Go through each item on your checklist and ask these questions:

• Can I automate this?
• Can I outsource this?

Take a step back and look at the entire checklist and ask: Can I create a system or process to simplify (including outsourcing the entire checklist)?

Here are a few example scenarios:

Let’s say you have a checklist of all the items you take to the gym. There may be toiletries needed each time. Instead of transferring them from your bathroom every trip, buy travel sized versions and keep them ready to go in your gym bag.

Instead of having your Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Google+ feeds push all updates to you in real-time, schedule all of your untimely alerts to be checked once or twice a day (achieve this easily by having the alerts emailed to a particular account and stored in a folder/tag — if you use Gmail, create a filter so these never show up in your inbox).

What are your favorite automation tools and outsourcing services?

The first major difference that struck me is the prioritized backlog that is central to agile vs. the list of next actions split by context that is key to GTD. In trying to follow the non-prioritization ethos of GTD, I always have this feeling in the back of my mind that perhaps I’m working on the wrong thing at a given time. My work around has been using due dates and flags within Omnifocus. Specifically, due dates are for items that have some consequence if I fail to deliver on that date and flags are action items I’d like to complete that day.

Here are some initial thoughts of how to apply concepts from both GTD and Agile within the framework of the GTD weekly review in order to achieve some level of prioritization.

1. Start with your list of projects and stack rank them in order of priority.
2. Make sure every project has a clear next action defined along with a context.
3. When you are ready to work, considering your context, check your calendar, check items with a due date and then grab the top most item from stack.

I believe Omnifocus respects the ordering of your projects, so now, when you look at a particular context it should display the next most important item at the top.

The main difference between this method and what I currently do is the ordering of the projects within Omnifocus. One challenge with this method is that grouping projects by folder (in Omnifocus) may no longer be feasible. In that case, I would have one folder to archive all projects I’m not going to work on during the next week and the rest of the projects would be stack ranked outside of that folder. Perhaps using a tagging method could help organize the projects without of folders. I’m not sure yet how this would effect planning at the project level since I like to be able to drill down to a particular project’s folder and work with the sub-projects within.

Are you using Agile or GTD in your own personal productivity system? Do you combine personal with business? Have you merged ideas to create your own custom solution?

Now, I have found an even easier way to do this via my feed reader (which is currently NetNewsWire on Mac OSX and Reeder on the iPhone). Simply, use the following magical URL in your feed reader and enjoy:

https://mail.google.com/a/[your domain name]/feed/atom/unread

Note that you will need to authenticate your feed using your Google Apps username and login, where the username is your full email address.

Collect Loose Papers and Materials
Gather all accumulated business cards, receipts, and miscellaneous paper-based materials into your in-basket.

• Physical Inbox
• Wallet
• Backpack/Briefcase
• Various Moleskine Journals
• Postal Mail

Get “IN” to zero
Process completely all outstanding paper materials, journal and meeting notes, voicemails, dictation, and emails.

• Process Physical Inbox
• Process OmniFocus Inbox
• Process Email
• Process Missed Calls, Text Messages and/or Voice Mail
• Process Voice Recordings
• Process Data from Note Applications
• Process Imported Photos
• Process Computer Desktop and Downloads Folder
• Process External Project Management Software
• Process Journal
• Process Time Log
• Process Book Annotations

Empty Your Head
Put in writing and process any uncaptured new projects, action items, waiting-for’s, someday-maybe’s, etc.

• Add them to the OmniFocus Inbox and don’t worry about processing them yet.

Review Previous and Upcoming Calendar Data

• Review past calendar in detail for remaining action items, reference data, etc., and transfer into the active system.
• Review upcoming calendar events – long and short term. Capture actions triggered.

Review Lists

• Evaluate status of projects, goals and outcomes, one by one, ensuring at least one current action item on each.
• Make sure each next action is really a next action and write it as if I were delegating it to someone.
• Browse through project plans, support material & any other work-in-progress material to trigger new actions, completions, waiting-for’s, etc.
• Review for any projects which may now have become active, and transfer to “Projects.” Delete items no longer
• Assign time to any critical projects on the Calendar

Review Any Relevant Checklists
Use as a trigger for any new actions.

Be Creative & Courageous
Any new, wonderful, hare-brained, creative, thought-provoking, risk-taking ideas to add into your system???

What does your checklist look like?

