Matthew Cornell

While coaching my wife in David Allen's Getting Things Done (her request - I swear!), I was asked what project naming convention to use, and I decided I hadn't given this enough thought. My first response was "start with a verb," but I realized I was thinking more of actions, rather than projects. I'm pretty clear that actions should start with a verb, but projects?

First, regarding actions, starting them all with verbs makes sense: Next actions should be named to reflect doing (as he says, projects can't be done, only actions), and verbs (for me, at least) provide a subtle psychological pressure to take action. Put another way, they're commands from my planning self (the part that makes decisions up-front) to my acting self (the part that needs concrete direction, and is easily side-tracked with things that are too big or too vague).

So how about naming projects? Given Allen's perspective on clarifying outcomes, we'd expect him to phrase them in terms of the desired outcome. Interestingly, in the section of the book where he provides a partial projects list (page 37), out of a few dozen examples, only three do not start with verbs ("August vacation", "Staff off-site retreat", and "R&D joint-venture video project"). Here are a few other perspectives:

• From the Belly of the Beasts: Getting Things Done: the Roadmap: Projects should be written in the form of completed goals. E.g., it's not "make a plan for", it's "implement".
  
• Status report on implementing the 'Getting things done' process: Project Outcome: As Allen suggests, I'm using active verbs and outcomes as the Project Names, e.g. 'Write & Publish Novel'.
  
• Issues with defining projects - top end: Frank Buck says: I phrase the project as a statement of what the project will look like when it's completed. I find it helps me see more clearly when a project is "done" and there is still work to do.
  
• Breaking it down: If you’re looking at your list and all you see is nouns, you probably have projects. Actions use verbs.

While I like the idea of a project name reflecting the desired outcome (it goes back to one of Allen's two big questions [1]), I have an issue with verbs in project names: I like the names in my project list to match their corresponding project folder labels as closely as possible, for easiest retrieval. Putting "I know how to speak conversational Spanish" is a great affirmation, but would make a lousy label. I'd probably use something like (brace yourself) "Spanish project" or "Spanish class."

I'd love her your thoughts - How do you name projects?


Update: I should have include a post to this nice piece by David Allen on projects: Defining “Projects” – a Key to GTD. It used to be a tip, but it's gone. However, Jason posted a copy of it on the thread How do you manage Projects?.


[1] I talk a little about them in Some David Allen "twos" - two reasons we procrastinate, and two kinds of problems.