Tools for Thought

Projects are focus tools. Actively designating something as a project is the first step in containing it, in reducing its scope to something that’s nearly actionable.

It’s nearly actionable because a project can be completed, but not “done” strictly speaking. Putting “Purchase Prius” on a to-do list is only doable if the intention is to go to the dealer with cash in hand. Price and financing negotiations usually come first. Separating the outcome and the next action helps clarify the distinction between what needs to be accomplished and what needs to be done.

The Project Mindset

Some people innately think in terms of projects and actions, regardless of the terminology used. For most of us, defining a problem as a project requires conscious awareness and an act of will. Phrases like “I don’t know how to,” “I don’t understand,” “I should,” and “I can’t” are declarations of stasis that perpetuate open loops. Contrast these with “I need to learn how to,” “I’m going to get,” “How can I do this without X?” The latter phrases reflect and initiate outcome thinking, and render an equivocal thought into something tangible that can be parsed into action steps.

A Process for Defining Projects

Capture as a separate phase. New thoughts often enter the brain inarticulately — sometimes as a single word or sentence fragment. However it comes, write it down. If you put yourself in the position of having to have fully formed sentences before writing them down, you may unconsciously resist the process.

It’s much easier to jot down the thought as it occurs to you and process it later. So if you notice that the hinge to your front door is loose, you write down “door hinge” if that’s the only level of detail that enters your mind at the moment. Does the screw need to be tightened, is it stripped, or is the wood cracked? For the moment it doesn’t matter. The only priority is capturing the thought in the first place. Thoughts are like holograms: even the smallest fragment of one can evoke the whole.

To capture quickly and fluidly you’ll need to have collection tools immediately at hand, always. These can range from a folded sheet in your pocket, to one or more index cards, to a PDA. I carry a Moleskine Cahiers notebook in my back pocket, which I keep on the table next to my keyboard if I need to capture something while I’m writing. I also use a Notetaker Wallet from the David Allen Company, which is a standard size wallet that has a notepad and a retractable pen, so that I’m never without pen and paper.

Process. Processing transforms your relationship with what you’ve captured from a reactive to proactive frame. Determine if the captured material is actually a project, and if so, define it in project terms.

Suppose a couple of your friends have mentioned that they’re on Facebook, but you’re unfamiliar with social networks. In a reactive mode, the tendency would be to simply dismiss the unfamiliar, even if it represents an opportunity to learn something new. But instead you’ve captured “Facebook” on your notepad. Processing it, you ask, “What is this?” I need to learn about Facebook; “What’s the project (i.e. successful outcome)?” Research Facebook; “What’s the next action?” You choose any or all of the following: Call Fred: ask about Facebook, Google “Facebook tutorial”, Read intro pages on Facebook.com.

Notice that the project and action are dead simple. Any input can be processed into simple list items of projects and next actions, even if the input has high existential complexity. Doing the actions and completing the projects may not be easy, but understanding them should be simple; otherwise the thinking is incomplete. Because you’ve completed your thinking on the front end, you’re free to act from the results of your thinking — by looking at your action list — and it’s not necessary to think again at the project level until the next actions identified on the list are completed.

Ensure that a project’s next actions have no dependencies. What I call “task management” is different than what’s usually called “project management.” We’re not listing every step in a project’s critical path. In a personal task management system, we want to limit the scope of each project to the actions that can be done immediately. We don’t cook a meal before we get the ingredients. In this context, cooking the meal would be a project since it has a dependency. Running the errand to get the ingredients would be the next action.

A project can have two or more parallel next actions. There were three of them in the above Facebook example. We could do any of them in any order. But we leave subsequent actions off the list. The more items we have on a list, the less likely we are to follow through with any item on the list. Actions with prerequisites are literally inactionable. Clutter a list with things that can’t be done whenever you look at it, and you’ll grow numb to it. Keep your action list actionable, and you’ll be more responsive to it.