Getting Things Done, by David Allen

The literature on personal productivity and efficiency threatens to overwhelm those of us who are organizationally challenged. Reading yet another book on how to organize and get things done quickly becomes yet another of those "I'll get to it someday" tasks -- however, David Allen's little volume should not fall victim to this threat.

Allen's system is simple and do-able -- but it doesn't need to be completely applied for it to produce lasting benefit. Rather than focusing on the "high level" questions like "what values do I hold", Allen focuses attention on the much more mundane work of handling all the "stuff" that comes our way. His thesis is that if we have a better grasp on all the commitments we've made, then we'll free up more mental energy to deal with the big questions.

Allen's system centers around the discipline of deciding actions. For any item that comes across your way (junk mail, phone calls, ideas, etc), he urges us to ask "What action is required?" Usually, we leave the action undefined, and we place the item on a pile or in a folder thinking -- "I'll do something with that someday", but we don't have an organized way of differentiating the someday items from the clear action items, and quickly our mind becomes cluttered trying to remember which actions have been defined and which havent.

Allen urges us to take time to think and define the action. How do we handle this item:
direct action?
delegation to someone else?
defer to a later date?
dump in the trash?

It seems simple, but the push to clearly define what you do with something is a powerful concept -- it challenges us to rise above hazy thinking and vague dreaming -- it forces us to think about "how can I actually make this happen". This has forced me to take more time brainstorming on upcoming projects clearly defning actions and who to talk to about those actions.

Other powerfrul concepts Allen lays out in the book:
1) Collection points: There is great power and freedom of having all your undefined "stuff" (meaning, next acion is not defined) collect in defined locations -- and then at certain times, you process all the stuff in the collection locations. Processing doesn't mean that you do all the next actions -- just that you decide on them and either schedule them or add them to your task list. For example, if working through email or voice mail, you handle each item one by one, determining the next action. But the only things you actually do are those things that take less than two minutes. The others you schedule on your calendar or you add to a to-do list. THen when you have processed everythign, you review your to-do lists and see what is truly most pressing and what you have mental energy for (which is not necessarily the emails or phone calls you just processed). Perhaps you save your phone call returning for the hour after lunch, or just before you leave work. The basic idea of the collection points and processing is to give you the leverage to manage your tasks rather than letting your tasks manage you.

2) Defined "incubation tools" - there are several items that we really don't know what to do with, and we do need to give them some time. Allen gives incubation tools where we can park these items without them cluttering up mental space. I've benefitted greatly from having a simple A-Z file in which I place EVERYTHING -- I don't sub categorize. Also the concept of having a someday/maybe list for all the crazy ideas that I have -- I put them on the list and make a note of all my thoughts, and then it's off my mind -- I'm not committeed to the idea enough to put it on a to-do list or the calendar, but it's off my mind. However these tools get their most valuable bang from the next item:

3) the power of regular review: Allen strongly recommends a dedicated uninterrupted weekly review where we take a few hours to clear out all the collection points and define all the actions, clean up the calendars and to-do lists and review the someday maybe lists (to see if you'd like to activate something or delete it). It's basically a mind sweep. However, he also encourages regular review during those "odd spots" of time -- waiting for your computer to boot? Skim through your A-Z reference file and purge uneccesary reference. Waiting in line at the store? Open the palm pilot and review your to-do lists (I have an "errands" list for al the things to do while I'm out).

Allen writes with a readable and followable style. His emphasis is on practicality, so he talks about different tools (seemingly mundane, but very helpful -- who'd have thought that owning a labeller would increase my productivity). He tries to make his system flexible enough to work for those who operate in the paper based and the electronic realms.

The most benefit from his system hinges on the weekly review -- and I suggest that it stands or falls on that review. Those who are able to consistently commit to the weekly review and make it happen week in and week out will benefit immensely -- however, I've had the experience of getting knocked out of the habit and slpping back into chaos. However, slipping back into the system gets easier each time (because I've got a developed A-Z file where most stuff is archived, becuase I've gotten ruthless in purging junk mail and messages, because I continue to dump ideas into someday/maybe as a means of getting them off my mind).

Allen also seems to have a mildly eastern/new age flavor -- it's not explicit. It comes out most in his martial arts references and the ideal of the "mind like water" -- Task management doesn't put our souls at peace -- it only clears our minds so that we can attend to the deeper questions of who we are and how we can be reconciled to a holy God. In the final analysis, however, the benefit from the system far outweighs any subtle hints of new-ageism. This is a fine book filled with beneficial comments.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell