Members of the Lotus team recently had an opportunity to attend a David Allen speaking engagement and meet with him. I have followed the works of David Allen for many years and read his three books. We have provided links to his books below. I read the first book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
David Allen
David was born in Louisiana and attended college here in Florida in Sarasota. By the time he was thirty-five years old he claims he had thirty-five different professions. In the 80’s he began developing his productivity series which led to a contract with Lockheed training personnel in productivity. Like many new skills learned in life – they must relate to what you know and what you already believe to be true. The Art of Getting Things Done truly rings as a natural solution to many that read or hear it.
The Gist of the System
The first step of David’s productivity system is capturing the items you need to handle or defer to someone else. He calls the concept “a mind like water.” The goal is to prevent your mind from constantly thinking about things you need to get done. Develop a trusted system for recording your action items. This can include items as simple as an inbox and a notepad to as advanced as the task list in Outlook tied to Siri on your iOS device. You will need to set aside time to process these capture points to zero. That means taking your inbox(s) to zero. By no means do they need to stay at zero all the time because that would lead to unproductive habits. Set aside a daily or so schedule to clear your inbox(s). Having a commitment and schedule to clearing these items will allow your psyche to develop a trust in the system.
When your processing your inbox(s) use the two-minute rule. If you can complete the item right then and there get it done. If not the item then enters your system which is where your contextual to-do lists enter the picture. A contextual to-do list is a collection of action items that can be done at that moment. Some examples of contextual lists would be telephone, errands, airplane, computer, etc. This allows you to take those non-productive moments such as waiting on hold or in line as times when you can knock out a lot of items on your to-do list.
Another key to success is breaking large tasks into smaller action items. David likes to refer to the example of a surprise birthday party for your mother. That cannot be completed in one task. You will need to secure a venue, line up a menu, invite guests, get mom away from the party during preparation, and on and on. A project will be a different list with action items that again refer to context. To expand on the example further. You are stuck in traffic and have your cell phone with you. You pull out your phone and your “phone” to-do list. There is an action item to call your sister to ask if you can use her house for the surprise birthday party. Some might be overwhelmed at the thought of all of the projects that you would need to track. It is true. Some will walk concurrently manage 100 or 150 or even more projects. Your likely managing them anyways. At least they are moving forward.
The last key element are the weekly and annual reviews. This is where you take the long-range view of your to-do lists, projects, and the entire system. It even asks questions about what is the meaning of life and how your projects and tasks fit into your belief system.
Of course this just scratches the surface of David’s first book “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”. He continues to expands on the productivity system in his two other books. Of course David Allen’s organization, David Allen Company, offers on-going training via online memberships and in-person seminars and conferences.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done
Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life
