Getting things done is one of the best productivity books. Along with GTD I’ve also read Building Second Brain. Both books have some similarities.
In the book Building Second Brain, Tiago Forte quotes David Allen’s (Author of GTD) Quote,
“Your Mind is for having ideas, not holding them”.
Are you one of those people who have many ideas?
Do you want to work on your ideas that can be converted into projects and tasks?
Are you struggling with task management?
Do you find it challenging to keep track of multiple projects, deadlines, and tasks across various platforms?
Are your projects scattered and you are struggling to prioritize tasks effectively?
Are are always multitasking to complete your projects and tasks?
Is multitasking leading to procrastination and missed deadlines?
If your answer to above questions is yes, then you are not only one. Many get overwhelmed because lack of knowledge organization.
If you are interested in leveraging technology to manage your knowledge and information. Google Suite Apps offer many digital tools to streamline your systems and workflows.
Google workspace apps are something you are already familiar with, you just need to create systems to make it work for you.
What are Google Workspace Applications and What is GTD Method?
Google workspace is application suite. It has plenty of applications like Gmail, Spreadsheet, Document, Slides, Keep, Tasks, Calendar, Drawings, etc to manage and organize your digital stuff.
GTD method is one of the approach to get your digital stuffed organized and done. In the Getting Things Done method, we need to follow a flow in which we have to categorize things based on actionability.
How to Implement GTD with Google Workspace
Today we are going to learn how we can apply it’s capture, organize, and reflect methodology with Google workspace.
We will be using Google Forms and Spreadsheets specifically to capture ideas, plan projects and manage tasks.
It involves 5 Steps: Capture, Clarify, Organize, Reflect, Engage.
You can have a look of the GTD flow below.
Getting Things Done (GTD) Process
Capture
The first and foremost thing we need to do is to capture all of our ideas with a Google Form. We also gather ideas and information from other mediums such as WhatsApp messages, Slack messages, emails, etc.
Then you can process or clarify what action you need to take once you have all the data in a spreadsheet.
You can create a shortcut on your mobile and bookmark the Google form on your browser to capture ideas.
As you can see in the getting things done chart you know we need to process each and every stuff which comes in your inbox.
In our case, the inbox would be a Google Sheet as we are using Google Forms to capture.
Clarify
Once you have all the information, you can clarify what action you need to take. If tasks take less than 2 minutes they can be done immediately . Greater than 2 minutes task can be scheduled on a calendar, it can be delegated to someone else, or it can be trashed.
You must clarify what steps you need to take to organize all incoming stuff. Whether it’s reference material or project support materials or something you need to schedule on the calendar. You have other option too, like do immediately or delegate or do someday, or move into trash.
Once you clarify what it is then you can organize it more effectively, and once you are clear what things need to take care of to get out of your head. Remember your head is for having ideas not for holding them.
So it’s always recommended to capture them and clarify if it is really helpful to you somehow. You can create a common space of references and other things. Once you clarify the stuff belonging to any project, you can organize it according to project references.
Organize
Once we collect all the stuff into our spreadsheet, we will clarify and organize our information based on next actions, references, projects, 2-minute one-off tasks, reminders, etc. Spreadsheet has been one of the best and easiest ways to manage tasks, projects, and stuff we need to face on a day-to-day basis.
Once you have clarified what you need to do with stuff, you need to organize it. You can refer PARA method for this.
Building Second Brain Has Two Methods for information/knowledge management. PARA and CODE.
What is the PARA and Code?
PARA: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive.
In this method we keep our things in to four folders based on their nature.
CODE: Capture, Organize, Distill, Express.
Let’s see how we can apply these methodologies to organize our digital life with Google Workspace apps. Let’s dive into the first method,
PARA: Organizing Information
What is PARA?
In PARA method, we need to categorize information in four categories: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive.
It’s like building a second brain. Organize files in Google Drive for easy access.
The better you are clear with stuff it’s better you can organize it. Once you have accumulated all the stuff, you can organize it in the workspace.
With forms, you can create, organize, and structure folders to access all of your documents.
CODE: Managing Knowledge
Building a Second Brain also has a CODE method. It helps to organize the information the process is called CODE that stands for Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express.
Capture: Keep what resonates
Organize: save for actionability
Distill: Find the essence
Express: Show your work.
