Discovering GTD

  • Thread starter Thread starter SteadyEdd
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Liberated the book

I was visiting a relative, started reading the obviously abandoned book because I couldn't find anything else to do, and "liberated" the book. Complete chance.

Just a few days ago I discoverd that I already had a hardcover copy someone had given me that had promptly gotten buried on a shelf... but I didn't give the other one back :)
 
I've dabbled with numerous 'silver bullets' over recent years to help me get things under control but none have seemed so immediately practical to me as GTD. First Things First by Steven Covey (along with 7 Habits) didn't kick in for me. No disrespect to Mr Covey, I really enjoyed reading (and re-reading, a number of times!) FTF and 7 Habits et al and have, possibly sub-consciously, taken on board a lot of the principles he talks about. GTD however was more practical and immediate and I'm very happy to have 'stumbled' upon it.

Edward
 
Shortly after Getting Things Done was published, W Donald Mitchell wrote a stunningly favorable review of it at Amazon. His reviews were always a few notches above what you typically see there and, since I'm a sucker for anything that promises to make me work more effectively, I ordered the book purely on faith. It immediately resonated with me. Everything David Allen said rang true, and it struck me that whereas much of what the other guys do seems like it might have been cooked up to present in a seminar because it sounds nice (anybody up for discovering your life mission so you can find inner peace by aligning your tasks and goals with that mission?), the things Allen was talking about seemed more like something that came about through working with real people doing real work in the real world.
 
Library book

My first encounter with GTD was finding the book by chance - well, not absolute chance, as it was in the local library's 658 section that I always browse (along with the 158 section for personal growth...).

I liked the title, and when I read it I was so happy - here was a book that didn't just repeat what others had already said and repeated...

This was different. This was life-changing stuff.

I didn't implement it immediately - I had trouble with connecting the Projects and not-NA's and stuff, but I did 'get' many of the ideas.

Now that I've bought the Outlook Add-in, I'm converted! I also love all the resources on the internet about GTD.

I love GTD! (Most parts, anyway. Does anyone understand the part about filing everything in A-Z order in manilla folders???)

Thanks to the library... :)

I now strongly recommend GTD to all my clients.

Trisha
 
I first saw GTD in the bookstore when it came out but didn't pick it up because I didn't think it would live up to it's title "The art of stress-free productivity" which I desperately needed at the time.

Several years later, I came across it again and decided to pick it up.

Within the past year and a half or so, GTD seems to have exploded in the internet community. I mused about it a bit on my website.

http://www.marktaw.com/blog/TheMerchantsOfMeme-2.html

I really wish I could trace where & when everyone learned of GTD and see if it could be traced to a single source.
 
Meme

>I really wish I could trace where & when everyone learned of GTD and see if it could be traced to a single source.<

Ummm ... David Allen?
 
Like one of the individuals above, I stumbled on the book while in my local library (no doubt procrastinating about something!). The CD's really cemented the program for me. I love the concept, can explain it beautifully, but am embarrassed on my implementation. I agree with one of the guys above...It's the weekly review, stupid! Thanks for this thread-It brings me back to my initial motivation and nudges me about the key concept that will instantly create progress.
 
Re: Meme

csweningsen said:
>I really wish I could trace where & when everyone learned of GTD and see if it could be traced to a single source.<

Ummm ... David Allen?
Click to expand...

He's the author, but I didn't learn about the GTD system from him. I first learned about it from the Web, but it was so long ago I can't remember exactly what I was searching for. I do know that I wasn't searching on "GTD".
 
I am lucky enough to work at a GTD-focused company

I discovered GTD in early 2001 when I came to work at my current employer. They had already embraced GTD as a company-wide way to reduce stress and enhance productivity and offered every employee the opportunity to attend a 2-day GTD seminar as a benefit of working at the company. We have a very book-oriented culture and every new employee gets a copy of a few core tomes when they start. Getting Things Done is obviously one of them.

The company also provides NoteTaker wallets, PDAs, Getting Things Done Fast CDs, and other tools to support GTD adoption. In fact, we even have a company-sponsored Purge Day at the beginning of each new year where we are encouraged to clean out our files (analog and digital), rebuild our tickler system, do a fresh mind sweep, etc. to get the new year off to a great start.

I attended a seminar in Dallas in '01 with seven other employees and not only was it a transformational experience for me personally but it was also a terrific bonding experience for those of us who went together.
 
where I heard about GTD

MarkTAW said:
I really wish I could trace where & when everyone learned of GTD and see if it could be traced to a single source.
Click to expand...

I first heard about it in the Pocket Informant forum a few months ago.
 
