Two Years of Getting Things Done

January 17th, 2009

It’s been two years since I read David Allen’s relentless bestseller Getting Things Done. Judging by the painfully outdated items in my Outlook task list (”research this ‘Face Book’ thing everyone’s talking about”) I haven’t stuck with everything Allen prescribes in his book, but I am definitely a changed man having read it. So here now are the things I took away from GTD, good and bad.

What Didn’t Work:

Comprehensive task lists: Allen suggests keeping living, breathing task lists that include every unfinished job in your life. Despite using varying mehtods and lots of persistence, maintaining an all-inclusive list of to-dos hasn’t worked for me. I found keeping track of all these “open loops” in my life took more time than actually doing them. No less, as soon as I wrote down something I felt obliged to finish it. While this is generally a good way to behave, certain initiatives are ill-conceived and should be disposed of rather than clung to.

The “Stuff” flowchart: Allen includes a terrific learning tool in his book: a flowchart that visually outlines his mental process for eliminating “stuff” (or unfinished tasks) from your life. While this chart was extremely useful in shaping how I perceive “stuff”, I seldom follow it exactly, nor do I ever find myself mentally walking through the steps.

Labeling and sorting: Allen advocates keeping your files organized and easily accessible. While I entirely sympathize with this lifestyle I’ve found a way that keeps the accessibility for a fraction of the time and effort. With the help of quality desktop scanner every piece of paper is scanned and automatically made searchable. Rather than labeling manila folders, all my paperwork can be found in seconds. Furthermore, I never have to ask “should x go into file y or file z?” With a simple search everything is discoverable and no time is spent sorting.

As I examine the things that “didn’t work” from Getting Things Done, I’ve come to realize although they didn’t function as I had expected them to, I did get a measure of value from them nevertheless. All of these items either served as learning aids or as motivators to develop my own personalized version of Allen’s system. In any case they unanimously contributed to my productivity.

What Did Work:

The tickler file: This system of folders akin to a time-travel postal service allows you to file something away for a future date and have it show up on your desk when that day arrives. While I was initially reluctant to make a tickler file I eventually sat down and made one (as shown) and use it every day. It’s very satisfying to know things are in their right place and to be confident you won’t forget them when their time comes.

Thinking “next action”: GTD requires you to ask “what next”? House needs cleaning? What next? Thinking in this way kills procrastination. Rather than being overwhelmed by the task at hand you think in easy, manageable baby steps. This simple mentality has fundamentally changed the way I behave in many aspects of my life. Where I used to think “Great, now I have to clean the whole house”, I now think “Go get the broom”. This mentality makes daunting chores feel simple and miniscule and generally results in more actual work and wasteful overanalyzing.

Empty Inbox: Sorting through all your “stuff” until there is nothing left is a fundamental part of GTD. Perhaps nowhere is this as important as with you email inbox. Like many people I have a steady stream of emails coming in and using my own techniques I see my inbox empty more often than not. How liberating!

Cult Leader or Psychologist

David Allen is often portrayed as a cult leader thanks to his often zealous GTD followers. After two years of earnestly sampling and personalizing his techniques I prefer to think of Allen as a psychologist who breaks down the mental processes that go into procrastination and offers workable improvements. This treatment helps build better habits which in turn builds a better life for his patients. As with many medical professional we don’t always follow his advice to the letter, but generally benefit nevertheless.

Also thinking of him as a psychologist and not a cult leader feels way less creepy, so I’m sticking with that.