Comments on: Why GTD doesn’t work for me

by: Ian

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:26:40 +0000

Great post, and kudos for the courage to challenge the GTD establishment. I hope the commenters haven’t dissuaded you from continuing to evaluate what works, and what doesn’t, from David Allen’s book. Since it’s been almost a year from the original post, I’ll be looking for an update on your story!

by: Duff

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:16:25 +0000

You have wonderfully described what everyone goes through in adopting any personal productivity or personal organizing system–the dynamic tension between discipline and passion.

In re-reading GTD, you may want to review the Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment on page 192.

According to this model, your researching of skiing in Canada is covered within the GTD system as follows:

1) Context.
I’m at my computer.

2) Time available.
I have enough time to do research before the next appointment or urgent task.

3) Energy available.
I’m in the creative flow for this project specifically.

4) Priority
If I don’t act on the energy and passion I have now, I’ll miss the muse, so it’s top priority.

The keys are energy available and priority. Many GTD’ers don’t notice energy available, nor do they prioritize creative tasks and projects when feeling inspired. Your blog rightly points out that one should at times do exactly this.

by: Zen Productivity Blog » Making “The Art of Happiness” more actionable

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:47:13 +0000

[…] There is nothing that I would change about this book, but the second time I read it, I decided to glean from each chapter, the ideas that I thought were most important to my personal growth and write them down so that I could easily review them whenever I wanted to. Taking the GTD (Getting Things Done) approach, I wanted to take this book of ideas and make it more actionable to me. […]

by: a11en

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:17:57 +0000

I agree with a number of comment posters here. GTD is not about doing things in order. It’s about a methodology that ensures you can brain-dump, and retrieve information when it’s required. This project, “Skii-trip Canada” would end up having it’s own folder, or it’s own project heading in my project list, and under @online would get the next-action “Find 2-day prices for Skii Resorts” When I found myself online next (perhaps you jotted this down at a lo-fi coffee shop with hand-grinders and no wifi access…) I’d look down my online list, and notice the fun next-action of “Find 2-day prices of Skii Resorts”. Off I go, surfing and enjoying my research. It might have been the 10th next-action item on my “online” next-action context list… who knows. But, I did it when I wanted, and when I felt it was necessary to do. I didn’t do it because it was at the top of the next-action list. Of course there might be other actions in that same project: “purchase 2-day tickets”, “purchase plane tickets 2 months in advance- duedate: xxx”, and “Ensure Will is up to date for double-black diamond skiing.” Those three come after I’ve checked prices, and ensured I’m headed on my skii-trip. So, they don’t hit the next-action lists until they’re the actual next action in that project. This frees up your mental space by keeping tasks unable to be accomplished at that time out of your short-form context lists. [This is IMHO where kgtd is failing me at the moment.]

I hope this helps a bit in terms of methodology. Please keep in mind most of the above could be wrong, but this seems to me to be how things are supposed to work. Whether I actually implement them or not is up to me of course.

Ultimately, GTD is a method to help you accomplish your tasks. If you’re interested in researching the skii-resorts right now, and you have time, and you have the way, why not? The only thing I can think of, is you’re ignoring a more important next-action on your list…

by: 43f Links for Wednesday, December 20th | 43 Folders

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 13:25:18 +0000

[...] 43f Links for Wednesday, December 20th Okay | That Phone Guy Phone Guy’s web gets an update. (tagged: merlinmann wordpress walletphone thatphoneguy phoneguy) digg - 43 Folders Podcast Digg’s lovely redesign also adds podcast Digg-a-bility. (tagged: 43folders digg podcasts) Why Teens Do Stupid Things - Yahoo! News Y’know, mainstream PR link bait like this is unquestionably fascinating, but it would be great if they could link back to full text of _an actual study_. (tagged: mysterymeatscience teenagers) good evening: CATEGORY: SELF DEVELOPMENT Bafflingly, “The Areas of My Expertise” abridged audiobook is indeed available for FREE on iTunes. I own and treasure the original 235-CD edition. (tagged: itunes audiobooks johnhodgman) A powerful new iCal action for Quicksilver Holy crap. This looks completely amazing. Like a terminal for iCal via QS. Can’t wait to play. (tagged: hawkwings quicksilver ical) Zen Productivity Blog » Why GTD doesn’t work for me Whereas, for me, GTD affords the freedom to know I can dick around whenever I want and not feel bad about it. Ultimately it’s about decisions, not lists. (tagged: links gtdcriticisms productivity gtd) [...]

