The document outlines steps to create icons for "Save" and "Well" including looking in a components library, creating the icons, submitting them for approval, and checking them into version control. It also notes that the process is waiting for responses from several stakeholders and the product owner.
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Stress Less UX through GTD
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32. • Look in Standard Components library for “Save” and ”Well”
• Create icon in appropriate size(s)
• Submit to PO for approval
• Check into version control
• Mark Spike Complete
33. • Waiting for response from PO
• Waiting for response from Stakeholder 1
• Waiting for response from Stakeholder 2
• Waiting for response from Stakeholder 3
• Waiting for response from Stakeholder 4
Editor's Notes
Have you ever?
Felt like you needed to remember to do something, but can't remember what it is?
Remembered that you needed to buy something at the store while not at the store only to forget to buy it once you are at the store?
Forgotten to do something because it was important but not urgent?
Written down a to do list only to look at it later and not know what many of the things on the list are?
Felt like you can't concentrate because your mind is bopping from one thing to another that you have to do?
Know that you are waiting for something from someone but either forget about it or the details?
Felt like you were totally focused and time passed in a blink of an eye?
Wanted to get more done and feel more relaxed about what you have to do?
Productivity System by David Allen
Popular among some of the tech crowd and creatives
Your brain is limited: it only has so much processing power and so much memory.
If you’ve got one thing on your mind, you can focus on it. You’ve probably been in this state of flow before when you lose track of time.
However, normally, our brains aren’t like this. We should be focusing on one things, but we’ve got all of these other things that are bumping around in our heads, occupying our mental energy and space.
Your brain is limited: it only has so much processing power and so much memory.
If you’ve got one thing on your mind, you can focus on it. You’ve probably been in this state of flow before when you lose track of time.
However, normally, our brains aren’t like this. We should be focusing on one things, but we’ve got all of these other things that are bumping around in our heads, occupying our mental energy and space. Our attention keeps bouncing around from one thing to another, and it’s harder to really think about what we should be thinking about and not what you need to get from the store.
Your mind is a terrible at reminding what you want to remember.
The reminders come at the wrong time. Either when you can’t do something about what you are remembering and trying to think of something else. In the middle of this meeting, have you been suddenly reminded of something that you need to buy at a store?
Or they don’t remind you when you are able to do something. For example, I’m at the grocery store, what was I supposed to get again?
Your mental capacity is also limited as is your ability to recall.
A traditional to do List doesn’t work anymore.
Things on the list aren’t clear. For example, “Mother” might be on the list, but what exactly does that mean on the to do list? Are you supposed to call? Pick up a birthday present? Schedule dinner? If things aren’t clear you, you are more likely to procrastinate on doing it because you don’t know what it means.
The environment or priorities can change based on new things that arrive, completely upending your list.
The context matters. If you have a static list, but you can’t do them because you aren’t in the right place or have the right resources, you’ll have to spend valuable time thinking of what you can do.
GTD is a bottom up approach.
You focus first on getting your immediate area under control first. If you’re on a boat in danger of sinking, you’d better worry about making sure that the boat doesn’t sink first before you worry whether you’re on course.
You can implement GTD in stages. Get one area of your life under control and then expand your approach to other areas. Work on the tactical level and then the strategic “why am I here?” level.
One of the great things about GTD is that it’s a tool agnostic approach.
Want to use plain copier paper and manila folders? Great
Want to use a Moleskine notebook? Great
Want to use Evernote? Great
Want to use OneNote? Great
Want to use Omnifocus? Great
Want to use Outlook? Great
Want to use Google Docs? Great
The first step of GTD is to Capture.
Everything goes in an inbox. Emails, physical letters, papers, things that might be in the wrong place, receipts, notes, etc. You might have a digital inbox and a physical one.
If you think of something, capture it immediately and put it in your inbox so that it’s off your mind and in a place that you know that you will check. It’s like the idea of when you wake up in the middle of the night thinking of something, writing it down will help you get back to sleep.
A big step is the mind sweep. Spending time to get everything out of your head and into that inbox.
Physically, write it on a piece of paper. Digitally, create a note. The recommended system is one piece of paper or note for each thing.
Capture Exercise
Spend 5 minutes writing down as many things as possible.
Anything that is in/on your mind right now
Quantity over quality
Don’t worry about trying to clarify what anything means.
Here are some triggers
Step 2 in GTD is to clarify.
Make it clear in your mind (and on “paper”) what “it” is.
Rewrite each item to be as clear and simple as possible. As if you are writing a message to a tired and brain dead version of yourself.
Key question is “is it actionable?”
