My Internal System: PARA
One of my rules for running Tacklebox is called the Rule of Three:
If I do the exact same thing three or more times, I need to codify or productize it.
My normal form of productizing is the podcast - if a question gets asked a bunch and I give the same answer, I turn that into a podcast I can point to when I’m asked the question in the future.
But some questions are much better answered in shorter form, so I’m going to start answering the common questions here so we build up a repository.
This is a logistical question I get asked constantly:
How should I manage and track the tasks associated with my startup idea?
For a long time I recommended people use whatever they felt worked - google docs, to-do list in the notes app, Notion, constant emails to yourself, Asana - whatever. The goal was to not force people to learn a new system. I’ve realized this is bad advice. Most founders we work with haven’t managed this type of process before, so their ad hoc to-do list / product management approach isn't up to the task (pun).
I’m a nerd about this stuff and have tried every system under the sun. The one I aggressively recommend is PARA. It’s an offshoot of Getting Things Done, and, I think, a better organized version of it (although you should absolutely read GTD). There are a lot of reasons I like it, but maybe my favorite is how you start - you basically archive everything you’ve ever done and begin fresh. Trying to cram your current files and to do list into a new system never works - PARA removes the need for that.I’ve assembled a “beginners guide” for PARA (and, in case this wasn’t obvious, I don’t get paid or get referral fees or anything for any of this).
Start Here: You can read the whole book if you'd like, but I think this series of posts is shorter and more accessible.
Building Your System: I use Notion as my main tool for organizing everything and I highly recommend it. It plays extremely nice with PARA. Here’s a video of how someone set up PARA in Notion, and the template this person has built to make it super simple on your end. You can then build / customize on top of this if you’d like, but I haven’t needed to.
Managing the System: Finally, the most important part of this or any system is Daily Mise en Place. This is a 5-15 minute routine each day to check in and clean out your system. To make sure it’s working properly, is still the main source of truth for what you’re working on and what’s a priority, and to remind yourself what’s important. I think of this 5–15 minute period each day like putting on your gym clothes. If you do that every day, you’ll work out more. If you check your system every day, you’ll work on your startup (and the right part of it) more.
This type of system will make it way easier to send out investor notes, collect all the random ideas you have for marketing or product throughout the day, and, eventually, when you hire someone — they’ll have a system to adopt.
I used to say things like “whatever system you choose, make sure it’s the main source of truth and a priority and…”
But, I’ve seen enough people now to know that whatever system you build or whatever cobbled together task prioritization thing you’ve got almost certainly isn’t as good as a system built by a professional. The rare exceptions are freelancers who have been doing this sort of thing for a living, but even that I’m skeptical of.
Use PARA, use Notion, use the template. It works.