In the traditional GTD model, actions are not linked to projects at all. The projects are kept one one single projects list, and next actions (physical visible actions, i.e. call Joe, buy screws at Home Depot) are kept in lists based on context (i.e. calls, @computer, @errands, etc.). I use these as tags in RTM.

The reason for the context is so that when you look at your lists, you only see things you can do right now. For example, when you sit down at your computer, it is not helpful to see "buy screws at Home Depot." You only want to see what is available for you to do right now.

So the question comes, "how do I know which project these actions are associated with?" or "how do I know that all of my projects are moving forward?"

This is where the weekly review comes in. When people ask David Allen how to link actions and projects his typical response is, "If you are doing a consistent, thorough weekly review, you don't need to." The weekly review gives you a perspective reviewing/reflecting on your projects list and action lists. In my experience, doing a weekly review consistently is a much better investment of my time than trying to link actions to projects all week long.

If you MUST link actions and projects I think that using tags is the best option. For each action, tag it with the context (i.e. @errands) and the project (i.e. budgetReview). For most people though, I think this is more work than is necessary.

btw, here is my GTD set up:

I have 4 core lists:

1 Work Next Actions
2 Personal Next Actions
3 Work Projects
4 Personal Projects

Everything gets dumped into the inbox first then dumped onto one of these lists. If it is a next action, I also tag it with the context:

@anywhere
@calls
@computer
@errands
@home
@office
@shop

Additionally I use smart lists extensively. For example, when I am at my office, I can technically do four of my contexts: @anywhere, @calls, @computer, @office.

So I create a smart list for all of those contexts to show up in one list. That way, I can make the best decision for my next action when I am at the office.

For you, my recommendation would be to keep all of your projects in one list, maybe tagged according to area of responsibility, if you find that necessary. Then, have all of your next actions in one list (if you don't need to use context, don't use it). Then, every week, spend time reviewing your lists making sure you've captured all existing projects, and have next actions in place to move all of your projects forward.

Thanks for your tips jondcoleman. I am in the process of switching to RTM mainly because my Android phone supports it. I have been using OmniFocus which is an excellent app but I have found that not having my tasks with me on my phone isn't helping my productivity all that much. I tend not to spend much time with my task lists which defeats the purpose of having them.

At first I tried to create projects as lists for each of my projects and there are just too many. I've adopted tags for projects and contexts and will play with smart lists to fine tune.

Great! I am glad it was helpful. I monitor the Tips and Tricks forum if you have any more GTD related questions.

The one question which I can't seem to find an answer to is how to sort the items I add in the order I added them in the first place? I know there are search criteria that focus on date added, would those searches do the trick?

The items I add are being re-ordered by title, priority and due date but I don't give most of my tasks due dates. I try deal with the next item on the list but that depends on them being arranged in the order I added them to the list.

Any thoughts?

Well, the GTD answer is that it shouldn't matter when you added them. GTD is designed to give you a complete inventory of everything you need to do, from which you can pick the best actions based on your time, energy, and context.

Unfortunately, RTM doesn't provide custom sort options (only the tree available as far as I know).

I have seen someone use a smart list called "Stale" where he search for tasks that were added more than 2 weeks ago or something like that. Maybe that would be helpful.

Actually, David Allen suggests writing the date on everything you write down - including tasks - though more because it just might come in useful occasionally - there's no suggestion of prioritising based on date added.

When I care about the date I added the task for any reason, I include it at the beginning of the task name in MMDD format. Then you can sort by task name = date added.

RTM does allow you to see the date a task was added. In the search box try the criteria: "list:inbox and addedBefore:tmrw", select a task and on the right hand side you will see an "Added" field. Without "and addedBefore:tmrw" the field is not visible.

If you use Smart Lists it's worth adding "and addedBefore:tmrw" to each definition so you can see the date when each task was added.

Slightly strange feature, but worth knowing.

Thanks for the tips October.gray and jhmorris. I wish that RTM would add custom sorting options so you could sort by date added or anything else.

Sion.lanini:

Maybe I am reading you wrong, but when you say "lots of little chunks of progress on each area" and "discern how to use my total time" I cannot help feeling that:

1) there seems to be nothing wrong with your list setup as such
2) yes, tags are very useful, and this fact has made them so popular that people seem to often overlook or avoid other obvious categorization tools, such as lists, task names, priorities, locations etc.

3a) I suspect that when you say "lots of little chunks of progress on each area" there need not necessarily be anything wrong with that - it depends on how you have defined your areas. Simple example: if your "areas" are administration, marketing, development etc, then it would indeed be unnatural if one of them would all of a sudden get "completed".

3b) If, on the other hand, your "areas" can be dealt with consecutively rather than in parallel, you might want to consider deferring some of them, and only have enough "current" areas to keep you busy, but no more.

4) I suspect that when you say "discern how to use my total time" when doing your weekly review, maybe you simply have not created a simple smartlist showing you the current/next week's "active" (current) actions?

But, as the saying goes "Diagnose before you prescribe". Maybe I read you wrong.

Thanks everyone for some very useful suggestions - especially jondcoleman. Tmrw I will set up my RTM/GTD system.

I've been using Evernote, quite successfully for my GTD, but I'm trying to implement it in RTM.
It seems to me, the obvious way to deal with a project is to create a list for each new project. After all, a project is just a list of tasks.
What's frustrating, is that RTM doesn't seem to have an option to display the items (tasks) in the list in the order in which they are entered, which is the obvious way to list the component tasks in a project. Am I missing something here?

chriscalga, one way to maintain the order is to use prefixes. For example: "aquarium 001 - buy tank"
"aquarium 002 - fill with water and begin cycling"
"aquarium 003 - test water for nitrate"
In addition, you can add tags, dates, etc and sort with lists as you normally would.

@jondcoleman I am trying to use RTM for GTD for the first time, and I like your idea of tagging the tasks with things you can do @home, @computer, @errands, etc. The @ is apparently for locations, so @home makes sense, but there isn't a specific location for @computer and @errands. Since using your actual location isn't required, do you just set @computer and @errands to any location, and just use the location to create your smart list? How is this different than just using #computer and #errands?