The Trusted System is the capture system, and also the planner which shows what needs to be done now, and in the future, in a time sequence. It allows you to distinguish actions from goals, objectives, somedays and desired outcomes. The Trusted System allows you to translate goals into actions with tasks linked to a goal. ## What makes a system trusted? The system becomes part of your everyday work, an extension of your thinking, not just a chore or an obligation, but a useful tool. It is a reflection of your thinking and helps you think, forming a positive feedback loop. The main requirement is that nothing gets lost – that your good ideas are captured and that you are confident that a decision can be made on each item. Even if your decision is to take no action, at least your good idea will be there for the next time around when you *review and re-evaluate* your projects and your availability. Essentially the system must work for you, allowing you to establish and organize next actions, on all horizons, and provide the data that you need to complete your GTD review. It is the framework within which you organize yourself to get things done and try to limit procrastination. For the system to be trusted, you must have evidence that your organization is effective – that the actions you establish contribute to fulfilling your objectives and that your objectives are indeed structured into effective actions. ## Requirements of the trusted system We consider here software which can help to implement the five key stages of [[Getting Things Done GTD]]: Capture, Clarify, Organize, Reflect and Engage. The map below shows how management methods, in this case GTD, are related to the software tools. Sometimes it is about finding the software to implement a chosen method, and at others, it is the software that embodies the method. Trello for example is based on lists, a GTD concept. ![[management cluster.png]] The aim of the trusted system is to create order from chaos, to manage change and the changing workload. If you are part of a team, the trusted system helps people to be autonomous. If you're a freelancer or sole trader, the trusted system helps to plan and implement change. ## Manage opportunities You may receive a significant number of emails, and need an effective way of focusing on the important and real opportunities. This ensures that they are at the top of your priority list and that spam, dead-end opportunities or time wasters do not use up your valuable time. Opportunities might not just drop into your email inbox. You may need to be out there looking at market tendencies, keeping an ear to the ground, thinking about where the market is going, your current positioning and where you are likely to be in the future. Managing orders may mean being on the lookout for new opportunities from existing customers. The other part of managing opportunities is establishing and updating the services to provide. This means monitoring the market more generally, seeing where there is a demand for new services, determining your offer, assessing whether you have the skills, and if so at what price. Your analysis of a new market trend would go into the capture library. You might plan actions based on such analysis in Ayoa or Todoist for action such as ‘read more about it’, define what you will provide, and update the list of services to include pricing for the new service. ## Measuring performance against trajectory Accurate management numbers are important to measure and analyse business activity. This might typically seem to be an activity for larger companies, this type of management is applicable to businesses of all sizes. It is useful to measure your business activity no matter the size of the business. Part of establishing this trusted relationship between objectives (where I want to go) and actions (what I’m doing to get there) is to measure key management data. ![[measuring-your-trajectory.png]] Above, analysis of the current path against intended trajectory. This idea is a representation of some of the ideas in [[How will you measure your life]]'s HBR article How Will You Manage Your Life which discusses measuring your distance from the intended trajectory. ## Example of a trusted system This is one system configuration we used, that we considered to be a trusted system: ![[productivity-software-config.png]] Enterprise Architect for [[Systems Analysis]] [[Evernote for Capture]] Simplemind for mind mapping Trello for task and [[Project Management]] [[Getting Things Done GTD]] as the underlying method and Odoo as the ERP transactional system # Conclusion Managing a business involves analysing your current system, developing and documenting your strategy. - Look for ways to transform your strategy into action. - Assess your performance against the declared strategy - Measure your progress against objectives. - Get trained on the right business management software - Track day-to-day priorities - Adapt your strategy based on performance - Reflect on the efficiency of your system and use that understanding to improve it.