Ep. 327: Slice of GTD Life With Bryan  ## Metadata - Author: [[Getting Things Done]] - Full Title: Ep. 327: Slice of GTD Life With Bryan - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/ee2daa58-c559-4dcc-bbc9-d02ffeef2e68 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Road Trip Awakening To GTD** - Bryan found GTD years after the book published and finally dove in during a 2019 road trip audiobook session. - He immediately consolidated tasks into Trello and focused on clear next actions. Transcript: Bryan Darr So I, um, I work for, uh, an Atlassian solution partner and I always kind of have to explain this a little bit. I also, I'm not here under that guys, like, um, I just hear productivity nerd, but, um, uh, Atlassian makes productivity software and like team-based project management software, One of them called Jira and others called Confluence, and they use a network of solution partners to do implementations of that. So I've been doing Atlassian implementations for just about the last decade, Like large and small clients implement basically productivity systems, project management systems, You know, business transformation kind of stuff. And it's really fun. And GTD actually fits really well into that. But yeah, so that's also why I tend to lean towards Atlassian tools. And that's actually how I found you because I had a question about one of your recommendations. ([Time 0:01:42](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7682fc5c-7528-4b38-8898-a797fdad926b)) - **Use Clear Next Actions** - Use clear next actions and two-minute rules to speed task completion. - Consolidate scattered to-dos into a single trusted system like Trello. Transcript: Bryan Darr But in 2019, I got the audio book and listened to it while on a road trip driving to a client. And there were so many good things from the first third of the book that I was just really excited about. Like a two-minute rule. I remember clear next actions, cleaning out your inboxes. And I was already doing inbox zero. John Forrester Oh, okay. Good for you. Yeah. Bryan Darr So it felt very validating. And as a result of it, I got to my hotel for that trip. And I think that week, I consolidated all of my to-dos into Trello, which is my tool of choice. And then, you know, made sure I had clear next actions. ([Time 0:03:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/29324608-adc3-49c5-83f9-7adc447d2cbc)) - **Pause Then Deep-Dive Recommitment** - Bryan stopped after getting overwhelmed by 'capture everything' and resumed years later after reading leadership material. - He then re-read the physical book and used podcasts and notes to rebuild his system over six months. Transcript: Bryan Darr Yeah. And then I got overwhelmed and I stopped for five years. It was, so I, I, I hit the part about capture everything. And I was, I was listening to this while driving and, and there was something about that that just felt overwhelming. Um, and so, uh, I stopped listening, intentionally, but I got busy and I really didn't pick it up again until this year when I was reading a book on executive leadership coaching. And in the first chapter, it was describing good executives and bad executives. Like, you know, this example of a good executive has mastered David Allen's getting things done and they're not worried about productivity. And I was like, you know, before I finish this book, I really need to go back and figure that out. So I made it kind of an annual goal. It's actually just a sidebar. My wife and I do this like annual summit every year where we go away over a holiday in January and we didn't need to sort of plan out the year. And this is one of my big goals. So yeah. And so I picked up the audio book again, but then realized very quickly that I actually needed the physical book because I needed the, like sort of a physical map in my brain about where, You know, the, the processing diagram was, and I need to use my spatial memory to keep location of key concepts. I found the physical book actually helped much more than the audio, at least when you got into the implementation. And so, you know, right after that planning summit in January, I really dove in deep for about six months, and I'm still pretty deep into it. So I, I finished the book. ([Time 0:07:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/77a6f1eb-ec89-457d-a1e4-69169d6aecdc)) - **Lists Can Indenture Future You** - Bryan realized lists were often present-me dictating future-me's actions and that broke trust with himself. - Capturing everything felt like punishing future Brian until he reframed list use. Transcript: Bryan Darr I i i've i realized after a while that i actually had kind of a bad relationship with lists i would i would use them to you know press i would say it's like president brian would come up with A lot of lists for future Brian to get done. And as I learned over the years, this was, you know, present me, not really trusting future me. And what that meant was that present me was always indentured by past me to do things that were already prescribed and to never do what needed to be done in the moment. And