Get Everything Done

+JMJ+

Because I got bored :p

The steps in "quotation marks" are directly lifted (with some changing of terms) from http://www.markforster.net/blog/2009/9/5/preliminary-instructions-for-autofocus-v-4.html

Materials: Lined notebook with list of tasks, pen (optional: pencil)

___1. Mark the beginning of the day with a horizontal line at the end (Option 1: write this line with a pencil; Option 2: for self-auditing reasons, write the date on the line). List all your new tasks after this line. The list before this line is the Closed List, and the list after this line the Open List.
___2. Process the Closed List from the SECOND item (i.e. skip the first item; optional: mark the first item with a dot) using the standing out process. "Look through the tasks in the Closed List in order and work on any tasks which feel ready to be done. Delete each task when you feel you have worked on it for long enough, and re-enter it at the end of the Open List if you need to do more work on it."
___3. "When you come to the line, do not go into the Closed List. Instead return to the beginning of the Closed List" and DO THE FIRST ITEM IN THE CLOSED LIST THAT YOU SKIPPED BEFORE. Delete and re-write at the end of the Open List if needed
___4. Return to step 2 above. "Keep circulating in this way, until you have done a complete pass through the Closed List without any tasks being done" except for the First Item.
___5. "You now cross the line into the Open List. Move through the Open List in order working on any tasks which feel ready to be done."
___6. "When you reach the last task on the list, you then" DO THE FIRST ITEM IN THE CLOSED LIST and then return to step 2.
___7. Once you either (1) run out of items in the Closed List or (2) end the day, the old horizontal line is dismissed/ignored (option: erase the old horizontal line if you used a pencil for it) and you go back to step 1. That is, what is left of the previous day's Open List automatically becomes part of the Closed List the next day.

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A couple of days ago, I was bored and read some of Mark Forster's old stuff. I came across the "Review of Systems" series of posts and got to AF4's critique. Now according to that critique the main disadvantage of AF4 is that

__When the Closed List is down to a few items, the vast majority of tasks are in the Open List. This means that there is often a considerable time lag before any pressure is applied to complete a task that is in the Open List. One result of this is that the little and often principle doesn’t work well with the more difficult tasks.__

Of course the obvious solution is to get the Open List converted to the Closed List as soon as possible. The problem is of course the dismissal process.

However, FV changed all that, as it was shown it was possible to jettison the dismissal process and still have an excellent task/time management system. And combine that with a DWM2-style closing of the list, and you have a potentially FV-like system without the task ladders.

NOTE: I have a feeling this is one of the previous incarnations of FV during Mark's experimentation.