Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity

Getting Things Done The Art of Stress Free Productivity

In today’s world, yesterday’s methods just don’t work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen’s premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:

€ Apply the “do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it” rule to get your in-box to empty
€ Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
€ Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
€ Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
€ Feel fine about what you’re not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Some useful information, but not that great of a book
This book is about organization. It says very little about prioritization and time-management. It contains nothing about actually *planning* or *doing* anything. The system boils down to making elaborate “what I need to do next” lists for every project you want to accomplish in your life, and to review and update these lists often. For every item on your list, either trash it, delegate it, save it for later, or just do it. It’s good advice if you find yourself stuck at a roadblock or overwhelmed by a sheer number of tasks.

According to the book, pretty much every project consists of an endless string of simple tasks such as “call X”, “email Y”, and “attend meeting with Z”. Unfortunately the book barely discusses the planning required for difficult jobs that involve significantly more time and forward thinking than accomplishing the most immediate step. It’s all about “go go go” and “do do do”. If you have five minutes to spare, it’s time to check your list for a call you could make or an email you could write. The resulting productivity strikes me as borderline manic. If you need to keep a folder of Post-It notes in a filing cabinet to deal with your spouse (as the book suggests), you’ve got problems.

Regarding the actual text, the book is too long (only Chapters 4-9 are needed, the rest is self-referential filler), too general, and written condescendingly in an annoying office-speak lingo that will make anyone who actually *does* work for a living (ie: not management) cringe.

If your path to inner bliss involves relying on your CPA to remind you when to purge your tax archives so you can free up your mind to relax with a glass of chardonnay by your koi pond at sunset, then you’ll love this book.

5 Stars Worth reading not matter how organisted you are
I have tried a number of time management / productivity systems in the past (TMI, Covey, ABC) and reviewed a couple of others (4HWW, No email in the morning, etc). The book is worth your money and more importantly your time to read.

Although a little dry in style it is excellent and I highly recommend you review it even if you have a system you like.

This is my 3rd pass as it is only a framework and you have to come up with your implementation. You will find that you need a refresher after about 6-12 months.

It may appear to be repetitive in but I have found that this is necessary as some points are subtle but very important (e.g. regular review or breaking things down to an atomic action)

3 Stars Lots of details
I think this book has too many details that might get heavy for some people. But overall a good book for those who are patient.

5 Stars I am organized and this even helped me
I’ve been told that I am really organized, at work – not at home!

Introduction

This is a great book and gives anyone who needs to be better organized practical advice on how to do it. Even though I am fairly organized I found several tips that helped. Specifically having “one in box” instead of having Voicemail, email. cell phone voice mail, to do lists, etc. Create 1 list that you live by. Great advice that I can’t give justice to so go read the book

The Good

1. Excellent pragmatic advice

2. Step by step approaches to organize your life – not just work

3. Simple ways to determine if you can be more organized and is it worth the extra work – sometimes it’s not.

4. The organization of the book was very helpful so that you could skip chapters that might not apply to you

5. For me his writting style made it easy to read and reference over and over.

The Bad

1. Some things were like “Duh”

2. He did not cover how to get others to get organized – I have several staff that I would like to be better at this but reading a book on it won’t work.

Overall

If you want to get better organized buy the book it will help – and heck it’s only 10 bucks!

5 Stars Goodbye Franklin Covey and Daytimer
Finally, the one true organizational system that focuses on outcome (productivity) instead of process. It actually clears your mind.

Throughout the years, I have received formal and recurring employer sponsored training in both Daytimer and Franklin Covey organizational and time management system. These were primarily paper based approaches. While clearly capable and expansive (if not expensive) systems (when properly trained), they engage you in processes that can be overwhelming. Simply assembling the planner systems can be a chore that seems to never end (folders, sections, paper based contacts, project management tabs, task tabs, delegated tabs, A-Z filing system, calendar, goals tabs, priorities tabs, personal vs. business tabs, the list goes on). I often found myself more engaged in assembling and reassembling the system more than anything else. By my conservative calculations, I must have spent at least $3,000 on various paper based systems over the last 5 years; not including software integration attempts (all failed).

The GTD system breaks through the aforementioned paradigms and views everything in your life as “stuff” without regard to whether it is personal or business. Essentially you have one intake point for everything. From there, you decide where to place your “stuff” until it is actionable. I will not bother getting into all the details in this review as there are many websites dedicated to the GTD philosphy that can do a much better job.

Suffice it to say that the GTD system is analagous to an ever changing task list. I use toodledo.com to manage my task list using the folder system in David’s book. Toodledo.com integrates with my Iphone so that I always have my task list with me everywhere I go. It is important to note that appointments and meetings are treated as tasks and placed in the Agenda folder.

The book is an easy read and there is an incredible amount of supplementary material on the web. Just Google GTD.

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