Bookworm: Getting Things Done

If you love a list, Dave Allen’s book on getting things done is the perfect way to manage your time.

What is this book about?

Getting Things Done is a guide for stress-free project management in every area of our lives. The premise is that most of us feel somewhat stressed about work, faintly worried about our planet’s future, overwhelmed by housework and vaguely discombobulated when people ask “how are you?”.

This general brain fug, Allen states, exhausts us, depresses us, and stops us from using our brains effectively. GTD advocates for the use of project management systems to quieten the noise and help us think more clearly and calmly.

Who got this book done?

Dave Allen, a consultant in the art of productivity. He claims to have had 35 professions by the time he was 35, including magician, karate teacher, glassblower and gardener. The fruits of his myriad labours inform his method for getting things done – handily abbreviated to GTD by those in the know.

How can I learn to use his project management systems?

Well, actually, they’re just lists. Lots of clever lists. A foundational part of GTD is to capture every ‘to do’ that crosses our minds. The small everyday ones such as “clean the bathroom” and the broad and intangible ones such as “do more creative stuff” – and everything in between.

In this way, we remove the thought from our brain for the moment so that we can relax, focus on the task in hand and revisit it later.

That sounds unwieldy! How do we turn it into something productive?

We read through our list every day, reviewing each item and asking ourselves whether it’s still important. If it isn’t, we delete it. For each remaining item, we clarify the ‘next action’.

For example, if we scrawled “hire new admin assistant”, the next action might be “draft job description” or “set up meeting with HR”. Identifying the next bite-sized piece of the larger task is key to making progress.

What do we do with all these actions?

We triage them. So, if we see anything on our list that could (appropriately) be done by someone else, we delegate it; if we note anything that we could do in less than two minutes, we do it immediately.

The remaining items are added to one of our shiny new lists (which we can set up digitally, or jot down in a pleasing notebook):

Projects list. These are to-dos with more than one step, which must be done by us.
‘Waiting-for’ list. All the tasks we’ve delegated that we might need to check on later.
Calendar. Diarised appointments, tasks that need doing on a specific day, or anything we need to remember at a specific time.
Next actions list. All the things we need to get on with this week.
Someday/maybe list. Stuff that isn’t urgent but that we’d like to revisit someday – perhaps a side-hustle we want to research, a language we fancy learning, books we want to read.
Reference materials. Information or documents that might be useful down the line.

There are going to be lists within these lists then…

How did you guess? Let’s take ‘projects’ first. Allen coined the phrase “natural planning” (not a method of contraception) to help us feel as if we are steering an organic process with its own momentum, rather than wading through treacle. Natural planning goes like this:

Clarify the purpose of the project and its underpinning principles.

Planning a team event? How do you want everyone to feel when they leave? How can you make sure it’s inclusive?

Envision the outcome.

“Our team is now more engaged, connected and productive and our Instagram feed is full of inspiring pictures from the event.”

Brainstorm ideas.

Go for quantity over quality and write down every single idea. Basket weaving could actually be quite therapeutic – and it’s very photogenic.

Organise your ideas.

Group together things that could happen straight away, and any that require more research. Bin any non-starters. (Where would we have to go to find snow in July?)

Define your next actions.

Have everyone sign up to bite-sized ‘next actions’ and agree deadlines. Populate the calendar and ‘waiting-for’ lists accordingly. You might also add ideas that you like but aren’t using on your ‘someday’ list, and valuable research into ‘reference materials’.

So, the only list left that needs our attention is ‘next actions’?

Exactly – and here’s how to tackle it.

Give each item context.
Consider how long it will take.
Consider its significance.
When you come to do an action, check your energy level. (If you’ve spent the past five hours shoehorning data from multiple sources into unruly PowerPoint tables, don’t start another presentation. Get up to date with client emails or order the office supplies instead.)

This sure is a comprehensive approach! How can we keep on top of it?

Create a ‘tickler’ file – designed to ‘tickle’ the memory. To set one up, create a folder for every day of the current month and 11 other folders, one for each month of the year ahead. In each daily folder, list all your ‘next actions’ and deposit any relevant documents.

Each day, all we have to do is turn up, open that day’s folder, and do as we’re told. Alternatively, we can skip this entirely and just check our lists on a weekly basis instead.

How should we use our new-found headspace?

Fear not, Allen has a list for that too. So as not to become robotic project managers, we should consider our lives like a series of horizons, and we should take time to look to each one regularly:

Ground: Where we are right now and what needs to be done.
Horizon 1: Current projects. The goals that are creating the actions on the ground.
Horizon 2: Areas of focus and accountability. The roles and duties we’ve signed up to at work, among our family and friends and the community.
Horizon 3: Where we want to be in the next couple of years. (For example, getting a promotion or living in a nicer apartment?)
Horizon 4: Where we want to be in the next five years. (For example, moving countries? Starting a family?)
Horizon 5: What is the purpose of our life? What is the big picture and how can that help us make good decisions in all the previous horizons?

What are we most likely to say after reading this book?

“There’s a list for that.”

What are we least likely to say after reading this book?

“Mañana mañana!”