After listening to David Allen's CD set on using GTD for managing projects, I've been really focused on tracking all my current projects and their progress. I maintain a master project list, and each week, as part of my weekly review, I list the projects that will be my focus for the upcoming week. Each morning when I plan my day, I review the priority list and make sure I schedule next actions for each project.
It's a great system, and I'm making significant progress on my project list. What I'm finding is that this system is also extremely helpful for identifying any roadblocks in my projects. Following the advice in the CD, if I'm not making progress on any of the projects, I try to determine the reason.
For example, after several weeks of using this system, I noticed that there has been no movement on one particular project. It really stood out yesterday after I reviewed the priority list to see what I needed to work on today. Every project, except this one, showed significant progress. Another week had gone by, and I still hadn't done the next action I had lined up for this particular project. And I knew it wouldn't get done today, since more pressing tasks needed my attention.
True to David Allen's advice, I checked to make sure it was, indeed, the very next action - and it was. I had also done a good job of defining the next action. It had a verb and was constructed with a clear vision of what done looks like, but it just wasn't getting done. I finally realized that it was because this commitment, in light of all my other commitments, wasn't enough of a priority for me. This project wasn't moving - and the roadblock was me.
Thanks to this exercise, I realized that I was holding up this project, and it just wasn't fair to the rest of the team. I eventually made the decision that it would be best for me to step down from my position as committee chair and let someone else step in - someone who could make this their priority project.
I've always taken my commitments very seriously, and this wasn't an easy decision. But by hanging in there, when my situation does not allow the time or focus it requires, I'm not doing anyone any good. Yes, I was committed to this project at one time, but priorities change. Recognizing this and doing something about it is much better than sticking with the project and letting it languish.
GTD provides the framework for creating clarity about our commitments and priorities. Without my project list and weekly review of its progress, I wouldn't have been able to see where the bottleneck was, I'd keep feeling guilty about (and dragged down by) the lack of progress, and this project would not be completed as quickly as it needed. Not a bad ROI for the time it took to create and maintain a few lists!