I have been a professor now for 32 years. As a senior professor with a large research group I manage including graduate students, Postdocs, and research assistants, this alone is a huge area of focus as I have to oversee this operation, which is funded by three different NIH grants. Then we add on teaching at the graduate level - two different courses - and many guest lectures in other courses. Then I have collegiate, university, and multiple national responsibilities as members of multiple committees and boards. Then of course is my personal life. I have been married for 42 years, have three adult children, and three granddaughters. All of this creates quite a mix to manage. GTD has been pivotal in helping me to do all of this. I receive 100-150 emails per day and many have tasks and/or projects embedded within them. The GTD workflow in processing and organizing all of this has been crucial for my sanity.
So, I have my own approaches in the engagement step. I have found over the years that I need considerably more structure in my days than standard GTD preaches. As everyone knows on here, I am an avid time blocker to protect my time and to be able to do focused, deep work on many of my projects (I am a big fan of Cal Newport). Just deciding in the moment what to do next has been a recipe for disaster for me as I need to plan carefully to manage my many commitments. Now with that said, we ALWAYS are deciding in the moment no matter how much of a schedule we create. The 3-fold nature of work has shown me many times that my plans sometimes have to be altered considerably based on new inputs. This is okay; one simply has to be be responsive to one's current state and what the ecosystem is now. But I MUST block time for myself on my calendar so that I can have focus.
One practice I do that is critical is the "front burner - back burner" approach. This was described beautifully in the book entitled "Working Clean" by Dan Charnas. I routinely move projects around like this as my situation dictates. I use the "Later" section in Nirvana as my back burner.
GTD is part of my life and has allowed me to thrive in the academy. I obviously have modified some aspects of it but that does not mean I am "not doing GTD". Deep work and focused time for this is critical for professors to advance in our fields. But to be creative, we have to have a clear mind. GTD provides that for me. Cheers everyone!