Getting Things Done

Themes

Allen first demonstrates stress reduction from the method with the following exercise, centered on something that has entered your life that has an unclear outcome or where the next action is not defined. (Allen calls these sources of stress "open loops," "incompletes," or "stuff.")

He claims stress can be reduced and productivity increased by putting reminders about everything you are not working on into a trusted system external to your mind. In this way, you can work on the task at hand without distraction from the "incompletes." The system in GTD requires you have within easy reach an inbox, a trash can, a filing system for reference material, several lists (detailed below), and a calendar. These tools can be physical or electronic as appropriate (e.g. a physical "in" tray or an email inbox). As "stuff" enters your life, it is captured in these tools and processed with the following workflow.

Workflow

The GTD workflow consists of five stages: capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage. (The first edition used the names collect, process, organize, plan, and do; the descriptions of the stages are similar in both editions). Once all the material ("stuff") is captured (or collected) in the inbox, each item is clarified and organized by asking and answering questions about each item in turn as shown in the black boxes in the logic tree diagram. As a result, items end up in one of the eight oval end points in the diagram:

Empty your inbox or inboxes daily or at least weekly ("in" to empty). Don't use your inbox as a "to do" list. Don't put clarified items back into the inbox. Emptying your inbox doesn't mean finishing everything. It just means applying the "capture, clarify, organize" steps to all your "stuff."

Next, reflection (termed planning in the first edition) occurs. Multi-step projects identified above are assigned a desired outcome and a single "next action." Finally, a task from your task list is worked on ("engage" in the 2nd Ed, "do" in the 1st Ed) unless the calendar dictates otherwise. You select which task to work on next by considering where you are (the "context", e.g. at home, at work, out shopping, by the phone, at your computer, with a particular person), time available, energy available, and priority.

Implementation

Because hardware and software is changing so rapidly, GTD is deliberately technologically-neutral. (In fact, Allen advises people to start with a paper-based system.) Many task management tools claim to implement GTD methodology and Allen maintains a list of some technology that has been adopted in or designed for GTD. Some are designated "GTD Enabled", meaning Allen was involved in the design.

Perspective

Allen emphasizes two key elements of GTD — control and perspective. The workflow is the center of the control aspect. The goal of the control processes in GTD is to get everything except the current task out of your head and into this trusted system external to your mind. He borrows a simile used in martial arts termed "mind like water." When a small object is thrown into a pool of water, the water responds appropriately with a small splash followed by quiescence. When a large object is thrown in the water again responds appropriately with a large splash followed by quiescence. The opposite of "mind like water" is a mind that never returns to quiescence but remains continually stressed by every input. With a trusted system and "mind like water" you can have a better perspective on your life. Allen recommends reflection from six levels or "horizons:"

1. current actions
2. current projects
3. areas of responsibility
4. 1–2 year goals
5. 3–5 year goals
6. Life

Unlike some theories, which focus on top-down goal-setting, GTD works in the opposite direction. Allen argues that it is often difficult for individuals to focus on big picture goals if they cannot sufficiently control the day-to-day tasks that they frequently must face. By developing and using the trusted system that deals with day-to-day inputs, an individual can free up mental space to begin moving up to the next level.

Allen recommends scheduling a weekly review, reflecting on the different levels. The perspective gained from these reviews should drive one's priorities at the project level. Priorities at the project level in turn determine the priority of the individual tasks and commitments gathered during the workflow process. During a weekly review, determine the context for the tasks and put each task on its appropriate list. An example of grouping together similar tasks would be making a list of outstanding telephone calls, or the tasks/errands to perform while out shopping. Context lists can be defined by the set of tools available or by the presence of individuals or groups for whom one has items to discuss or present.

Summary

GTD is based on storing, tracking and retrieving the information related to the things that need to get done. Mental blocks we encounter are caused by insufficient 'front-end' planning. This means thinking in advance, generating a series of actions which can later be undertaken without further planning. The mind's "reminder system" is inefficient and seldom reminds us of what we need to do at the time and place when we can do it. Consequently, the "next actions" stored by context in the "trusted system" act as an external support which ensures that we are presented with the right reminders at the right time. As GTD relies on external reminders, it can be seen as an application of the theories of distributed cognition or the extended mind.

Reception

In 2005, Wired called GTD "A new cult for the info age", describing the enthusiasm for this method among information technology and knowledge workers as a kind of cult following. Allen's ideas have also been popularized through the Howard Stern Show (Stern referenced it daily throughout 2012's summer) and the Internet, especially via blogs such as 43 Folders, Lifehacker, and The Simple Dollar.

In 2005, Ben Hammersley interviewed David Allen for The Guardian article titled "Meet the man who can bring order to your universe", saying: "For me, as with the hundreds of thousands around the world who press the book into their friends' hands with fire in their eyes, Allen's ideas are nothing short of life-changing".

In 2007, Time Magazine called Getting Things Done the self-help business book of its time.

In 2007, Wired ran another article about GTD and Allen, quoting him as saying "the workings of an automatic transmission are more complicated than a manual transmission... to simplify a complex event, you need a complex system".

A paper in the journal Long Range Planning by Francis Heylighen and Clément Vidal of the Free University of Brussels showed "recent insights in psychology and cognitive science support and extend GTD's recommendations".