Idea rot in my GTD task list
Nozbe is a great web-based GTD task management application; I thought it was so good that I even signed up for a paying account. Sure, it’s only $3 a month, but still when most of the Net is free asking for even a little money can be too much to ask.
But recently the application started to lose its value to me. I don’t use it as much. I even took the Nozbe affiliate banner ad off my blog. Now it’s just a chore putting stuff in there … all clogged up with close to a hundred outstanding tasks.
Until I realised - it’s got nothing to do with the application. Nozbe is still a great site. It’s what I’ve allowed my task list to become. It’s no longer GTD. I’ve allowed idea rot to creep in.
There is no place for ideas in a GTD task list. No place for ambiguous high level things. Non-actionable tasks. I’ve lost sight of the concept of GTD and now my task list has become a wasteland of wrecks.
Unfortunately I still need to record those ideas somewhere … I do a fair bit of mind-mapping with MindApp (still the best mind-mapping software available IMHO), and Ta-da Lists supplements that with shopping lists, inventories etc. And then there’s my traditional notebook and pen that I carry around. Yet there’s still something missing - a place where I want to record ideas without having to go through a whole mind-mapping and brainstorming process. The electronic, mobile, web-accessible equivalent of a large whiteboard? Yet not even the awesome range of Wacom tablets can simulate the experience of using a whiteboard. This is something that Keith Lang presented on at BarCampCanberra (unfortunately I only caught a few minute of his presentation).
But the answer is not dumping abstract ideas and thoughts into my GTD task list, because now I’ve ruined it, made it useless to me … and I started blaming Nozbe and the GTD process for that failure. My bad. Time for some spring cleaning!
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Wouldn’t putting the random stuff into a someday/maybe list restore a lot of worth while still allowing it to go into your GTD system, where it can (someday or maybe, heh) be promoted into your next actions or become an active project?
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Hi,
You can give a try to:
Gtdagenda.com
Aside from being a GTD application, it has support for higher level things like Goals.
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.
As with the last update, now Gtdagenda has full Someday/Maybe functionality, you can easily move your goals, tasks and projects between “Active”, “Someday/Maybe” and “Archive”. This will clear your mind, and will boost your productivity.
Hope you like it.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I put them as others do into the “someday” folder. With a review of 12 months. If I don’t look at it or at least tinker with a concept in 12 months, I delete it. “PFFT” gone.. the attitude is if it didn’t naturally brew away in the back of my mind then it was a lame idea anyway.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Idea rot is a great concept! Fight it by allowing synthesis next to analysis. Allow not-knowing or knowing-too-little next to knowing-it-all. The latter is the eternal sick claim of mindmapping, causing the rot.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
GTD is hard work. Anyone who has tried to adopt it knows that if you don’t keep at it and remain vigilant, it slowly falls apart and old habits creep back in.
If you’re anything like me, this is going to happen to you time and time again. However, being aware of it and steering yourself back on the path tends to keep you ahead of most people who blithely plod along without reflection.
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Yeah once I get a chance to go through the hundred or so “tasks” in the system hopefully it’ll just be a simple matter of adding an action verb to most of the ideas to turn them into something I can actually do. For example, turning “TransitCampCanberra” into “Create TransitCampCanberra wiki page” (for starters).
May 24th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Free is always good - try http://www.statuswiz.com - a great GTD website! i specially love the two levels of heirarchy - groups and project - that allows for a clean interface. And a great save search feature!
November 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
[...] blogged about Getting Things Done previously and those tasks that just manage to sit in your task list for [...]