Overall the target of MLO to my mind is not really systems that are heavily concerned with ordering of lists. The order is to an extent obtained more by the grouping of similar items - via things like context. The general idea being you create 'batches' of items that are related in some way.
I would say if order is important then prioritise on only one factor in MLO - Urgency. Forget importance because this throws too many different factors into the mix with regards to the priority algorithm. Only utilise urgency on tasks, not parent items - and remove the importance aspect altogether. Sort your list's based on Goal and then Urgency. That way by quickly flagging something as a weekly goal it will pop to the top of the list. By default have all tasks set to normal urgency. Then moving tasks is just a case of increasing/decreasing the urgency slider. Of course colour coding/formatting can also be utilised now to highlight specific items. But I would question the use of ordering if a 'Today' list is in play. If you have a list of items you will do today, then why would ordering matter? Ordering only matters if you plan on not doing some of the items on your Today list. Which then I think it sort of negates, to my mind, having a 'Today' list in the first place. Priority ordering as far as understand in GTD is a minor factor. Next action choice being determined by context, time, energy and then priority. I don't think the idea is to have ordered context based lists that you work top to bottom. Applying priority in that manner is in a way reducing the free-form aspect of GTD as a whole, to my mind. I think Covey users have a case for more priority based ordering - although a lot can be achieved by the use of contexts. But an A1,A2, B1, B2 priority method would certainly help them I would imagine. That is if we have any users of Covey? But then their major grouping is really based on Roles which can be achieved via context. Overall I don't think ordering by importance or urgency really works. Much better to my mind to have a list of items you 'will-do' today - no excuses. Then ordering gets thrown out of the window. But to complete that list of items you will probably have to adopt different methods of working, make sure the list is Closed and no new items unless same day urgent are added etc. I would also consider if the order of a list is stopping you taking action then it might be another subtle form of procrastination. I would imagine you already really know what your priorities are for the day and don't really need an ordered list to keep you on track. I recently adopted Autofocus (AF), after a few difficulties, this system has no order with regards to lists. But utilises a series of Closed Lists, which nullify the need for ordering altogether. But the system is hyper productive and you can process a large volume of tasks in a very short space of time. So I would be a little wary that applying too much order to lists, it might actually have the opposite effect and be counterproductive. All the best Steve --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/myLifeOrganized?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
