Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Author: David Allen
- Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
- Release Date: December 2002
- ISBN-10: 0142000280
- ISBN-13: 9780142000281
- List Price: $16.00
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryWith first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance. Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.) As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket" That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Here's how you're going to get things done
Rating:
GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks.
GTD is based on making it easy to store, track and retrieve all information related to the things that need to get done. Allen suggests that many of the mental blocks we encounter are caused by insufficient 'front-end' planning (i.e., for any project we need to clarify what is to be achieved and what specific actions are needed to achieve it). It is most practical, according to Allen, to do this thinking in advance, generating a series of actions which we can later undertake without any further planning. Allen contends that our mental "reminder system" is inefficient and seldom reminds us of what we need to do at the time and place that we can do it. Consequently, the "next actions" act as an external support which ensures that we are presented with the right reminders at the right time.
The core principles of GTD are...
COLLECT:
The notion of stress-free productivity starts with off-loading what needs to get done from one's head, capturing everything that is necessary to track, remember, or take action on, into what Allen calls a bucket: a physical inbox, an email inbox, a tape recorder, a notebook, a PDA, a desktop, etc. The idea is to get everything out of one's head and into a collection device, ready for processing. All buckets should be emptied (processed) at least once per week.
PROCESS:
When processing a bucket, a strict workflow is required. If it takes under two minutes to do something, it should be done immediately. The two-minute rule is a guideline, encompassing roughly the time it would take to formally defer the action.
ORGANIZE:
Allen describes a suggested set of lists which can be used to keep track of items awaiting attention, including a calendar which is important for keeping track of appointments and commitments; however, Allen specifically recommends that the calendar be reserved for the hard landscape: things which absolutely have to be done by a particular deadline, or meetings and appointments which are fixed in time and place. To-do items should be reserved for the next action lists.
REVIEW:
The lists of actions and reminders will be of little use if not reviewed at least daily, or whenever possible. Given the time, energy and resources available at a particular moment, one must decide the most important task to be done immediately, and do it. If one is inclined to procrastinate, one may end up always doing the easy tasks and avoiding the difficult ones. To solve this, one can decide to do the actions of the list one by one, following their order, just like processing an inbox.
DO:
Any organizational system is no good if excessive time is spent organizing tasks instead of actually doing them. Allen's contention is that if one can make it simple, easy, and fun to take the necessary actions, one will be less inclined to procrastinate or become overwhelmed with too many 'open loops'.
Phew! It's a lot, but it's a lot of useful information and a foolproof system once you get it all down.
My other favorite business read this year is Emotional Intelligence 2.0
Not a well written book
Rating: 
I did not find this book very useful. The same information is repeated over and over which makes it boring. I personally did not like the writing style of the author. Not an easy book to read. Reading the book only increased my stress.
100% Satisfid
Rating:
I ordered it. It came. It was in good condition. It happened exactly the way I expected.
Simplistic treatment
Rating:
I found this book a bit simplistic which may be okay if you've never previously done critical thinking about your personal methods of how you "get things done". If you're looking for challenging or advanced thoughts on the subject or any insight on how to handle very complicated matters, I'd look at other books. I don't have any direct recommendations but I know I'll be looking for books which definitely have more complex insights into topics such as this.
Read This Book Every January for 5 Years and Use It
Rating:
Time management, task management, organization. They are all one and the same. Allen provides principles, examples and insights to help the reader define and implement their own system to improve their effectiveness in managing their own input-porcessing-output scheme. Like the very basics of process engineering and self-controlled systems, this book has no magic bullets or deep insights. The basics of time management are very basic. The trick, as usual, is to create disciplined habits that incorporate the principles. Find an accountability partner. Sign a contract for them to review your progress and provide advice. Give this book a 6 month try. Give it another 6 month try. You'll be hooked. I have used this book in courses and found that ANYONE who wants to greatly improve their skills can use it. In the Outlook/Lotus Notes/CRM intensive world of high volume communications, everyone needs a structure that they can manage. This provides the framework. I also recommend Michael Linenberger's Total Workday Control Using MS Outlook, but only for those who are inherently focused and disciplined.
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