Getting The Work Done

“It is priceless to find a person who will take responsibility…to know when someone has accepted an assignment that it will be effectively and conscientiously completed. But when half-finished assignments keep coming back – to check on, to verify, to edit, to interrupt thought, and to take repeated attention – obviously someone has failed to follow the doctrine of completed work.” – Richard L. Evans

I had never heard of the “doctrine of completed staff work.” I found a reference to it in a John C. Maxwell devotional. When I Googled the term today I found the concept is attributed to President Harry S. Truman. 

The doctrine is further defined as follows. 

“The subordinate is responsible for identifying the problem or issue requiring a decision by some higher authority. In written form such as a memorandum, the subordinate documents the research done, the facts gathered, and the analysis of the alternative courses of action. The memo concludes with a specific recommendation for action by the superior. The work is to be error-free, with only questions highlighting any concerns that could not be answered by the staff member through research or working with peers.”

This is the kind of work we want to produce. This kind of work cannot be rushed to meet a last-minute deadline. To do this level of work, we must plan adequate time for the work and additional time for a self-review. 

The only way to know you will have adequate time to deliver “completed” work is to have a rock-solid productivity system. That is what “Getting Things Done” (GTD) by David Allen and variants of his work are. They are the systems we need to plan and do great work. 

Before we dive into how to apply GTD to your life, we need to understand the terminology of the system. Understanding the terminology will also help you understand the big picture of the system. 

Inboxes

These are any places where tasks or projects could collect. They include email, meetings, physical inboxes, and anywhere you take notes. Inboxes are where all the tasks are gathered before they are processed and put into your system. 

Projects

A project is an outcome or anything that will take multiple steps to complete. An example would be to vacation in the mountains during the fall. While that seems like a pretty simple task, it involves multiple steps. You’ll need to determine when the leaves typically change color, check with your wife’s calendar, and consider lodging options. All the single steps that are required to get on that vacation are contained inside a project you could title “2020 Mountain Vacation.”

Next Actions

These are single steps that you can immediately accomplish. From our earlier example, a next action would be to Google when leaves change color. Next actions break big, intimidating tasks into bite-size chunks that are less scary and lead to less procrastination. 

Let’s say you want to write that great novel you’ve always dreamed of writing. What is your best next step? Decide on a title or write the table of contents? Be specific and focus on the very next step that you can take to move the project forward. 

Single Actions

These are single tasks that are not part of a project, that you need to be reminded of. Examples would include taking the trash out, reviewing your kid’s homework, or writing this article. 

Waiting For

These are tasks you have delegated to others. These help you remember who is working on what so you can check in on progress and follow up (if the person doesn’t use GTD!). 

Someday Maybe

This is a big category for me. I have a lot of visions of grand endeavors, but if I can’t fit them into my schedule they are relegated to this list. The Someday Maybe list is a place to hold your great ideas and big ambitions that you have decided are less important than your current projects. 

Contexts

A context is a place, technology, or thing you need to accomplish a task. If you have phone calls you need to make, you might want those listed with the context of “in the car” so you can knock them out while driving. Multiple errands to places that are close to each other would have the context of errands so you can efficiently accomplish them all at one time. 

Contexts allow you to fill in the gaps in your day with productive work. If you are driving or waiting in line you can still “Get Things Done” and off your to-do list. 

Weekly Review

 This is where the rubber meets the road and where most people fail at GTD. We get so busy knocking out our tasks, that we don’t have the time to determine what we should be working on and look ahead. 

We’ll dive deeper into how to put these concepts to work next week.

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