GTD the Trello way
If you have not heard of GTD, I guess you are not missing a lot unless you are having problems accomplishing the many tasks you need to do. So what is GTD (Getting Things Done) is simply an approach to yes you guessed it!! getting things done.
I have been trying to find the perfect combination of flexibility and adaptability in setting up a system to implement that approach. and finally figured out thathttps://www.trello.com is the best tools to do so. But if you do a google search you will find few implementations of that. so why I am spending time here. In fact all the Trello implementation focus on single board implementation which is limited. If you have used that awesome tool, you know that single board is limiting. and most of us have many boards.
Implementing GTD on a single Trello board is easy, But Trello is more powerful when you use more boards.
What is GTD?
GTD is a method of handling the overflow of tasks. It was introduced by David Alan in his book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. If you rather read a quick description then head to Erlend Hamberg Blog and cut that to 15 minutes.
GTD requires you to write each idea you have and put it what is referred to as inbox. Afterward, you go through that list and Process it.
By default, GTD requires the creation of few lists
- Inbox: All your ideas/tasks/thoughts/dreams need to be entered here no matter how silly it may seem.
- Next Actions: These are the selected items that you intend to do in the prospective period you chose for the Processing (Usually weekly).
Waiting: Things that you will need to wait for other to finish before execute on them and move them to Next Action if needed.
Projects: Things that will require multiple tasks to be executed and we need to define those
Someday/Maybe : Things that may do one day, but it’s not urgent.
The other parameter that is included is the context of doing the task this is usually Home / Work.
Processing your inbox list is explained clearly using the below diagram
What is Trello?
As described on their website its “A Trello board is a list of lists, filled with cards, used by you and your team. It’s a lot more than that, though. Trello has everything you need to organize projects of any size.”. This is there tourhttps://trello.com/tour but basically, you can create boards like
- Personal board
- Business board.
- Travel board,
- Etc.
Each board get as many lists, add as many cards to any list. The card listed with a high priority on the top.
Sample lists
- Ideas.
- To Do.
- Doing.
- Done.
- Etc.
Trello allows flexibility around your ideas and how you execute them. There are unlimited ways to get your board designed and used. Take a look at their Inspiration page it is actually very inspiring. These implementations are amazingly helpful.
Current GTD Trello Implementation does not go well with the flexibility of the app. The implementation is as follows:
Based on GTD execution per board https://joshuaearl.com/rocking-gtd-with-trello/structure. Which move cards around board to achieve goals. Its good but force us to move cards from the Board they belong to a GTD specific board from my perspective is less than optimal.
The other way https://gsferreira.com/archive/2014/09/how-to-implement-getting-things-done-with-trello/ rely on single board GTD List formatting which limits the flexibility that Trello offers
Getting GTD done using Trello
Instead of creating boards or lists that represent pillars of GTD I decided to go with Labels. You have all the flexibility of Trello untacked. Each board should have the following Labels.
You can see I added few more labels that are not related to GTD approach, I will explain here how that should be used but let me define each pillar.
Boards & Lists
Feel free to use any board you want with any structure that fit what you are trying to achieve. Pick any https://trello.com/inspiration or your own ideas of organizing your board. Just make sure that the labels defined on the board is like the above list.
How to handle the inbox list required in GTD?
Common practice in Trello is to have a Backlog/Inbox/Ideas List at left side of the board. When you Process your inbox All Cards should be Labeled and if needed moved to the proper list within the board.
All my new ideas and tasks are entered in an inbox list. Then when I Processing the inbox I Label them and move them to the appropriate list within that board.
How to Process your inbox? If a card does not have a label that means it needs to be processed. And this is how you should do it.
Next Actions: This Label indicates the task must be completed before our next processing period (Usually a week).
Waiting: Cards that you will need to wait for other or time to pass before moving them to Next Action if needed.
Projects: Cards that need more than one tasks to get it done.
Someday/Maybe: Things that you may want to do someday but its not urgent.
Those are my added Labels that help me implement GTD within Trello
Action: Cards that you may not think you have time to label as “Next Action” but they are important to get into the next Processing phase.
Read/Review: Cards that involve reading or reviewing more than doing a task as expected within Trello analogy.
Info: Cards that are informational. A card that includes emergency phone numbers while traveling.
List: Cards that have list of things. I use this label for my grocery or shopping List.
You may have noticed 2 other colors that I did not explain yet. Light blue section (Quick, 1 Hour, 2 Hours, 4 Hours). I use those to help me pick tasks that I think I can do within a limited time. Even if you have a due date on a task, make sure to include then in a Label like Next Action to ensure visibility. Dark Blue, on the other hand, represents the card context in GTD.
Where is my Trello GTD dashboard?
Trello search is the best way to help us navigate GTD across many boards. If you are a Trello Gold member then you can save those searches, but actually, that is easy either way.
Processing Phase
To process all cards labeled “Action” you can search for label:Action.
-label:{any character} Which should return any non labeled card across all boards.
Getting Things Done Phase
Search for Cards labeled Next action like this
label:”Next Action” which should show all the tasks we marked as Next Action.
Trelo explains what you can do with their search from here https://trello.com/search?q=
After you get something done move the card to the Done list of your board (Or whatever you use) then archive it.
To measure your progress you can search for -is:open (Which return cards that have been archived).
I will continue posting my shortcuts. But I hope that you find this as a good starting point for you.
Now Go Get Thing Done