GTD and Beyond - Making Ideas Happen

I have often blogged about GTD and ways to keep focussed on the right activities.  I have also spoken numerous times with colleagues about the opportunities which it presents to be more productive and feel more in control.

However, it is still only a system which requires actioning to generate actual achievement.  Other authors such as Seth Godin seem to approach from the other end and start with the execution first (See, 'Ship It').

What is often missing is the middle piece, the practical advice on what happens day to day in between the system and the shipping.

I've been reading a book by Scott Belsky called Making Ideas Happen.  It suggests a focus on creative types that struggle to deliver beyond the idea, but really,  the concepts within are completely transferrable to everyone.

What I like is that it covers the process as a whole with real world advice which complements systems and approaches which I current use.  It's split into 3 distinct areas:

1. Organisation and Execution - The GTD bit
2. The Forces of Community - How to engage others to make your things happen
3. Leadership Capability - The steps you need to take to actually see it through

I really couldn't put this one down.  Would recommend this to anyone struggling with seeing it all through to the moment of achievement and success.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Going Paperless?

Having been out of the creative loop for a while now, I've managed to get back on top of the focus of what's important and working for me day to day.

Although I've not been talking much about it (more to come in later posts), I've been developing my paperless system to ensure I have what I need, whenever i need it, wherever I am (Very GTD).

My ScanSnap scanner and Evernote account are indispensable to deliver this for me.

However, I was excited to read today David Sparks (@macsparky) new book, Paperless on the iPad. It's a multimedia extravaganza and, as always, even just one top tip from David justifies the time spent on it. And believe me, there's a lot of top tips in here.

£2.99 or $4.99 from the iBooks store. Worth every penny.

Thanks David.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Checklists (People still aren't realising their value)

I wrote a post a little while ago in a blog entitled Managing the Standard Work about the power of checklists and I recommended reading of a book called The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.

Whilst scanning the news online this week, I saw an interesting question on this very subject by the BBC writer, Michael Blastland entitled Go Figure: Tick box v check-list.

You can read the whole article but to summarise it, you've got to get past the idea of a checklist being a way to have to stop thinking.  You're probably sick of me saying this but Begin with the Outcome in Mind.  Answer this first, what is the purpose of using a checklist; what is its value?

The purpose of a checklist is to compliment and aid the thinking process, not replace it.

Until this is understood and bought into a don't think people will ever get past the idea of 'tick box'.  Tick box suggests doing following the list simply in order to satisfy its own purpose.  A checklist however has a measure of value in it.  It is a check.  That check is the value add.

Be really honest with yourself and ask how many simple mistakes you or for team made this week.  How many? 1, 2, 10?

I used a checklist today and stopped 4 mistakes becoming issues which would have come back to bite in about 2 weeks time.  15 minutes to save about a days potential non value added work to fix the issues (let alone the grief and loss of reputation)?

Do yourself a favour and think seriously about how (with the right focus) checklists can help you and avoid becoming another tick box activity in your life.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by AlanCleaver via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Who's on your reading list?

An original thought is hard to come by nowadays with your thinking becoming a culmination of influences and inputs from a whole host of sources.  This is no bad thing as the output is always greater than the sum of its parts.

So who do I follow?  Whose 'Tribe' am I in?  Who do I listen to?

I thought I would share some of my influences to open up your world to some of mine.

Creative thinkers

• Seth Godin - This blog and books - A great provoker and has never ceased to make me think
• Dan Pink - His books and twitter feed - You must read 'Drive'
• Merlin Mann - I don't much follow him specifically as I really struggle to handle his rambling communication style but he does keep popping up with some great stuff

Presentation

• Garr Reynolds - His blog and books - He really knows what presentation is all about
• Nancy Duarte - Great books and presentation design
• Ted Talks - By various folks, check out as many as you can

Efficiency and Productivity (making your life and work easier)

• David Allen - The master of Getting things Done (GTD), Essential Reading
• David Sparks - His books, blog and webcast (MacPowerUsers) - Just the nicest guy on using a mac and getting on with work and life
• Kourosh Dini - Brilliant GTD, OmniFocus and Pomodoro advice
• Practically Efficient - Tips and tricks, aways worth a read of the blog
• Asian Efficiency - Great web site and guides to using OmniFocus and twitter feed (although repeats their posts a lot)

I hope you try a few of these and get as much from them as I do.  Enjoy.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Will you take the Trust Yourself (#Trust30) Writing Challenge?

