TesTeq said:
David Allen has learned that GTD is technology-agnostic and removed as many technology pointers as he could.
I find this to be pretty irritating. For reasons of "puritanism" Allen may wish to remove references to specific technology. But he can't just put his head in the sand and pretend that all technology or even all new technology since 2002 doesn't exist. It's not the real world and it's not helpful.
I have experimented with using paper and you soon end up with lots of stuff being crossed out and/or repeatedly copied. And it's pretty clear pretty quickly that technology OUGHT to be able to do a very much better job.
That said, I am deeply unhappy with all of the task organizer software that I've seen so far, and I've tried most. To be honest I find it pretty extraordinary that nobody - and that includes David Allen - has managed to write any simple decent GTD-friendly task management software. It's jaw-dropping.
While I'm here, the best I've seen so far is the relatively simple GTDNext.com - which although it still has a few slightly rough edges has an extremely sensible screen layout and properly thought out core database structure - but although it is still being devoped,
very sadly development seems to have slowed down. Currently I am trialing GTDNext and (like a madman) I am still using MLO at the same time. i.e. I have two full systems running in parallel!
But I am quite cross with MLO because after countless hours of trying to configure it to run in seeming countless various different way of using flags, folders, and tags for this than an the other... it has finally dawned on me that it has a stupid database structure and for that reason getting it to work sensibly will always be a fudge of one sort or another. But what a waste of time! [GRRR]
> There is a whole market segment of condensed-summarized-explained book on Amazon and elsewhere
> that attempt to capitalize on the work of others. GTD is no exception. Not recommended.
I disagree with you 100%.
Most books that are written are far, far, FAR longer than they need to be.
If, I repeat,
IF anyone can do a really good job of condensing book then they are doing the world a huge favour.
I have read a few condensed books on various subjects and so far they have been utterly brilliant. But they are not so much like a short book, they are like a different medium. It's almost like a magazine article. And if, having read the condensed version you want more, then yes you go and buy the original too. In fact they work well together.
But I am not alone. Read the amazon reviews - David Allen's book is way WAY longer than it needs to be.
Please remember that we arrive here trying to save time. And every minute reading his book is a minute off my life that he owes me.
Part of the reason why I'd like a condensed physical book is that some things are hard to visualise without a diagram.
> Years ago I tried skipping the book and reading other people's summaries. I wouldn't recommend it.
> There is a lot of misinformation out there.
Yes, there probably is a lot of misinformation out there. That is exactly why I am here looking for recommendation.
> This web page from David's publisher should give you lots of options to get the 2015
> unabridged version of the book:
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Ge.../9781508215547
OK will it's clear from that page that Allen has failed to record an updated version of the 20015 abridged version.
Very reluctantly I have downloaded the 2002 abridged version of the audio.
With thanks
J