The end of Autofocus?
Yes, after raving about how well it works, I'm going to stop Autofocus, and revert to GTD. This doesn't mean that Autofocus was a complete failure, it was actually a resounding success. You're probably thinking WTF, but hang on, and let me explain.
Despite the initial suspicion that Autofocus is basically one big long to-do list, it works quite differently, in that it combines your conscious and sub-conscious mental processes to address tasks that stand out to be done, and has a good dismissal function for removing stuff that ultimately doesn't need to be done. The sweeping of the list one page at a time also ensures that I am regularly reviewing my list, and it almost becomes a smaller version of the classic GTD weekly review but on a daily or even more frequent basis.
The massive breakthrough for me however was the discovery of pen and paper as my main task list manager. When I implemented GTD, I used a combination of Outlook tasks and my Blackberry, and I thought this was the perfect system. Unfortunately I started to run into task list overload, which then resulted in my previous posts on whether I should use a Next Action category, which I originally picked up from Jello GTD. It seemed like a good idea at the time, picking out and flagging the tasks I need to get done soon, but it kept growing, and other new tasks were being overlooked because they were getting to the Next category while other tasks were incomplete. Or, if I added them to the Next category, it ended up becoming very full, and the ability to pick out what is due next was diluted.
It also didn't help that my GTD system had WAY too many categories/contexts...
Changing to paper to test drive Autofocus, I was stunned with how easy it was to get tasks on the list quickly. I didn't have to transfer actions from my meeting notes, telephone conversations or emails, because I could add them to my paper system as they arose, wherever I was at the time. No lost tasks, no lost actions. I also found that reviewing the list on paper to find out the task that stood out to be acted on sooner rather than later was again much more intuitive, than reviewing a window full of tasks in Outlook, or scrolling through a long list on my Blackberry's sharp, but still relatively small screen.
I love technology, but there's a lot to be said for the instant accessibility of pen and paper.
So again, why quit Autofocus and return to GTD? Simple. It all comes down to categories or contexts.
I have a few different contexts in which I get stuff done, and I kept finding with Autofocus, that I had tasks on my active page that I could not do because of where I was at the time. At first it was OK, and I would instead push stuff to the last page, or dismiss something if it wasn't urgent and rely on it coming up again later, which was typically the case. After a while though, this constant bumping into tasks I could not progress became a pain, and I would become quite frustrated knowing that I could only do certain tasks at a certain time or in a certain location, and having to run through my entire task list to try and pick out which task to progress. Some basic categorisation makes all the difference.
So what is my system now?
GTD, but with fewer contexts than I had before, and strictly paper based for my next action and project lists. This should give me the best of both worlds. I'll test drive this for a few weeks, and then let you know how I go. I have a feeling this is going to work this time, but alas, I have thought that before.
Later.
PS: Of course just after I posted this, I then saw that Mark Forster is going to release Autofocus 2 on his website tomorrow.
Must. Resist. Constantly. Trying. New. Productivity. Systems. And. Actually. Get. Stuff. Done.
den on 06.27.09 @ 09:51 AM GMT+8 [link] [No Comments]
