Challenges
Hi Jamie-
I'll start off by saying that I agree with the claim that GTD is the best fully-functional system for handling day to day actions and projects. It's a great tool for imposing organization on life, which as we all know can be very complex!
Having said that, I think there are challenges aplenty. Most of them are not so much "system" problems as they are "operator" problems
One of mine is certainly popular: consistently doing weekly reviews. It takes a hell of a commitment to keep doing it week after week. The temptation is always, "I have enough to do already. I'm not going to chop 2 hours out of my day so I can write down and organize it all....I just need to get it done!"
Some things I've done to compensate for this is to spend more mini-chunks of time throughout the week cleaning up the system, processing and organizing. 5 minutes here, 10 minutes here, etc.
In the end though, that chunk of time for the review is important. Still need to work on that one
Also, when you first get running with the system, it can seem ridiculous. All your "stuff" is so unorganized and you have so much in your head, a weekly review can take much, much longer than 2 hours. Don't let it discourage you...it gets better over time, as you get more used to the system and do the actions more consistently.
Still, there are times when you're just too busy to keep things updated. In my opinion, you have to decide which is going to relieve more stress for you, putting out the fire or organizing your GTD system. Don't manically claim to keep your system totally updated while the sky is falling down around you...that's not what it's for. You can always go back when things have settled down and fix it. Or keep plugging away at it for as long as it takes until it's really humming along.
Another problem, similar to what you said about projects spawning babies. Mine just had quintuplets. Anyone want some? I have them up for adoption
My someday/maybe list is ridiculously long- 1200 items and counting. I've decided there's no way in hell I'm going to review that thing every week. So, I'll be splitting out the ones that realistically I don't want to start anytime soon and putting those in a seperate list, to review maybe once a month or so.
As far as having more and more projects, I think that's one thing using GTD gets you to realize: you need to make some higher level decisions about what you want to do with your life. No matter how good your time management system, there's still only so much you can accomplish in a given day. If you have hundreds and hundreds of projects, in my opinion you need to go "up a few levels" and figure out if these really match your goals, values and life vision. If not, lop them off or stick them in someday/maybe.
The first stage I went through with GTD was getting organized and getting things into a system rather than in my head. The next stage, still ongoing, has been getting more focused and disciplined about what projects/next actions I'll put on my plate. That comes from getting clearer about 20,000+ levels and making better decisions about what you want to enter into your life.
Hope this helps
take care,
Matt