What The US Military Can Teach You About Getting Things Done (GTD)

The Military operates the most efficient organization in the world, bar none.  You can use their operational know-how to help accelerate your everyday goals by utilizing the system they use to get things done quickly, and with the least resistance.  During my time with the military I have learned this system, and have found that through applying it to my job, and everyday situations, I can easily work through any issues.

With that being said, the military also operates what is arguably the single best entity that trains, develops, and carries out missions.  There is no other organization in the world that could have put together a relief or military response of such size and efficiency as the United States Military can.

There are eight basic steps (8 troop leading procedures) that any mission the United States is involved in takes.  They are listed below.  Below every step I include detail about each, and how these can translate into any job or organization to help streamline the completion of work, as well as the sharing of information.

1. Receive the Mission

What is my mission/task/goal?  How much resources/time do I have available to me?

2. Issue the Warning Order

Tell those involved what’s coming, what the deadline is, and what to prepare for.  This is NOT a plan, this is just informing others of what to expect, and to be aware that you will be requiring them for use later in this plan.  Do not tell everyone everything you know.  Your people/resources only need to know what is necessary for them individually.  This is the heart of delegation, and is what makes this procedure work so well.

3. Make a Tentative Plan

Develop an estimate of the situation.  This plan has 5 steps to creating this plan:

• Detailed objective/task analysis
• Situation analysis and course of action development
• Analysis of each course of action (COA)
• Comparison of each course of action (COA)
• Decision based on what you think is the best course of action.

At the end of these 5 steps, you will have made a decision.  This is known as your tentative “course of action”, as it is not fully 100% accurate in the reflection of what will ultimately need to be done.  Think of this as defining a loose scope of responsibility, deliverables, and end results.  Be sure also in this step that you are accurately determining your resources both in type and quantity.

4. Initiate Necessary Movement

This step can actually occur at any time in the process, but it is a good spot to use it if you are the managing body of a task or job.  This is the time where you have your subordinates begin moving or acting on what the task will entail.  Will they need to gather any special equipment? Do you have all the necessary tools to do this job?  Questions like these now will save you heartache down the road, and helps to meet deadlines.

5. Reconnoiter

With this step you are wanting to find out as much information as possible about the task.  What do you have already that can be improved? What are you lacking?  If this task involves subversive business tactics or undercutting a competitor, make sure you take time to truly understand the picture and responsibilities related to this task.

6. Complete the Plan

Using what you decided from creating your tentative plan in step 3, and what you discovered about the current situation from step 5, you now make your final decision on how to complete this task.   You finalize your plans and prepare to delegate any necessary tasks.  Now is also an important time to go back to what you learned in step 1, and recognize if you’ve left anything out.  Also, be sure you check back and make sure you are still working toward the right thing.  All the planning in the world will not save you if you got bad information at the beginning.  Remember: it is always safer to ask for clarification beforehand, than to ask forgiveness after the fact.

7. Issue the Complete Order

It is at this point that you will bring in all subordinates/teammates to brief them on how this task is going to get completed.  Anyone involved with the project should know who, what, when, where, and why of the objective so they understand their own tasks and how they fit into the entire mission.  Be sure to cover the full scope of the project, and establish any boundaries to work/tasks for each group.

8. Supervise and Refine

It is at this point that you have given out all necessary information to others in order for the task to be completed.  At this stage of the procedure, you are simply tweaking and supervising to ensure that the plan you put out, is what is being done.  It’s important to note that this step does not mean to micromanage.  It simply means to periodically check and get updates from groups, and check against your full plan to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve outlined how the most efficient organization in the world does things.  While admittedly this procedure is usually used for a platoon size element (less than 40 or so people involved), it is a watered down version that can be easily applied to any task, job, or assignment.  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know in the comments, I’d be happy to explain anything that may be confusing or that I might need to address in further detail.

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