Getting things done

I recently re-read Getting Things Done by David Allen. If you saw it on a shelf in the library or a store, you might dismiss it as just another self-help book for the MBA crowd. However, Allen’s advice comes across as down-to-earth and sound, and his ideas have some currency among geeky knowledge worker types.

“GTD,” as it’s known, is a task management system. At a first glance, the system looks like a glorified “to do” list. I’ve been advised to make lists all my life (thanks, Mom!), but GTD adds two key refinements: making sure your lists capture absolutely everything on your plate, and breaking projects down into tangible, physical actions (“next actions”).

Capturing everything (even the most trivial or mundane items) is meant to relieve the constant background stress of worrying about outstanding tasks. Allen claims that your brain can’t tell the difference between mundane tasks (“buy stamps”) and grand projects (“execute new business plan”), and so your to-do lists must capture everything, even the trivial. Otherwise, your mind doesn’t trust itself to remember everything, and constantly worries. I don’t know how much research supports this idea, but it seems sensible.

Breaking projects down into tangible actions is meant to eliminate the paralysis of figuring out what to do next. Call it a reformulation of the basic “break a big project down into manageable pieces” idea.

I’d read Allen’s book before, but wasn’t disciplined about implementing his ideas. Discovering Kinkless GTD inspired me to give it another go; it’s a handy tool for keeping one’s project lists organized. I’ll see how this goes.