the more I got to know myself, you know, the more I realized, like, maybe the most important thing I can do right now is take a nap or do the dishes. And so I was really beating myself up with lists and not really realizing it. At the time, the idea of writing everything down just sounded like beating myself up even more. So I just stopped and I was like, oh, yeah, you know, I got some good advice from this. But as David said in the book, it takes a couple of reads and you find out new information every time. And I certainly did the next time around. ([Time 0:11:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7cfb4e88-4045-4b7a-97d3-a7ea65139bab)) - **Pick A Flexible, Growing Tool** - Choose a flexible tool that mimics analog lists and grows with your process. - Prefer tools that sync across devices and support rich attachments and links. Transcript: Bryan Darr So I mean, it's funny because I do Alassian product demos a lot too. So I can, I, I, I came prepared for that as well. But yeah, I've used, I've used Trello for years. I, I, I probably bumped into it right around the time Atlassian acquired it. Um, because I was already working for an Atlassian partner and I was like, oh, what's this new tool? That years later when I pick this up again, that it adapts really well to GTD. The whole purpose of Trello is that, at least from my experience, that it's really flexible. So part of learning a new process is stubbing your toe and trying things and trying new things after that and reworking your systems until you get it right. And you learn a lot from that journey. And the flexibility of Trello really makes that an easier process, I think. And I think the beauty of GTD is that in the end, it is just lists and it is tool agnostic. And therefore, I think the tools are left with the responsibility of making your system more convenient, more efficient, and also possibly providing structure and guardrails where You need it. But again, as you grow, the tool has to grow with you. So that's why I really like it. It is the closest thing, in my opinion, to an analog list as I could get, because it is so flexible. But it's digital, So it's synced on every browser I'm on. It's synced on my phone. ([Time 0:14:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/50224c43-ab34-48f6-8478-4bcc31a6525b)) - **Use Context Lists With Decision Prompts** - Organize lists by context (e.g., At Computer, Errands, Agendas) and keep reminders at the top. - Add a short decision guide in list headers to choose what to work on next. Transcript: Bryan Darr So this one, um, it took me a while to figure out, but I, I, I use lists as the contexts, um, except for read watch read watches, um, sort of a temporary list that I'm going to probably just Use until I'm done watching a bunch of, and reading a bunch of like GTD stuff and articles. And then this list will probably go away. But so for example, here, I need a book nobu for an anniversary. And there's this, there's this description field, and it's fully editable text. So I can add headers. I can add bulleted lists. This is my favorite example, but I can take content from, let's say, YouTube and just drop it in and embed it, and it basically resolves into a full-size player. So I've got Google Documents I need to put in here, just about anything. And that's why I like this tool, because it's flexible, and I can drop in what I need. John Forrester So it's not just rich text, it's beyond rich text. It's any kind of content. Exactly. Bryan Darr And then I can also add attachments. So if I didn't want to embed that, I can add as an attachment or I can add, you know, the document that I'm working from down here, I can add checklists, um, and add items that, that need to Get done. I mean, it's just super flexible. Um, and if I need to make a new list, it's as simple as just double clicking and, you know, there's my new list right there. Yeah. And so, um, I'll go ahead and archive that list. So, so, so for me, I do a list of anywhere at computer calls I need to make currently things I want to read, watch things like I can only do at home errands, agendas. So I've got, you know, things talk, things talk to the next time I go to therapy or, um, you know, things talk to Helen about things I'm waiting for. And then I also have notes at the top of some of these that are, you know, basically like David Allen company, best practice recommendations. ([Time 0:18:59](https://share.snipd.com/snip/74b38074-b714-44e3-b0ef-c100f4fa1991)) - **Link Items And Track History** - Link related cards and external URLs (emails, Docs, Jira) to keep context and history with each next action. - Use comments to timestamp communications and track delegated items. Transcript: Bryan Darr So I've got a next action linked here. And then as I click between them, it takes me to that, to that next action card. And there's this icon here that shows me, you know, do I have further text in a description and do I have a linked card? So, so when I'm doing a weekly review, I can quickly look and see, you know, do I have a LinkedIn, a LinkedIn X action? And if I don't, then it's a good reason