I started his blog because I wanted to share my learning and ideas; the ones I had gathered and analysed and made decisions upon for myself.

Its fun to be creative in this way and actually not as difficult as you fear it will be.  And I think that is why many people do hide from their creative side - fear.  Usually fear of failure.

I try and follow Seth Godin having read his excellent book, Linchpin.  His most recent project is The Domino Project which in itself has provided me with 3 more thought provoking kindle reads (all for free, check out how this is possible at their Web site).

Today they launched a 30 day initiative entitled Trust Yourself (#Trust30) based on the spirit within their last ebook launch, Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Using their words: "It’s an opportunity to reflect on your now and create direction for your future."

That kind of sounds like why I started doing this a few months ago.  I needed reminding of that and this challenge has given me back that focus.  I've pledged on their Web site.  I might fail, hey, I might succeed but at very least I will have acted and that might well take me somewhere new.

Where will the next 30 days take you?

Managing the Standard Work

I said in an earlier blog that you really need to find ways to minimise the routine Standard Work and focus on the non-routine Project Work as this is where the real value lies for you and your team.

Think of Standard Work as routine work that you know needs to be done regularly (either scheduled such as a weekly task or ad hoc such as a process triggered by an employee action).  You want to spend as little time on this type of work as possible but you must get it right.

Poor quality routine work gives you a poor reputation, decreases motivation of your team and possibly most importantly, creates more work in fixing the issue.  In my experience the size of the work will also have increased by the time you get it right as it will have led to further issues.  In effect, you have created more work for yourself.  Do you really want to spend your week fixing your own problems?

One effective way to manage this is through checklists.  They are often frowned upon by the 'educated' as something too simple and perhaps insulting to their intelligence.  Do pilots lack intelligence, doctors, astronauts?  They all use checklists every day, and frankly, I'm glad they do.  I'd hate for the quality of their work to not be good enough especially if I'm their customer that day.

Checklists have the advantage of ensuring two things:
1. You feel in control as you don't have to rely on your brain to remember all the steps (efficiency)
2. You don't forget a step whilst being distracted by the 20 other things on your mind or in the room (error proofing)

I recommend the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande that goes into this subject in convincing detail.

You need to accept that intelligence does not make you infallible, you are human after all.  So why not make things easier for you especially on the routine standard stuff.  Save your mental energy for the really tough challenging non-routine project work.

How to manage workload clarity

I talked last week about the need to get clarity on your work.  I talked about the types of work in order for you to try and group them into meaningful categories.  You can find the post here.

However how are you going to actually get control over this?

One way that has worked for me is the GTD, Getting Things Done methodology.  It follows a 5 step process:

1. Collection - Collect all the inputs into one place
2. Processing - Figure out what is means to you
3. Organising - Collate it into packages of actions with that vital "Next Action"
4. Reviewing - Keep on top of it all regularly with a weekly review
5. Doing - Focus on doing the right things, in the right way at the right time

This is a standard process for controlling your workload.  In being in control you have clarity, and with clarity, you can better choose what you want to spend your time focusing on.

I've been using this process for over a year now.  It took a few days to learn and implement.  However its scope and depth is great enough for me to still be developing and adapting it for my needs even today.

The best place to start is by buying the book, Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity by David Allen.  Alternatively check out his website www.davidco.com

You have to start with yourself and get clarity, get this right and you'll have the basis to better manage others.

A place to start

Look first to yourself for a place to start.  After all its what you've (theoretically) got the most control over.


Some of these posts will be focused on books that can help with the topics I want to cover.  The first is possibly one of the most famous out there, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey.  You can find it on Amazon here.


The first 3 habits are all about you and, alone, can be some of the best learning out there for you to develop yourself.  The 3 habits are:

1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put first things first

I won't go into all the specifics as you can find a detailed explanation for the habits at Stephen R Covey's website.


However, really taking this seriously, taking your development seriously will get you started and build a solid foundation to start managing others.


Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.