“Getting Things Done”

Sun and Moon Mini-Review

This book will transform your life. It will help you empty your Inbox, reduce your ToDos to zero, and by helping you break down those big jobs into manageable tasks, you’ll get things done.

Amazon Review

Since it was first published in David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business titles of its era, and the book on personal organisation. ‘GTD’ has become shorthand for an entire way of approaching the professional and personal tasks everyone faces in life, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organisational tools, seminars, and offshoots.

For this revised and updated edition, David Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with new tools and technologies, and adding material that will make the book evergreen for the coming decades. Also new is a glossary of GTD terms; The GTD Path of Mastership – a description of what Allen has learned and is now teaching regarding the lifelong craft of integrating these practices, to the end-game of the capability of dealing with anything in life, by getting control and focus; and a section on the cognitive science research that validates GTD principles.

The new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by the hundreds of thousands of existing fans but will be embraced by an entire new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, “flow”, “mind like water”, and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you’d almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-dos clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists–all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you’re working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organised, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed “the personal productivity guru”, suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech sabre known as the mobile phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organising systems go, Allen’s is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can’t junk. The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant “in-basket”.

That’s where the processing and prioritising begin; in Allen’s system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen’s ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there’s anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It’s common sense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment. Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belaboured, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to football mums (who, we all know, are more organised than most CEOs to start with).

Testimonials

I am a devout, card-carrying GTD true believer. . . . The entire approach has boosted not only my productivity but also my wider well-being. But what amazes me just as much is how deeply GTD has taken hold around the world. . . . This is a genuine movement.
Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive

Getting Things Done offers help building the new mental skills needed in an age of multitasking and overload.
Sue Shellenbarger, The Wall Street Journal

I recently attended David s seminar on getting organized, and after seeing him in action I have hope. . . . David Allen s seminar was an eye-opener.
Stewart Alsop, Fortune

Allen drops down from high-level philosophizing to the fine details of time management. Take a minute to check this one out.
Mark Henricks, Entrepreneur

David Allen s productivity principles are rooted in big ideas . . . but they re also eminently practical.
Keith H. Hammonds, Fast Company

David Allen brings new clarity to the power of purpose, the essential nature of relaxation, and deceptively simple guidelines for getting things done. He employs extensive experience, personal stories, and his own recipe for simplicity, speed, and fun.
Frances Hesselbein, chairman, board of governors, Leader to Leader Institute
Anyone who reads this book can apply this knowledge and these skills in their lives for immediate results.
Stephen P. Magee, chaired professor of business and economics, University of Texas at Austin

A true skeptic of most management fixes, I have to say David s program is a winner!
Joline Godfrey, CEO, Independent Means, Inc., and author of Our Wildest Dreams
Getting Things Donedescribes an incredibly practical process that can help busy people regain control of their lives. It can help you be more successful. Even more important, it can help you have a happier life!
Marshall Goldsmith, coeditor, The Leader of the Future and Coaching for Leadership

WARNING: Reading Getting Things Done can be hazardous to your old habits of procrastination. David Allen s approach is refreshingly simple and intuitive. He provides the systems, tools, and tips to achieve profound results.
Carola Endicott, director, Quality Resources, New England Medical Center

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