These methodologies not only help us organize data, but they create a system that we can use for Projects and task management.
Through this system, we can organize our projects.
Once you know these two methodologies (GTD and PARA), you can have control on your projects because then you start to organize your information as projects. We also get off low-effort and tasks that block our time. For example 2-minute tasks, as we process them immediately we get traction and get others things done as quickly as possible.
After the GTD Organize step, we know how to organize data in PARA and CODE. Now let’s go to our next GTD step.
Review
One of the important things is to review your system regularly. You can schedule a day in your calendar to review what are things you need to keep and purge to make the system effective.
You can assign any day from the week for this. Weekly reviews are helpful to capture, clarify, organize, and engage with them to get things done.
It keeps the information flow effectively and efficiently throughout the system. You have system to work and not just for having system.
That’s why it’s important to review your system and make necessary changes to make it more effective and efficient.
Engage
After clarification and organization you would have all the stuff in one place. It’s time to reflect or engage with these things. Complete less than 2 minutes while sorting your inbox or before even inputting it in your inbox. then delegate, archive, organize in your reference file system. Breakdown larger projects in small stuff. Engage and get things done with spreadsheet and Google workspace applications.
If the task is non-actionable, then it would go into trash, someday, or maybe list, or reference.
Actionable items based on “What’s the next Action” would be categorized into 2-minute tasks and non-2-minute tasks. If it’s 2-minute tasks, then you should do them immediately, and if it’s not, then you can delegate it or defer it. Once you delegate it, it goes into a waiting list. And when you defer, you putting them into the calendar or next actions list?
If a task has multiple steps, then it will be considered as a Project and it will go into Project Planning, where we need to determine the functions and steps we need to take in order to complete the project.
So getting things done not only helps you organize your information but it also helps you process your long-term projects.
Drawback of GTD, PARA, and CODE
Although GTD, PARA, and CODE methods work but it can back fire. We tend to spend a lot of time organizing information, which is often referred to as information hoarding. It gives us the feeling that we are working on important projects, but in reality, we spend our valuable time on non-essential projects. So you should know we should always work on things that are time-deliverable. If you are learning something, then it should be learned in time. Instead of focusing on random stuff, you should focus on essential tasks.
Context and tags in GTD
Once you have all the information in a spreadsheet or document you can give context like who is going to do it, at what place or location and also what tools are needed.
SmartChips are useful for tags. you can create a column in spreadsheet which you can easily filter out tasks based on locations and tags.
Automation and Scripting
You can automate various tasks based on triggers like locations, date, and time, etc which can automate the whole workflow between apps like Gmail, Calendar, Spreadsheet, and forms.
Priority and due dates
To manage your projects, you can set priorities like high, medium, and low. You can also set due dates so you can sort your projects or tasks based on urgency.
Benefits of Google Workspace:
Collaboration and Sharing: One of the best things about Google Workspace is collaboration and sharing. Once you have your system set up, you can collaborate with others to manage your projects and tasks.
With forms, spreadsheets, docs, calendar, you can manage your projects and tasks.
Google Meet: With Google Meet, you can take online meetings with your remote team. Meet is great platform to brainstorm ideas and strategies.
Google Tasks: Google Tasks is also a handy tool for managing your to-do or routine tasks. You can integrate it with your workflow.
Google workspace applications are not only helpful for professionals but we can manage personal tasks like grocery shopping to-do list in Google Tasks or Spreadsheet. We can even use Google sheets for tracking stock portfolio.
These things make Google workspace an ultimate platform to manage our personal and professional projects and tasks.
Conclusion
So I hope you understood what Getting Things Done is and the PARA method to process information and categorize it. This system helps us understand how we process information. if you are struggling to keep up with multiple projects, deadlines, and tasks in your personal and work commitments. You can simplify it by managing projects and tasks with Google Apps.
Google Apps are best to streamline workflow and manage tasks more effectively for various reasons. If you are familiar with productivity methodologies like Getting Things Done (GTD) but struggle to implement them, we can create a simple workflow which will help you implement GTD methodology with Google Workspace Apps.
If you are one of those people who want to increase productivity and efficiency at work and in personal life. You have to read Getting things done and and learn how to implement it with Google applications.
Start with one small change today!
