Can you recommend a condensed version of David Allen's Getting Things Done book?
- Thread starter Ship69
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mcogilvie said:
On this occasion you are taking me too seriously - I too was attempting to be mildly humorous.
The fact is that I have taken and continue to take a lot of excellent advice from this forum.
Re the tools, no, it's not that I "reject" anything as such (other then buying an Apple computer just for GTD!), it's just that I have found and continue to find all the tools that I have tried barely worth using to be on balance only slightly better than paper. Using paper was indeed some of the advice which I was given, and which indeed I have followed. However for different and various reasons, I have found all tools I have tried to be deeply frustrating.
With best of will, I have tried all the tools suggested, and followed much of the advice (some of it inevitably slightly conflicting) that has been offered on this forum.
But what is this - am I not allowed to feel what I feel? Or am I expected to pretend? Is not the whole point of a public forum that we should freely and frankly discuss the issues at hand?
jenkins said:
jenkins, thank you for your measured & thoughtful contribution - much appreciated.
Yes, I will concede that my GTD habits do still need work - for sure. In particular my Weekly Reviews are not as good as regular and complete as they need to be. But I am working on it with renewed vigour!
In truth, have also been finding it hard to enter Contexts for all my tasks, however I just recently discovered that my main current GTD tool (MLO) allows that to be done using hotkeys which may yet revolutionize my life, by facilitating the greater use of Contexts. But that is a good example of how important it is to have tools that facilitate good core workflow of GTD habits.
Thanks again - some good food for thought.
J
TesTeq said:
This thread has evolved into the incorrect branch of the forum i.e. it seems that we are now discussing tools not methodology, so we'd better keep this brief.
The key words in what I wrote were are "that I have tried".
Obviously I haven't tried all the tools that are out there. Last time I looked there were over 120 possible tools in the taskmanager / productivity space to choose between and clearly no sane person who is primarily keen to save time would set about testing them all in any serious manner. I have come here (i.e. in other threads) to solicit the words of wisdom from GTD experts as to what tools they have tried and liked, and I have tried as many as possible for myself. In good faith I have also shared some of my experiences with some of the software that has been recommended which I have managed to more seriously test for myself, this sometimes involving more hours of use, not to mention configuration, than is probably healthy.
Nonetheless I live in hope that with 120 or so options, not to mention the passing of nearly 1.5 years of time since I have exposed to GTD, that something better than what I personally have tested might actually exist. And even if not, there is the vain hope that some of the developers of such software might tune into some of the conversations on 'productivity' / task management forums such as this and at some point build something better in the future - nothing wrong with that.
Furthermore there is of course the issue of the learnings that one can achieve through forums like this, and how it can become clearer and clearer what features other people value more and value less. Some of users unlike me are hardcore GTD experts and it has been good to hear from them.
For example I recently discovered via a forum not unlike this how if you can have user-defined hotkeys for toggling on and off context tags, that this can absolutely transform the workflow of using Contexts with the GTD method. I now wonder how I ever survived without it and will certainly struggle with any tool that does not have this feature, to add contexts for all my tasks.
Moreover to be fair, the forums for the software that I have substantially tested have mostly had a pretty good feedback from myself as to what really crucial features from competing tools their developers might benefit from. Obviously I am just one user, with one vote, and most of such feedback will either be disputed by users with different requirement and/or even the best suggestions can often take a long time to come to fruition. But either way I have learnt a lot about ways around their various strengths and weaknesses during that journey so as to work with what is currently on offer.
In the meantime I keep an open mind. It could still be that something better than what I have been recommended and what I have tested so far just might possibly exist. And/or that my limited testing during limited time was inadequate and need to be re-evaluated.
But my hopes are not so very far-fetched. A simple fusion of the best features of my 2 favourite (so far) tools would over-deliver on my personal requirements with abundance.
TesTeq
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Ship69 said:
So - returning to the main topic - you need a condensed version of David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book to have more time to look for an application which has - for example - an optimal set of hotkeys.
I've done the opposite. I've carefully read GTD, RFA and MIAW books several times and I've listened to GTD Connect podcasts about basics of the GTD methodology and now I really don't need to look for applications that will optimize toggling on and off context tags.
By the way: why do you need to toggle on and off context tags?
PeterW
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Ship69 said:
I was just agreeing with mcogilvie and attempting to be humorous.
All I can say in all seriousness is that you should perhaps stop thinking about tools and focus on the method by reading the book. You are putting the cart before the horse (so to speak) and unlike other software such as ERP systems where strict workflow is enforced, you simply won't find any GTD software that will do that in the way you want it to.
TesTeq said:
Removal of Contexts is needed less often, but using a hotkey to enter Contexts is about 10 times faster than using a mouse.
Without hotkeys, I found it very tedious and pedantic to enter a Context for every single task.
