Getting Things Done

I remember a number of years ago, panicking on a Friday afternoon as I had not finished all my tasks for that week. My Head of School, saw me and asked what I was doing... I told her that I was trying to finish my tasks for that week and she said "A teachers job is never done...". Although she may have been right, there are times (and many of them) when we have to get the job done.




This weeks introduction to the Getting Things Done workflow model is a really useful tool for teachers (we are all busy). The GTD model asks us to look at our tasks in five stages:

1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organize
4. Review
5. Do

I will try to use this model as a way of becoming more productive. 

Collect

This is where you take all of the things that command our attention and collect it into one location. This collection tool can be anything from a physical inbox to an electronic note taking program. For this stage of the process, I shall be using my tasks list in Google Calendar. Although there are other tools i could use, I am trying to use Google as a one stop tool as much as I can. As I also have my calendar on my phone and Google calendar synced, I can also add entries on the move.


Process


The next stage asks you to think about the tasks you have to do by asking these questions.

1. What is it?
2. Is it actionable? If no, toss it or put it in a file for a later time.
3. What is the next action?
4. Will it take less then 2 minutes? Yes, do it. No, then
5. Defer or delegate

Organise

This stage of the workflow process will allow me to think of what needs to be done in terms of:

1. Projects (you have a commitment to finish)
2. Calendar (actions that must occur on a specific day or time)
3. Next Actions – (actions that need to be done as soon as possible)
4. Waiting for – (projects and actions others are supposed to be doing, which you care about)

By using Google Calendar and tasks I will be able to colour code many of the tasks into theses categories. 

Review

This is an important stage in the process. I am confident that the views available to me in Google, will help me to visualise how I am doing in terms of getting Jobs done. I may have to prioritise, but there are tools available to me in Google to do thois.

Do

The final stage of the process is getting things done. This might seem easy, however we are asked to consider:

1. What you can do
2. How much time you have
3. How much energy you have
4. What your are your priorities

I like that the process asks you to consider these things before undertaking them. I especially like the energy consideration. How many times have we completed a task when we do not have the energy to do it?

Overall, I like the way the Getting Things Done workflow encourages to realistically prioritise and to think about not only what we have to do, but also how and in which order. I shall be trying to bring this approach into my life in order to make sure that I'm not rushing around on a Friday ever again (Hopefully).