Get Everything Done

Variant of FV

Method:

After using UTMS for a while I returned to FV, but with slight modifications. My problem with the original FV was that my chains always were too long, I often failed to even close one chain during a day.

In order to avoid this and to put more emphasis on the old tasks I restrict my chains to four tasks.

After doing my morning routine tasks I mark the oldest task and work my way to the newest, marking those I want to do in the same run (chain). When the number of marked tasks is above four I have to cut down, but I'm not allowed to unmark the oldest one.

Now I start to work on the chain, starting with the oldest one. Once a task is finished or I decided to stop working on it, it's checked off and - if not finished or a recurring task - rewritten at the end of the task list. Once I'm down to one remaining task in the chain, I start to mark three more tasks, again with the mandatory oldest unmarked task.

Once the chain is refilled to four tasks, I work on the last one from the first selection and then the oldest from the new selection and so on...

Example:
Task list at start:
A
B
.
.
.
Z

I have to mark A (since it's the oldest) and mark E, G, L, R and T. Ok, that's more than four, I have to cut the chain down to A, E, L and T. I start working on them in this order. Once the chain is down to the remaining task T, I refill it with B (mandatory, since it's the oldest open task), G and R. Thus the chain is T, B, G and R. Again, I work on those in that order, starting with T. When only R remains undone in the chain, I refill it again...

At the end of the day I stop refilling the chain.


Implementation:

After using pen and paper for years I returned to an electronic version using a tool named Nozbe (www.nozbe.com , with web access as well as mobile apps; developed with a GTD focus; BTW: I'm not affiliated in any way with this company).

I have all my tasks in a master tasks list (the "Inbox" in Nozbe - as I mentioned: GTD-Tool). Nozbe has the feature of contexts (GTD!) which allows me to tag tasks as "home" or "office" tasks (or as both, when they can be done in both contexts) and thus using one list in both places.

For the creation of my chains I mark the tasks (they get a "star"), marked tasks show up in the "Next Action" list (GTD again!) which is my chain I work on.

Nozbe has another nice feature - one can select how much time is estimated for the task and the status line at the bottom shows totals for the number of tasks and estimated time. This way I can steer my workload/commitments (I try to keep the number of open tasks in a range between 50 and 70, and the number of hours estimated on in the same area).

Furthermore I use IFTTT (www.ifttt.com) to feed Nozbe with day-specific tasks (by email).