Discussion Forum > how to handle dependent tasks with AF?
Corben:
I'd start off the way I suggest in the instructions. Just put down a few items to get started with, and then add things as they come up or come into your mind. Make sure you include plenty of items like "Review..." etc.
Working the system will itself bring into your mind what is important.
I'd start off the way I suggest in the instructions. Just put down a few items to get started with, and then add things as they come up or come into your mind. Make sure you include plenty of items like "Review..." etc.
Working the system will itself bring into your mind what is important.
January 5, 2009 at 19:33 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Corben:
My way of working with AF for doing music (or anything really) is to put up only the next task (or next action that GTD names it) for a song.
In your case :
"
Say you're recording an album.
For each song, you've got to do some basic things first, like set up the structure, decide on what tracks/instruments to use etc. Then you can create a click and start recording the individual tracks.
"
it would be:
<Song name>: set up the structure, decide on what tracks/instruments to use etc.
When you're done with that task you write down
<Song name>: create a click
last on your list and cross over the set up-task.
The smaller the task, the easier it will get done. The key is not to plan until the end of that project (finishing the song), but only the next small action. Trust me, you will know what to do next. And if you don't, just put up
<Song name>: Think about the next action
or
<Song name>: Listen to it until I know what to do
When you figure out what to do, don't do it, just put it last on your list and cross the current item. This will make the resistance of doing "Thinking" small, because you know in advance that you don't have to actually do what you think of, you just have to write it down.
So for dependent tasks: just write the next action down. For independent tasks (like the different songs) you can have an item per song (and should to speed the process up). When all songs are done, write down mastering. You will not forget to do the mastering, because you'll hear it on the sound quality that it's missing.
Hope this helps. AF is awesome for doing both non-creative and creative work. And I like to keep both kinds on the same list. My intuition (due to the nature of AF) keeps the balance between the two.
My way of working with AF for doing music (or anything really) is to put up only the next task (or next action that GTD names it) for a song.
In your case :
"
Say you're recording an album.
For each song, you've got to do some basic things first, like set up the structure, decide on what tracks/instruments to use etc. Then you can create a click and start recording the individual tracks.
"
it would be:
<Song name>: set up the structure, decide on what tracks/instruments to use etc.
When you're done with that task you write down
<Song name>: create a click
last on your list and cross over the set up-task.
The smaller the task, the easier it will get done. The key is not to plan until the end of that project (finishing the song), but only the next small action. Trust me, you will know what to do next. And if you don't, just put up
<Song name>: Think about the next action
or
<Song name>: Listen to it until I know what to do
When you figure out what to do, don't do it, just put it last on your list and cross the current item. This will make the resistance of doing "Thinking" small, because you know in advance that you don't have to actually do what you think of, you just have to write it down.
So for dependent tasks: just write the next action down. For independent tasks (like the different songs) you can have an item per song (and should to speed the process up). When all songs are done, write down mastering. You will not forget to do the mastering, because you'll hear it on the sound quality that it's missing.
Hope this helps. AF is awesome for doing both non-creative and creative work. And I like to keep both kinds on the same list. My intuition (due to the nature of AF) keeps the balance between the two.
January 11, 2009 at 8:20 |
Johan
Johan
Hi Corben
As Mark says the best way to experience how AF works is just to start on it. Beacause it works on an intuitive basis rather than a rational analysis of how where and when we believe we should do things, it is a totally different approach to other systems. If you try to understand how it works (particlarly when you are already overwhelmed) it will be hard to just go with the "what do I feel like doing" aspect of AF.
Just put a few items on the list to start with and add others as they come to mind. Your existing pages of items can easily be added but i would suggest (a) starting to do this after a day or so of working with AF and (b) not putting everything in at once. I have found that adding around 10 items at a time works for me - it does not fill up a page with "old" and probably high resistance items - and keeps each page sufficiently free for new thoughts and ideas.
You only *have* to do one item on each page before moving onto the next page (but can of course do more) and generally it works out that all of the open pages will be reviewed more than once in a standard working day.
Just try it, exactly as per the written instructions, and that may well answer many of your questions.
As Mark says the best way to experience how AF works is just to start on it. Beacause it works on an intuitive basis rather than a rational analysis of how where and when we believe we should do things, it is a totally different approach to other systems. If you try to understand how it works (particlarly when you are already overwhelmed) it will be hard to just go with the "what do I feel like doing" aspect of AF.
Just put a few items on the list to start with and add others as they come to mind. Your existing pages of items can easily be added but i would suggest (a) starting to do this after a day or so of working with AF and (b) not putting everything in at once. I have found that adding around 10 items at a time works for me - it does not fill up a page with "old" and probably high resistance items - and keeps each page sufficiently free for new thoughts and ideas.
