Getting Things Done

Sara tells about implementing GTD so well that she was able to smoothly delegate her job during maternity leave. She describes how she encourages her staff to apply GTD best practices. She has interesting things to say about adapting contexts to current reality. And she shares about the tools she uses to manage her lists in a very full life.

Our recent Office Hour discussion had a surprise visitor ? David Allen! He caught us up on the dual celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the publication of Getting Things Done and his 80th birthday. We talked about where, and whether, to keep reminders for various household tasks, the shifting "weight" of areas of focus over time, and how paper capture endures.

David has a conversation with Dr. Julie Flagg, who discusses her GTD journey, including her significant decision to retire. Julie has been a GTD enthusiast since 2000, when she met David in Boston. She talks about how she has adapted her system to the change from a busy medical practice to an equally busy retirement. Julie still applies all the GTD best practices, including the two-minute rule. Introducing Julie for this interview, David mentions her presentation at the GTD Summit in 2019.

We explore how categorizing your GTD next actions lists by context will help you accomplish more with less effort. Context is critical, because it filters what you can do before you factor in time, energy, and priority. We discuss what contexts are, how they have and haven't changed over the years, misconceptions about contexts, and examples of ways people use them in today's world.

David has a fascinating conversation with Charles Duhigg, whose new book is Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. Charles says, "With the right tools, we can connect with anyone."

In this wide-ranging conversation, David and Gina DiRoma cover a variety of GTD topics. They even get around to GTD and improvisational comedy. Gina is the Corporate Events and Sales Director at SAK Comedy Lab, where the motto is "we make stuff up." That's a perfect complement to David's phrase, "Make it up, make it happen."

When asked how a company does GTD, David Allen's answer is, "Holacracy." It's a self-organizing management framework that has GTD built in. The David Allen Company has been running on this framework since 2011. This recording on how GTD is incorporated into Holacracy's governing structure is from a presentation for the Holacracy community of practice. You can click this link to download the PDF that has GTD comments on the Holacracy constitution.

For many, the workplace is broken. We may not realize it, but our tools can shape us in unproductive ways, and we've become conditioned to accept this as normal. In this recording, David Allen and John Forrister talk With Eric Mack about his 8 Practices of Intentionally Productive Work, which provide a framework to help you shift your mindset and uplevel your work.

David Allen, Arjan Broere, Ana Maria Gonzalez, and John Forrister have a rich and wide-ranging discussion of how we manage our attention, how to focus and refocus, and dealing with interruptions.

David Allen talks with GTD trainer Justin Hale about his journey with GTD. Justin notes that the journey includes cultivating self-awareness about our habits. He emphasizes the importance of deliberate practice to change behaviors. More than a set of hacks, he considers GTD to be a complete system.