This (kinda) works if you have precisely one level of projects (at the “root” if you will), but, in my experience is not useful if you’re nesting sub-projects 2 or more levels deep (as I do). (e.g. “Work > 43 Folders > Content > Write post on kGTD project list”)

More to the point though, you’re still in your task list when you are doing that review. Which may or may not work for you. It would not work for me.

For the same reason that I want my tasks in a list outside the emails from which they originated, I want an executive summary of my Projects to reside outside the list in which their child tasks are stored.

Think of it as your weekly off-site retreat (vs. trying to rethink your career while sitting in your cube).

Yvonne: exactly what I thought! Minimise project list and ta-daaaa!

But yes, must be missing something here…

Merlin, I think I must be missing something. When I go to the projects view in kGTD and collapse all, I have a list of my projects right there. No need to go to through the steps outlined above. So, what am I missing?

First - Love you on Macbreak.

More importantly - if I follow what you just did here, what you (or we, as we do as we are tolled) created here is a list of projects, by name and no more. right? just project after project with no “next action” attached to it. or am I missing something here?

a second ago all the replies above me where not there…

Anyways, following your answer “…Work > 43 Folders > Content > Write post on kGTD project list…”

isn’t that last one an action and not a project?

Yep, that is exactly what you get.

The Project list — in David’s canonical description — represents the “10,000 foot” view. It should exist as a list unattached to child tasks someplace and then be reviewed and updated as a thing-in-itself on a regular basis. It’s not about the tasks per se; it’s very much about evaluating how your Projects map to what you want to be doing at 20k and higher.

My gut sense is that a lot of the folks using kGTD use it as a fancy to-do list. Which is in a sense, what it is. But you mustn’t just stop there. It’s critical to not spend your whole life shoveling tasks and vaguely hoping that they map to some kind of outcome. That’s the Bad Old Days simply relived with updated software.

IMHO, GTD works best (and only) when you periodically take a formal step up and off of the runway to ensure the projects themselves are worth doing (and have a place in your bigger plan).

I love that the weekly Project review also generates new tasks at the runway level; but that’s mostly happening specifically because you set aside the time to not focus just on the stuff that’s already in front of your nose.

And, yeah, that’s a task (although, given how Kinkless works, you can nest even deeper than that, of course). Whatever works for you.

(And thanks for the kind words re MB!)

Instead of going to TextMate or another text editor, you could simply create a new outline document in OmniOutliner and (after selecting a row by clicking on the handle) paste your list.

Great post and thanks for your site!

At the risk of being flogged by kinkless fans, I suggest giving Tracks a try. In my opinion, it’s the best app for canonical GTD, as it was built specifically for GTD. It not only ties actions to both contexts and projects, and gives you a dedicated view for each, but gives you a dedicated project list. With notes, due dates (if you want them), and more. I’ve found that the weekly review is a snap with Tracks.

OK, going to duck and hide now. But really. It’s great.

What about ThinkingRock? I wondered if you had given it a try, Merlin? and if so, what did you make of it?

Granted kGTD is a bit klugey, but now that we know the OMNI folks are working on a slick version I’m reluctant to add much more lipstick on my current setup if there is something great just around the corner. Merlin, do you have a ballpark for a release date? Log scale? 2 months?…4?…8?

I think the “what app is best” discussion is always interesting, but it’s more appropriate on the forum. Let’s try to keep on topic here. Thanks.

As for OmniFocus, you’d have to ask them about dates and so on. I won’t have anything substantial to say until it’s released (or until OmniGroup say it’s cool to talk about it).

Tracks is excellent, with a very clever lightweight User Interface. Much less hassle than kGTD with OO. ThinkingRock has the right concepts, but the interface is just a drag.

Perhaps OmniFocus will hit the spot, but the race is on: checkout Actiontastic: simple, clever, and with QuickSilver.

Have also looked at “Inbox”, but it is still so buggy, it shouldn’t be a public beta.

In the meantime, trying to get the most out of CircusPonies Notebook

This is interesting timing. I have 141 “active”projects in KGTD. I need to prune it down to something that doesn’t make me spin when I look at it. There are some projects that I haven’t touched and should be moved to a someday/maybe list or deleted.

I love textmate and use it with markdown. I have a cool little trick to convert the list into a bulleted markdown file. It takes a little bit of set-up.

create a new command set “save” to nothing paste this text into the command field: sed ‘s/(.)/ \1/’ input “selected text” or “document” output “replace selected text” activation “key equivalent” (choose whatever works— I use command+control+ L)

Now, #8 on merlin’s list would be to hit command+control+ L and you now have a markdown list that you can print to PDF with bullets.

I understand the 10k view Merlin but why extract the list from kGTD? Surely your master list should be the feeder to the kGTD list not the other way around.

For work related projects, I have a Filemaker database that tracks projects with a number/client/budget etc. For personal projects I have an Excel file.

Both lists use a ‘status’ tag as a way of keeping the focus on the projects that require action. [eg ACTIVE, HOLD, COMPLETED etc] The active projects are the ones that make it onto kGTD via my weekly review.

Step #1: review master list/s and apply status.

Step #2: update kGTD Project List based on ACTIVE projects from master list/s and allocate next actions required.

step #3: sync, print action list and ACT.

Works very well in my situation, allowing me to manage client projects, business administration tasks and personal/home projects all with the one system.

NB: I did try using the “#” tag in kGTD to put projects on hold but found it to be a little buggy - subtasks being deleted etc.

The link to the Battlestar Gallactica site was the best thing about this post. Merlin, your posts lately have been unsubstanstive. Please post better shit. Or post things like this more frequently. Quality or volume - your pick. I just feel bad every time I delete from my RSS feed.

[…] HOWTO generate a kGTD Project list for your weekly review - 43Folders […]

Jeez! How do you get anything done - thinking about & writing about all this trivial crap.

Thanks, Merlin for the idea of the “weekly off-site retreat.” We are doing the same thing, just getting to it slightly differently. I print my collapsed list off and review it away from the computer. The collapsed list works for me since I keep all projects at the same level and make the distinction of work, home, etc using different preceding characters as part of the project name. I can see where the steps you outline would be necessary given your nested projects.

Merlin wrote: ‘if you’re nesting sub-projects 2 or more levels deep (as I do). (e.g. “Work > 43 Folders > Content > Write post on kGTD project list”)’

It seems the last one is the only one of these things that is even potentially a project. I assume there are multiple steps involved in Writing a post, so that’s probably a project. “Work”, “43 Folders” and “Content” are not projects, however, because there is no clear outcomes or completion possible. These would be better described as “Areas of Responsibility”.

As an aside, I’ve stopped nesting projects at all for this very reason. It’s too easy to create things that look like projects but that have no clear outcomes, just because it seems like I need a bucket to organize things into. Defining an “area” can be a slippery slope to poorly defined projects. I’ve also done a lot of pruning lately so as my project list grows I may find good reason to start nesting again.

Geoff