Whenever I am taking notes and I realize that the item I’m writing down will end up being an action item, I add [A] to the beginning of the text. Then when I do inbox processing, I open up Notational Velocity and type [A] into the search box and then all notes that have pending action items appear. When I click on the note, all the instances of [A] are conveniently highlighted. Then I take each item and process through my GTD system (OmniFocus) deleting the [A] as I go along. For those with less complex task management needs, this could be the only system you ever need. Very simple, scalable, programmable and no vendor lock.

Do you manage notes using simple text files? What is your method?

1. Use Weekly Review to Prune

Make sure every item on your list:

• is an actual action that you can perform
• is something you can do yourself
• is something you want or need to do (e.g. associated with a project, area of focus and/or role that is important to you)

Otherwise, move the item to your someday/maybe list.

2. Use Additional Categories

I now use the following categories: Areas of Focus, Roles, Projects (a category for each project), Due Date, Time and Energy. Many of these should be familiar, but you likely do not use the Time and Energy categories. The idea is that I want to be able to easily see a list of the following cases:

• I am burned out and have 30 minutes to spare (sort by time, then energy)
• What can I do in 30 minutes related to a particular Area of Focus, Role or Project (sort by project, then time)
• What are all the next actions that need to be done before tomorrow that require allot of energy (sort by date, then energy)

3. Task Template

This is the format I use for my next actions (note that not all actions require all the fields):

@Context – [Person Delegated To] – Date/Time Delegated – |Time Required to Complete| Next Action Description – Result Desired {Project, Area of Focus and/or Role}

Here are some example next actions:

@WaitingFor – [Bill] – 2/13/09 – Feedback on proposal – Final proposal approval {Project X}

In the notes field I would include the URL of the email that I sent. GMail allows you to easily do this.

@Online – |30 min| Remove and/or consolidate unnecessary GMail filters – Reduce the amount of labels I need to review each week {Productivity}

In the notes field I would have a link to my GMail account.

It may seem like too much work to specify each task with such detail, but in the long run in the heat of battle, it helps. Especially if you use a system where each component of the task can be specified and then later sorted and searched on.

4. Use Due Dates, But Sparingly

If you work on projects that have specific deadlines or you have time sensitive commitments, I find that adding a due date to the task, rather than putting it on my Calendar1) helps keep my Calendar uncluttered and 2) serves as a useful filter when trying to decide what to do next. Generally, I only put items on my calendar that involve being somewhere or performing some action within a specific time frame.

What are some techniques that you use to keep your ToDo list under control?

1. Start With your Calendar

I was to the point where I had more than 20 todo items on my Calendar. I mistakenly concluded that all of those items were actions that MUST be done that day or my world would implode. This caused me to never look at the other actions on my context lists. If this happens too many days in a row, opportunities are lost and responsibilities will be missed.

2. Don’t Forget the Checklists

There are certain actions that you will complete each day as part of a routine, such as writing in your journal. Instead of listing these actions in your Contextual Lists, create checklists for your routines and refer to the checklist in your calender as one action. For example, the checklists I use most often are Processing, Travel, Morning, Evening and Daily.

3. Someday / Maybe

Take a good look at every item on your list and ask yourself: “Am I committed to doing this action before next week?” If the answer is no, move that item to your Someday / Maybe list. This method will only be safe if you are dedicated to reviewing your Someday / Maybe list each week as part of your Weekly Review.

4. Re-Evaluate Your Contexts

If you spend most of your time in one context, like @internet for example, you will likely have a large number of actions in that category. Think about how you can break that list down by further refining your contexts. For example, if your context with the most actions is @internet, then create @internet-5min, @internet-30min, @internet-2hours or @internet-email, @internet-browser, @internet-salesforce.com.

5. Hide Project Actions

For each project I have a separate task in Outlook. In that task I use the following template:

Purpose and Principles:

Final ResultOutcome:

Brainstorm: (This is usually a link to a MindMiester.com mind map)

Next Actions:

Resources / References:

I only plug in the next actions that I can realistically do within the next week. If you have tens of next actions for projects, this will help reduce your context lists dramatically.

6. Re-read GTD or Listen to the Audio Version

If you have been using GTD for a while, it may be time for a refresher. If you feel like you are too busy to
read the book again, check out the audio book.

BONUS: Use an Accountability Focused Project Management System

When you are working with others, the stress of not knowing whether the task you delegated was actually received and is being worked on can be solved using an accountability focused Project Management system.

How do you deal with your overflowing todo list?