“Many years of research have proven that the systems and tools for personal productivity well.”
– David Allen
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I think David is right –in general– but when, as a knowledge worker I start to think “I’m not getting anything done,” before I take myself too seriously I pull out one of David Seah’s forms, “the Emergent Task Timer URL: http://davidseah.com/pub/downloads/pceo/ett/PCEO-ETT02-StandardWide.pdf –it’s the one that allows me to track what I’m doing every 15 minutes for the whole day (and sometimes into the evening as well –then I use two forms). Most often I find that I am hardly doing “nothing.” Instead I’m doing a zillion things that popped up during the day –a student in a dissertation crisis on the phone, a client facing some other kind of mishap, an adult child calling long distance to tell me his marriage is in trouble, an email from the Wright Institute (my academic home) saying they need to have me put up online the “outcomes” for a particular course, and they need it right away. Using this very busy form, with boxes and more boxes, and “15 minutes bubbles” I find out exactly why the belief that I’m doing “nothing,” is a major cognitive error. That form may be dizzying, but it provides the obvious explanation to my anxiety re what I am doing.
When someone I coach, counsel, treat, or teach (usually knowledge workers and service providers), is being given –literally–more work than he/she can possibly accomplish in a day or a week (this is a common problem for psychologists working in poorly staffed community mental health agencies, or our prisons which are even worse), I hand over copies of the same work sheet (ETT), and recommend: “Before you go to your boss and say you can’t possibly get all your assignments done, fill this out for two or three days or even a week. Then you will have empirical evidence, making the situation clear. Perhaps together, facing the situation, you’ll find a solution.” So once in a while those complicated sheets of paper with boxes and bubbles are really useful.
Otherwise, I agree. That said, I confess, three years down the road with GTD and I still love to fool around with new and complex computerized GTD programs –It’s my play time, it’s a relaxing, recreational activity that I acknowledge is hardly focused on real Getting Things Done. Show me a new cool mindmap program (e.g. Personal Brain) and I’m off in a flow state for hours. Its like the tranced out state I get into when I’m analyzing data or writing. Sometimes the new complex program ends up helping (for example, when I finally learned Omnifocus), and those Seah bubbles can definitely be useful at certain moments. GTD is so great because we can all accept and engage in our Idiosyncrasies, it’s such a “case-specific” method of maintaining some degree of order to our work, family and recreational lives. This fall I am requesting that my year-long seminar on “professional development” for 3rd year doctoral students purchase and read a copy of “Getting Things Done” before school resumes, and that is how we’re kicking off the school year. This year it’s mandatory reading, and I might hand out some of Seah’s complex forms while I’m at it.
You are absolutely right, David. And, by the way, that is exactly the reason why I decided not to use the GTD Outlook Add-In. For me, it’s too complicated…
Context-categorized tasks, 5 email subfolders and Mind-Mapping for the projects usually is enough for my purposes and works well in standard Outlook.
@Lynn O’Connor –
Great perspective. Thanks for admitting out loud that most of us need to remind ourselves sometimes about all that we are doing. I don’t think that DA would disagree with an occasional “recalibration” and some self-encouragement.
This is my favorite line in the whole quote . . . “If you have to think too much every time you engage with a tool, then it isn’t serving you well.” After reading this, I went out to my toolbox in the garage. I opened it. I picked up a screwdriver. I used it to tighten the handle on a frying pan. I put it away. I closed my toolbox. I went back into the house.
Now if I sit down and “think about it,” this simple task took 7 steps:
1)I went out to my toolbox in the garage.
2)I opened it.
3)I picked up a screwdriver.
4)I used it.
5)I put it away.
6)I closed my toolbox.
7)I went back into the house.
Do I really need to write down and process every single task to see the completion of this SIMPLE task? No. And what I also need to do (as David suggests) is stop overthinking the simplest things in EVERY aspect of my life.
I think David is right –in general– but when, as a knowledge worker I start to think “I’m not getting anything done,” before I take myself too seriously I pull out one of David Seah’s forms, “the Emergent Task Timer URL: http://davidseah.com/pub/downloads/pceo/ett/PCEO-ETT02-StandardWide.pdf –it’s the one that allows me to track what I’m doing every 15 minutes for the whole day (and sometimes into the evening as well –then I use two forms). Most often I find that I am hardly doing “nothing.” Instead I’m doing a zillion things that popped up during the day –a student in a dissertation crisis on the phone, a client facing some other kind of mishap, an adult child calling long distance to tell me his marriage is in trouble, an email from the Wright Institute (my academic home) saying they need to have me put up online the “outcomes” for a particular course, and they need it right away. Using this very busy form, with boxes and more boxes, and “15 minutes bubbles” I find out exactly why the belief that I’m doing “nothing,” is a major cognitive error. That form may be dizzying, but it provides the obvious explanation to my anxiety re what I am doing.
When someone I coach, counsel, treat, or teach (usually knowledge workers and service providers), is being given –literally–more work than he/she can possibly accomplish in a day or a week (this is a common problem for psychologists working in poorly staffed community mental health agencies, or our prisons which are even worse), I hand over copies of the same work sheet (ETT), and recommend: “Before you go to your boss and say you can’t possibly get all your assignments done, fill this out for two or three days or even a week. Then you will have empirical evidence, making the situation clear. Perhaps together, facing the situation, you’ll find a solution.” So once in a while those complicated sheets of paper with boxes and bubbles are really useful.
Otherwise, I agree. That said, I confess, three years down the road with GTD and I still love to fool around with new and complex computerized GTD programs –It’s my play time, it’s a relaxing, recreational activity that I acknowledge is hardly focused on real Getting Things Done. Show me a new cool mindmap program (e.g. Personal Brain) and I’m off in a flow state for hours. Its like the tranced out state I get into when I’m analyzing data or writing. Sometimes the new complex program ends up helping (for example, when I finally learned Omnifocus), and those Seah bubbles can definitely be useful at certain moments. GTD is so great because we can all accept and engage in our Idiosyncrasies, it’s such a “case-specific” method of maintaining some degree of order to our work, family and recreational lives. This fall I am requesting that my year-long seminar on “professional development” for 3rd year doctoral students purchase and read a copy of “Getting Things Done” before school resumes, and that is how we’re kicking off the school year. This year it’s mandatory reading, and I might hand out some of Seah’s complex forms while I’m at it.
You are absolutely right, David. And, by the way, that is exactly the reason why I decided not to use the GTD Outlook Add-In. For me, it’s too complicated…
Context-categorized tasks, 5 email subfolders and Mind-Mapping for the projects usually is enough for my purposes and works well in standard Outlook.
Well said – it has to be user friendly or you are wasting your time
@Lynn O’Connor –
Great perspective. Thanks for admitting out loud that most of us need to remind ourselves sometimes about all that we are doing. I don’t think that DA would disagree with an occasional “recalibration” and some self-encouragement.
This is my favorite line in the whole quote . . . “If you have to think too much every time you engage with a tool, then it isn’t serving you well.” After reading this, I went out to my toolbox in the garage. I opened it. I picked up a screwdriver. I used it to tighten the handle on a frying pan. I put it away. I closed my toolbox. I went back into the house.
Now if I sit down and “think about it,” this simple task took 7 steps:
1)I went out to my toolbox in the garage.
2)I opened it.
3)I picked up a screwdriver.
4)I used it.
5)I put it away.
6)I closed my toolbox.
7)I went back into the house.
Do I really need to write down and process every single task to see the completion of this SIMPLE task? No. And what I also need to do (as David suggests) is stop overthinking the simplest things in EVERY aspect of my life.