If it is actionable, what is the next physical action required to move things along?
If it’s not something that requires an action, you can
Just dump it: it’s trash
File it for reference if you are pretty sure that you’ll need it later. For example, a manual.
Incubate it. It’s not actionable now, but it might be in the future. Something that you might want to do someday but not now. Or something that you’re waiting for from someone else.
Projects are a special case. A project is something that takes more than one action to complete. We’ll talk about those after we go through the 5 steps.
If ”it” is actionable, then
You have to clarify what “it” is
If it’ll take under 2 minutes to do, do it now. Best to get “it” off your plate so that you
If you can pass it off to someone else, delegate it
If you can’t do it now, you Defer it, and we’ll put it on a list in the Organize step
We’ll spend 10 minutes on this part of the exercise.
Clarify each item on your list.
Rewrite each item if needed so that it is clear about what you have to do.
In the Organize step, you’ll put your clarified items into lists
Calendar: Things that must happen at a specific date or time
Waiting for: Something that you are waiting for. Could be something that you delegated, something that you ordered / requested. It’s helpful to review these so that you know if you should follow up with someone. I use this list frequently to track things that I’ve ordered or when someone is supposed to do something for me.
Someday / Maybe: Things that you might want to do someday. For example, Learn French. Travel to the International UXPA conference
Tickler: Something that you don’t want to think about right now, but you are going to put off for a while and you want a reminder by a specific date
Next Action lists: what most things will go into
Next Action lists will contain the most ”things”
Organized by context. A place or a resource.
For example, @Workwould be the things that you need to be “in the office, at work” for you to be able to do. @Phone would be things that you need a phone to do.
You need to review your lists so that you can make the right choices and feel comfortable that you know that you’re making the right choices.
I frequently review my calendar and the list for the context that I’m in. At work, I’ll glance at my calendar and my @Work list when I first get to the office and periodically through the day.
During the day, I’ll also work at getting my inboxes zero or at least manageable. So, if I have a moment, I’ll clarify and organize that I’ve captured.
Once a week, I’ll do a weekly review which is taking a more detailed look at my system. I’ll do a mind sweep, full clarify and organize. And Review all of my lists.
The Engage step is where you use your lists to decide what to do.
You make decisions on what to do based on the context. If you’re not at work, then ignore the @Office list. If you’re out running errands, look at the @Store list to see what you need to do and what you can do.
Make decisions based on resources. Only have 15 minutes and a phone? Maybe you can make a call to set up that plumber. Only have 30 minutes and are really tired? Maybe now is not the best time to start on that design? Maybe you should do some reading or filing instead.
Priority is last. There’s a model for different levels of focus which can clarify priority, but that is beyond this presentation.
A project in GTD parlance is anything with 2+ Next Actions (or Waiting Fors).
A project could be small or big. Just a couple of steps or many.
The project goes on a Projects list. In theory. If it’s really small and very clear what the next action is, I don’t put it on the projects list.
The Next Actions or Waiting Fors go on their lists.
If the project is big enough and there are many reference materials, you can create a list or folder for that project.
So how does GTD lend itself to making UX less stressful?
First, GTD can give you the mental room required to have focused creativity. Think of your brain like a whiteboard. How can you explore and create on the whiteboard if there isn’t space?
GTD gives you a system to capture those creative ideas where and when you have them. How often have you had a key insight for a design problem when you’re nowhere near your desk?
You can make better use of snippets of time. Have 15 minutes between meetings? You can look through your Next Action list for something that only take 15 minutes to do. Maybe provide feedback on a design? You can scan down your Waiting for list to see if you need to bug someone to review a design or check to see if a developer is done with implementation so that you can check it. Or read that design article that you snipped earlier and will only take 10 minutes to read.
GTD also gives you a system to track projects and review what needs to be done with each. Remember that in GTD, projects are big (like create concept for management dashboard) and small (create a save well icon).
For example, let’s say you have 5 UX projects. Two Stories that need to be completed in the current sprint, and design spike, and a usability test that you have scheduled for next sprint.
The corresponding next actions and waiting fors could be…
When you review both lists, you can easily see what is on your plate and what you should be doing for each.
The Waiting Fors can be particularly helpful because you can evaluate that you haven’t heard from someone in a timely fashion and decide if you need to follow up with them.
Design Review for Mary becomes a project because you need to review the design and then provide feedback.
Since orderring the next book club book will take under 2 minutes, order it now and then add an entry on your Waiting for list to remind you to look out for the book in the mail.
Productivity System by David Allen
Popular among some of the tech crowd and creatives
