A few weeks ago I attended the “Mastering Workflow” GTD seminar.  This was mostly review for me but the tactic of using “Agendas” really stuck.   In Things, there’s a “People” list that I have never leveraged before.  As life tasks crop up that I need to discuss with Sarah, I associate them with her in the Things and wait until our Life Dinner to discuss.  I also do this with my boss as we have a weekly video chat standing meeting to review anything outstanding.

Using Agendas is a great way to cut down on daily email and task switching while still feeling organized.

Do More Faster is divided into 7 Themes: Idea and Vision, People, Execution, Product, Fundraising, Legal and Structure and Work-Life Balance.  Within each Theme are several 1-3 page stories written by Entrepreneurs, VCs and other interesting people in the software, internet, product development, startup realm.  It’s a great format for the hyper caffeinated, ADHD, check twitter while your reading type of personality.

This book was fun for me to read because many contributors are familiar faces I either work with in some capacity or have seen around the flourishing Boulder/Denver tech community.

Chapters that blew me away and taught me something brand new:

• To 83(b) or not to 83(b), There is No Question – Matt Galligan
• Usage is like Oxygen for Ideas – Matt Mullenweg
• Karma Matters – Warren Katz
• Don’t Plan, Prototype – Greg Reinacker

Chapters that reinforced some of my favorite work related topics:

• Don’t Suck at E-mail – David Cohen
• Get Out from behind Your Computer – Seth Levine
• Be Specific – Brad Feld
• Get Feedback Early – Nate Abbott and Natty Zola

If you want motivation for anything you are doing I highly recommend Do More Faster.

We use Rally’s ALM product and the Kanban custom tab to manage our User Story development.  I have worked with 2 teams over the past few years and both I consider quite amazing and talented.  Ongoing debates about naming conventions for User Stories, the importance of Tasks, and who should be the Story Owner have never been resolved.  Our teams crank out great software, but always within a stressful environment.

As I was enjoying a nice bike commute into work last week I was listening to the GTD | Podcasts episode titled “The Do Lectures”.  Around minute 10:30 David Allen says that to clarify anything, you have to decide “What outcome are you committed to finish about this?”  I realized how similar GTD Projects and Agile User Stories really are.

• A GTD Project clarifies the outcome you want.
• An Agile User Story describes what the User wants to achieve.

Both GTD Projects and Agile User Stories use Tasks as a method of describing the work required for completion.  In both, Tasks probably need to come in some sort of order, will vary in their scope and may require different people’s resource.  Also in both, if Tasks can be defined it signals a complete understanding of the work to be done.  Granted, you may have missed something, gotten something wrong or encounter changes along the way, but at least you’re on the right track.

My experience in working with fellow Developers is that being asked to Task out a User Story is sometimes treated as some kind of insult or waste of time.  We joke a lot about a common Task name we use in Rally simply titled “do it”.  Again, the GTD project similarities are strong here.  The initial reaction is to keep things in your head and resist verbalizing the steps required to complete the work.  Instead, insist on breaking every User Story down into Tasks and agree that the first Task to be worked on or “Next Action” is the most important one.

By leveraging the GTD Projects similarities in your Agile team, hopefully everyone will be more efficient and less stressed!

I have set no rules for myself for this early morning time, it’s my time.  As I sit down at my computer I check email, twitter, sometimes read through my RSS feeds…it’s my time to think, surf and read.

A result of this no pressure approach is that I get to see where the morning takes me.  Sometimes the first tweet I read takes me down a path of learning something completely new.  For example, a few days ago I watched a 30 minute interview of Mike Wallace and Frank Lloyd Wright at 5:30am!  I’ve also had mornings in which I sit down and start chipping away at my Inbox.  If I had this scheduled or planned I am sure I would not be able to drag myself out of bed.  I’ve had great IM sessions with friends on the other side of the globe, written blog posts, worked on startup ideas, fixed bugs, watched videos, caught up on Facebook and more during my morning think sessions.

As much as I practice GTD and follow concepts advocated by people like David Allen, I feel that having total free time to think, read and learn is key to work happiness.  By the way, I am writing this at 6:04am as I pour my second cup of coffee.  I wonder what today has in store for me.