I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with one of my co-workers about GTD. We exchange ideas, tools and tips every so often. I like these exchanges, because I can count on him to provide very specific and pointed questions that make me think about why I organize the way I do. He’s starting to use an online tool I suggested to manage his ToDos. Getting all his stuff in there, he asked about what contexts I use. I sent him my list, which consists of about 35 different contexts, and one of those exchanges began.

I define context as “the mind-set, location (physical or virtual) or tool you need to actually do the thing you want to do.” For example, if I want to hang the picture in the hallway, it’s really not useful to have that in front of me while I’m at my desk at the office. No matter how much may want to hang that picture, I can only do it at home, where I have my hammer, a nail and the picture itself.

When you plan a project, you’re in “Project Mode. You’re thinking about that project, and you come up with all the related action items you need to do to get the project done. On the other hand, when you actually set out to do those action items, you’re in some physical (or virtual) place where you have the tools you need. If you’re writing a document, you’re at your computer with your word processor. If you’re making a call you’ve got your phone. If you’re getting approval from Bob, you’re in Bob’s office. Each one of those places, people or things is a context. If you’re getting things done, you’re planning by project, but doing by context.

The idea is that when you’re in a particular context, you want to know all the things that are available for you to do at that moment. If you’re at a phone, a list of phone calls you need to make is helpful. If you’re not near a phone, that list of calls is just a distraction–there’s not much you can do about it. Everything on your ToDo list should have a context assigned. This way, it’s easy to see what actions are yet to be incorporated into your system (“processed”). Designing an effective context list demands more than a little thought.

Here’s how I created mine, and I’ll share the end result as well.

• Think about the typical physical locations you are in on a regular basis. For me, there are three: Home, Work, and Karate.
• Think about the key people in your life. Between work (boss, peers, directs, indirects, etc.), family and friends, this will be a long list, I’m sure. Add the truly key people as named contexts, then leave everyone else in a context called “people”. If you find that you need to break-out someone later, no problem.
• Think about all the tools you use on a regular basis to get your stuff done. Your list will contain things like your computer, phone, office (at work), files (at home). If you have a house, you might want to include the garage, workshop, pool, guest cottage, horse stable and North 40 as different contexts. Fortunately, I have a 668 sq. ft. apt in NYC, so I don’t have that problem.
• An important note regarding your computer is to take it further down to the software applications you use as well. If Outlook is your email program, for example, you will benefit from having a list of emails to write, so you can get into email mode, and crank them out all at once. Switching your focus among a spreadsheet, word processor, email and your company’s online reporting systems takes effort. In most cases, you’ll be much more efficient if you do all your emails, then switch to your spreadsheet. If you have multiple computers, and use one for work, and the other for personal stuff, you might want to do this for each computer.
• Think about errands that you typically run, and the stores you normally go to. I don’t own a car, and getting on the subway with 24 rolls of toilet paper is a little unwieldy. Like most New Yorkers, we make occasional “Target runs” to pick up things like that. So, for me, Target is a context. So are the supermarket, the hardware store, and the pet store.
• Create a “Waiting” context for things that you are waiting for from others. If you have many of these and many people you wait for things from, you could break it down further. I don’t.
• Create a “Someday” context for times when you really want to think long-term about things you might want to do, but don’t have a plan for.

So, here’s my list:

• Home
• Karate
• Phone
• Office
• Basecamp
• Online
• Email
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• MindManager
• Blog.tutor.com
• MacBook
• Email
• Online
• Quicken
• amasur.me
• isshin-ryu.com
• MindManager
• Pages
• Numbers
• Keynote
• People
• Donette
• My Boss
• Peer #1
• Peer #2
• Direct Reports
• Direct #1
• Direct #2
• Direct #3
• Indirect Reports
• Indirect #1
• Indirect #2
• Out and About
• Grocery Store
• Hardware Store
• Target
• Cultural Events
• Museums
• Waiting
• Someday

Please your thoughts and ideas, or even your list. I’d love to hear what works for you.