Getting Things Done
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David Allen's "Getting Things Done" (shortened in popular usage to GTD) is a systematic approach for gaining control and attaining perspective in personal matters through self-management. The claimed benefits for people implementing the approach are increased and stress-free productivity and a state of flow, creativity and positive engagement while maintaining "mind like water". While his original book of the same title introduced the "Getting Things Done" approach, his more recent title Making It All Work and the terminology therein has been used as a basis for this review.
Allen describes three models that make up his system: Mastering Workflow, Natural Planning and Horizons of Focus. The three models are interconnected horizontally and vertically through sequence and hierarchy via eleven core underlying concepts: There are five stages of workflow for gaining control (Capturing, Clarifying, Organising, Reflecting and Engaging / Actions) and six horizons of perspective (Engaging / Actions, Projects, Areas of Focus, Goals, Vision and Purpose / Principles).
Contents
Productivity-based management
The GTD method to achieve productivity is about helping people organise the "stuff" in their lives: the projects they are involved with in private and professional life, tasks, appointments, in-boxes, filing systems, etc. Only after these things have been organised into a coherent, trusted system is the work on high level goals and values introduced. One of the leading thinkers in this area is David Allen, who pioneered the "Getting Things Done" system for self-organisation (often shortened to "GTD").
There has been an increasing uptake of the productivity-based approach in the past decade, particularly GTD, possibly because it tackles a challenging aspect of modern life - information and work overwhelm. Among an increasing global population that earns its keep with knowledge work, there is also growing demand for ways to increase productivity and free the mind of unnecessary clutter. In theory, having achieved productivity and a clear mind, one is then free to turn to defining high level goals, developing quality relationships and cultivating positive habits - all of those important, but not urgent activities that tend to fall by the wayside when life gets busy.
GTD specifically is also quite aligned with OrganicDesign thinking due to the fact that it is a systems-based approach (Allen often refers to the goal of GTD being the creation of a "trusted system") and also introduces the idea of "scale" to be able to encompass the most abstract and long term aspects of self organisation, such as goals, vision and values. On regular cycles, practitioners review the relationship between everyday activities and high level goals and ensure that there is clear sense of connection between the two. Therefore GTD as an approach conceptually incorporates the notions of both systems thinking and personal mastery advocated by Peter Senge as two of the disciplines required for creating learning organisations.
Allen's approach is centered around emptying one's mind into "100% leak-proof, trusted external buckets and inboxes" to achieve "stress-free productivity". Allen's approach can be called w:bottom-up since it focuses on the the "stuff" in various inboxes and how to create processes and filing systems to manage one's commitments and handle ever-changing workloads. Allen's advice is highly practical and goes right down to recommending how to set up a filing system and scheduling system. He has inspired many productivity blogs, websites and even online GTD services like w:Nozbe.
Five stages of workflow for control
At the core of Allen's system lies a workflow which has five phases. The horizontal axis of his system is the axis of "control", encompassing the workflow phases that allow to practitioner to regain control of all the "stuff" in their life.
Collect
- Capture anything that has your attention (paper notes, emails, voice mail) in leak-proof, external buckets
- Have as few of these buckets as possible and as many as necessary
- Empty buckets regularly (process and organise)
Process
- Make decisions about what you have collected
- not actionable vs. actionable
Organise
- Group the results of processing into appropriate action categories and contexts
Review
- Review calendar and action lists daily
- Conduct a weekly review to maintain, tidy up and develop the system
- Review longer term goals, visions and values as often as necessary to keep project list complete and current
Do
Allen recommends choosing what to do based on what you can do (context), how much time you have, how much energy you have and what your priorities are - in that order of priority. There are three main types of work that need to be done: predefined work, work "as it shows up", and defining one's work. Allen's system is designed to help deal with interruptions and surprises, because one knows what is being put off. He recommends following one's intuition in deciding what work to do but recommends doing regular reviews of high level goals, making sure the various levels are aligned and build on each other.
Six horizons of focus for perspective
The vertical axis is the axis of perspective, which allows the practitioner to step back and assess whether the work being done is alignment with higher level goals and principles. Allen introduces five levels of perspective, moving from the day-to-day tasks right up to life purpose at the top. The intervals given in brackets are the recommended review cycles for the various levels.
- 50,000 + feet: Life purpose and principles (yearly +)
- 40,000 feet: Vision (yearly)
- 30,000 feet: Goals (quarterly)
- 20,000 feet: Areas of Focus (monthly)
- 10,000 feet: Current projects (weekly)
- Runway: Current actions (daily)
Allen recommends working from the bottom up, to ensure current action lists are complete, because working from the top down while there is pressure to get stuff done can cause frustration and anxiety.
