Projects are tough to define. Probably hardest part of whole GTD system. Good Projects are:
- Tightly scoped, short term
If projects are too large, system gets clogged up and stagnant.
Work becoming more and more project based à more important than being remote, distributed, lifestyle. Its all small, intense, fast projects that make rest possible.
- Clear outcomes
- Deadliens or Delivery Dates
Why?
- You can manage a huge amount of info if you organize by actionability level: Projects à Areas à Resources à Archives
- Enables creatiivy. Your notebook is a network with tags, links, hyperlinks, keyords. You need clusters
(think of Facebook and starting just at Harvard)
- Clean edges and small projects mean they come and go more quickly…more review, more movement, more lucky connections
- Each project becomes less important, but managing the portfolio MORE important
- Novelty – we are wired to seek it. Having small projects changes this, turnover + novelty is good à momentum from one to another, designing them to be more than sum of parts, timing them to take advantage of external events,.
- If you are resisting a project, keep making it smaller until the tradeoff seems worth it. Its like cheating but builds over time.