RIM announced the BlackBerry PlayBook this week. Anyone planning on using it as your GTD system? If so, what appeals to you about it? If not, how come?
Dear David Allen: What do you recommend to organize the Projects list in order to quickly find a particular project?
David: If you’re using a software application for managing lists, and if it can sort the list alphabetically, then get in the habit of writing the key word about the project first, so you can scan down the alpha listing. E.g. “Finalize vacation” becomes “Vacation – finalize.” That’s what I discovered works best for me. The other question might be: Why do you need to “find the project”? What are you looking for? If you’re doing a thorough weekly review every week, you probably don’t need to refer to the project on a list that often. If you need to refer to your notes and plans about a project, they should simply be accessible in your reference or project support areas by file or folder; and you just refer to those as you need. Another option is to create some sub-categories of projects that you feel you need to review frequently. Nothing wrong with that.
Studio Edrisa, an East African multimedia team who produces a weekly radio show called Planet Edirisa, interviewed David Allen about his work and bestselling book Getting Things Done. Here’s an excerpt of the interview:
Did your philosophy come together before you actually wrote the book “Getting Things Done”?
The book was really written after 20 to 25 years of developing and researching the model which was the core of my consulting and training business. I didn’t really know what I figured out concerning methodology and how unique it was for about 10 or 15 years. And finally, when I was able to test it in some of the best, busiest and smartest environments and people in the world, I found out that it really did work universally, and I was ready to put it down into a book form. I actually wrote it as a manual – in case I got run over by a bus I wanted to make sure the knowledge I discovered, uncovered and formulated would be available to everyone.
We received this letter from Bruce, about his recent experience with GTD Connect:
I joined GTD Connect a week or two ago, and I’m discovering that it is an excellent resource. The amount of content is awesome, and you have developed an active community. (Initially I thought: $48/month is a lot of money. Now I realize it’s worth it.)
I read Getting Things Done about three years ago, and although much of it made sense, I missed a lot of it. I’m now reading Making It All Work, reading articles on GTD Connect, and listening to Connect webinars, and I’m developing a much deeper understanding of GTD and how to apply it.
Thanks!
Bruce
“Use your mind to think about your work, instead of thinking of it.
Your mind does not remember or remind very well, compared to what a good system can manage. What it does do well is review options and available information and then put together “how-tos.” It’s not free to do that if it’s trying to remember and remind. Without an airtight system, it must work at a lower level than it should and becomes a misused resource.”
-David Allen
Excerpted from Ready For Anything
If you have been wanting to try out a Tickler File, here’s your chance. The David Allen Company store has their popular GTD Tickler System file folder set on sale for $29.95, a discount of 25% off the regular price.
Coming in October to GTD Connect: the continuation of our popular “boot camp” style webinars. Two of our senior coaches lead fast-paced webinars geared toward more advanced GTDers.
Oct 1 - Creating a Fantastic Workspace
Oct 15 - Maintaining Control & Perspective in the Daily Grind
Oct 29 - What Really Has Your Attention?
Register on GTDConnect.com. These webinars are free for all GTD Connect members. If you want to take these webinar classes, but don’t want a long-term membership in Connect, try the $48 monthly membership. It’s easy to cancel–we promise!
There is never a moment at which you could do everything you’ve decided to to, simply because most of those actions require a specific tool or location. Context is also the first criterion that limits your options and keeps you from being reminded of things you simply can’t do.
If you’re like me, and find it useful to track of all the actions you have to do, you’ll discover you probably have more than 150 of them at any given time. If you put them all on a single list, how would you feel when you tried to look for the calls you had to make, while you had a few minutes before picking up your child from school? It would be overwhelming [Read more →]
Seems there’s an eternal question about how being more productive can happen without adding to the Type-A personality syndrome of ever-harder, ever-more, ever-faster. Read my essay in Productive Living with yet another spin on that age-old issue.
It’s not about fast or slow. It’s about how you’re involved, which is a much bigger context. – David Allen
Question: Where do I put deferred tasks that are due, for example, in three days? If I’m processing my Inbox on Monday, and I know the next step to completion is a two hour task, “at Computer” that is due on Thursday, do I make a decision to do it at a specific time, and put it on my calendar? Or do I put it on the @Computer list? Or Something else?
David Allen: In your environment [Editor: David has coached at this fast-paced Fortune 100 company], if you have something that requires two hours of time, and HAS to be done within the next couple of days, I would schedule that two-hour block for yourself and hold yourself to keep your appointment with yourself. That way it gets off your mind the rest of the time. Not a bad idea to do that for ANY action that requires more than an hour of uninterrupted time, in your interrupt-driven kind of world, if it really has to get done within the next week or so. [Read more →]