to dive in and find out why. So this one, I've got some shoulder pain recently and I actually know that I've got physical therapy appointments set up, so I don't need a next action for that okay um and then i got my Someday maybe um you know a big list of books i want to read and this one's actually broken up into three different categories one is um project book it's well here i'll show you it's it's Um it's uh three different lists so so project books and nonfiction and, um, fiction books and I can hide next items. It's nice because it provides a history of what I've read. Um, and I found that I usually need one, one from each. Um, and so, um, you know, project books are books that I'm going to have a lot of actions on, a lot of reflection. Nonfiction books that I enjoy reading, but, you know, aren't as much fun as fiction. And then fiction is just a reminder that I should probably read for fun. And right now I'm rereading Lord of the Rings and it's been delightful. And it's, uh, I find I'm a happier when I'm also reading fiction, but pull that out to make sure that I was reading it. Great. Yeah. And then I've got some, some reference over here and actually some quotes from, from you guys. But that being said, like, I think my reference system could really be redone. Um, still spread across Google Docs, Apple Notes, Trello, some other places. So that could be a lot better. So that's my personal board. And then I've got a work board that's structured slightly differently. This one, I've got one central next actions list and I've been doing a lot of cleanup over the last week. So this is so much less than normal right now. John Forrester Okay. Bryan Darr But then, uh, because of that and because I try to structure my day at work, which is a little different than my personal life, which is sort of, sort of spreads across everything. I've got a today list that I drag over whatever I think I can get done today or whatever I have to get done today. And this I have to clear out every day because I don't want that to be just a swamp to leave stuff in forever. And you know, if there, if there are things that I have to get done, I'll just do three dashes and it'll create a divider and I'll put the things I have to get done above that divider. And then things that are optional below, just to help me prioritize that. John Forrester Or I can just rewrite And you have the clear every day at the top of the, as part of the title there. Yeah, exactly. Bryan Darr And then the other, the other difference between this and my personal board is that I've got projects delegated in addition to projects. So, and then a reminder that the delegated projects, we should be aligned on outcomes to whomever that's delegated to. John Forrester Oh, and you have who you delegated it to. That's good practice. Yeah. Bryan Darr And this is all free Trello. I could pay for Trello. There's a lot of great paid features, but this is where the paid version would help because I could have a custom field for it. Instead of just putting the person's name in the title, I could have, you know, a delegated to field that showed up on those cards. John Forrester Well, yeah, you could have that. I'm not sure that it's that much of an improvement because, as you said at the beginning here uh you talked about the what what imitates an analog system what what would you do if you had Paper well you'd be writing down pretty much what you wrote there done yeah and and then what the project is and like that yeah what you have there is a is a great approximation of what you Bryan Darr Do on paper yeah yeah and it but but but with all the conveniences of digital yeah and then um you can see here there's the there's these comment bubbles so so like here you can open up a comment Section and whenever i poke somebody you know i'll just write, you know, poked today, um, in the comments. And then I have a history, um, a dated history of the last time that I talked to them. And, uh, you know, that was one of, one of David's best practices too, is, you know, know when you requested something. Um, so that's pretty helpful. Um, yeah. ([Time 0:23:59](https://share.snipd.com/snip/846ffc1f-694a-408a-9fe8-500d33888718)) - **Daily Clear Today List** - Maintain a daily "Today" list and clear it each day to avoid a swamp of tasks. - Put must-dos above a divider and optional items below to prioritize quickly. Transcript: Bryan Darr This one, I've got one central next actions list and I've been doing a lot of cleanup over the last week. So this is so much less than normal right now. John Forrester Okay. Bryan Darr But then, uh, because of that and because I try to structure my day at work, which is a little different than my personal life, which is sort of, sort of spreads across everything. I've got a today list that I drag over whatever I think I can get done today or whatever I have to get done today. And this I have to clear out every day because I don't want that to be just a swamp to leave stuff in forever. And you know, if there, if there are things that I have to get done, I'll just do three dashes and it'll create a divider and