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'Dynamic' Projects - new components being added/removed constantly

This is a rather odd predicament.

My organization has recently migrated to a new credit card processing system and I'm one who developed most of the software that runs it. So, I spend a great deal of time with one- or two-step "projects" that involve investigating small glitches or bugs. These can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour to figure out, and it's very difficult to tell how long it will take just by looking at the issue description (which makes in-basket processing rather difficult, for one thing). Here's my problem(s):

  • Do I create a new "project" for each of these items? The only reason I can think of not to is it can take a minute to create the project and folder and might only take a couple more minutes to actually perform the action.
  • I don't have my own office, so filing cabinet space is an issue. I've only got one drawer for my reference and support materials, so I have to be somewhat stingy with my drawer space.

I've considered creating a project called "Credit Card Issues" and adding/removing items from the list as they come in and are solved, but that seems somewhat anti-GTD in that the project outcome and scope aren't well defined.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Craig's picture

So, I spend a great...

inkedmn;6633 wrote:
So, I spend a great deal of time with one- or two-step "projects" that involve investigating small glitches or bugs.

A project is, by definition, always more than one step. But I am familiar with this problem. My "cheat" sometimes is to cram two actions into a single one, e.g.:

* write report, then send to boss

When I write the report, then I either send it to the boss right away or (if I can't right then) make a "* send report to boss" next action. Maybe not orthodox GTD but seems worth saving the hassle of setting up a separate project.

 
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