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Getting Things Done, by David Allen
By Ellen Thompson
Feb 13, 2007, 13:33
I expected to be overwhelmed with new emails after returning from my five day winter vacation in Cancun. Much to my surprise, it took me almost no time to cruise through my new messages. Emboldened from accomplishing this task so easily, I decided to be ambitious and tackle the more daunting task of cleaning up my old messages. Five minutes into this task, I opened an email sent to me exactly 8 days before. It read, “Frank Lindy called. Please return his call.” My heart started racing, and I started feeling sick. I had read the message and forgotten to return the call. Now, I needed to call Frank, apologize and face the music. How could I have been so careless?
The reason I forgot to return Frank Lindy's call is that I had failed to set up adequate systems to manage my increasingly complex business life. As a result, I was starting to slip. Calls and "to dos" were starting to fall through the cracks. I needed to get organized, and I needed to do it fast.
I recalled that my friend (and ex-husband), Lyle, had recommended a book called Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Apparently, it was all the rage in the academic world, particularly among his Penn Engineering colleagues. Clearly, I was in need of an organizational tune up, so I decided to buy the book.
According to Getting Things Done, the key to better productivity is clearing your head. Allen likens the human brain to RAM, a computer’s short term memory. A computer can only work on as much as it can hold in its RAM memory. If you work on a computer with any frequency, you’ve probably experienced what it’s like when your computer grinds to a halt. This often happens when you run too many applications at once.
Allen argues that this process is similar to the way your thoughts take up space in your brain. Like a computer, if you’ve got too much on your mind, your productivity starts slowing down. The key to increasing your productivity is to free your mind of what Allen terms “open loops,” or unfinished business.
This is accomplished by doing a “mind dump.” According to Allen, the process of writing down all the tasks you have committed to memory eliminates the mental jams that slow you down and lets you process tasks more quickly.
The “mind dump” creates a backup of everything on your mind and, when done correctly, results in a single list of everything you need to do. In addition to generating a working “to do” list, this process will help you put your workload into perspective.
Of course, if you transcribe everything you’re thinking about onto a loose piece of paper and promptly proceed to loose it, you’ll be in worse shape than when you started. Allen says that in order for this framework to be effective, you need to create “trusted systems” to store information and he describes the process he uses with his consulting clients to help them reorganize their existing filing and task management system.
First, you reorganize and purge unnecessary paperwork from your paper-based filing systems. This task can take anywhere between 4 hours and 2 days. During this process, you also rework your filing system so it’s efficient to use. Allen suggests that if your filing system is too far away (i.e. you can’t reach it while sitting on your desk chair), or too difficult to use, you won’t keep up with your filing.
In addition to creating order out of filing cabinet chaos, you also have to make sure you have the tools necessary for managing and sorting through incoming mail, paperwork, magazines and reference materials. This involves having a proper inbox, a system for recording your “to dos”, files for projects that you might do someday and a separate place to put reference material.
Once your physical system is set up, Allen suggests a new system for processing your tasks. The cornerstone of this process is the 2 minute rule. Simply put, Allen argues that anything that can be processed in 2 minutes or less should be processed as soon as you come across it. No exceptions. The theory is that many of the tasks you need to do can be accomplished in this time frame and that being able to cross off a lot of "to dos" from your list will free a lot of psychic energy.
The tasks that can’t be done in 2 minutes or less can generally be categorized as projects. Some of the projects, such as a budget, are definite "to dos" that need to be done within a certain time frame. Other projects fall into the “maybe” category. Pamphlets for an upcoming conference you are not sure you want to attend would fall into this category. Instead of putting these back into the inbox, Allen suggests you create a “maybe” folder and one or more projects folders. Papers should be filed in the appropriate folder rather than being tossed back in the inbox. Projects should be reviewed and viewed as a series of tasks. He believes the best way to think about tackling a project is to think about what the next task is and adding it to your "to do" list..
Of course, figuring out what to do next when a number of tasks compete for your attention is often difficult. Allen doesn’t offer much advice here, but he does suggest that you’ll get more done if you use odd bits of time to process your "to dos". For instance, if your office is set up properly, you can do a little filing while you are on hold waiting for a conference call to begin. In my case, I’m editing this article while having my hair colored by my stylist Ashley (no, I am not kidding).
Frequently reviewing the components of the organizational system you put in place, including your to "do list", maybe folder and projects folders is an imperative part of the Getting Things Done process. How often you review different items depends on you. Most people will naturally review their "to do" lists frequently. Allen also suggests setting aside time each week to go through your maybe and project files to make sure there are no loose ends.
In addition to helping you get more done in less time, properly implemented, your organizational system will also make sure you get done everything you commit to do. In addition to clearing your head, in the long run, this attention to detail will also make you more trustworthy to your peers and customers, a valuable asset for any professional.
So, does the Getting Things Done process actually work? Allen suggests it takes a long time to fully implement his system, but making a few changes will have a huge impact on your productivity. While I am far from implementing the entire system, I have tackled the challenge of going through my physical filing system. It took me a few hours, but afterwards, I had thrown away about half of what was in my filing cabinet and was completely sure of where I could find everything else. I also bought a new in box and made sure that I had plenty of new file folders. For me, the biggest productivity improvement came from setting up a series of “maybe” folders. I’m always coming up with new ideas and now I have a logical place to record and store them. In the past, these ideas would end up cluttering my inbox, or would be lost.
I have also adopted the 2 minute rule with my email, where most of my communication occurs. Now, when I read my email, I make sure to respond to the email the first time I read it if it can be done quickly. Anything that requires a little more time gets recorded on my daily to do list. I find that using the two minute rule makes me feel more under control, as well as more productive.
That said, I still haven’t found the time to implement the entire Getting Things Done system. I still need to go through mountains of old emails. My paper-based "to do" system isn’t quite to the point where I’m able to record everything on my mind at all times. I’m still not thinking of my projects as a series of next steps. However, I do believe Allen’s approach works. I feel like I’m on the right track and increasingly more productive. I also know that it is a worthwhile investment to commit more time and continue to implement Allen’s systems in my quest to be increasingly more productive and stress-free.
4 out of 5 stars. Great ideas, but a little slow and redundant at points.
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