I'll put the things I have to get done above that divider. And then things that are optional below, just to help me prioritize that. John Forrester Or I can just rewrite And you have the clear every day at the top of the, as part of the title there. Yeah, exactly. And ([Time 0:26:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ced1478c-deb8-4f3e-adb3-9eb7d734990f)) - **Blend Tools To Reveal Real Priorities** - Bringing Jira, email, and personal tasks into one view reveals true priority across systems. - Integrations let you act in one place while keeping authoritative records elsewhere. Transcript: Bryan Darr If you use Gmail, here's an email that, that ostensibly requires a response. I can copy the URL of that email onto it, you know, respond to Bob, um, you know, drop it on a, on a next action card, link the email, and then I can archive that email out of my inbox and the, And the, and then I can, um, prioritize responding to Bob amidst everything else I'm doing that day or that week. And then when I'm ready to respond to him after I've done all the research, this is actually probably a project more than anything. But I can then click back on that URL and it'll find that email in my Gmail archive and pull it back. It can respond. John Forrester You don't have to go back into email and search on it or worry that the URL has changed because you've refiled the email somewhere else. Bryan Darr And I haven't seen this in a lot of other email systems, but it's something I love about Gmail. Something else. John Forrester The fact that the URL tracks from one location to another is so helpful for productivity. Bryan Darr Yes. Yeah. And to the purpose of Inbox Zero, it means that my to-do list is no longer my inbox or even a folder in my inbox. Everything's central in my Trello port, which is really helpful. John Forrester Yes. And that really helps people to get out of the habit of treating their inbox like a to-do list. Exactly. Bryan Darr Yeah. John Forrester That's a key habit to get out of doing that we've all been trained to do for so much of our lives because we weren't really trained on how to treat an inbox like a mailbox, a physical mailbox That you would empty every day nobody would think of leaving their paper mail in them pulling that out of the mailbox opening it up taking the opening the envelope okay got it putting This thing back in the envelope shoving it back in the mailbox and then leaving that before oh i really like that i'm gonna use people yeah who would who would do that especially with, Let's say you have something sensitive coming where it's an envelope that doesn't reveal the contents. Yeah. Inside it's got your financial information, social security number, etc. You wouldn't want to leave that open and put it back in the mailbox or anything. Yet people treat email as if it's something they can just leave in there forever, partly because storage is so cheap. So mail systems very rarely will tell you you've got too many emails. We're past the days where storage ran out and people hit email quotas much. I suppose there's some, some places that still have email quotas, but when I, first part, storage is unlimited these days. Bryan Darr Especially in your, in your professional life. And I think Google like a hundred dollars a year for two terabytes of storage. And I've got all of our photos in, in, in, in Google photos. And I think I'm only using like 25% of the storage, like I'll never hit. And to pay somebody to handle the redundancy and data protection, all of that is $100 a year to me seems like a total steal for all of my digital life to be stored in what I think is a safe place. Privacy concerns aside, which I'm sure some people have, but I find it very good. John Forrester Right, right. And it's, gosh, I remember years ago, I used to be concerned with data protection and redundancy and thinking, all right, so if I have this RAID array and then I have a copy of that that's Stored off-site somewhere else and how much protection and all that. And if it's spread around the cloud on servers in three continents, it's just not the same concern. Bryan Darr I haven't had to think about raids in well over a decade. Yes, exactly. John Forrester Yes. Bryan Darr Digital tools like Trello is that with these smart links, you talk about mixing personal productivity within work. And just as an example, here's a sample system of JIRA and just a fake ticket that's got random data in it. I can copy the URL from JIRA. So maybe this is the thing that is assigned to me in my large work tool that I have to do. But I can drop that into Trello. And because they're owned by the same company, I've got this that I can now prioritize amidst everything else, I think. Can I? Yeah, there we go. And I can see the priority. I can zoom out to it and link to that. But I can even change the status of my Jira work from Trello. So I could mark this as, you know, now it's in progress. And then I could mark it as done within Jira. But here it is prioritized amidst everything else I'm working on. ([Time 0:30:48](https://share.snipd.com/snip/86d75aff-bb1e-417a-badd-f7c4d861956a))