I understand what you're saying. It's either too strict or too flexible depending on the situation. You end of spending a lot of time thinking, planning, contexting & filing -- instead of doing. I am not sure if that's entirely my fault or the nature of the work that I do.
I don't have a problem so much with the calendar (lots of meetings), but the context based system seems too cumbersome for me. Being a project based guy, I like to do a, b, c, d - rather than doing all the a's at once, then all the b's and so on.
I've tried to stick with it and have fallen off the bandwagon numerous times only to pick it back up. It's a good system for being able to start again and pound through a couple of days of uber productivity and then drop it again. Probably not the best strategy, but it's the one I have been using.
If it isn't GTD, then what? Do we need a new system? What does that look like? Keep thinking and keep writing and I'll keep reading.
Oh and by the way, do you have a good recipe for Snickerdoodle?
Matt
· 1 year ago
Hi Brett -
I have been following you for some time now and agree with your thoughts above, especially in that execution is key. We have been working to try to make "productivity" a bit easier and have a bunch of other related thoughts that I would love to bounce off you sometime. Not sure if it's applicable to your way of being productive, but we would love for you to give springpad a try and let us know your thoughts (understanding its still in beta). http://www.springpadit.com. Blogstring recently did a pretty good write up describing our services from a3rd party point of view. http://blogstring.com/2008/11/14/springpad-note...
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Matt
patrickrhone
· 1 year ago
In some ways, I have been right there with you for a while. I am not sure if you caught the writeup of my extremely simplified system at Chris Bowler's place here: http://theweeklyreview.ca/2008/11/13/patrick-rh.... It basically boils down to capture/execute. I have been running that way for about 6 months now and every time I try to switch it up I find it only adds unneeded complexity.
Like any _religious_ book, I feel it is best with Getting Things Done to take away the basic tenants and overall message and them make your own path to true enlightenment. Leave the details and zealotry to the new converts because, in time, they too will either loose the religion or find a path of their own.
Seems like you are finding yours my friend.
bradblackman
· 1 year ago
It's funny, I was talking about this sort of thing with Jason Echols Friday night on IM, about how "Productivity" has gotten too "religious," as Patrick touches on. (And how our whole group has all fallen off the GTD wagon.) I think we're all moving into a sort of post-GTD "thing" now. I agree with you that GTD has gotten too complicated. I no longer print out a context-based list from KGTD anymore: I've moved to a more Project-based mentality (and have thus whittled down my list of todos considerably.) In fact, I'm thinking about intentionally skipping the bulk of this week's Weekly Review since I already *know* what needs to be done and don't need to be reminded. Great post!
Bren
· 1 year ago
Comment #5 here. Exceeding expectations!
Good points. You've hit on the stuff that made me leave the fold too. Thing is, I still need to do the stuff that The David preaches. Keep lists, keep only one calendar, file stuff away, etc. I just don't feel guilty about it any more. The best thing I got out of GTD was keep one calendar. But I still sometimes put tasks on there. And I don't get angsty about it.
Jeremy
· 1 year ago
Well, I guess I won't be buying that book any time soon.
Mike Vardy
· 1 year ago
Sounds like you need to adopt EffTD. Eventualizm awaits...
Seriously, though. Sad to hear you're no longer writing for CW Blog, but glad to hear you're doing well. Hope you find a system of sorts that works for you...I'm more of a proponent of what Leo and Zen To Done has put out there.
Take care!
jxpx777
· 1 year ago
Brett, my friend, you've hit the nail on the friggin' head. I have been thinking this way for a long time. For some people who are pathologically without any sort of productivity system at all, it makes a lot of sense to have some rigorous system to force themselves into for a bit. But, as Merlin is fond of quoting, "You don't need the boat once you've crossed the river."
I have been working from a project and singleton foxhole for quite a while and I think it's working. I keep a list of the projects I'm working on and I keep a list of one-off tasks. The location of these all depends on what my thought work has told me needs to happen. Things that I need a reminder for generally get thrown into Backpack (Or Sandy, but she's been pissing me off lately.) Just "shit" that has to be done, goes on a list on an index card or in iCal. iCal tends to get used for tasks that have some deadline but can be done any time.
I tend to fly by the seat of my pants with a lot of stuff. I have a junior circa full of notes about a few projects and stuff, but I'm content to leave them there unprocessed because I know where they are. I do things when they are due. I don't tend to work ahead a lot.