PeterW - You appear to be completely missing the point, which is that I am reading the book! I have already read the original book cover to cover and listened to a 1 day seminar thing and I am now wading my way through the 2015 version. I was hoping David Allen might have learnt at least something in the last 15 years of consultancy and evolution of task management tools, however from what people are saying in the forum and from what I can tell from as far as I have got through the 2015 version, as far as I can tell very little that has changed.
Either way there is absolutely no harm in seeking the best tools that exist for the job.
Ship69 said:
Among guitar players, there is a thing known as GAS: Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. Players get this in various forms, sometimes because they want the perfect instrument for this kind of music, or this tuning, or even for a particular song. Some people fall in love with the beauty of the instruments, or the stories behind them. Some people end up buying and selling instruments in a serious way. But for a guitar player, the point of the instrument is to use it to make music. If you have a large enough collection of instruments, you will spend more time taking care of the instruments than you will making music. It's more than just opportunity cost. A good player can make decent music with a poor instrument, and wonderful music with a great instrument. This is because a good guitar player is committed to the music more than to the tool. The fundamental question is: are you a player?
mcogilvie said:
Of guitars, no. I am a violinist, currently playing a cheap Yamaha from Japan, who after several months of simply playing his instrument, is now open to the possibility of something better actually existing.
In the most minor deviation from his daily path, he has taken to walking past the shop window of his local music shop and occasionally pops into the shop to get a bit more connected with see what's going on out there. Strangely all the staff seem to be in denial of a better violin even being possible and keep beating him up for even suggesting such a thing, and without hearing him play, tell him that if he can't make music with wonderful tone, pitch and resonance, then his technique is bound to be at fault.
And yet, and yet... from his knowledge of the vast range in quality of other types of musical instruments available on the market, whether Stradivarius has yet been born he knows not, however he knows in his bones that something at least a bit better than this cheap violin from Japan, is very likely to be out there.
Oogiem
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Ship69 said:
And to stretch this metaphor a bit further, The folks in the music shop range from rank beginners to masters and they HAVE heard him play and even the beginners recognize that until you can do a basic scale, have read the standard classics and can play them from memory you cannot begin to work on the idea that you need a better instrument. Instead they see a beginner who doesn't want to do the work it takes and who finds fault with even a Stradivarius when it's presented because the color is wrong or you have to hold it in a slightly different way. the music is in teh person not in the instrument. A real musician plays many instruments and can make beautiful music from them all. Ive known many gifted musicians, they may say they are a player of X but when push comes to shove, they can also play Y and Z and many more. I've yet to meet a single real musician who doesn't play several instruments. The music may change in style and composition as the instrument changes but the skill is there. I think you are still lacking in the skill of GTD and don't see that any and all the instruments are able to do it correctly. If you really need a new instrument then you need to become the next Stradivarius and build your own and to say you only want to stay on the side as a critic is a cop out.
Folke
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This whole discussion has become needlessly polarized - as if it were a question of whether you need to be able to play the instrument OR if you need an instrument that you like. There is no harm in having both.
I think I recall David Allen saying about gold pens that you definitely do not need one just for GTD, but if it makes you do GTD more willingly and conscientiously then go right ahead and use one. Same with hotkeys or whatever. In fact, you only need paper to do GTD, but many of us nevertheless use some app or other simply because we like it better that way. But we cannot take for granted that others would appreciate the same things we would; in my own experience, they often do not.
I think I recall David Allen saying about gold pens that you definitely do not need one just for GTD, but if it makes you do GTD more willingly and conscientiously then go right ahead and use one. Same with hotkeys or whatever. In fact, you only need paper to do GTD, but many of us nevertheless use some app or other simply because we like it better that way. But we cannot take for granted that others would appreciate the same things we would; in my own experience, they often do not.
Ship69 said:
I totally understand! I know that price is a consideration but I have to give a shout out to the amazing podcasts and webinars on GTD Connect. You can listen to very targeted modules that will summarize GTD and a wide range of GTD-related topics. And each are about an hour. Yes, you do need to pay for the annual subscription to Connect, but if you want to get up to speed with minimal time invested and still have endless GTD resources at your fingertips, it's an extremely streamlined way to go.
Dena
PeterW
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Ship69 said:
I guess I should have emphasised the words "focus on the method". Stop focusing on the tool. None of them will be perfect, there is no "best tool". Some will be more suitable to you than others, and for every person it will be different.
mcogilvie said:
Exactly the same thing exists for drummers. If you visit the Remo or Evans forums or any of the drum manufacturer forums and you can see endless discussions about what heads are best to get a particular sound and how to tune them. Drummers often end up buying almost every type of head they can find in an attempt to replicate that elusive sound that they love on some favourite recording. Instead of playing. And when they can't get that sound they get sucked into thinking that purchasing more expensive drums made of the best maple will solve their problems. It doesn't.