Getting Things Done – by David Allen

This book is as highly regarded as the ultimate guide in efficiency. It is all about, as the title suggests, Getting Things Done. The book provides a full-on system that, once fully implemented, will mean nothing ever gets missed: Capture, Clarify, Organise, Reflect, Engage.

‘The Art of Stress-Free Productivity’

 

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Getting Things Done (dot point) Summary

The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

• A new addition is more about leveraging technology
• ‘A gold mine of insights into strategies for how to have more energy, be more relaxed, with more clarity and presence in the moment of what you are doing, and get more accomplished with less effort
• There is usually this feeling that we should be doing something else
• More confident that what you’re doing is what you need to be doing … Beer with a co-worker, hanging out with family etc

 

Part 1 – The Art of Getting Things Done

Ch1 – A new practice for a new reality

Information

We are allowing in more information and communication from the outer world and generating an equally large volume of ideas and agreements

External Mind

• If it is on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything considered unfinished must be captured in a trusted system outside of your mind, what he calls a collection tool. That you know you will come back regularly and sort through

Why things are on your mind

“The consistent unproductive preoccupation with all of the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy”

• Since the time you woke up and now… Did you think of anything you needed to do and haven’t done?
• Why? It is a complete waste of time to think about something that you can make no progress on
• Most people walk around with RAM bursting at the seams, they are constantly distracted, their focus disturbed and performance diminished
• Most lists people make are an amorphous blob of undoability

 

Ch3 – Getting projects creatively underway: 5 phases of project planning

The Natural Planning Model  – doing it all of the time… 

1. Defining purposes and principles

• Why are you doing it

What is the reason this exists? Or primary purpose for this event?

2. Outcome visioning – the vision of success

• Clarifying outcomes, what end product looks like

Fun evening, good food and wine, maybe signed a business deal, maybe romance…what would mean success?

If you have imagined a reality that’s not true, there is a gap between what you have and what you want.

Your brain naturally comes up with ideas in random order. A storm in your brain

3. Brainstorming

• Capturing your ideas
• Don’t judge challenge or evaluate
• Go for quantity not quality
• Put analysis and organization in the background

People you are going with. What you wear etc… Let the brain go

4. Organizing

• Identify significant pieces
• Sort
• If you use your mind as your planning system, your mind will effectively become overwhelmed and incompetent, because you are demanding intense work of what it is not well equipped
• Utilize a system as an ‘external brain’

Organise ideas. Bring rational thinking, evaluate the first thing to do, most important thing. Priorities. Call people. Those 3 most important things

5. Next actions

What is the very next action

 

Ch2 – The 5 Steps of Managing Workflow

1. Capture – what has our attention

• Every open loop must be in your capture system and out of your head
• As few capturing buckets as you can get away with
• You must empty them regularly
• These tools should become part of your lifestyle
• Best ideas about work sometimes do not occur at work. So you need to capture them

2. Clarify – what we can do about it

• What is it?
• Is it actionable? Trash, do later, might be used as a reference for later

3. Organize – the results

• Define projects
• You don’t do a project, you only do steps related to it
• Next action categories define, use your calendar

4. Reflect – on

• Weekly review. Gather and process your stuff, review your system, update your lists, get clean clear and current

5. Engage – with

• Choose what to do based on context, time available, energy available, priority

Think about work vertically as well as horizontally

Horizon 5 – Purpose and principles

• Why you or your company exists

H4 – Vision: 3-5 Year Projection

H3 – Goals – What you want to be experiencing 1-2 years from now

H2 – Areas of focus and accountabilities

• Job description
• Family
• Spirituality

Horizon 1 – Current projects

 

Part 2 – Practicing Stress-Free Productivity

Ch4 – Getting started, setting up the time, space and tools

The highest performing people he knows to install the best tricks in their lives

• Set aside the time
• Set aside space (functional workspace is critical)

 

Ch5 – Capturing your stuff

• Includes all the things that nag you but you haven’t yet decided to deal with
• All of your mental RAM out
• Business cards, recipes, things to do, anything creating noise

Put everything into ‘In’

 

Ch 6 – Clarifying, getting ‘in ‘ to empty

What is showing up on the mind

• The ‘in’ tray is a processing station, not a storage bin
• Nothing goes back into in

The Key Processing Question:

• What is the next action?

If no next action:

Trash, incubate, reference material

If there is an action, what is it?

E.g conference might be

• Email Sandra about whether to prepare press kit for conference
• Do it, delegate it or defer it

 

Ch7 – Organizing: Setting up the right buckets

Basic Categories

• Projects list
• Project support material
• Calendar actions and information
• Next actions
• Waiting for list

Who are you waiting on? It is impressive if you say, Jimmy, I gave you that report on 21st of June

• Reference material
• Someday maybe

Not now, write an album, write a book, books to read, skills to develop, permission to imagine cool things without having to commit to them yet.  dreamshots

Organising Action Reminders

• When it goes into the calendar. It gets done. Your calendar is sacred

Action Categories

Calls

At computer

Errands

At Office

At Home

Anywhere

Read review

 

Ch 8 – Reflecting, keeping it all fresh and functional 

What to look at, when?

• When you need to pick something up from the dry cleaner, first quickly review all of the other errands
• When you have discretionary time, look at the phone call list

Weekly Review

• A goal is to get your head empty again

Collect loose ends, get in to empty

Get current – review next actions list

Review previous calendar data

Review waiting for

Review projects

Review checklists

More goals maybe aren’t what you need. You may just need comfort with the ones you have already put in motion

“The world itself is never overwhelmed or confused. Only we are, due to the way we engage with it”

 

Ch9 Engaging Making the Best Action Choices

Choose what to do at the moment based on

Context

• Where are you

Time Available

Energy Available

• Low energy states (casual reading, browse websites)

Priority

The Real Work of Knowledge Work

• The task is not given, it has to be determined
• ‘What are the expected results from this work?’ is the key question in making knowledge workers productive
• Results have to be specified if productivity is to be achieved

 

Ch10 – Getting projects under control 

 

Part 3 – The Power of the Key Principles

Ch11 – The power of capturing habit

 

Ch12- the power of the next action decision