Personally, I think that a lot of people, if they got really good at this productivity stuff, would go insane. If you didn't have anything on a list saying, "You have to do this," what would you do? I know that many of us like you, me, Patrick, Brad, etc. have an answer for this, but tons of people simply don't! They are so stuck on the runway (again with the airplanes) that they wouldn't know what to do if the runway were clear. They honestly haven't given it a bit of thought. I liken people like this to the blobulous people in Wall•E. Without the constant barrage of crap from an outside source keeping them occupied they were simply dumbfounded as to what they should do with their time.
I think that GTD is a lot like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel-san. Once you get fed up with all the minutiae of GTD, that's when you know you've learned something.
Tim Glinatsis
· 1 year ago
I just had a religious experience. Just now.
Brett Kelly
· 1 year ago
Please elaborate :)
Michele Connolly
· 1 year ago
GTD = Getting Too Detailed.
I'm way neurotically hyper-organized, but even I find it too sphincter-tightening. David Allen, though, seems like a cool dude.
MarinaMartin
· 1 year ago
I've been feeling this way for some time, Brett, and it's nice to see I'm not alone.
GTD has a lot of great principles - namely, you need to get stuff out of your brain and intro a trusted system - that have definitely improved my life. But I have never been able to strictly adhere to GTD itself. How can I trust a system that can't even make sure I read a book before my book club meets? I live and die by my Daily Action Card, which is a template including everything I do everyday (i.e. take vitamins - who the hell wants to rewrite THAT on their Next Action list 365 times a year?) with blank spaces to include things I really want to/should get done that day. This way, if my book club meets in two weeks, I can divide the # of pages by 14 and assign myself to read that # of pages each day. That's something I can trust.
Recently I've been particularly annoyed by the observation that Type A personalities are most strongly attracted to GTD, and yet the system is far too general to really fit a Type A. I'm cooking up something just for us Type As that speaks to your snickerdoodle dilemma that I will be sharing soon and I'm really excited about ... looking forward to having you check it out!
Dan Murray
· 1 year ago
Think about how to tick your brain into liking the important part and just ignoring the parts that are not necessary. This is a personal choice. What works for Mr. David Allen might not work for you. I happen to like some of the method. I use a 3 X 5 Moleskin temp book to record two things: 1. Tasks (Next Actions) 2. Notes (things that I don't want to forget). I use outlook to record meeting dates and times. The weekly review comes when I review my moleskin entries for the prior week (note it a paper device) and log them...which sets the focus for my upcoming week. My weekly commitment to this process which was inspired by David Allen is about 30 minutes.
robskils
· 1 year ago
Human beings have an innate ability to rebel against something that they feel they are being forced to do. Thus it is with GTD - by creating a long list, essentially, of things that we HAVE to do, and things that we SHOULD do, there is part of us which will eventually say "you know what? F*&k it!". I sense there is a bit of this going on on an individual level (there always has been with me) but also on a collective level.
GTD Wannabe
· 1 year ago
Great post. I hear you. In the past two months I've been using my Outlook 2007 system, a moleskine, my old perl script and now Outlook 2003. I briefly flirted with Lotus notes but ran away. I really just need somewhere to write stuff down - that's the best thing I got out of GTD - write stuff down. And as for the airplane - man, I've been on the runway the entire time!
fbcallicoat
· 11 months ago
Wow. Very timely. I'm new to GTD -- I'm still in the "Collecting" phase. (I'm a lawyer and you would NOT believe how much FREAKIN' paper I have to deal with. Good Lord almighty - I've got 77 open and active pieces of litigation right now.)
So I've been looking at GTD as a way to deal with this mind, soul and body crushing stress. This past weekend I spent untold hours cleaning out my office of all the paper and files that were literally stacked everywhere. (What a relief that alone is!)
But in reading through the various implementations of GTD, I find it well ... complicated. Now, I'm probably not the smartest monkey in the jungle, but I'm not the dumbest one either. In fact, my IQ is in the 97th percentile.
But I digress. Anyway, your heretical doubts about GTD strike a chord with me. (Just wish you would have said something before I bought that damn Moleskine!)
All Comments
I don't have a problem so much with the calendar (lots of meetings), but the context based system seems too cumbersome for me. Being a project based guy, I like to do a, b, c, d - rather than doing all the a's at once, then all the b's and so on.
I've tried to stick with it and have fallen off the bandwagon numerous times only to pick it back up. It's a good system for being able to start again and pound through a couple of days of uber productivity and then drop it again. Probably not the best strategy, but it's the one I have been using.
