While dry, I found it necessary reading for me to fully understand how thoroughly GTD can strengthen some of the weak links in my organization and task management system. The book reads mostly like a manual and it took me some time to work through all of the pages. Sounds simple enough, right? For the rest of the book, Allen spends a good chunk of the pages going into the nitty gritty of the tactics for implementation, from organizing your physical home office space and filing cabinets to using “trigger lists” to get a comprehensive capture of things on your mind. The methods I present here are all based on three key objectives: (1) capturing all the things that might need to get done or have usefulness for you-now, later, someday, big, little, or in between-in a logical and trusted system outside your head and off your mind (2) directing yourself to make front-end decisions about all of the “inputs” you let into your life so that you will always have a workable inventory of “next actions” that you can implement or renegotiate in the moment and (3) curating and coordinating all of that content, utilizing the recognition of the multiple levels of commitments with yourself and others you will have at play, at any point in time. In fact, it’s grounded in common sense and behaviors that are familiar to us. No need.” Such arrogance, such missed opportunities to get better.Īllen’s GTD methodology is nothing groundbreaking or esoteric. My initial reaction to a book about a framework/methodology for getting things done was: “I’m pretty organized, I have To Do lists, and I get stuff done every day. My only regret is that I didn’t read it years earlier when I first heard about it. I benefited greatly from reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.

Getting things done book review