Getting Things Done

CHAPTER 7 | ORGANIZING: SETTING UP THE RIGHT BUCKETS

Project Support Materials

Project support materials are not project actions, and they're not

project reminders. They're resources to support your actions and

thinking about your projects.

Don't Use Support Material for Reminding Typically, people use
stacks of papers and thickly stuffed file folders as reminders that
(1) they've got a project, and (2) they've got to do something about
it. They're essentially making support materials serve as action
reminders. The problem is that next actions and "Waiting For"
items on these projects have usually not been determined and are
psychologically still embedded in the stacks and the folders—
giving them the aura of just more "stuff" that repels its (un)orga-
nizer instead of attracting him or her to action. When you're on
the run, in the heat of the activities of the day, files like that are
the last thing you'll want to pick up and peruse for actions. You'll
actually go numb to the files and the piles because they don't
prompt you to do anything and they simply create more anxiety.
If you're in this kind of situation, you must first add the proj-
ect itself to your "Projects" list, as a reminder that there's an out-
come to be achieved. Then the action steps and "Waiting For"
items must be put onto their appropriate action reminder lists.
Finally, when it's time to actually do an action, like making a call to
someone about the project, you can pull out all the materials you
think you might need to have as support during the conversation.
To reiterate, you don't want to use support materials as your
primary reminders of what to do—that should be relegated to
your action lists. If, however, the materials contain project plans
and overviews in addition to ad hoc archival and reference infor-
mation, you may want to keep them a little more visibly accessible
than you do the pure reference materials in your filing cabinet.
The latter place is fine for support stuff, too, so long as you have
the discipline to pull out the file drawer and take a look at the
plan every time you do your Weekly Review. If not, you're better