David Allen’s Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I started this book years ago, but didn’t end up finishing it. It’s more of a manual than anything else, with instructions on how to implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Back home where I first started reading this book, I had too much stuff which would translate to too much time to go through everything. Fortunately, I have since then moved out to UBC (at UBC’s Marine Drive Residence) where my clutter is greatly reduced (though still not minimal). As a result, I decided to try this book again over the Winter break.

Over the course of about 5 whole days, I managed to actually get through the book and start implementing the system. (If you are planning on trying out the GTD system, you really do need to set aside quite a few full days to get started if you want to do it best. I think it would have taken me substantially longer if I broke it up into small chunks after work.) Now, my room is still a mess (though, in the process of getting cleaned), but I actually feel organized and in control again. Last term, although I knew I was in control of everything I needed to get done, I didn’t feel totally in control of it all. This book seems to have helped with that.

Ultimately, the GTD philosophy, at least as I interpreted it, seems to be summarized as this: get everything out of your head and into an organized system; this will allow you to focus on tasks at hand, without the distraction of your worrying about anything you’re forgetting about. Roughly, the GTD method involves a series of steps, which roughly can be described as a collection step (in which everything you can think of that is actionable or not in its “proper place” must be collected together), a processing and organizing step (in which all collected items have their fates decided; that is, for example, it is decided whether something is recycled, added to a calendar, or added to a to-do list), and a review step (in which case all organized collections are reviewed to ensure that everything that needs attention gets that attention; this is supposed to happen weekly).

Thus, I have tried it, and I like it so far. I will probably quickly skim through the book to review it in a couple months, but I think I understand most of the steps well enough. It seems time consuming, but I think it ultimately does save time in the long run. Good luck to anyone who tries out the method (really, if you read this book, you should be implementing the method; I don’t really see much point otherwise)! Let me know if you have any questions



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