43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

writing a book and have too many next actions

Hi. I'm just getting started on GTD while part way into writing a book. I've gone through the collection process and most of the things I wrote as tasks on my mind (and now in my inbox) relate to the book. Perhaps I don't understand how to process the inbox correctly, but I'm wondering whether the whole book should be my one project (with a ton of action items) or if I should break it into subprojects in KGTD (e.g., gather information on issue A, collect photographs for Chapter 5). If I keep it as a single project, it seems I have an unmanageable number of actions each of which could be eligible for a "next action." I hope I'm making sense. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

duus's picture

I think the key thinking is organizing Next Actions

They are specific actions, and certainly they are bundled into things with singular goals, right? I would think of each singularish goal as a project.

I think it's perfectly fine to have projects and subprojects etc. Don't spend too much time on that kind of organization, though. on my ktgd i have projects and subprojects. the nice things about omnioutliner is that it's trivial to layer those things.

I've also taken advantage of GTD's "area of responsibility" thing, which are kinda ongoing bins. So I have an area of responsibility of a class I'm teaching. Projects are like "write midterm exam." Next actions are specific places to look for quesitons, etc.

GTD is the most powerful when you break things down into useful ways, not too big. "Write a book" is way, way too big for a project. Identify subgoals. Collect next actions around those subgoals.

those are my thoughts.

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »