Comments on: What I Learned About Productivity from Taco Bell

By: More Productivity Lessons from Taco Bell : What’s Best Next

More Productivity Lessons from Taco Bell : What’s Best Next — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:16:45 +0000

[...] blogged a few weeks ago on what Taco Bell teaches us about how to define and manage your next actions. Here’s another lesson from Taco [...]

By: 12-08-08 Productivity Power Links « Geeks Guide To Productivity

12-08-08 Productivity Power Links « Geeks Guide To Productivity — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:46:34 +0000

[...] Taco Bell and GTD? …the most significant solution is what I took away from the cooks at Taco Bell: I started defining my next actions not according to real specific steps (highly literal “next actions”), but according to what I can accomplish in one sitting. (via whats best next) [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:53:49 +0000

Brian: I can relate to that very much! I’ve done similar things.

I’d say there is actually an impulse within the GTD system itself that creates this tendency. GTD emphasizes not keeping “anything in your head.” So if you don’t go down to the level of “buy screws,” it feels like you are keeping some things in your head, and if you do that you have to remember what you kept in your head and what you didn’t…

But a productivity system can end up sucking a lot of time away from actually getting things done if we always go to this level of detail, just like you say. I am consciously trying to get less detailed with most of my projects — but it can be tough!

By: Brian Phillips

Brian Phillips — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:44:30 +0000

Confession:I have a tendency to list the sub-steps even when they aren’t essential.

This summer I decided to build a fence in my backyard and added it to my “To-Do” list in my iGoogle. I listed too many sub-steps, though (buy 4×4s, buy woodscrews, borrow post-hole digger).

Adding “fence” to the list would have been good enough, but I think I added everything else -subconsciously- so that I could feel like I was making progress before I even really accomplished anything significant. Buying screws didn’t get my fence build, and I sure wasn’t going to forget that I needed them.

Can you relate?

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:18:03 +0000

Tim: Very well said. That is a helpful criteria: a next action is often granular enough when you *know* how to do it, even if it does literally consist of various sub-steps.

By: Tim Walker

Tim Walker — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:56:38 +0000

Good call, Matt. For me, the “very next physical action” approach is most useful when I’m stuck.

Allen’s example of “Clean the garage” as being overwhelming is a good example. Instead of that, I can jot down a next action of “Go through two boxes in garage,” which is granular *enough* for me because — like a Taco Bell worker making a steak taco — I *know* how to go through a box of old stuff in the garage in a single go/sitting.