Today is my first day back to my regular work routine after a month-long period of holidays, vacation days, and work retreats. Now the time-sensitive opportunity before me is to incorporate the fruits of last week’s company retreat into my day-to-day work.
To do that, I’m following the “Five Steps of Mastering Workflow” enumerated by David Allen in his book Getting Things Done. [Note: to help readers new to the Getting Things Done (GTD) system learn the basic concepts, I bolded the GTD terminology mentioned below.]
1. Capture
The first step was to capture anything that came out of the retreat that called for follow-up. I did that this morning by reviewing my notes in order to jog my memory of any “open loops.” For each item I came across in this “mind sweep,” I made an entry in my team’s digital “inbox”: a database we have in our Notion account.
2. Clarify
The second step for each item was to clarify what specifically it means to me, following the procedure prescribed by David Allen:
First I answered the question “What is it?” for myself.
Then I asked myself “Is it actionable?” and answered yes or no.
If the item was actionable, I asked myself “What’s the next action?” (or “What does ‘doing’ look like?”).
If the next action was something I could do right then within two minutes, I knocked it out immediately.
If the next action was something that made more sense to delegate, I sent a message to the appropriate person about it.
If the next action was something for me to do but it would take me more than two minutes, and would thus be something better to defer, I wrote out clear reminder copy for it.
If settling the matter will involve a multi-step process, I asked myself “What’s the outcome?” (or “What does ‘done’ mean?”) and wrote out my answer.
If the item is not actionable now, I decided whether I want to incubate the idea by setting up a reminder to reconsider it a later.
I also decided whether I want to file it as reference to easily look up later as needed.
If none of the above was applicable, I put it in the trash.
3. Organize
The third step for each item that resulted from the above procedure was to organize it conveniently for my future self in appropriate lists and files (databases in our Notion system).
Delegated next actions from clarify step 5 were recorded in my “Waiting For List.”
Deferred next actions from clarify step 6 were sorted into “Next Actions Lists”: a “Messaging” list, a “Reading” list, a “Planning” list, “Agenda” lists for meeting-specific discussion actions, etc.
Target outcomes from clarify step 7 were recorded in my “Projects List.”
Ideas to incubate were recorded either in my “Someday/Maybe List” or in my “Tickler File”: a system of reminders to revisit certain matters at a specific later date.
Reference material was filed either in a General Reference system or as Project Support Material (embedded in the appropriate Projects List entry).
4. Reflect
The fourth step will be to regularly review and reflect upon the above materials at appropriate intervals.
I’ll check my Waiting For List about once a day to check off completed items and to see if any incomplete items call for follow-up.
I’ll consult my Next Actions Lists throughout the day whenever I’m in between tasks to help me decide what to do next.
As part of my Weekly Review, I’ll go over my Projects List once a week to make sure there are next actions clarified and organized for each project.
I’ll also review my Someday/Maybe list once a week to see whether any items on it should be escalated to the Projects List or dropped altogether. I’ll review Tickler File items whenever I get scheduled notifications reminding me to do so.
I’ll look up reference material as my work calls for it.
5. Engage
The fifth step will be to engage: to actually perform my retreat-related next actions (thus making progress on and ultimately completing my retreat-related projects), based on my considerations in Reflect step 2.
GTD is a great tool for getting the most out of a retreat, because it is designed to translate ideas and dreams into actions and outcomes.