Get Everything Done

Here’s a new system which can be used either with or without the New Question. It comes with the warning that I haven’t yet tested it out fully myself.

The nearest of my systems which it resembles is Spinning Plates, but this new system is a bit more flexible.

As the title suggests, the idea is to take one subject in turn, get it up and running and then carry out maintenance to make sure it stays that way.

This is how it works:

Start with two tasks. They can be any tasks, but it would be best to go for continuing tasks which require regular attention, e.g. email, paper, etc.
Do some work on the first task, cross out and re-enter.
Do some work on the second task, cross out and re-enter.
Repeat this progress until one of the tasks is finished or you don’t want to go further with it for the time being.
Add another task and, without doing it, start from the first task on the list until you reach the end again.
Add another task and continue in the same way ad infinitum.

What you are doing is building up a list of everything you want, need, or have to do by adding one task each time you get through the list. Gradually the list will extend to all your work. The slow build-up allows you to get each subject completely under control and then keep it that way.

Points to note:

Only cross out a task if you have actually done some work on it. Otherwise leave it where it is on the list.
One-off tasks are deleted when finished.
Regularly occurring tasks should be left on the list if they are going to re-occur within a day or so.
There is a presumption that every task should be worked on each time you come to it. However if there is no work to be done or the conditions are not right, this rule can be ignored.

Example

Start the list with two tasks:

Tidy Desk

Do them both and re-enter them (if applicable):

Tidy Desk

(Note that you could continue working on each of the two tasks alternately if you wanted to)

Add another task:

Tidy Desk

Draft Report

Contine rotating round the list, adding one task each time you go back to the beginning.

You can continue adding new tasks one at a time until the system tells you that you are trying to do too much by getting slower and slower. When it gets too slow to be practical, you can take one or both of the following actions:

Weed the list of any projects or tasks which you realise are taking up more time than they are worth.
Start a new list and build it up again gradually.

One last remark: I need a name for this system. I don’t think GIRKIR quite does it for me! Suggestions in the Comments please.