Process

Organize

Allen describes a suggested set of lists which you can use to keep track of items awaiting attention:

• Next actions - For every item requiring your attention, decide what is the next action that you can physically take on it. For example, if the item is 'Write project report', the next action might be 'Email Fred for meeting minutes', or 'Call Jim to ask about report requirements', or something similar. Though there may be many steps and actions required to complete the item, there will always be something that you need to do first, and this should be recorded in the next actions list. Preferably, these are organized by the context in which they can be done, such as 'in the office', 'by the phone', or 'at the store'.
• Projects - every 'open loop' in your life or work which requires more than one physical action to achieve becomes a 'project'. These are tracked and periodically reviewed to make sure that every project has a next action associated with it and can thus be moved forward.
• Waiting for - when you have delegated an action to someone else or are waiting for some external event before you can move a project forward, this must be tracked in your system and periodically checked to see if action is due or a reminder needs to be sent.
• Someday/Maybe - things that you want to do at some point, but not right now. Examples might be 'learn Chinese', or 'take diving holiday'.

Label Types

• C: Context
  Contexts are more important than projects, according to the founder, David Allen.
  Contexts are the places/situations in which the item will be conducted.
  For example, C:Phone would give a list of items that can be completed with a phone.
  C:Car would give a list of items that can be completed on in the car.
  
• S: Status
  The priority of the Item
• P: Project
  A logical grouping of items.
  A project is any process (aka open loop) that takes multiple tasks/steps to complete.
  For example "Clean Out the Garage"; or "Design New Bumble Search Website"
  
  Remember, in GTD projects are second-class citizens, as we rarely just do a project.
  What we actually do is little steps that slowly build towards a goal.
  Projects are deceptive, because they are rarely 'finished'.
• R: Reference
  Reference is not strictly part of the GTD process, but is useful for loosely categorising non-Actions.
  Reference materials may be website links, files and other notes.

It is most practical, according to Allen, to do this thinking in advance, generating a series of actions which we can later undertake without any further planning.

The GTD Flowchart - Updated

The GTD Flowchart - Color

One technique that I feel works well for me is the two-minute rule. Whenever something shows up in your “inbox” (be it in your email application, your snail mail or through a phone call), figure out if you can do it in two minutes or less, and if you can, do it right away. That, and making better use of the delete key, has helped me regain reasonable control of my email inbox.

The book : Allen, David (2001). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-200028-0.