How long should I wait before following up?

Long enough to be fair, short enough that the thing still matters. Two weeks is a common default for colleagues and suppliers; a few days for anything with a deadline. tidemind ships with 14 days and lets you change it per list.

Should waiting-for items go in the calendar instead?

Only if there is a hard date: the parcel arrives Thursday, the contract is due on the first. Everything else has no date, only an age, and the calendar is the wrong place for things without a time. The list plus a weekly reading covers the rest.

What if the other person never delivers?

Then the entry has told you something, which is the point. After the second follow-up the question is no longer “when” but “what now”, and that is a next action of yours: find another supplier, escalate, or decide you can do without.

Delegating is not forgetting.

The waiting-for list in Getting Things Done® holds everything you have handed to someone else and still need back: an answer, a delivery, a decision, a signature. Every entry names who has it and since when. The list is read once a week, in the weekly review, and anything that has waited too long turns into a follow-up. It is the list that saves the most time and is kept the least.

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Whoa person or a companynot “them”
Since whenthe day it left youthe clock starts here
What backthe thing you needfigures, a yes, a parcel

You made a waiting-for list once. It has eleven entries and you last opened it in spring.

The reminders lived in your head instead, which is why you woke at three thinking about the Q3 figures.

A list nobody reads is not a system. It is a place where things go to be forgotten politely.

The steps

Write it down the moment it leaves your hands
What, who, date. Right after the email is sent or the call is over, not at the end of the day.
Read the whole list once a week
Step 6 of the weekly review. Not when you happen to think of it; that is what the list is for.
Follow up on anything past your threshold
The entry stays until the thing arrives. Following up is a next action; waiting is not.

The proof

Human

What am I waiting on?

Call

list({ list: "waiting" })

Result

Elena Q3 budget figures 18 days Tax advisor Q3 receipts, checked 9 days Landlord key handover date 3 daysThreshold: 14 days. A follow-up draft for Elena is ready in the entry. Nothing is sent without you.

What is actually there

Hosted at OVH, GermanyLimburg data centre, EU company, no transfer to US providers.eu-central · ovhcloud.com

Full export, any timeEverything as JSON and CSV from Settings. Delete the account with one click.settings → export

Open MCP standardWorks with Claude Desktop, Claude Code and every other MCP client. No plug-in, no SDK.modelcontextprotocol.io

Free during the betaEverything included, for everyone, no card. Solo €3 and Team €6 per person and month come after the beta.beta · €0

Questions

How long should I wait before following up?
Long enough to be fair, short enough that the thing still matters. Two weeks is a common default for colleagues and suppliers; a few days for anything with a deadline. tidemind ships with 14 days and lets you change it per list.
Should waiting-for items go in the calendar instead?
Only if there is a hard date: the parcel arrives Thursday, the contract is due on the first. Everything else has no date, only an age, and the calendar is the wrong place for things without a time. The list plus a weekly reading covers the rest.
What if the other person never delivers?
Then the entry has told you something, which is the point. After the second follow-up the question is no longer “when” but “what now”, and that is a next action of yours: find another supplier, escalate, or decide you can do without.

Last updated: 2026-10-23