As many of you know, I use RocketMatter as my case management program for my legal practice. Being a solo practitioner who is often moving from place to place, a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution such as RocketMatter greatly enhances my ability to have access to my client data from any location via my iPhone or laptop. With the addition of Tasks into RocketMatter, I am now able to utilize RocketMatter in a more GTD (Getting Things Done) approach at organization. If you haven’t heard of GTD, it is a method of organizing and capturing your work and personal life (if you choose) and can make the difference between running around like a chicken with your head cut off and being able to go to sleep at night. Larry Port from RocketMatter has guest autghored a great post on Blog for Profit explaining how to integrate GTD and RocketMatter into your legal practice.
As part of our weeklong legal efficiency-fest, we’re discussing the Getting Things Done productivity system in the context of a law firm. Each day this week, we’ll write guest posts at prominent legal blogs exploring the system in more detail.
Yesterday we painted an overview of Getting Things Done for the legal practitioner. As GTD adherents will say, becoming an organizational “black belt” takes a lot of time. And utilizing all components of the system may not work for you. But several of the techniques, such as the ones I’m presenting this week, are those that by themselves can really impact your productivity.
Dealing with “Stuff”
In GTD, “stuff” has a specific definition: “anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doe
sn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t determined the desired outcome and the next action step” (from “Getting Things Done”, Chapter 1).
In other words, stuff is anything you have to deal with that requires a plan of action, from the trivial to the complex. The problem most people encounter when they attempt to get organized is that they don’t think about their stuff and transform it into actionable plans. For example, recording a to-do called “work on matter” will not help you move forward with your work, as there’s no clear result from the activity. It’s too vague.
Capturing “Open Loops”
To achieve the stress-free part of the GTD system, one of the most vital components is capturing information. If you don’t get your stuff out of your head and collected into a capture system, your mind, consciously or sometimes less that consciously, keeps track of all of the incomplete items in your life. These incomplete items are referred to as “open loops”, and can distract you from the present moment, sap energy, and cause stress.
A huge part of GTD is embracing a capture system and eliminating all “open loops” from your psyche. Find a system that inspires you, whether a 3×5 index card system, portable notebook, dictation device, (or shameless plug, Rocket Matter’s beautiful new task functionality) and get everything out of your head.
GTD recommends a process called a “Mind-Sweep”, where you spend twenty minutes to an hour writing out each thought, idea, or project that is in your head. Capture everything from the mundane “need more dental floss” to the wishful thinking “reduce carbon footprint”.
A Well-Written Next Action Item
Once your stuff is captured, it needs to be described so that acting on it will have a measurable outcome. Before, with the “work on matter” vague to-do item example, a task with a cloudy description will not drive you forward. “Review Westlaw for similar case precedents”, however, will.
The Next Action is the “next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality towards completion” (from “Getting Things Done”, Chapter 2). Other examples might be “Call client to discuss amendment to operating agreement”, “Research web-based legal software tools”, or “Draft Motion to Dismiss for Smith Matter”.
Using action verbs to describe physical steps are crucial to describe your Next Action items. Verbs like “Call, Draft, Review, Find, Print, Email, Research” – all of these are ideal ways to describe your stuff, so that it transforms from the vague blob of an idea to a results-oriented description.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for tomorrow, where we’ll explore organizing, the “two minute rule” and “Do it, Defer it, and Delegate it.”
Originally posted on Blog for Profit: GTD For Legal: Capturing and Transforming “Stuff” into Next Action Items.
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