Getting Things Done by David Allen

Subtitled 'The Art of Stress-free Productivity', Getting Things Done* by David Allen came very highly recommended to me by a number of people in ministry. My introduction to this productivity program was from Bathgates.net who as introduction to his overview stated;

According to Luke, (Getting Things Done) was invented by Jesus and was kept secretly in the Vatican archives until a man named David Allen discovered it and published it in his book... I'm pretty sure David Allen invented it though.

The fact this book was joyfully purchased for me by my wife may give some indication as to my current level of organisation and productivity. There's no doubt I have improved since my Year 12 parent-teacher interview at Maclean High School in 2002, when my Maths teacher Mr Muir eloquently observed to my mother, "Izaac works well under pressure. When he's not under pressure, he doesn't work." My productivity has definitely been on a gentle upward curve since. I purchased my first real diary in 2003. Unfortunately I didn't start using a diary until 2008 (a current diary, not the one from 2003). I'm not what you would call lazy but perhaps "inefficient" and "sporadic" would be more accurate descriptors. Getting Things Done (helpfully abbreviated to GTD) is a complete system of organisation that is exhaustive and profound and if it works, has great potential to affect my general organisation exponentially.

The GTD system is driven by a number of principles, none of which are that revolutionary. Yet somehow as each of these basics work together the end result is greater than the sum of its parts, creating a relatively unique concept of personal organisation.

I'm a lists man. I have them everywhere. My list obsession goes far beyond the usual shopping variety and covers a multitude of areas, assignments, responsibilities, dates, details, errands. You name it, I've got it on a bit of paper, or more accurately a few pieces of paper somewhere. My current "system" means that I don't really know where everything is. I usually have an idea of the general area or pile, but it's only a vague sense which occasionally turns out to be nothing more than indigestion. Though not everything is in lists. This unreliable 'system' means I'm also carrying lots of information around in my head. A well utilised diary has meant this has decreased but it isn't uncommon for me to lay in bed at night trying to force myself to remember all the things I need to remember for the next few days. It's not always practical to get up and write these thoughts down on another list. They might get typed into my phone, but there's no guarantee they'll be seen again. I even sometimes resort to trying to create an acronym with all the things I need to do, so that hopefully I remember just the single word which in turn will trigger the items to be done (for example Tax, Optus bill, Apple juice on shopping list, Dave to call - leaving me with TOAD). Suffice to say, my current system could use a little polishing.

By far the biggest driving principle behind GTD is getting everything out of your head into a trusted system. On one level it's quite simple. Everything you carry around in your head or that you store in a variety of locations where you need to remember where it's stored, is an open loop. You've got to constantly try and keep track of this information and the result is it fills up the RAM in your mind and causes stress. Even if this stress isn't felt, your mind is still always working away to make sure you don't lose something you need to. Because the content is not in a trusted system, you are more likely to hold on to more information. The goal of the GTD is to capture everything that's on your mind; goals, plans, dreams, projects, errands, details - absolutely everything. And it's not just getting it out, but storing it in a location where you can trust yourself to look at it and review and know you'll be able to retrieve it at the appropriate time WITHOUT having to remember it. Part of having a trusted system is being able to constantly input more content out of your head and into the system at all times. These are all processed through an "in-box" which is aimed to be emptied every day.

The next biggest principle is that of processing. Once the information is captured and been placed into a trusted system, you must know what to do with it. Each of the inputs that requires more than one action is called a 'project' (vertical axis). One of the biggest roadblocks to effectiveness is knowing what to do next at any point in time with each project. Consequently, every project is processed after being captured to find the next action. What stops you from "Getting car registered"? The next action isn't "get registered" but something like "call mechanic" or "search internet for cheapest insurance". Once all of these next actions are decided upon they are accumulated in lists with similar actions so that you end up with a number of contexts with related activities (horizontal axis). When you have a spare 5 minutes while on hold on the phone, you could look at your @Internet list and quickly knock off a few actions.

As I type more and more I realise how little I am doing justice to the content of the book and so I'll stop my explanation there. However "capturing" and "processing" are two of the big ideas to getting you "doing". Others have summarised GTD more succinctly and betterer. For a helpful overview of the whole system I would recommend you check out bathgates.net.

At the moment, I'm not quite ready to convince you to submit to the saviour that is GTD. The best recommendation on systems of organisation come from converts who have successfully implemented the program. I am not yet converted to Getting Things Done simply because I'm yet to attempt to put it into practise. At this time all my stuff is currently in boxes as I'm in the process of moving house. I've just read the theory. But the potential is enormous. Unfortunately, organisation is no quick fix, and as GTD aims to be exhaustive in its content, the book suggests it takes upwards of 20 hours work (2 days) to fully get the program started. But I think it will work, so it's scheduled in. No one is more excited than Sarah at the prospect of the piles of paperwork that have been gradually moved about our house since we got married 4 years ago finally being both useful and eradicated.

As a follower of Jesus, these types of self-help books can be both helpful and unhelpful. For the most part they are simply helpful. They fall into the category of wisdom. We should always seek to be effective in how we do what we do, and the way we spend our time. What these programs fail to do is ensure our priorities are correct; that what we are spending our time doing is a good use of our time. The other potential problem is that of workaholism. Some people like me are helped greatly by self-help books to work smarter, not harder. But it would be an awful shame if the end result was to cause more work to fall on an already overworked person. Perhaps my greatest concern as I get this part of my life in order is that while the categories are not mutually exclusive, being organised and effective can be a sure fire way to trust God less.


*Earlier additions are sold under the title How to get things done.