Category Archives: Featured

Our recent Office Hour discussion had a surprise visitor ? David Allen! He caught us up on the dual celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the publication of Getting Things Done and his 80th birthday. We talked about where, and whether, to keep reminders for various household tasks, the shifting “weight” of areas of focus over time, and how paper capture endures.

David has a conversation with Dr. Julie Flagg, who discusses her GTD journey, including her significant decision to retire. Julie has been a GTD enthusiast since 2000, when she met David in Boston. She talks about how she has adapted her system to the change from a busy medical practice to an equally busy retirement. Julie still applies all the GTD best practices, including the two-minute rule. Introducing Julie for this interview, David mentions her presentation at the GTD Summit in 2019.

We explore how categorizing your GTD next actions lists by context will help you accomplish more with less effort. Context is critical, because it filters what you can do before you factor in time, energy, and priority. We discuss what contexts are, how they have and haven’t changed over the years, misconceptions about contexts, and examples of ways people use them in today’s world.

David has a fascinating conversation with Charles Duhigg, whose new book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. Charles says, “With the right tools, we can connect with anyone.”

In this wide-ranging conversation, David and Gina DiRoma cover a variety of GTD topics. They even get around to GTD and improvisational comedy. Gina is the Corporate Events and Sales Director at SAK Comedy Lab, where the motto is “we make stuff up.” That’s a perfect complement to David’s phrase, “Make it up, make it happen.”

When asked how a company does GTD, David Allen’s answer is, “Holacracy.” It’s a self-organizing management framework that has GTD built in. The David Allen Company has been running on this framework since 2011. This recording on how GTD is incorporated into Holacracy’s governing structure is from a presentation for the Holacracy community of practice.

For many, the workplace is broken. We may not realize it, but our tools can shape us in unproductive ways, and we’ve become conditioned to accept this as normal. In this recording, David Allen and John Forrister talk With Eric Mack about his 8 Practices of Intentionally Productive Work, which provide a framework to help you shift your mindset and uplevel your work.

David Allen, Arjan Broere, Ana Maria Gonzalez, and John Forrister have a rich and wide-ranging discussion of how we manage our attention, how to focus and refocus, and dealing with interruptions.

David Allen talks with GTD trainer Justin Hale about his journey with GTD. Justin notes that the journey includes cultivating self-awareness about our habits. He emphasizes the importance of deliberate practice to change behaviors. More than a set of hacks, he considers GTD to be a complete system.

Scott Adams gives us a tour of the prompts he has been using to have AI assist him with GTD. He gives detailed information about the prompt text, and offers suggestions about refining your results.

In this Skills Lab, we take a deep dive into the Reflect step in the GTD workflow. With quizzes, exercises, and practice scenarios, this will be a valuable opportunity to fine-tune your GTD practice.

In support of GTD implementation and integration, we had a free-form hour (plus) of discussion. We talked about recurring projects, checklists, clarifying versus doing, verbs for projects and actions, and much more.

Put your GTD skills to the test in this new Skills Lab webinar. We focused on the basics of the Engage step, including how you spend your time and choosing what to do. Through a set of fun quizzes, practice scenarios, and lively group discussions, this was a valuable opportunity to fine-tune GTD practice.

This was the first of several planned GTD Skills Lab webinars. In this installment, we focus on the fundamentals of projects and next actions. Through a set of fun quizzes, engaging practice scenarios, and lively group discussions, this is a valuable opportunity to fine-tune your GTD practice.

In this recording, we talk about the nature of Someday/Maybe items, and how the Someday/Maybe list is closely related to the Projects list.

Take a deeper dive into capturing what’s grabbing your attention personally and professionally. The webinar also includes time for clarifying what you’ve captured and organizing it into your system.

In this webinar recording, we consider each step of the GTD Weekly Review, to learn why each step is important, and how they fit together. We will also discuss ways to approach the review to make it easier for you to do it consistently.