The JJW Blog

Estimating how long it takes to do something

David Allen emphasizes in his GTD system to break down projects into manageable actions by doing a little bit of thinking all at once so you don’t have to do it later and can just do.   Part of becoming a GTD jedi is to be able to quickly face an onslaught of new information, ignore everything that isn’t applicable to you, filter the rest into actions that are in places where you will be notified later.

One additional thing I have been doing is using a simple estimation system around 5, 15, to 45 minutes.  I chose these numbers because 5 minutes seems like a good baseline for something that could be done really fast like responding to an email. 3 times that is 15minutes for a longer task like writing a blog post and applying the same factor of 3 yields 45minutes for tasks that work better with a little session of concentration, such as a programming task.   This breakdown works well for me.  I append tasks with a time estimate at the end.  

E.g.

• Research a Python library for handling iCal files t=15
• Email R.J. the comps for the new client t=5
• Implement parsing tags out of new entry call t=45

This gives me an idea.  Perhaps I should have 5-15-45 minute blog posts for my tumblelog.  5 minute blog posts are simple little things to share, like links with a description.  15 minute posts are like this one.  And 45 minute posts where I format a bunch of screenshots and do tutorials or longer opinion pieces and the like.  It might be a good way to decide what kind of blog post I want to write.

Here is a great little timer to set a reminder 5, 15, or 45 minutes in advance.  I have been using it a lot.  It’s called Tiny Alarm.