intend to accomplish within D to # &ears 607000 feet: Lifestyle <oals , the long(term vision 3$ &ears and be&ond4 of our ideal lifest&le :07000 feet: Life Purpose , the impact we would like to have on the world 8f it9s not obvious7 the specific timelines of the time based hori2ons are some)hat arbitrary . 5e can think of a three(&ear goal as %E,EEE feet, and its possible to reali6e at least some aspects of our ideal lifest&le in less than $ &ears. 'ome people will +uibble about the scope of pro0ects encompassing ever&thing from getting a round of venture capital to

bu&ing a sofa. 'ome people organi6e their life planning into +uarterl& goals. Dse the time frames that ma5e sense to you7 in the language that ma5e sense to you. 1unwa& and DE,EEE(foot levels have been discussed previousl& as :utcome and Action. 9otice that two of the hori6ons in the list above are not part of a timeline. )or the #E,EEE(foot level, areas of focus 3not to be confused with hori6ons of focus4, we list and e amine the categories of our lives that matter to use. )or instance7

% % % % % % % %

2arriage and famil& )inance =ealth and fitness )riendships Career goals )un and recreation Creative e pression !olitics and communit& /hese focus areas will var& from person to person , some people arent involved in politics and communit&, for instance , so its important to choose the values that truly matter to you personallyI don9t .ust inherit someone else9s platitudes. /he value in constructing the focus areas list is that you can use it to ma5e sure that you have at least something on your pro.ect list that represents fulfillment in each of these areas . ;ou can use it during the weekl& review to ensure that &our pro0ect list is reasonabl& well balanced. ;ou dont want to fill &our idle time with work 0ust because &ou didnt take fun seriousl& enough to incorporate it into &our s&stem. Loo5 at each area and as5 yourself if there are any pro.ects7 process pro.ects or someday/maybes that still need to be captured. /he $E,EEE(foot level, raises an e istential +uestion, 5hat is m& purpose here on the planet8, that some people can answer with enviable clarit&. )or most of us, its a +uestion we have to revisit periodicall&, answering it with intuition that grows more articulate over time through engagement and e perience. 8f necessary7 reframe the ,uestion in a )ay you may find more ans)erable7 5hat impact would I like to have on the world8, 5hat value do I have to offer8, 5hat would be the most fulfilling e pression of m& life energ&8, 5hat is the legac& I would like to leave8, and so on. 5hen in doubt, think of the most reasonable, honest answer &ou can, even if &ou sense that its incomplete on some level, and put that down as &our working $E,EEE(foot purposeB then e amine it against &our other hori6ons of focus and see the&re in accord, ad0usting if necessar&.

Pattern #2:: 1rainstorming

*efore we can manage our options, we need to have options. *& default, the brain organi6es learned e perience into stable perceptual frameworks and common response patterns. It needs to do this. 5e wouldnt want to consider ever& possible wa& of crossing the streetB we 0ust look both wa&s and walk if we see no coming vehicles. 5hen encountering new situations, we usuall& draw on e perience for efficienc&s sake. 5e do what works7 if it aint broke, dont fi it. *ut sometimes we need to approach a problem or a pro0ect in a new wa&, even at the e pense of efficienc&. Instead of pursuing the first idea that occurs to us, we need to open up our menu of options. (o brainstorm on a problem7 capture the obvious solutions first7 then allocate a period of time to thin5 of as many alternative solutions as possible )ithout .udging them! (hen ree*amine all solutions! A good time period to start with is three minutes. 5ithin the three minutes, continue to generate alternatives, even if , especiall& if , &ou come up with a good solution well before the time period ends. Jse all of the time &ouve allocated. ;ou can pick shorter periods or longer periods. *ut shorter periods tend not to be long enough to think of man& new approaches. "onger periods, like %E minutes, will tend to &ield mostl& minor variations on few fundamentall& different approaches. An 0*ample 'omeone want to cancel his cell phone account due to poor coverage and poor customer service, but hes still under contract and would have to pa& an earl& termination fee. /he obvious options would be7

% %

Cancel and pa& the fee 5ait for the contract to e pire /hen he lists some alternatives, without worr&ing about whether or not the&re usable. /he& ma& not be usable in the form the&re first e pressed, but might be with some modification. In an& case, he forges ahead7

% % % %

Demand unlimited roaming, threatening to cancel if not honored Downgrade to the carriers cheapest plan, porting his main number to a new carrier 'ee if the charges can be e pensed b& his compan& for the remainder of the contract, using a new phone and carrier for personal calls Call C' and answer no when asked if hes satisfied with his service

9one of these are particularl& sound alternatives, but the& ma& lead to a creative accommodation. "ets look at the second e ample7 downgrading. =e might currentl& be pa&ing WSE a month on his current plan. =e finds that he can get a bare bones plan 3DEE minutes per month, no te t messing, etc.4 for W#E. Doing some research, he discovers that another carrier is offering a plan for WME a month thats nearl& identical to the WSE plan he signed up for DE months ago. 'o he adds the second carrier, using their line for his primar& phone 3with or without number portabilit&4, then dumps the unwanted carrier when the contract e pires. =e might even be able to combine that alternative with the third one , getting one of the lines e pensed b& his compan&. In the fourth e ample, he can either make a call to customer service on some routine prete t, or use the first option, demanding unlimited roaming. At the end of the call, when hes asked if hes satisfied with his service, he tells the representive that hes not. In man& cases, negative feedback gets escalated, and someone in management calls back the customer to see if theres some wa& to improve the situation. =e ma& end up opting for the obvious approaches, but b& brainstorming he now has three times as man& options as before, none of which are e clusive. An& of these approaches can be further e amined for improvement opportunities7 5hat would it take to make this solution work8 1rainstorming for Problems 'ometimes the difficult& in solving a problem lies in how weve defined the problem. )raming a problem a certain wa& frames the arra& of potential solutions. 'omeone wants to reduce her fast food consumption. Alternative problem definitions might be7

% % % % % %

)inding more time to cook at home )inding meals that are +uick to prepare *ecoming more proficient at cooking :rdering fast food in smaller si6es and +uantities /ransitioning to a diet low in sodium, fat, carboh&drates, etc. 2inimi6ing or avoiding e posure to fast food venues 'he e pands wa& she defines the problem first, creating alternative problems, then takes each or an& one or these and brainstorms alternative solutions. Oust because we think of a problem or solution in a certain wa& first doesnt make it the best wa&. *& generating alternatives, we create a broader conte t for deciding the best course of action. If the first, obvious approach turns out to be the best one, weve lost nothing b& thinking be&ond it. >ree Association In addition to generating alternatives, we ma& need to simpl& capture aspects of a problem to make sure that our attention has covered a sufficientl& broad scope. 'everal diagramming options like mind maps are applicable, but in man& cases all thats re+uired is a simple checklist. Appl&ing checklists to the fast food e ample7

% % % % % % % % % %

saving mone& eating less cooking health meal times e ercise menu options convenience appetite habit And so on. An& of these considerations can be e panded into its own checklist. An outliner, like :mni:utliner or 2icrosoft 5ords :utline Ciew, provides a good structure for nested checklists7 lists can be e panded, collapsed and reordered. As with brainstorming, define a time interval to generate considerations, and keep free associating until &ou reach the end of that period