Extreme Results is an Open Source software solution for implementing J.D Meier’s personal productivity system, Getting Results The Agile Way (Also called Agile Results).
The app can be found here: https://xr.gjermundbjaanes.com/
If you already know what Agile Results is, jump down to the section on Extreme Results (the app).
If not, read on to learn what Agile Results is all about.
What is Agile Results?
Agile Results is very simple system designed for getting meaningful results, instead of just “getting things done”. If you aren’t getting the right things done, you are not actually getting any results, you are just keeping busy.
The word agile in this context comes from the software development methodology, Agile Development. It’s based on being able to be flexible enough to evolve and respond to change.
The basics of Agile Results
The basics of Agile Results is very simple. It’s also very easy to remember the basic parts.
Every individual part of the system is also completely optional, and if you ever forget to use it, it’s very easy to get started again.
And did I say it’s simple? There are very few things to learn too - it’s a very small system.
The simplicity and modularity of it all makes the barrier for entry very small.
What I want to focus on here, is something called outcomes and reflections. They are very simple, but powerful.
Outcomes
The point of outcomes is to outline 3 goals you want to achieve within a specific time frame.
The time frames can typically be daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Each one is broader and more ambitious than the next (The yearly one being the biggest outcomes, and the daily one the smallest outcomes).
And you have to limit yourself to just three. This is really important! It’s the rule of three!
For the daily one you pick three goals you want to have achieved by the end of the day. You can do more, but these three are the wins you commit to that day. And you can use the weekly goals to find out which daily goals makes most sense to you - and so on…
The great part about the outcomes is that it scales really well. You don’t have to set up goals for the year, the month and the week. You can pick and choose! They make sense even if you don’t have them all.
The one I highly recommend you at least stick with, is the daily one. It’s the real driver for action in my experience. If you start with that (and you can do it right now - just write down 3 wins for the day!), you can easily add more goals later - if you want to.
And again, if you forget for a few days, it’s easy to get back up on the horse. Just write down 3 things you want to have done by the end of the day. Super simple!
Reflections
You use reflections to learn and improve upon your process.
For instance, you can look back at the week that went by, and note down the following things:
- 3 things that went well
- 3 things to improve
So you have to focus on what you actually accomplished, and celebrate yourself for that, but also learn about your mistakes so that you are able to do even better later.
And, if things change right under your feet, you can easily adapt (being all Agile…).
Using the reflections, you can improve the goals you choose (so that you choose good goals that you can actually finish), and the way you do them.
Hot Spots
Hot spots is kind of a simple overview of what is important to you.
It allows you to map out the important areas of your life and help you spend your time in those.
For instance, you might have a hot spot bucket called Life. In it you could have a list of Hot Spots:
- Mind
- Body
- Fun
And you could have another hot spot bucket called Work. It would contain other things that are key to work.
Learning more
To learn more about Getting Results the Agile Way, there are two main resources I would like to point you to:
Extreme Results
The problem I had with Agile Results is that is no real way to connect related information.
Sure, you can flip back and forth in a notebook, or click around in Evernote. But I wanted the information ready exactly when I needed it - to make things easier.
There are no apps for this! There are plenty GTD apps, but no Agile Result apps!
So this is where Extreme Results (XR) enter.
I created XR for myself, to be able to use Agile Results more easily. I created some of the features I knew I had to have, even though there are several others left.
If XR is something more people want, I am fully committed to evolving it into a fully featured product.
The app can be found here: https://xr.gjermundbjaanes.com/
Related entries
For instance, when creating your daily outcomes, wouldn’t it make sense to be able to see your higher level, more abstract goals, like weekly or monthly?
Or how about being able to look over your past weeks outcomes when writing your reflections?
Getting an overview
Of course, when you are entering all your outcomes into a digital system, you expect to be able to view all your entries, which is easy.
All active outcomes are being displayed on the overview page:
Open Source
Extreme Results is completely Open Source.
The are many reasons for this:
- I love Open Source software
- I want anyone to view and learn things from what I’ve done
- I want anyone to be able to work on this project
- I want anyone to be able to teach me things
If you want to get involved, please just let me know.
I’ll be happy to work with people on this project.
Evey line of code is on Github:
Again, if you want to take a look a the app: https://xr.gjermundbjaanes.com/