 Finally, a system that works
After years of struggling to organize my chaotic life, I am embarrassed to admit how many "systems" I have tried... This book has some simple suggestions that have helped me stay on track both professionally and in my personal life. Like alphabetical filing... duh...
 GTD: The Good, the Bad, and What to Keep
The Good:
David Allen presents quite a bit of helpful information in this book. GTD is a very valuable read if you find your email gets out of sorts or your desk becomes cluttered with papers more frequently than you would like. One quite useful idea Allen presents is that of "Stuff". "Stuff" for Allen is "Anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn't belong where it is, but for which you haven't yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step." Allen suggests the presence of "Stuff" makes work difficult; it engenders internal resistance to work. Cutting down on "stuff" is the basis of Allen's system and becoming more productive.
Allen suggests creating inboxes to place your "Stuff" in order to get them out of your mental RAM. One common example (albeit maybe old-fashioned) is the physical inbox on a desk. Allen suggests creating such an inbox and placing all cluttered papers and "Stuff" on your desk in it. This frees up your mental RAM a bit as the "Stuff" is out of sight and out of mind. When the inbox is first created it will be quite full, but once that initial hill of "Stuff" is processed, the inbox should stay fairly empty as its owner should be frequently processing it. Allen provides a workflow diagram for processing "Stuff" and suggests doing so at least weekly.
Using this workflow, it is easy to cut through an inbox. This really helps one get a handle on their work and getting things done! I can attest to this as I've organized my email according to this methodology, and it works quite well. In Outlook I now have four main folders: inbox, next actions, waiting, and reference. Reference contains most of my previous folders; its where I store materials I might need to reference at some point. Waiting contains items I'm waiting on deliverables/dependencies from others before I can proceed. Next actions contains the next things I need to do that will take more than 2 minutes (if less than 2 minutes, I do them on the spot as per the diagram above). And my inbox is nearly at zero (always). That has probably been the biggest gift the book offered me. I review emails daily and file them according to the workflow system and am able to maintain a near zero inbox. This really catalyzes my productivity.
So, the good from GTD: "Stuff" principle, a physical inbox, the workflow, and (at least) weekly reviews of inboxes.
Another less but still beneficial principle Allen suggests is practicing "ubiquitous capture". Ubiquitous means ever-present or constant; the principle Allen suggests is to make a habit of constantly capturing your ideas. Never be without a pen and paper (or a PDA for some). This way you are able to capture ideas regardless of when they occur, and more importantly, your mental capacity is freed up from having to try to remember ideas. Jot your idea down on a 3x5 card and drop it in your inbox and forget about it. Focus on what is at hand and process it in your weekly review.
The Bad:
Yes, there is bad in GTD. First, the view of technology is antiquated. For example, Allen states that before implementing his system a person will need to purchase: paper-holding trays (at least 3), a stack of plain letter-size paper, post-its (3x3s), paper clips, binder clips, a stapler, scotch tape, rubber bands, an automatic labeler, and file folders. Any system that requires all of the preceding is simply not making effective use of technology. Furthermore GTD is overly reliant on paper and physical filing. It would be quite difficult to fully implement GTD electronically, and this is a major drawback given the growing movement to more and more electronic organization of work. Also, Allen's system is not flexible enough to handle diverse environments. If you Google GTD, you find many adaptations to his system people have needed to make in order to fit it to their specific situations.
What to Keep:
So what will GTD mean to me? Well, I now keep a physical inbox on my desk, I've reorganized my email (and have a tiny inbox!), complete a bi-weekly review, and utilize a simplified version of the workflow (the diagram above). I find that this frees up my mental capacity to work more effectively and be more productive. GTD is not a complete solution, and is certainly not perfect, but the basic ideas have proven helpful.
* Last, I should qualify my review here. I am leaving out vast segments of the GTD system for brevity's sake. Also, I did not read the latest edition of the book (I read the 2001 version), and the newer edition might make more effective use of technology.
Best Productivity Book ever!
I have long been frustrated because I am one of the millions out there who has too much to do and I never seem to get anything done. Enter this book. The most important thing I got from this book is the concept of collecting, processing, organizing, deciding what steps to take, and acting on it. Such a straightforward and simple process completely organizes your tasks so you can tackle each one with ease. Another important thing I learned is that keeping your mind clear (by organizing and listing down every task that needed to be done) clears up your mind so you can focus on the task at hand. The philosophy is so simple, I wonder why a lot of people never thought about it. No more wasted moments staring at the wall and thinking where to start! Buy it!
 Why is the kindle book more than the paperback?
I am specifically rating the kindle edition (I love the book itself).
Dear Penguin Publishing,
It's ludicrous that you are charging more for a digital copy of this book, which costs NOTHING per-item, than you are for a paperback, a piece of physical media that requires printing, shipping, and stocking.
I already own the paperback, and was going to be so kind as to repurchase the book in Kindle format, but forget it. Please adjust your kindle pricing to be more sane. It should not be more than the paperback.
--Brock
GTD practitioner for more than 6 years.
 Leverage the paradigm to create opportunities of buzzwords
This book creates a comfortable zone of sophistication with an abundant and abounding proliferation of buzzwords and jargon, designed to facilitate the reader's engagement with the material.
Stripped of the jargon, the book says "figure out what stuff you want to solve, make lists of how to solve them, prioritize those lists, and write things down to free up your brain space." There is the entire work, deprived of jargon and endorsements, in 28 words.
For some crazy reason, the Kindle version costs more than the paperback. For sake of not empowering such modalities of information transference pricing strategies, I procured a cover-deprived volume at a purveyor of previously owned printed works.
|