You only *have* to do one item on each page before moving onto the next page (but can of course do more) and generally it works out that all of the open pages will be reviewed more than once in a standard working day.
Just try it, exactly as per the written instructions, and that may well answer many of your questions.
January 12, 2009 at 1:00 |
Christine B
Christine B
Hi Corben,
I think some AF testers may be overlooking the fact that one does not ignore subsequent pages until the current page has become inactive. That's why Mark and some others are mentioning how many Pages are currently active.
One key concept is to see what stands out wherever the item is located. I'm using a green highlighter to target THE item which does stand out when I review the various pages, then put a line through (strikethrough) when it's done, then move on to hunt down the next stand-out item.
If something is REALLY important AND urgent, then do it now, as Mark mentioned in the notes and elsewhere.
One thing I know for sure, no two testers will have identical AF modus operandi!
Now to my next action item which is to exchange some £GBP for $US with a mate so I can pay the visa charges when I enter Zambia tomorrow from South Africa.
Cheers,
Roger J
I think some AF testers may be overlooking the fact that one does not ignore subsequent pages until the current page has become inactive. That's why Mark and some others are mentioning how many Pages are currently active.
One key concept is to see what stands out wherever the item is located. I'm using a green highlighter to target THE item which does stand out when I review the various pages, then put a line through (strikethrough) when it's done, then move on to hunt down the next stand-out item.
If something is REALLY important AND urgent, then do it now, as Mark mentioned in the notes and elsewhere.
One thing I know for sure, no two testers will have identical AF modus operandi!
Now to my next action item which is to exchange some £GBP for $US with a mate so I can pay the visa charges when I enter Zambia tomorrow from South Africa.
Cheers,
Roger J
January 12, 2009 at 6:00 |
Roger J
Roger J
Don't overlook just putting the "project" as an "item" and leaving it to your understanding of how to do it to tell you what the next action is ... exactly. For example:
[ ] .......... Do taxes.
When I see that I think about where I am and know that the next thing I need to do is to collect last years paper work. So I do that. When done, I cross it off and write.
[ ] .......... Do taxes
again and when I see it that time I know that I need to buy a copy of this years tax software.
OR
I might have written down
[ ] [E] ........ Buy TurboTax
because it makes more sense to highlight it as an errand. Whatever works for the case at hand. This method is completely flexible.
[ ] .......... Do taxes.
When I see that I think about where I am and know that the next thing I need to do is to collect last years paper work. So I do that. When done, I cross it off and write.
[ ] .......... Do taxes
again and when I see it that time I know that I need to buy a copy of this years tax software.
OR
I might have written down
[ ] [E] ........ Buy TurboTax
because it makes more sense to highlight it as an errand. Whatever works for the case at hand. This method is completely flexible.
January 13, 2009 at 19:54 |
Mike
Mike
I'm fairly new to time management in general, having struggled with it most of my life and only recently begun to really try to get to grips with it. I've read tons of pages on GTD etc etc etc and I think I have something of a grasp, mentally at least.
There's two big worries for me looking at this system that I'm trying to get my head around, and if anyone reading this can give any pointers or tips I will be very grateful.
First:
I'm currently running on a spreadsheet with several pages [work, home, various projects etc] - if I was to do a brain dump into one list on a 25 line per page book, I worry that would run to at least 10-12 pages. If I was to pick the most important item off the first page and do it, that would be well and good, but I worry that there would be the constant nagging doubt in the back of my mind: what if there's something more important on the next page?
And then, say I'm working away and something new pops up, and I write it on the last page... What's to stop it from sitting there un-done for weeks or months?
Second:
how do you fit dependent tasks into this AF system? I mean, things that you can't do until you've done one or more other things on your list first?
Here's an example:
Say you're recording an album.
For each song, you've got to do some basic things first, like set up the structure, decide on what tracks/instruments to use etc. Then you can create a click and start recording the individual tracks. Some can be recorded first, others are better left till last. Then after the recording comes the mixdown etc etc.
This happens for say, 16 songs.
But you might be well along the process for one song [mixdown] but only at the basic track stage for other songs.
Then after all tracks are recorded comes final production and mastering.
Say there's 12-20 tasks per song, and 16 songs on an album, that's a lot of tasks...
And that's just one project...
I guess I'm just struggling with overwhelm. I need something that will let me keep track of things I have to do now, as well as things I have to in the future, and only some of those future things have an actual time assigned, like an appointment or a deadline. This seems to me to be the biggest problem with anything that starts with "enter everything that comes to mind without trying to evaluate" - I have found that will give me a ton of stuff, at least half of which I can't do right now anyway...
Please tell me what I'm missing?
[thanks in advance for ANY help, tips or comments...]