Capture, organize, reflect¶
This is the oldest idea in the academy. David Allen published it in Getting Things Done (Allen, 2001). The book has sold over 2 million copies. The reason is simple: the loop works.
The five steps¶
- Capture — write down every commitment, idea, or open loop. Not in your head. Outside it. dooer's quick-task form (S-1.2) is the capture step.
- Clarify — for each captured item, decide what it is. Is it a task? A note? Reference material? A project? Trash?
- Organize — put it where it belongs. Tasks in the task list. Notes in notes. Project-scoped things on a project. Trash in trash.
- Reflect — once a week, walk through the system. What still matters? What can be deleted? What needs to move?
- Engage — actually do the work. With confidence, because steps 1–4 mean you trust your system.
The genius of the loop is that it makes engage much better. When you trust your system, you can drop everything else and focus on the one task in front of you, because you know nothing is falling through the cracks.
What breaks the loop¶
- Capturing in two places. Tasks in dooer, ideas in Slack DMs, a separate sticky note on your monitor. The system only works if there is one inbox.
- Skipping the weekly reflect. Without reflection, the system becomes a graveyard. Things pile up, you stop trusting it, you start capturing on sticky notes again.
- Treating capture as a commitment. Capturing a thing does NOT mean you have to do it. You can capture, then delete on Sunday during the weekly review. That's the point.
Where it shows up in dooer¶
| Step | dooer surface |
|---|---|
| Capture | /tasks/new quick task (S-1.2); sticky note (S-1.7); voice input on mobile (if used) |
| Clarify | Task detail page — set status, priority, target date |
| Organize | Project linking, Area of Interest tags (S-2.7), folders for notes |
| Reflect | Friday weekly review (S-2.8); monthly retro (S-3.3) |
| Engage | Priority Matrix (S-2.1) — work the top quadrant |
Why it works at every scale¶
GTD started as a personal-productivity book. The same loop scales:
- Solo Operator — weekly review on Friday afternoon.
- Team Lead — monthly project review (T-2.8) + quarterly portfolio review (T-3.4).
- Enterprise PMO — quarterly programme reviews + annual portfolio rebalance.
The loop is fractal. The cadence changes; the steps don't.
Where to read more¶
- Allen, D. (2001). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin. The original.
- Forte, T. (2022). Building a Second Brain. Atria. A modern variation that focuses more on the capture and organize steps for knowledge workers.