First heard about it

I too found out about David Allen in the pre-GTD days. I read an article in Fortune magazine about the software company that David was (is) affiliated with (can't think of the name off the top) ... this must have been back in 1997 or 1998. David was quoted as saying in effect that there are so many to-do items buried in our files ... if only one could take advantage of them. And he had a way to do it. I fiddled around with his system for a while using the info on the website. I was never very successful with it. So I took the Managing Actions and Projects class in St Louis and have been a devotee since.
 
I first found out about GTD from some of our Note Studio customers.

Even though we had never heard of it, apparently Note Studio was being used by quite a few people for GTD. We lived in ignorance, until all of a sudden some people came onto our forums telling us how they loved using Note Studio for GTD on their Palms. At first we thought they were crazy, but luckily we decided to look into it.

After reading the book, and listening to the CDs in my car several times, I'm now absolutely hooked. I'm glad those users told us about GTD, otherwise we may never have known about it, and I would still have hundreds of emails in my inbox!
 
Good book as aid for decision-making

moises said:
There is no formula for making the right decisions and doing the right things.
Click to expand...

Apropos to the decision-making process, I am reading a book that I find very clear and straightforward that might be helpful:

Smart Choices : A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions by JOHN S. HAMMOND, RALPH L. KEENEY, HOWARD RAIFFA
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...?dev-t=D26XECQVNV6NDQ&camp=2025&link_code=xm2

They have a very systematic approach to framing and helping make decisions properly (you can apply this in GTD by having every Project answer the key points in the method). They summarize their eight-step the method with the acronym PrOACT:

Problem: clarify and decide on what's the scope and scale of the real problem at issue
Objectives: what are the objectives you want to attain with the decision
Alternative: create a meaninful set of alternatives
Consequences: what are the consequences of the each of the alternative decisions
Tradeoffs: what tradeoffs between decision alternatives
+ three other related issues
Uncertainty: figure out how uncertain outcomes, alternatives, and consequences are
Risk Tolerance: your decisions will be different depending on whether you are risk-averse or risk-seeking; think investing in bonds vs. stocks vs. hedge funds.
Linked Decisions: how does taking a particular decision affect other decisions one might have to make (outside the scope of this decision).

There is a great review on the Amazon page that gives more detail and discussion.

People do some or all of these things intuitively, but few people do them systematically, explicitly, and regularly.

It's a very good framework for decision-making. The book is really cleanly, clearly written. They are either great writers or had great editors. There is no fluff there.

It's by some of the same authors of Getting To Yes, a great introduction to negotiation. Also very clearly, sparely written. You will never forget the acronym BATNA afterwards...

Cheers, David.
 
David, I think you posted this on the wrong thread. What is the context for moises' quote?

By the way, how did you discover GTD?

Carolyn
 
ceehjay said:
David, I think you posted this on the wrong thread. What is the context for moises' quote?

By the way, how did you discover GTD?

Carolyn
Click to expand...

Actually, it was in this thread: moises post on Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 6:28 pm (I don't know how to link to the original). He made a passing comment on decision making, which triggered my comments. However, it was a bit off-topic and a big digression. It's my exaggerated sense of self-importance that commanded me to enlighten everyone with my new-found wisdom.

As for my discovery of GTD, it was last summer as I was in the process of moving from CT to MA for my job. I was feeling totally overwealmed, and somehow found a referece to it online (I can't remember now how I did, as I didn't have a Trusted System before GTD ;-). I picked it GTD at a Borders in NH, and read it in about 3 days. I've tried to put it into practice, but I have yet to do the Weekly Review faithfully; that's what I'm concentrating on now.
 
Aha! I didn't go far enough back!

Do you still feel overwhelmed post-GTD? Or do you feel you have much better control, even without regular weekly reviews? I think the discipline of a weekly review has been difficult for many, including me.

Carolyn
 
ceehjay said:
Do you still feel overwhelmed post-GTD? Or do you feel you have much better control, even without regular weekly reviews? I think the discipline of a weekly review has been difficult for many, including me.

Carolyn
Click to expand...

I think I'm less overwealmed, feeling more things are getting done and not forgotten. However, I'm annoyed at not carving out the Weekly Review time as inviolate. I mitigate it somewhat by using ad-hoc daily reviews as I take a train commute to and from work most days. I felt a little better when I discovered that one of the DavidCo telecoaches, Meg, had trouble with that for a few months: http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Meg_Gott/article30.html .
And Merlin of 43Folders refers to the difficulty in an article entitled "A Year of Getting Things Done: Part 2, The Stuff I Wish I Were Better At": http://www.43folders.com/2004/12/a_year_of_getti_1.html

So, Carolyn, we are not alone. Even The Great Ones have trouble with all of it :wink:. But we must strive . I will if you will....

Cheers, David.
 
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