Of course, one could state the same argument for GTD. If it works for David, it will work for you too. It obviously does for a lot of people, but not everyone. It does for me. But per my earlier post, junior faculty see things differently in terms of the importance of time allocation.
I think one major difference is that David Allen has always advocated for the primacy of individual experience: try GTD, and see how it works for you. Modify as needed. It’s another feedback loop. Another, related, difference is the bottom-up approach, where higher-level goals can be emergent rather than imposed or assumed. But I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir.
Oh no - I am hardly less committed and have multiple NIH grants, mentor cohorts of junior faculty across the country, serve on several collegiate and university committees, etc. I guess what I meant was that I no longer need to use the calendar so strictly to decide what to do on a moment's notice. I follow much more the GTD model. Of course, I do on occasion block time to deeply work on a particular project (like the one R01 competitive renewal going in soon), but I overall don't like my calendar to tell me what to do.I think in (the research part of) Academia “time and mental room to think” are the most important things. I recall asking several of our professors when they did research. Their answer was either “evenings”, “weekends”, “holidays”, or “not anymore, but through my PhD students”. The weeks are so busy and hectic that they need to use recovery time to work… and I would agree it’s even worse for young faculty. They have a lot to prove still and have the feeling they cannot say no.
Good of you to explain that to them early Longstreet. If they don’t guard their time, others will eat it up.
I’m wondering though about that part where you say you don’t have to allocate your time so carefully anymore. Is this because of seniority alone? Of did your areas of focus and responsibility change over time and thereby the kind of work you do? I see full professors at my University that are busier than their junior staff. Of course these professors don’t practice GTD. Shame on them.
To some extend, I think this is also similar for any type of job where the more senior you get, the less it’s about the grind and more anout vision, like a management job where it’s suddenly less about the work and more about the vision and the people.
Ok, finished my morning coffee, back to fire fighting the day to day
Yes, you are preaching to the choir! I am an avid GTD user as everyone knows.
I was waiting for the summer to finish before nagging you. And I would only nag because I'm looking forward to our business.
I think you answered your own question when you prerequisite. If something else has to be done first, that's a dependent action that would live in project support until the real next action has been done.
Another difference is that David Allen road tested his methods with thousands of people he coached before writing a book.
Another difference is that David Allen suggests taking only what is helpful to you. Things like the 2 minute rule and a weekly review are helpful without the full methodology implementation.
This is a bit off topic, but I have trouble with the whole trigger-action-reward sequence. I don‘t respond well to external rewards, or really to any positive or negative consequences arbitrarily associated with an action. The whole “don’t break the chain“ idea generally fails with me too. Intrinsic motivation is usually the only effective motivation for me. Not sure about most people.
@schmeggahead Yes, the 2-minute rule and a weekly review can be implemented without GTD. But it ain't no use to implement Capture step only without implementing Clarify, Organize and Engage steps.
