Teaching notes: Getting-things-done

General announcements

Next week: start at 14.00 (stud. Vollversammlung)

Recap

  • Drivers of change: historical and organizational context (scientific management, which was shaped by the industrial revolutions and still influences the world of digital work)
  • Change of organizations and work: facets of organization types, transaction costs and the possibility of smaller companies/freelances, war for talent and knowledge economy
  • Different views on how digital work is or should change. Economists, New Work, Realist on how to find job satisfaction
  • Cal Newport: Deep work - time blocking, avoid distraction, do the hard thinking

Warm-up question

What’s different about digital? Which skills do we need for digital work?

  • Have students write ideas on the blackboard (activation and comparison/reflection when we go through the frameworks, without explicitly comparing them)

Weritz grounded theory

Refer to the responses to the warm-up questions (you could imagine that these are the responses of CIOs, CEOs etc.).

Show Ven-Diagram for the AND-OR terms

  • Structure not arbitrary, but: concepts and synonym groups (Building-blocks)
  • Importance of covering different synonyms and spelling variations
  • Result: 459, with only 76 relevant: deliberately implement a broad search (accept irrelevant papers) for completeness

Summary

Dimension <div style="width:270px">DigComp (EU)</div> <div style="width:270px">Weritz (2022)</div> <div style="width:290px">Gagné-Pratte et al. (2022) </div>
Focus

     
Research design

      
Principal findings



     
Target audience

     

Overview of methods

  • Deep work: time-blocking, distraction blocking, hard thinking
  • Pomodoro: work 25 minutes, 5 minute break, after 4 runs: 30 mins break
  • Eisenhower matrix: Wichtigkeit x Dringlichkeit (Discard, Delegate, Plan, Do immediately)
  • Checklists: doctors, pilots (e.g., checklist manifesto)
  • Bullet journaling: illustrate day plan (todo, done, info, meeting), weekly planner (days…., goals: practice, mails, workout)

GTD method

  • Highlight that priority is the last criterion (discuss how that makes sense)

GTD Exercise

Notes:

  • The following summarizes a scenario in which groups of students (3-6 students) implement a GTD system and complete the GTD steps for friend who is about to begin studying (hypothetical).
  • The group selects one student who writes (maybe switch).
  • Students may use the Internet for quick searches.
  • Instructors provide an introduction and explain the tasks for each of the following episodes. It should be announced how much time is available

Introduction

When thinking about productivity and work systems, we may quickly consider different apps or software packages.

  • Apps (as a technology) are flexible. They can be used or adapted effectively or ineffectively.
  • Example: In apps like Todoist, users can create tasks like “complete the Bachelor”, or “find a job”. In such cases, it is apparent that the app is not used effectively because these items are long-term goals rather than specific tasks. They may simply clutter the task list.
  • To use productivity apps effectively, it can be instructive to consider work methods and principles. Similarly, designers of apps may draw inspiration from such works to improve apps and guide users.

The focus of this session is on the Getting-things-done method, which was introduced by David Allen in 2001.

This method aims at organizing individual workflows effectively, and achieving “stress-free productivity” (main sources of stress: stuff/information overload, incompletes, open loops).

It differs from approaches like Deep Work, which focus more on highly concentrated work and hard thinking.

Setup (week before the semester starts): 5-10 min

In the first episode, the groups should set up the system by creating the lists (digital folders) and artifacts on the blackboard (or Flipchart). The goal is to repeat/specify the different elements.

Expected outcome:

  • Inbox
  • Action lists
  • Agenda
  • To read, Calls, …
  • Project list
  • Checklists
  • Waiting for
  • Reference material (e.g., data)
  • Calendar
  • Tickler
  • Agenda
  • To-Read, Calls

After groups have completed the initial setup, ask them whether they would add anything beyond the GTD elements, why, and whether it would be consistent with the GTD philosophy.

Discuss whether the e-mail, phone, workspace would require any particular setup for GTD.

Possible outcomes: E-Mail: waiting-for (self-cc)

Organizing (few days before the semester): 5 min

A few days before the semester, the upcoming responsibilities are a bit overwhelming (e.g., anxious to miss deadlines, etc.). How could the system setup be used to prepare? Think about your first semester.

Expected outcome

  • Create projects for each lecture
  • Add reminders for exam registration

Processing (first day with an overload of stuff): 10 min

Students are provided with input material to process according to the GTD workflow / add to different lists.

Show the GTD workflow slide using the beamer.

Discuss:

  • how items were processed.
  • the digital setup (inbox-directories on file-shares, waiting-for and self-cc in email)
  • tickler setups (43 folders) and importance of having material activated at a given time (e.g., )

Weekly review (Friday)

How would we conduct the review?

  1. Review inbox and other lists (action, calendar, waiting-for, …)
  2. Review the week (anything to change?)
  3. Prioritize (stop responding, start acting, think strategically, be aware of your workload/priorities when committing to new projects)

Cover different levels of planning:

  • Projects
  • Areas of focus and acountability
  • One- to two-year goals and objectives
  • Three- to five-year vision
  • Purpose and principles