In a recent podcast episode, David Allen mentioned he's teaming up with David MR Covey to market GTD. In (my) ideal world, a future product/service will include a hybrid of 7 Habits/GTD.
Covey + Allen = Wow!
- Thread starter mark1968
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kelstarrising
Kelly | GTD expert
Hi Mark,
Yes, it's David Covey, but not the Covey principles. It's entirely GTD.
Kelly
Yes, it's David Covey, but not the Covey principles. It's entirely GTD.
Kelly
TesTeq
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Covey vs. Allen...
When Stephen R. Covey was identifying his key roles to get things done, David Allen was getting things done on the runway to make room for a higher horizons discovery.
Both approaches will fail when you are stuck in the first step (identyfying roles and never doing anything or doing and never thinking about a purpose).
When Stephen R. Covey was identifying his key roles to get things done, David Allen was getting things done on the runway to make room for a higher horizons discovery.
Both approaches will fail when you are stuck in the first step (identyfying roles and never doing anything or doing and never thinking about a purpose).
TesTeq;107051 said:
TesTeq - Excellent point(s). It's too bad David didn't write a more practical follow-up re: how to DO the higher stuff. He's clearly a spiritual and connected guy. It would have been nice to have audio visualizations, meditations, etc., on the higher horizons.
mcogilvie
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mark1968;107057 said:
For this sort of stuff, what one person finds helpful another may find useless, even silly. A lot of it may be good for a while, but then lose value. I appreciate the pragmatic and tentative way that Davidco presents material on things like year-end reviews, e.g., "you might find this helpful." For example, I find the 20-50K horizons a useful framework, but I don't have a great need to write a lot at the higher levels. I also have a rich spiritual tradition of my own to draw on. Not everyone does, but then again tastes differ.
Barb
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Core Business
I think David Allen and Company has remained successful over the years precisely because they have not tried to be all things to all people. Their core business is nice and tight, and they deliver their materials through a variety of media. In the beginning, it was live seminars only, then the book. With the explosion of the web, they have kept pace with Connect and a wide variety of downloadable audio products, increasing their reach to a global audience. As a business owner, I applaud their pristine marketing message!
I've never had to wonder: What should I expect from the David Allen Co.? I've always known. Meditations are best left to those who are experts in meditation (see Deepak Chopra).
I think David Allen and Company has remained successful over the years precisely because they have not tried to be all things to all people. Their core business is nice and tight, and they deliver their materials through a variety of media. In the beginning, it was live seminars only, then the book. With the explosion of the web, they have kept pace with Connect and a wide variety of downloadable audio products, increasing their reach to a global audience. As a business owner, I applaud their pristine marketing message!
I've never had to wonder: What should I expect from the David Allen Co.? I've always known. Meditations are best left to those who are experts in meditation (see Deepak Chopra).
TesTeq;107051 said:
Interesting that you mention roles, TesTeq. That is a big part of what we do as a company in our implementation of the Holacracy operating system. It has made the work more efficient to have roles clearly identified, with assigned roleholders. Much easier for the organization to get things done.
Barb;107060 said:
Barb - D. Allen himself discusses, uses and recommends these tools. Why not support GTD practitioners at all levels?
Deepak Chopra is a trained internist. I'm not sure he has any more credibility than Mr. Allen vis-a-vis visualizations and/or affirmations.
But yes, many people are drawn to GTD to get a handle on the minutiae of their lives. Truly, I get this. I'm simply not moved by this, or drowning in email. Thank God.
mcogilvie;107059 said:
Like contexts
Ok, ok we're not going to go down that road.mcogilvie;107059 said:
In a recent podcast (SANG conference I believe), D. Allen summed up the whole kit and kaboodle by stating (and I'm paraphrasing): "If you get the gestalt of GTD, you can go set up your own system". Perhaps I'm wrong, but visualizations and higher thinking IS part of the GTD process.
mcogilvie
Registered
mark1968;107068 said:
Sure, but are there best practices that are universal? And how much do people need? I absorbed the Covey roles and goals stuff a long time ago, before I even heard of David Allan; my roles, aka areas of focus, have not really changed much over decades. Although Covey sold a lot of books, the rest of his ideas didn't help ME much, not the way GTD did and does. Because I was familiar with what was out there in the time-management literature, David's work was a revelation.
Put another way, there are lots of ways to think about meaning, purpose and goals. Most work for somebody, but not many work for most people. As I said, I really appreciate the approach Davidco takes to their work: try it and see if it works for you.
mcogilvie;107071 said:
I did, twice. I'd prefer to avoid getting into which ideas/procedures didn't/don't work for me. Suffice it to say, after I left GTD, I spent a lot of time on Mark Forster's site. I returned to Connect for the learning and community. My system is a hybrid of GTD, GSD (for daily planning) and my own ideas.
I would have never left Covey's system/products if they didn't (consistently) drop the ball on their software (PlanPlus - which had tons of potential) & their attempt at building a community.
mcogilvie
Registered
mark1968;107073 said:
Forster's ideas have been interesting, but I think not everybody needs a list traversal algorithm that handles the urgent quickly, the important regularly, and clears out backlog. Or maybe I just don't think it exists. I'm not sure which.
I'm also not sure which Covey you mean: pre-Franklin merger or post-merger. Neither set of ideas, from Covey or Franklin (Hyrum Smith), ever re-emerged clearly after the merger, and then advancing technology made a lot of their products obsolete. They were certainly very, very bad at technology.
mcogilvie;107074 said:
In that spirit, not everyone - i'd even suggest most people - don't need GTD. Hell, my wife & all her doctor friends guffaw when they hear about my adventures with productivity porn. Somehow, their ad hoc methods worked. My wife's system --> a long list of stuff, that always seems to get done.
mcogilvie;107074 said:
7 Habits & First Things First
Richard Love
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I've used GTD for years - it has been the single most important skill I've developed in my career. One observation I have is that as technology has changed the idea of context has diminished as I am always @phone, @computer, @email, etc. (it is amazing what an iPhone and an iPad can let you do).
What has worked for me is to integrate Covery's 7 Habits roles as contexts in David's GTD workflow.
What has worked for me is to integrate Covery's 7 Habits roles as contexts in David's GTD workflow.