Getting Things Done by David Allen ~ Deloitte Consulting Forum

Manager Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 51

I have some friends at the firm who say that Getting Things Done is the way to live if you choose this line of work. I mean they are cultish about it - they talk about it at lunch, they buy all kinds of notebooks, pens, etc.

Can someone give me an intro/teaser on what it's about and if you feel that it has helped (or not helped) you face the daily grind of consulting?

http://43folders.com

'nuff said

Also, check out Evernote, it's great for keeping all those random notes/ideas you get throughout the day.

Principal Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 163

I read Getting Things Done and I didn't find it helpful at all.

In large corp consulting engagements, I measure my success by "minimizing emails"; that is, I only get involved in things that are absolutely critical for achieving my objectives. Minimizing emails also forces me to delegate my tasks to as many other people as possible.

I know this sounds like "Getting out of work," but the reality is, I only have 24 hours in a day, 8 of which I need sleep. Because of that limitation, I should treat time as scarce and try to get as much off my plate as possible.

Does anybody else use this tactic?

Analyst Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4

funny, i picked up the GTD book a week or two ago. had been reading zillions of blogs raving about it yadda yadda.
and... it's killer. i like. i'm working up the discipline to sit down for a day or two and get it fully kicked off. i think the hardest part is starting.
a good example: GTD tells you when you get something in your inbox (in my case, literally my email inbox) you decide if it's actionable or not.
if no => trash it, put it in a 'reference' file, or on a list called 'someday/maybe'.
if yes => if it takes less than 2 min, do it immediately, if not, determine the next action, and schedule it (or something, i'm still getting there).
long story short, i applied this to my overflowing email inbox, and now it's FUCKING EMPTY. i open outlook, and it's a blank white screen. things come in and BAM it's processed. i delete way more shit than i ever have IMMEDIATELY. when i got to this point i laughed out loud in the project room. people looked at me funny, but i was stoked.

Dude, I went about trying this thing, based on a friends recommendation and came to a very sad set of conclusions:

1) When I tried to "schedule" the tasks I needed to complete, I realized time wasn't in my favor. Sometimes it's better not to know what you're getting yourself into.

2) This program forces you to delete a lot of stuff because it is either not actionable or can't be scheduled easily -- then you end up having to find the info later. A well structured email filing system this book doesn't provide (like, how to organize) and since it doesn't you end up with a quasi inbox not in your inbox of all the crap you moved out of your inbox to make it look like your inbox was empty so you'd feel like you were in control when you're not.

3) I found this process to be a bit of a pain - initial deletion and filing of my emails doesn't stop more than 100 from coming in every day.

I am now using a method described by an old colleage of mine -- when you get the "mailbox over the size limit" email, copy the inbox emails into an offline folder labeled with the date range. If the file you moved was important, you'll get another email in your inbox to deal with. If not, well, its there if you need it.

Just my two cents. Feel free to turn on a dime and give me five cents change.