Getting Things Done

PRACTICING STRESS-FREE PRODUCTIVITY I PART TWO

list—say, "Finish new home renovations"—or do you write

up

each of the subprojects as an individual line item?

Actually, it won't matter, as long as you review all the compo-

nents of the project as frequently as you need to to stay produc-

tive. No external tool or organizing format is going to be perfect

for sorting both horizontally across and vertically down through

all your projects; you'll still have to be aware of the whole in some

cohesive way (such as via your Weekly Review). If you make the

large project your one listing on your "Projects" list, you'll want to

keep a list of the subprojects and/or the project plan itself as "proj-

ect support material" to be reviewed when you come to that major

item. I would recommend doing it this way if big pieces of the

project are dependent on other pieces getting done first. In that

scenario you might have subprojects with no next actions attached

to them because they are in a sense "waiting for" other things to

happen before they can move forward. For instance, you might

not be able to start on "Renovate kitchen" until you finish "Rewire

basement." However, you might be able to proceed on "Finalize

landscaping" independent of either of the other subprojects. You

would therefore want a next action to be continually current on

"Rewire basement" and "Finalize landscaping."

Don't be too concerned about which way is best. If you're not

* sure, I'd vote for putting your Big Projects on the "Projects" list

and holding the subpieces in your project support

material, making sure to include them in your

Weekly Review, If that arrangement doesn't feel

quite right, try including the active and independent

subprojects as separate entries on your master list.

There's no perfect system for tracking all your

projects and subprojects the same way. You just need

to know you have projects and, if they have associated

components, where to find the appropriate reminders

for them.

How you list
projects and
subprojects is up to
you; just be sure
you know where to
find all the moving
parts.