Do, Delegate, Defer + Divide = Smoother Workflow?

The todo subsystem is at the heart of The Goo. One of our ex-employees recently wrote:

"The job is great however I thought being involved in such a large organization there would be better procedures/communication in place! I miss the goo - esp the tutorials. You guys are certainly on the right track there."

But there's more to come! After my YAPC::EU presentation, Farley Balasuriya gave me some great feedback and said he'd recently seen similar ideas in 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen. I've since read the book and Allen makes some important suggestions - if the task takes less than 2 minutes Do It now - otherwise Delegate it to someone else or Defer it.

So in the pursuit of atomic todos I would add one more D - Divide It up. If the task is too big it can be a flow-stopper so it should be divided into smaller todos. I'm currently designing how todos will appear on your mental horizon - and the fours Ds will help you to wade through them.