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Context headaches
mdl | Aug 25 2006
I'm having a lot of trouble these days with contexts and wondering if anyone can help. Basically, I'm finding it very artificial to work out of contexts. I sit there staring at my "Calls" list or my "Internet" list and lose sight of the reason for doing the actions that are on it. I'm finding that I work more effectively in "project" mode than in "context" mode. For me, the latter seems to divorce actions from their original environment, so that they don't make a lot of sense. When I make a call, my next thought isn't, "Yippee, let me see what other calls I can make." Rather, it's "what else do I need to do to push this project forward." If I think of the next action for a project, I'm more motivated to jump to that right away. But if next actions for that project are scattered among other context lists, then I have to rummage around through all my lists until I find them. Also, multiple context lists encourage me to accumulate more to-dos than I might if I had only one list. This means a lot of less urgent items get mixed in with high priority stuff. Most often, I end up shuffling through all my context lists to find the items that need to be done sooner rather than later. But this would be easier if I just had one to-do list. Right? At the moment, my contexts are: Calls, Email, Internet, Work (i.e., day job), Errands, Home, Office, and Mac (Mac specific stuff at home). I'm thinking of reducing these to: Road, Home, Both. (In other words, things done only away from home, things done only at home, and things that can be done in both places). Does this sound feasible? Or I am missing a crucial aspect of GTD? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! 7 Comments
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 I've been back and forth...Submitted by two.olives on August 27, 2006 - 10:05am.
I've been back and forth on this issue - everything from 2 contexts (action & waiting) to many, many contexts. What I have found most useful about contexts is the grouping of tasks that can be done in a similar place/mindset. For example, I have a context called 'email' that incorporates all the tasks I need to do with my email available. Now technically, I pretty much always have access to email (Outlook my desktop computer and laptop, webmail while away, and access on my PDA/Phone everywhere else). However, its very helpful when I do my morning email check to have a list of all the emails I need to send out, and do them all at once. Saves me from restarting Outlook every 20 minutes when the next 'email' action pops up on the list. I've found (through actual testing of different methods) that I accomplish more of the small actions this way. There is one other key ingredient to this - when I start the day and decide what to attack, I don't pay attention to contexts. I go down the line something like this.. 1. Anything due today or tomorrow From this, I make up a 'Goals for the day' list of all of the actions I'd like to get done today. I am very careful not to over-commit, knowing I can always get more off the list if I'm done early, as well as knowing there will be plenty of emergencies to deal with. I then plan my day around this list, and while in any given context, will check the list for other context-tasks (assuming there is time). I used to spend more time looking only within my current context, so that when I was at home in the morning, I looked only @home. What I found was that I missed a lot of items that should be done that were just outside of the context, but within easy reach (ie, email/calls). So now I just use context to group tasks together to eliminate the hassle of switching applications/locations too often. I do work remotely on client's computer systems, and its very beneficial in these instances - I can group all the things that can be done when remotely connected versus the ones that need to be done in their office. Once I get online for an urgent tasks, I'll usually knock out a few simple ones while I'm at it. This has been the major stength of the context idea for me. I currently use MyLife Organized to keep all of my projects/actions list together, and I'm sure this affects my methods. One 'feature' of MLO is that a given context can Include other contexts, so I have a few summary-contexts that I use for the daily selection. But outside of that, I find the long lists very discouraging and so prefer to look at the shorter list of the more specific single-context. Its entirely mental (there are still just as many things to do), but it helps overcome the burden of seeing too many undone actions. That's my two cents (more than four or six cents judging by the length of this 'quick reply') on the matter. Daniel » POSTED IN:
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