Natural planning
So now that we have discussed the basic “bricks” of an organization system (lists), lets take it a step further: let’s talk about project planning. First of all, what is there to plan? Almost everything, in fact, because the GTD methodology considers as “a project” anything in your life that requires more than one action to be completed. Gee, that’s a lot! It could be pretty scary were it not for the fact that you can renegotiate any project at any time: send it to the someday-maybe list, modify, cancel, re-enable… as long as you have the whole flock in sight you’ll feel fine.
OK. So now, how do we plan it? Allen has observed that the way in which we naturally plan things (when “being ourselves”, when not being pressed to do things “properly”), is a system of the “shoot-and-aim” type, what he calls “natural planning”, as opposed to “reactive planning”. Human mind is prosperous, but also erratic, and both features seem to be intertwined. Trying to think “orderly”, besides impossible, is a sure way to kill one’s own creativity. Human brain sort of “storms” all the time, and it is the job of our “organized” left brain to set as many “buckets” as possible to collect the rain.
As an example of inbuilt natural planning, Allen proposes the arrangement of a dinner with friends. “Let’s see: I have to find a good restaurant, I have to call my friends and figure out a good day and hour, I have to find a way to go to the restaurant, I have to…”
All those Ihavetos are then unconsciously divided into categories: logistics, calls to make… and developed as much as needed (to find a restaurant you can consult some list, do some Internet research, ask a friend about that place he told you of… to get to the restaurant you have to make sure that your car works fine, or tell someone to pick you up, etc…)
The revolutionary concept here is that, instead of starting from a goal (dinner with friends), and then creating a substructure from it, dividing and subdividing until we reach the operative level (actions to take), Allen proposes the opposite: let’s take it all to the operative level from minute 1. Let’s brainstorm, let’s start launching idea after idea of actions that we can do to get closer to our goal. Motivating, isn’t it? As I already mentioned, mind usually produces more ideas when it “feels” that its productions receive the attention they deserve.
Once the pile of ideas becomes huge, here comes the magic part. We simply step aside and watch how ideas do “social life”. I always find this part of the process astonishing, as if I had given all my energy to a plant and then just watch how it keeps growing and developing without requiring my intervention anymore. Natural associations between ideas start to happen, ideas move, associate or combat each other, and such “social life” results in: a) even more ideas, and b) the creation of natural groupings: components (individual parts of the project), sequences (parts that must be completed in a definite order), and priorities. On their turn, such priorities, components and sequences will surely suggest you other priorities, components and sequences missing. It is all so automatic, so organic!
Et voilà, here’s your plan! If you still feel like something is missing, all you have to do is “feed the plant” again with more brainstorming, and then allow the ideas to expand and find their way as required.
Initial premises
I have to admit that here I have cheated with the order of elements a bit. For didactic purposes, I have put first the funny stuff. But in fact, starting a plan like this would probably lead you to an excess of irrelevant ideas. As a previous step before playing the match we better set the field and clean the weeds. Yeah, its theoretical, it’s a nuisance, it’s necessary. Before we start to play with our ideas we must set:
- The purpose of the project, or “what do I need it for?”
- My principles when dealing with the project, or “I’ll do anything required as long as…”
- Its outcome, or “what will it look like in the world once it’s finished?”
These guidelines will help our plant to grow fast and in the right direction. I’m not very good at this part yet, I must admit it; there seems to remain some mental blockades that make me too “solemn” when writing this kind of declarations, and it usually takes me quite a lot of time to come up with a simple definition of what I want to do. But I think it is a normal part of the process, a fundamental productivity “muscle” that must be trained. As I become better at making operative definitions and not over-planning, I enjoy the whole process more and more. A well defined project plan is a steady and friendly structure where you can return at any time for shelter, inspiration, motivation, guidance…
Once we have a firm plant we’ll keep on “feeding” it with a) sudden inspirations, captures,etc… I use a keyboard shortcut that takes me to my outliner. And b) in our weekly reviews (see my previous post), we’ll control which tasks have been accomplished, and make sure that we set at least one new for each of our active projects so the ball keeps rolling.
Final notes:
a) Allen specifically states that “Getting Things Done” is about organization, not about project planning (in fact, someone correct me if I did not get it right, but I found a bit contradictory his suggestion of using mindmaps: they can only be developed from general to particular: isn’t that exactly the opposite to natural planning?). Maybe that’s why this part of the book has not received as much attention as note taking or inbox processing, for example. Together with the fact, also remarked by Allen, that there are no two projects that need the same detailing. It is a more personal area.
b) Allen assumes in the book the worst possible scenario for his reader, i.e. : someone surrounded by his own clutter and without the least coherent system to deal with it (and he is usually right, oh damn it). So he proposes to set aside a couple of days to turn one’s whole “world” into pieces that the GTD machinery can chew. As a result, in a certain way you will not decide your first projects, but merely “find” them! They will emerge from the notebooks, magazines, papers, CDs, napkins, bottles, helicopters, gorillas or whatever overwhelms you by the moment of reading the book. A peculiar paradox and another example of how organic this method is.
Have you found any valuable trick for natural planning? Any useful advice to ease the setting of premises? What is your system to visualize outcomes more clearly?
Related posts:
The GTD First Aid kit (Part 3)
The GTD First Aid Kit (and 4)
Reach for the moon, but start with your (two) shoelaces
A car? Make it an elephant!
In search of the perfect outline