Contexts in GTD
A context is what an action needs before you can do it: a tool or a place. Contexts exist so that when you sit down with twenty minutes and a laptop, you see only what you can do with twenty minutes and a laptop.
That is the whole job. A context list is a filter on your next actions, not a category for them. Everything below follows from that.
Why contexts instead of priorities
A priority tells you what matters most. It does not tell you what you can do right now. The most important task on your list is no use to you in a queue at the post office, and the second most important one may need someone who is on holiday.
Getting Things Done flips the order. First, filter to what is possible here. Then pick from that short list using your time, your energy, and your judgement about what matters. Priority still counts. It just comes last.
A starting set
The classic contexts were places and tools: at the office, at home, at the phone, at the computer, out on errands. They still work if your day really is split between places. If most of your work happens on one laptop or one phone, contexts by place stop meaning much, and contexts by tool or kind of work do better.
| Context | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Calls | Anything done by phone. Easy to batch when you have ten minutes. |
| Computer | Work that needs a proper keyboard and screen. |
| Errands | Things to do while you are out. Check it before you leave the house. |
| Home | Things that need you to be at home: the shelf, the boiler, the paperwork in the drawer. |
| Office | Only if there are things you genuinely can only do there. |
| Anywhere | Reading, thinking, short replies from your phone. |
Start with four to six. A context earns its place when you would open that list on its own and act from it. If you never look at a context by itself, merge it into another one.
People get their own list
Things to raise with a particular person do not belong in a context. They belong in an agenda for that person: a running list you open the next time you talk to them. Your manager, your partner, your accountant. Agendas are what stop you leaving a meeting and remembering the thing you meant to ask.
Things someone else owes you are different again. Those go in Waiting For, with the date you asked, so you know when to chase.
Mistakes that make contexts useless
- Too many
- Fifteen contexts means fifteen lists to check, and nobody checks fifteen lists. The filter stops filtering.
- Using them as projects or areas
- "Marketing" or "Garden" is not a context. Nothing about it tells you what you need to have with you. Those belong in projects and areas of responsibility.
- Using them for energy or time
- "Low energy" and "Quick" are real filters, but they cut across every context. Keep them as separate fields on the action if your app allows it, so you can ask for quick calls or low-energy computer work.
- Never changing them
- Your contexts should follow your life. A new job, a move, a baby: each one changes where and how you work. Revisit them in your weekly review once in a while.
Contexts in Relay
In Relay, a context is the tool or place a step needs, and it is what files a task into Next Actions. Filter Next Actions by context and it shows only what you can do where you are. Energy and time are separate fields on every action, so you can group the list by context, energy, duration or project, and Engage filters by context, energy and time at once.
People have their own lists. Agenda holds what to raise with someone, and Waiting For holds what they owe you, so neither crowds your contexts.
Try contexts that actually filter
Set up your contexts in Relay and see your next actions narrowed to what you can do right now, with your calendar for the day above them.
30 days free, no card needed. Start in your browser or install the app.