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David Allen Interview: Getting Things Done with Email
Merlin Mann | Oct 30 2006
43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the fifth in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done. Summary
Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen here (after the cut). Merlin's commentsEmail was one of the topics that I was most interested in talking to David about, and I found his responses to my questions thought-provoking. David makes the case that email is basically just another input -- like voice mail, for example -- that needs to be emptied and processed every day. That it's not substantially different (apart from how badly mostly people do it right now). While I absolutely agree on processing to zero, I think opinions may differ on the significance of email's impact on the life of the average knowledge worker. I think David's approach and advice are tactically quite sound in terms of fixing your own half-acre of the problem, but I'm still ambivalent about a prevailing culture of email in which the implied expectation is that we always need to be on_, for example, responding to business-day messages within minutes of their arrival. My friends working down in the Valley (you know who you are) tell me this is the elephant in the room in terms of trying to get _anything accomplished between 8 and 6. While email has matured in terms of adoption, I think we're still in the very early days of understanding how to use it responsibly across teams and organizations -- we're still a long way from seeing a standard for sound email usage that acknowledges that most "real work" can and should take place outside of an inbox. I really look forward to seeing how we can each help to initiate these conversations in our own circles. In the mean time, you'll love hearing David's advice on Getting Things Done in email. He has a way of cutting to the point that I find really refreshing. Also watch for his prediction on the Blackberry's inevitable progeny: _The Watermelon!_ Listen to Episode #05 of Productive TalkGrab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:
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 Sandy Weill, the recently retired...Submitted by Dan Markovitz (not verified) on October 30, 2006 - 6:47am.
Sandy Weill, the recently retired chief of Citigroup, didn't even use email, but somehow managed to run a financial empire. (For good or bad is another issue.) Yes, he had minions catering to his needs, but by opting out of email, he was tacitly saying that the inbox was not the sum total of his work existence. And yes, as the big cheese, he could call anyone in the organization and get an immediate response, but nevertheless, he allowed himself the luxury of THINKING, rather than simply responding. 80%? 90%? 99%? of the time, people don't need an immediate response. They need a predictable response -- say, within 30 minutes or an hour. Organizations (or groups within organizations) need to begin this conversation, and recognize that just because we can send a message instantaneously doesn't mean that we have to respond instantaneously. » POSTED IN:
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