Getting Things Done Redux

Last time we wrote about Gino Blefari’s great presentation on Time Management Tips and several of his top ten points address keeping a list and taking action. We all recognize the wisdom of those points—and have probably tried at some point in time to put them into practice—but the real problem is finding the right how!

We’ve written about David Allen’s book Getting Things Done in the past and have encouraged folks to grab a copy to see how that system can be a great help in managing not our time but our activities and our distractions. Now that Gino’s presentation has raised our Reticular Activation Systems a bit so that we’re more conscious, for a while, at least, of trying to implement some best practices to help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness, let’s take another look at GTD.

Allen’s primary point is that we get things done best when we can focus on the task at hand, free from those distractions. Rather obvious, of course. But he goes on to clarify that by distractions, he doesn’t simply mean a ringing phone or a barking client, but rather all those nagging little voices in our minds, interrupting and reminding us—constantly, it seems—not to forget that we have to run a CMA for that presentation tomorrow or call the brick mason to ask about that chimney repair by next Tuesday or, yes, to take the dog to the vet on Saturday and get to little Sally’s soccer match by 6.

In an earlier Playbook, we noted that Allen’s key is to make sure we have a fail-safe “bucket”—ie, Gino’s “list”—to store all our obligations and actions and information—both for our business and our personal lives—and we noted how Evernote can be the perfect bucket.

But how do you decide what goes in the bucket—and where?

Allen’s GTD model has a great flowchart for dealing with what he accurately calls “stuff,” ie, all the things we’re bombarded with daily, hourly, even by the minute. Basically he suggests that we think of ourselves as an In Box and go through the following process as we receive “stuff:”

The First question: What is it? That sounds a bit trite, but he really means that we need to quickly grasp “what” is asking for our attention rather than doing what we so often do: simply putting something aside and thinking we’ll deal with it later! Allen makes the point that by not taking a few more seconds and determining the real “what,” we’ve just put that item back on top of the pile of things that will eventually fall into our In Box again . . . and again, wasting more and more of our time.

The Second Question: Is it Actionable? Wow, is this “stuff” something we need to do anything about? There can only be two answers here, YES or NO! If NO, then ideally it should go right into the trash! But wait, what if it’s something we don’t need to take action on right now, but we might want to use it or do something about later? No problem, as Allen suggests we create compartments in our bucket where we can save such items for future reference. In the Evernote age, we can create a notebook or two for “Reference” items and maybe one for “Reading” where we can store that interesting article we noticed in Inman News but don’t have time to read at the moment it drops into our “In Box.”

If the answer is YES, it IS Actionable, we have a couple more considerations. One of Allen’s best moves is his suggestion that, if a “stuff” is Actionable AND it can be done in less than two minutes, DO IT RIGHT NOW! Don’t put it back on the pile of things that will have to again fall into your In Box!

If it will take more than two minutes, Allen recommends we need to make one more immediate decision: If we’re the best person to deal with the “stuff,” then we need to “Defer” it and add it to our project list of “Next Actions” or put it on our calendar if it’s a specific date. If we’re not the best person to deal with that particular “stuff,” we need to delegate it to someone else: a staff member, an assistant, and lender partner, a contractor, etc. and we need to make that delegation right away . . . if it can be delegated in less than two minutes!

There’s a lot more detail and some great examples in the book, of course, but the GTD system can really work and make your days and hours far more productive and far less stressful. I bet you can download the book from Amazon to your Kindle in less than two minutes . . .

David M. Hassler

VP, Director of Business Development