If the answer is a resounding “yes,” go for it and get them.

If the answer is “no,” just let it go and move on.

If the answer is “I don’t know”, wait till you see a friend’s or a co-worker’s posters and see if you could get that value.

In the free market society, ultimately, the price of the goods is defined by what people are willing to pay for it. Being in the same “business of the intangible” that David is in, I often advise my prospective clients to only engage with us if they are reasonably confident that their ROI is ten times the price-tag. Without it, for most people, it’s hard to justify the cost of the investment, at least at the point of purchase.

- Bhavesh.

Dave and David, the map looks like a home run to me – kudos. Unfortunately, FYI, it’s too large for my setup. I rarely use my offices at work and at home; I carry a 13″ MacBook with an A4-size conference folder and wouldn’t want to be folding and unfolding the map constantly. As it is, I use a free version of the workflow map (http://anabubula.com/files/GTDclouds_1920_wide.jpg) as my desktop background, with a hot corner on my screen to reveal the desktop quickly. My lists are all in Things, and I use SizeUp to make Things quickly fill half of the screen so I can process with most of the map visible.

We can appreciate your frustration in having to wait for this product. We would have loved it to come out ages ago too, but we strive for excellence and we wanted to put out the best product we possibly could, and there were many unexpected production factors that came into play. Sorry you are negatively perceiving that as a “great performance.” That would be a mastery skill if we had planned it this way, for sure!

Kelly

-John

-Matt

The nature of my service as a military officer means that I’m best served by being able to scale up/down as needed to make printed versions of such useful diagrams that fit into a pocket sized booklets (which lasts maybe a couple months before being worn down to tattered trash!), or, when I’m on the ship, I make a larger version which I laminate onto my desk, and remove when I come ashore. I guess you can see that a permanent hanging ‘art-work’ is pretty much unusable for me.

Your ideas?

I have faith that the product will provide good value.

Just found out that this poster in all likelihood will be in the DAC store in August 2009, it comes with a DVD and I will be able to post a clip of a short portion on the product page so all will be able to see it and preview. I do appreciate your patience and I truly understand budgetary constraints! As David says we are “all alone in this together” so to that end just know you can always email me personally (customerservice@davidco.com ) with feedback and you will be heard! I love the passion that GTDers bring to all this work. My goal here is to have some great bundles and value for everyone. Thanks for playing.

To anyone who would suggest that those of us questioning the pricing of this item are not GTD-ers “if you call yourself a GTDer..” please step back for a moment

I am not questioning anyone’s serious intentions and respect for GTD if they fail to make use of every learning opportunity offered by Davidco, such as membership in GTD Connect.

Personally, I come up with $49.00 every single month and have for quite a while now, as a member of GTD connect. Do you pay $49 every month in order to make use of every learning opportunity offered by Davidco? Am I serious about supporting my GTD efforts, or do I just send $49 a month to every passing service that captures my imagination?

This discussion has become way too heavy. I use GTD, fall off the wagon, get back on. I teach GTD to my doctoral students (as much as they will let me, students are often not yet at the point that they know they need a serious method to help with work/life organization). And I spend $49 a month to continue to learn, and to support my own engagement with GTD. Perhaps its time to change the GTD budget, and put the monthly payments into the new packages appearing. And hey, lets get some friendly humor into discussion of pricing.

Even a glance should confirm that this is a work of art and a labor of love. It’s a beautiful piece and was two years in the making.

It seems that people do admire this work, and recognize its importance, yet find $49 to be somehow prohibitive.

For a work of art, $49 is prohibitive.

Are you kidding me? Prohibitive? A LOT of money? Offensive?

Please.

If you “second those thoughts” you need to get a grip. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop this kind of diagram. It’s a significant investment.

$49 is the price of a lamp. It’s the price of a dinner. The price of taking your family to a movie. Ten days worth of Caffe Lattes. Gimme a break.

If you call yourself a “GTDer” and you can’t find a way to come up with $49, I have to question what GTD means to you and whether you are really serious about “getting things done.”

When youy that $49 is “too much,” I think that in most cases you have the money but choose to spend it on other things. Well good for you, choose where you spend your money. That’s your right.

Buy the poster or don’t buy it, but don’t tell people that it’s offensive to charge $49 for a work of art.

As an artist who’s try to make a living creating beautiful and meaningful visuals, that attitude demeans and insults my profession.

I know what I judge the value of the Workflow Map to be, based on sample images, and do not feel I need a second copy of the map or the audio commentary. (It may be that hearing samples of the audio will persuade me otherwise.)

I have no problem with them offering a complete package at a premium price point. Some of us are simply asking for the Workflow Map to be made available individually. What if someone wants to buy extra copies to provide to co-workers or subordinates above and beyond the original package?

Not many people have an unlimited budget, so decisions must be made on what is important to the individual. If the quality is good, and the opportunity is provided to evaluate, then each individual can make their decision on whether this is something that is important to them.

I love that Lynn should malign the ‘poorly compensated’ nature of blogging while complaining that someone else’s intellectual property costs so much … choices, choices.

In American English, the accepted spelling is “judgment.”

I got my current one from http://anabubula.com/

And $49 is too much for me as a not-for-profit volunteer and Trustee.

I don’t really understand the complaints about the price of David Allen Co. products. David has always seemed to have communicated that quality is more important to him than price. That’s one of the things I appreciate about him. I cut corners in other areas of my life to pay for the nice leather notetaker wallet (which has already paid for itself many times in the last three years) and other products I’ve purchased. It’s not the DAC’s responsibility to make products that us “fans” can afford but it is their responsibility to stay true to their corporate values.

Looking forward not only to the posters but to the DVD as well!

This new map and DVD is going to be great for the visual and auditory learners out there that have asked us for more help in learning David’s methodology. I can’t wait for folks to see this and use it. It will be offered at $49. We will likely have more versions at a later date. In product land, we are coming up with a range of product and pricing for every budget. We do appreciate all the feedback!

Best wishes,
Tara

Is David Allen really making these buyer and sales decisions? It seems un-David Allen-like, or I hope it is. I didn’t understand why you put out those Italian-made desk-top tools (the stacking tray, in box etc) that were over the top in pricing, beyond something Levenger would try to distribute (and I’m a big fan/user of Levenger products). When those David Allen desk-top items showed up I thought someone at davidco had lost it. The nation is in an economic depression. Why is davidco engaged in pitching items with pricing that seems on the edge of ridiculous, counter to the GTD basic approach of efficiency and common sense? I feel identified with GTD – but I find these recent additions embarassing.

And to price a visual aid at $49? This is a losing strategy. From a business point of view, it seems a screwy decision. Please, lets GTD with GTD. Make this new work-flow diagram available to everyone, free of cost. I will pay high prices –repeatedly– to listen to Allen teach a seminar. I might have paid $10 for a new diagram. To be charged $49 is offensive.

Lynn O’Connor

I would happily buy just a single 8.5″ x 11″ copy of this diagram, or even a PDF version that I can resize as desired.