by: Elsiepie

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:18:57 +0000

Very interesting to read your post and be allowed to follow through your thinking regarding Canada-powder, ski thing. My most relevant thought is how often David Allen refers to the flow of your energy in a moment to moment stream must determine what item or project you address. Never in all the millions and jillions of time management, organization, productivity books has the concept been so well addressed to me. I, also, some days find myself futzing around the house being not only nonproductive but sometimes actively destructive, you know, days when your hair sticks straight up and nothing is in the fridge. On those days, looking at a list of current projects and next action lists makes me want to spit up.
It’s having it down on paper and not having to sort it out at that time that makes me have some peace. Time to go draw a frog, say.
I appreciated much the time you took to write this and it was very thought-provoking.
Elsiepie

by: Shig

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:50:46 +0000

Thanks for all the comments. This is helpful and is encouraging me to re-read the book keeping in mind some of your comments.

by: istvan

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:49:14 +0000

Also the tickler file is for tasks that must be done on a specific day, and not for tasks that you think you should do on that day (actually the book says this explicitly). So if you have a meeting with someone on a specific day that could go in your calendar or tickler, or if you have to bring out the trash on wednesdays because that’s when it’s emptied than it could also go on the tickler, but if you think that you should research your holiday on the next friday, than it should not go into the tickler file. It should go to your “next actions” list (or you could call it the “as soon as possible” list).
If you see your next actions as “as soon as possible” tasks, then your example with the “ski in canada” has the following procedure:

1. Oh, I’d like to go for skiing to Canada
2. Make this a project
3. What’s the next action?
- research it
4. put research it to your as soon as possible list
5. choose something from that list, if you feel like doing this research now, than do it
if not than you can do it later but at least you have it on your list, and you decided what is the next action.

I think you should read the book more carefully because from your post it seems you missed some of the key concepts

by: Paul

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:30:30 +0000

Although no one but the original poster will ever know exactly what he meant by “Wrong,” I can comment on my interpretation of GTD and how it fits here. GTD is actually very much against arbitrarily assigning a time or an order to doing things, unless those are things that absolutely have to be done at a certain time. (Like appointements, meetings, etc.).

One of the most important aspects of GTD is that is allows - no, encourages - you to review your lists and do your own planning and prioritizing based on the task and on your ability to do it.

This is where contexts come in. Those can be physical (@ work, for something you can only do at work, @computer, for things that require a computer) but they can also be based on your energy level or frame of mind.

There’s definitely nothing wrong with with having a context for different types of work, and doing academic research if you’re in the mood for research, or researching a ski trip if you’re in that kind of mode. Or you can just address this when you review the lists (balance checkbook - not in the mood for that; call Jim - I don’t have his info with me at home; read blogs on Thai culture to prep for upcoming trip - yeah, i’m online, I have some time, and that sounds really good…).

GTD is just a way to keep all of your to-do’s (bigger projects and more granular actions) together and off your mind. It’s not designed to replace your mind in terms of deciding what to do, and when.

I think, if you want, you can work the way you want to and still benefit from the tools of GTD. It feels to me like you’re allowing the existence of your lists to be a pressure on you to complete the items on the lists. I think your current practice is really closer to GTD than when you were feeling like you were doing GTD, if that makes sense.

by: Crispy

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:30:48 +0000

I think you are taking the incorrect stance that you need to do everything on your to-do list in a specific order.

I have a to-do list under GTD that has about 500 items on it - but I am completely free to choose to work on any item from that list.

In your situation, you had the immediate opportunity to work on something pleasurable,and you seized that opportunity, and felt good about it.! Kudos!

David repeatedly notes that the purpose of GTD is to feel good about what you are *not* doing. If you feel good about what you are doing (researching skiing in BC), and you feel good about what you are not working on (your to-do list) then you have already reached GTD zen. No problem!