Getting Things Done
Planning & Organising Your Project

Information Overload?
What you will learn today will help you...
...in every subject...
...and throughout your life!

Being organised
• Is all about...
• Getting stuff out of
your head...
• Until you’re ready
to deal with it!

You Need a Bucket
• ...an information
bucket
• To keep things in...
• Until it’s time to
deal with them

Head Cleaning
• With all the stuff you
need to remember
recorded somewhere
(your bucket)...
• You can concentrate on
actually performing the
tasks you need to do

Your Bucket
• Can be anything...
• ...a notebook with lists
• ...a personal organiser
• ...a database
• ...a spreadsheet
• ...an on-line project management tool

5 Steps...
1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organise
4. Review
5. Do

1. Collect
• The first thing to do is to empty all the things
you need to do out of your head and into your
“bucket”...
• ... which could be your email inbox, a tape
recorder, a notebook, or a spreadsheet, for
example.
• Then you process your bucket once a week.

2. Process (part 1)
• Start at the top
• Deal with one item at a time
• Never put anything back to ‘in’
• If something requires action:
• Do it (if it takes less than 2 minutes) OR
• Delegate it (give it to someone else to do) OR
• Defer it

2. Process (part 2)
• If something does NOT require action:
• File it, OR
• Chuck it, OR
• Freeze it till later
• Remember the 2 minute rule: NEVER defer
postpone anything that can be done in less than
2 minutes.

3. Organise
• Decide what needs to be done NEXT.
• For example, if you have a bigger
project (“Write project report”), what’s
the FIRST thing you need to do?
• It could be as simple as, “Email Fred
about report guidelines.”

3. Organise
• Make lists
• Use a filing system
• Every little piece of paper will be happier
when it’s organised in its correct file.

4. Review
• Review your lists of actions and
reminders regularly – every day, if
possible.
• Decide the most important thing to be
doing right now, and do it.
• At least once a week, review and re-
organise everything.

5. Do it!
• By keeping your head
clear, keeping your to-do
lists organised, and your
projects under review,
you’ll find it much easier
to actually DO things!

How do you make a list?
• A to-do list is a special kind of list.
• It’s not just a list of projects!
• A “project” is anything that requires more
than one action.
• All projects should be broken down into
steps/actions

What’s an Action?
• Anything you can complete in 20 minutes
or less is an action...
• ...So you can break your project down into
things you can achieve in 20 minutes or
less.
• Anything longer you’ll never get round to.

2 vs. 20 minutes
• Use the 2-minute rule at the review stage,
when there’s something you can do
quicker than deciding to defer it.
• Use the 20-minute rule at the “DO” stage,
so that nothing on your list (in your
bucket) takes longer than 20 minutes.

What’s a deadline?
• It’s not sometime in 2010!
• A realistic deadline should be set for each part of
your project.
• Break everything down into smaller, more
manageable units.
• Give yourself lots of small, tight deadlines
• Keep reviewing everything and it will GET
DONE!

Remember...
• Year 11 is over in a
FLASH
• It’s basically two terms
• By Christmas, you’ll be
halfway to your exams.

Project Diary
• Use your project diary as
your “bucket”.
• Make a list of what you
need to do each week
(review stage)
• Make a list of what you
achieved
• And another list of what
you still need to do.