Leadership

Getting Things Done: Step 4 - Context & Doing

By Robert Pagliarini

Updated on: June 2, 2011 / 4:30 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

This article is part four of a seven part series on Getting Things Done^Â® (GTD^Â®) -- the time and productivity management system by David Allen.
Columns In Series:
GTD Post #1: Getting Things Done: Introduction
GTD Post #2: Getting Things Done: Step 1 - Collection
GTD Post #3: Getting Things Done: Step 2/3 - Processing & Organizing
Getting Things Done: Step 4 - Context & Doing
You're not quite done organizing yet. One of the very cool things about GTD is this concept called Context. Your Next Action list might contain 50, 100, or even more next actions. Whenever you have a free moment, I suppose you could look down this list and find something to do, but if your list is long, you might spend more time reading and re-reading this big list than actually doing anything.

Most time management and productivity programs have you organize your tasks by goal or due date. For example, you'd put all of your actions related to having a garage sale under "Garage Sale". Actions on that list might be:

Clean garage
Place ad on local newspaper's website
Call brother to see if he has anything he wants to sell
Buy price labels
Talk to wife about selling bikes
Print color flyers
Waiting to hear back from neighbor about partnering on garage sale
And many others...

It's neat that all of these actions are in one place organized by goal/project, but there's a much more efficient way to organize these-by Context.

Context is a specific physical or mental location. For example, here are my Contexts:

Brain. Any next action where I need to think or brainstorm, I put here. For example, "outline a new speech, come up with a new logo, sketch new website, etc."
Calls. Anyone I need to call that isn't already on my calendar. For example, I might have "Call brother to see if he has anything he wants to sell at the garage sale." I don't need to call him on a specific day or time, but I do want to call him, so this would go in my Calls Context.
Computer. Everything that needs to be done on the computer goes here. For example, "email Sarah about meeting, get contact info from company website, buy book from Amazon.com, place ad on local newspaper's website, etc."
Grocery. Here I put that gallon of milk (actually, I drink rice milk-try it!) and everything else I need to get at the grocery store.
Home. Stuff that I need to be at home to do. I'd put "clean garage" on this list.
Liz. Anything I want to talk to my wife about I put here. For example, I'd put "Talk to wife about selling bikes" on this list.
Office. Some things can only be done at the office. For example, "review Smith project with assistant, mail report to Sarah, or print color flyers for garage sale."
Out. Stuff I need to do or buy while I'm out. For example, "drop off dry cleaning, go to post office, deposit checks at bank, or go to Staples to buy price labels."
Waiting. Most of the things I delegate I do via email so I can track them by the @WAITING system I discussed in the GTD Processing/Organizing step, but for those tasks I don't delegate I put on this list. For example, "hear back from neighbor about partnering on the garage sale."

Now, instead of doing my Next Actions by goal, I do them by Context. If I'm at my office, I go to my Office list and take care of those items. I don't look at or worry about my Home Context because I can't do anything on that list while I'm at the office.

If I'm in the waiting room at the doctor's office or driving to a meeting, I'll look at my Calls Context to see if there are any quick calls I can make. If my four-year old daughter wants me to watch Dora the Explorer with her, no problem. I pull up my Brain list and can hang out with my daughter while noodling a Brain action.

Do you get this? Your physical/mental location (Context) determines what Next Action you tackle, and when you Process and Organize you must make sure you are placing the Next Actions in their appropriate Context bucket.

Knowing What to Do
At this point you may be asking, "That's great I have all of this stuff organized and I have a solid list of Next Actions, but where do I start?" What you do at any point depends on these four criteria:

Context. What can you do based on where you are?
Time. If you have an hour of uninterrupted time you'll be able to tackle different Next Actions than if you only have five minutes.
Energy. Don't try to do a 9:00am project at 4:00pm. Some Next Actions require more energy and focus than others.
Priority. Is one Next Action due before another? If you are in the appropriate Context and have the time/energy, focus on that action first.

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This product and its maker are not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company, which is the creator of the Getting Things DoneÂ® system for personal productivity. GTDÂ® and Getting Things DoneÂ® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company For more information on the David Allen Company's products the user may visit their website at www.davidco.com.

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