Get Everything Done

“Get it right, keep it right” is an excellent principle, but this post is not about the principle but about the time management system named after it.

First the good:

The system lives up to its title pretty well. The slow build up caused by only entering one new task per pass really works. I amazed myself by the number of things which I only had to expend a minimum of effort on to keep right once I’d got them right.

Now the bad:

Inevitably as the list gradually gets longer and longer so the system slows down. Eventually it becomes unresponsive to new work coming in. Trying to put this right was the subject of most of my experiments, but I never succeeded in solving it. The two most obvious solutions are to start a new list or to weed aggressively. But both result in losing the good effects of the system for a period.

So my conclusion is that this would be is an excellent system for getting on top of a lot of work which has got well behind (think, return from vacation as an example), but it’s not really viable for long-term use unless your work-load is comparatively light.

This is a great pity as I had high hopes for it.

Looking forward:

My experiences with GIRKIR led me to look at trying to find a new system which would concentrate on speed and flexibility. No sooner did I express the wish, then the answer dropped into my lap. More soon!