Getting Things Done by David Allen

These are my personal notes for future reference I took reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. Framed another way, it could be said “these are the things I learned reading this book.” This isn’t meant to be a Cliff Notes version or replacement for reading the book.

Additional notes I’ve taken while reading other books can be found here.

Two Key Objectives

(1) Capture all things that need to get done - now or later, big or small - into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind

(2) Discipline yourself to make decisions about your inputs so that you always have a plan for next actions.

Dealing Effectively with Internal Commitments

Most of the stress people experience comes from inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.

You’ve probably made many more commitments with yourself than you realize. All of these are being tracked by a less than conscious part of you.

First, identify and collect all those things that are “ringing your bell” and then plan how to handle them.

Basic Requirements for Managing Commitments

(1) If it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything that is unfinished must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind.

(2) It must be clear what your commitment is and what you have to do (if anything) to make progress toward fulfilling it.

(3) Once you know what all the actions you need to take are, you must keep reminders organized in a system you review regularly.

Testing this Model

For a given task, in a single sentence - write down your intended successful outcome for this problem / situation.

Next, write down the very next physical action to move the situation forward. If you had nothing else in your life to do, what visible action would you take?

Most to do lists are partial reminders of a lot of things that are unresolved and yet to be translated into actions and desired outcomes.

Managing action is the primary challenge

The lack of time is not the major issue for most professionals (although they think it is). The real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about what a project really is and what the associated next action step(s) required are.

Gather 100 percent of the incompletes

In order to eliminate “holes in the bucket,” you need to collect and gather together placeholders for all the things you consider incomplete in the world - anything professionally or personally, big or little, urgent or non-important, that you think ought to be different than it currently is and that you have any level of internal commitment to changing.

Someday / Maybe list

An ongoing list of things you may want to do at some point in time but not now. This is a “parking lot” for projects that would be impossible to move forward at the present but don’t want to forget about entirely. You should review this list on regular intervals to get the most value from it.

“Tickler” File

Future reminders (or mailing yourself something on a certain day in the future) - e.g. a calendar reminder on March 15 of next year.

The Weekly Review

Everything that might require action must be reviewed on a frequent enough basis to keep your mind from taking back the job of remembering and reminding. To ensure your brain is clear and all loose strands have been collected, processed and organized, review your lists once per week.

The Four Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment

Context

Few actions can be done anywhere - most require a specific location (at home, at your office, etc.) or having a productivity tool on hand (phone, computer, etc.). This is the first limiting factor in deciding what you can do in the moment.

Time Available

When do you have to do something else? If you have a meeting in five minutes, this prohibits you from doing any action that takes more time than that.

Energy Available

Some actions require that you have a reservoir of fresh, creative mental energy.

Priority

Out of all my remaining options, what is the most important thing for me to do?

Purpose

It never hurts to ask “why?” Almost anything you’re currently doing can be enhanced and even galvanized by more scrutiny. Why are you going to your next meeting? What is the purpose of your task?

Yes, it’s nothing but common sense to know and be clear about the purpose of any activity.

The value of asking “why”

• It defines success. If you’re not totally clear about the purpose of what you’re doing, you have no chance of winning.
• It creates decision-making criteria. Given what you’re trying to accomplish, are these resource investments required? If so, which ones?
• It aligns resources.
• It motivates. If there’s no good reason to be doing something, it’s not worth doing.
• It clarifies focus. Taking two minutes to write out your primary reason for doing something creates an increased sharpness of vision.
• It expands options. It opens up creative thinking about wider possibilities.

Implementation is a lot about “tricks”

Look closely at every single item for the next fourteen days. You probably have at least one “Oh, that reminds me I need to…” Capturing that value added thought in a place where you can act will make you feel better have a clearer head and get more things done.

Office Space in transit

Many people lose opportunities to be productive because they’re not equipped to take advantage of the odd moments and windows of time that open up as the move from one place to another.

You need an organizer

Your head is not the place to store things. You need something to manager your triggers externally.

One Alpha Organizational system

Use one A-Z alphabetical filing system, not multiple systems (e.g. broken down by project or area of focus). That will magnify geometrically the number of places something isn’t when you forget where you filed it.

If something is worth keeping, it’s worth keeping so that it’s easily accessible.

Processing: Getting “In” to Empty

Now that everything has been collected that has your attention, you need to get to the bottom of “in.” It doesn’t mean doing all the items you’ve collected. It means identifying each item, deciding what it is, what it means and what you’re going to do with it.

• Trash what you don’t need
• Complete any task less that takes less than two minutes
• Hand off to others what can be delegated
• Sort reminders for actions that take more than two minutes
• Identify larger commitments you may now have

Processing Guidelines

`1. Process the top item first

1. Process one item at a time
2. Never put anything back to “in” (it’s a one way path out of “in”)`

Top Item First

Even if the second item down is a personal note from the president of the US and the top item is a piece of junk mail, you have to process the piece of junk mail first. An important principal is that everything gets processed equally.

“Process” != “spend time on” - it means “decide what the thing is and what action is required and then dispatch it accordingly”

Emergency scanning is not processing. Most people look for the most urgent, most fun, or most interesting stuff to do first. It’s sometimes necessary but isn’t processing.

When you’re in processing mode, you must get into the habit of starting at one end and just cranking through items one at a time, in order.

Process items first in first out (FIFO).

Key processing question - “what’s the next action?”

Incubating To Do’s

There will be items that don’t require action now, but there might be later. For example, an agenda for the board meeting in three weeks. No action is required now, but you will need to brief yourself the day ahead of the meeting.

Write these items on a “Someday/Maybe” list or put them on your calendar.

This will allow you get the items off your mind right now and let you feel confident that there will be a reminder of the needed action action will resurface at the appropriate time.

Action step must be the absolute next physical thing to do

Set physical, visible activities. “Set meeting” != next action. How do you set a meeting - phone, email, etc.

Another example: “call tire store for prices.” That actionable and can be completed successfully.

Once you know what the next action is…

1. Do it if the task can be done in two minutes or less.
2. Delegate it (if you’re not the most appropriate person to do the action)
3. Defer it into your organization system as an option for work to do later.

Two minutes is around the time it starts taking longer to store and track an item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your hands.

Using your calendar

Trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard eyes of your day’s commitments… Only things in there are those that you absolutely have to get done on that day.

Use your calendar to enter things you want to take off your mind and reassess at some later date.

1. Triggers for activating projects
2. Events you might want to participate in
3. Decision catalysts

Keeping your system up to date

The trustworthiness of your system lies in regularly refreshing your psyche and your system. If your list falls too far behind your reality, your brain will be forced to fully engage again at the lower level of remembering.

Whatever your lifestyle, you need a weekly regrouping ritual.

Writing Instruments

Keep good writing tools around all the time, so you never have any unconscious resistance to thinking and not having something to capture tasks with. If you don’t have something to write with, you can sense you’re not as comfortable letting yourself think about projects and situations.

Photo taken with VSCOcam