The 4R Workflow Model - the art
of ground level productivity
There is a group of productivity
experts that promotes basically the same underlying
concept on how to handle all the stuff that fills
your inboxes in an efficient way that promotes
control, overview and a stress-free mind.
David Allen (link)
has developed what he calls Get Things Done (GTD®),
Sally McGhee (link)
calls her version 4D, Laura Stack (link)
calls her version 6D and FranklinCovey (link)
calls their version File-Act-Delete (FAD).
We will call the process the 4R's
Workflow Model, since the underlying key concept is
about the four questions you must ask yourself and
not about what you do after you have answered the
questions.
The model is based on
the three main questions:
-
Is the item Relevant,
can I Commit?
Is it relevant to me, my interests, my commitments
or my goals - if not, you should reject the
request or delete the item.
-
Does the item Require
Action?
- if not, you can either
archive it for later reference or place it on a
someday/maybe list if the item is an action/project that
may be relevant in the future. You must review
the validity of these items' status on a monthly
basis to see if they may be obsolete or may
now require action.
-
Is the item
Related to an existing Outcome?
- if not, you must track the outcome on a
project list of you personal projects (outcomes
requiring more than one action to complete).
Since your work is defined from and by your
outcomes, capture and tracking them makes
reviewing and planning more effective.
-
Is there a clear Real
Next Action?
- if not, you must backtrack the
required steps to get the desired outcome by
identifying the very first thing to do that will
keep this moving forward. Identifying the real
next action for a task will ensure you have more
opportunities to start the action and to avoid crisis
which leads to stress.
Now that you have
only clearly identifiable Real Next Action items
left, you can choose what to do with them.
-
Micro-management
of all items to determine priorities will
produce a bigger workload than simply getting
rid of all small items, so the initial action is
to simply do all action items that requires less
than two minutes to complete. This will also let
you get the benefit of checking off a lot of
things so you mentally feel you have
accomplished something.
-
Next option is to
delegate if you can. This way you have less to
do yourself and can focus on the important tasks
that requires your involvement. Often we have a
reluctance to delegate as if we were the only
person that could do a task well, but we must
keep in mind that everything does not have to be
perfect - often "good" is good enough or all
that is required!
-
Then we must
differentiate between the tasks we have left to
do whether they are time dependant or
not. If they are, we must book time to do them in
the calendar or commit to do them on a certain
day.
-
The rest of the
items are placed on our task list to be done
between appointments using priorities and the
situation or context.
So far we have done the things that took less than two minutes and
only processed the rest. Processing your inboxes is not
about doing things, it's about emptying,
understanding and organizing the items. When this is
done, we can return to "doing" things.
Actually Doing
Tasks
On a day to day basis
we should use our calendar and our task list as our
control panel, since they hold all appointments and
commitments. First we do the planned commitments
that are in the calendar and then we prioritize
among the items in the task list.
-
The important
tasks are booked in the calendar when we do our
weekly planning and review to ensure they will
be done. Keep in mind the Pareto principle of
80/20 - e.g. 20% of your effort will generate
80% of the outcome, so focus on the most
important 20% first and you will easily achieve
80% of your goals. You should be careful not to
focus on the 20% of your tasks that will take
80% of your time but does not generate
proportional results.
-
Priorities should
be based on what we actually can do in a given
context, what time we have available and the
energy level we have. When these criteria has
been established we can use importance and
urgency to determine the priority. This is also
why it is important to plan on a weekly basis,
so you can ensure you are in the right context
as well as have time and energy for the
important tasks.
-
Understand your
energy levels during the day and utilize them. I
recommend watching the "stress" webcast by Dr.
Kathleen Hall (link).
If you understand your energy levels you can
plan better and achieve more, e.g. work when you
are mentally focused and
cook/shop/exercise/relax when you are mentally
extorted. If your employer allows this kind of
flexibility and if your work area as well as
family allows you to do so, you should look into
the ability to work in intervals and from home.
Sources/Links:
Business Webcasts
4D process by Sally McGhee
David Allen Webcast: Knowledge Worker Athletics
David Allen on YouTube
Laura Stack Webcast: Processing, Organizing, and
Reducing Wasted Time
Sally McGhee Webcast: Tips for Using Microsoft
Office Outlook to Remove the Clutter from Your
Computer (and Your Mind)
Sally McGhee Webcast: Tips for Reducing Your Inbox
from Thousands to Just a Few E-mails