If it isn't GTD, then what? Do we need a new system? What does that look like? Keep thinking and keep writing and I'll keep reading.
Oh and by the way, do you have a good recipe for Snickerdoodle?
I have been following you for some time now and agree with your thoughts above, especially in that execution is key. We have been working to try to make "productivity" a bit easier and have a bunch of other related thoughts that I would love to bounce off you sometime. Not sure if it's applicable to your way of being productive, but we would love for you to give springpad a try and let us know your thoughts (understanding its still in beta). http://www.springpadit.com. Blogstring recently did a pretty good write up describing our services from a3rd party point of view. http://blogstring.com/2008/11/14/springpad-note...
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Matt
Like any _religious_ book, I feel it is best with Getting Things Done to take away the basic tenants and overall message and them make your own path to true enlightenment. Leave the details and zealotry to the new converts because, in time, they too will either loose the religion or find a path of their own.
Seems like you are finding yours my friend.
Good points. You've hit on the stuff that made me leave the fold too. Thing is, I still need to do the stuff that The David preaches. Keep lists, keep only one calendar, file stuff away, etc. I just don't feel guilty about it any more. The best thing I got out of GTD was keep one calendar. But I still sometimes put tasks on there. And I don't get angsty about it.
Seriously, though. Sad to hear you're no longer writing for CW Blog, but glad to hear you're doing well. Hope you find a system of sorts that works for you...I'm more of a proponent of what Leo and Zen To Done has put out there.
Take care!
I have been working from a project and singleton foxhole for quite a while and I think it's working. I keep a list of the projects I'm working on and I keep a list of one-off tasks. The location of these all depends on what my thought work has told me needs to happen. Things that I need a reminder for generally get thrown into Backpack (Or Sandy, but she's been pissing me off lately.) Just "shit" that has to be done, goes on a list on an index card or in iCal. iCal tends to get used for tasks that have some deadline but can be done any time.
I tend to fly by the seat of my pants with a lot of stuff. I have a junior circa full of notes about a few projects and stuff, but I'm content to leave them there unprocessed because I know where they are. I do things when they are due. I don't tend to work ahead a lot.
Personally, I think that a lot of people, if they got really good at this productivity stuff, would go insane. If you didn't have anything on a list saying, "You have to do this," what would you do? I know that many of us like you, me, Patrick, Brad, etc. have an answer for this, but tons of people simply don't! They are so stuck on the runway (again with the airplanes) that they wouldn't know what to do if the runway were clear. They honestly haven't given it a bit of thought. I liken people like this to the blobulous people in Wall•E. Without the constant barrage of crap from an outside source keeping them occupied they were simply dumbfounded as to what they should do with their time.
I think that GTD is a lot like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel-san. Once you get fed up with all the minutiae of GTD, that's when you know you've learned something.
I'm way neurotically hyper-organized, but even I find it too sphincter-tightening.
David Allen, though, seems like a cool dude.
GTD has a lot of great principles - namely, you need to get stuff out of your brain and intro a trusted system - that have definitely improved my life. But I have never been able to strictly adhere to GTD itself. How can I trust a system that can't even make sure I read a book before my book club meets? I live and die by my Daily Action Card, which is a template including everything I do everyday (i.e. take vitamins - who the hell wants to rewrite THAT on their Next Action list 365 times a year?) with blank spaces to include things I really want to/should get done that day. This way, if my book club meets in two weeks, I can divide the # of pages by 14 and assign myself to read that # of pages each day. That's something I can trust.
Recently I've been particularly annoyed by the observation that Type A personalities are most strongly attracted to GTD, and yet the system is far too general to really fit a Type A. I'm cooking up something just for us Type As that speaks to your snickerdoodle dilemma that I will be sharing soon and I'm really excited about ... looking forward to having you check it out!
So I've been looking at GTD as a way to deal with this mind, soul and body crushing stress. This past weekend I spent untold hours cleaning out my office of all the paper and files that were literally stacked everywhere. (What a relief that alone is!)
But in reading through the various implementations of GTD, I find it well ... complicated. Now, I'm probably not the smartest monkey in the jungle, but I'm not the dumbest one either. In fact, my IQ is in the 97th percentile.
But I digress. Anyway, your heretical doubts about GTD strike a chord with me. (Just wish you would have said something before I bought that damn Moleskine!)