Arthur wrote in to David to share how he’s become a “powerhouse of productivity.” We thought others would get value from his letter too:

I have recently taken the terrifying step of transferring all of my CRM tasks, previously handled separately by Salesforce, in to my single GTD system. The results are… amazing! I had not appreciated (and probably still do not fully understand) the full power, scope and flexibility of your marvelous, simple, bottom-up, next action approach. I am now tracking, as of this morning, 105 projects and 595 next actions with an ease that I would once have considered impossible. Nothing slips through the net. I have become a powerhouse of productivity.

Do you have a GTD story to share? If so, we’d love to hear from you at editor@gtdtimes.com.

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What would your organizational structure be like if everyone had full accountability for the roles they hold, both implicitly and explicitly? Can you imagine meetings where the things that you have your attention on are consistently and efficiently processed to concrete Projects & Next Actions? Join David Allen and Kelly Forrister as they speak with the experts from HolacracyOne, Brian Robertson and Tom Thomison. They’ll talk about the “Holacracy” operating system, how it’s been integrated into the David Allen Company, and how it complements GTD.

This is the latest in a series of free podcasts.

[Editor's note: Good news for Chrome users, the podcast page is now Chrome-compatible.]

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Yes, you sure can.  GTD Times reader Angela wrote to share her format for tracking action items.

GTD has made a significant impact on my life, and I’m glad to share a specific technique that has worked for me.

I format my Action Items list in a spreadsheet. It’s really convenient to add items as they come in chronologically or during the processing of  ”in.” Then the items can be sorted according to context. This is easily done by just having three columns in the spreadsheet:

1) Context (errands, @computer,  etc.)
2) The item itself
3) Notes such as phone numbers, reference data, referral name, etc.

You can process “in” without wasting time inserting rows in order to put like items together. Just add more items at the bottom of the list. It is a simple procedure to sort the data by context, and BAM – action items are grouped according to context. 

[Read more →]

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Get help in your journey with GTD. Join two Senior David Allen Company Coaches for a 14-day GTD Challenge, designed to bring your productivity to a whole new level.  The Challenge will take place between September 22  and October 6 and is hosted by our online learning community, GTD Connect. Free and open to all GTD Connect members (including those on a two-week guest pass.)

Part one will kick off with a live webinar on September 22nd, going over GTD best practices and giving you tools to design a game plan for maximizing your efficiency and GTD systems. In other words, how well can you “do” GTD? How much better could your systems be?

At the end of the 14 days, on October 6th, part two will bring participants back together on a webinar to look back on your successes, lessons learned, and tips for making positive changes stick.

Intended for those who have at least a basic understanding of GTD, as it will build on the core models for control & perspective.

Login to GTD Connect to register through the links on the home page. Questions? Contact us at connect@davidco.com.

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Question: How do you handle reading material? I have magazine articles, web articles, books, newsletter special articles, blog interesting articles, etc.  Do you input them into “context” just like any other task?

Senior Coach Kelly Forrister: I consider reading materials fall into two categories: nice to read and must read. Nice to read is like a newsstand. I can read it or not. Those are not tracked on any lists. they are organized into a plastic folder called “Read/Review”.  For must read items, those are tracked on my Next Action lists, just like any other action I am committed to complete. Those are organized based on where the reading takes place (@Office, @Home, @Anywhere or @Computer). The reading is typically stored in a project folder if it’s related to a project, an @Action email or hard copy folder, or I simply paste the URL if it’s a website into the note field of the next action in my list manager.

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Have you been surprised by anything lately? “Your ability to deal with surprise, elegantly and proactively, is your personal and organizational competitive edge.” That’s from David Allen’s introduction to the latest Productive Living newsletter.

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE

There is one organization that never has fires and crises—the fire department. Think about it.

They are constantly being interrupted from getting their work done. They have to clean, polish, maintain, train, fill out forms, hire, communicate, order toilet paper, cook lunch, feed the dog, give speeches, and maintain a happy face. Suddenly a bell rings and everything gets overturned. And the vast majority of these interruptions are false alarms!

They accept and organize for this.

How long are people going to complain about continual surprises and interruptions, especially the ones that are inherently natural to the business and value we are trying to add?

Subscribe to Productive Living. It’s free and sent about every 4 weeks. You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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This post on planning a baby shower is from the Art department at the David Allen Company.

Here’s a great reminder of how helpful GTD is for any project, personal or professional.

Our team at the David Allen Company is planning a baby shower for  a co-worker.  We met today to do the following:

1. Brainstorm and mind map the project
2. Decide on next actions
3. Assign people to the identified next actions
4. Decide when to loop around again for further planning

Here was our simple mind map that helped clarify the tasks:

Our 20-minute meeting allowed everyone to move forward on this fun project with their own clearly-defined tasks.

GTD can help integrate your professional and personal life. Simple, easy, and fun planning — that’s a “GTD” baby shower!

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