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Comments on the GTD weakness/strengths poll
instigase | Feb 15 2006
I was going to wait until the polls closed before making a comment but after a couple of days some clear trends have taken shape: (1) The trends (strengths v. weaknesses) do mirror each other. I guess thats not surprising, but I wasnt sure if the questions were indeed two sides of the same coin. (2) Many people are really good at the collecting phase. Analysis from the amateur anthopologist point of view suggests that the primal need to gather is still in out genes, were just not collecting mastadon tenderloins or kindling; we're collecting open loops. Even before the current set of poll respondants got wind of the GTD concept they were always pretty good at collecting stuff, from marble and dolls to nextactions and open loops. I'm assuming that this bunch of people, myself included, have been always attracted to shiny new office pr0n. Indeed, a majority of the discussions seem to revove around the theme of "digital v. analog", "Palm v. 3x5" and the innocently voyeristic "whatsinyourbag" flickr series. Also the office supply stores are selling all of these products for collecting and possibly organizing but not in aiding the implementation of the other phases of workflow management. As an aside I am noticing an increase in the amount of 3x5 card collecting and organization products as the hPDA meme has been gaining momentum. (Merlin, has Mead sent you a thankyou note, or stock perhaps?) (3) The corollary of (2) is that the guilt-laden suckage points are high in the review-do phase. Indeed there is a paucity of SNO (Shiny-New-Objects) to aid us in the area of review and DO. Is this more than coincidence? (Would the iPod version of a can of Whoopass make me a bazillionaire?) (4) Look at the graphs (as of 2/15/2006). In the case of "GTD strengths" The decline of workflow management literally dives to zero at the REVIEW phase and flattens out at DO - this is mirrored quite nicely in the "GTD weakness" poll. I doubt that this trend and the effects of diminished efficiencies in the workflow processing pathway should surprise anyone. But the data, such as it is, is hard to ignore. The poll echoes what the David has said in the book that we all have strengths in several areas of the GTD workflow methodoloy. We just need the discipline to strengthen the other areas to be a GTD Black Belt. The marial artist theme is prevelant throughout the GTD philiosophy. (The David himself is a black belt in karate) We understand the "mind-like-water" that a GTD Blackbelt posessess and uses to react to the changing landscape in the daily work environment to accomplish next actions. But how do we get there, Grasshopper? More in the next installment. 6 Comments
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 Spot on, Sonia. A...Submitted by pooks on February 16, 2006 - 10:00pm.
Spot on, Sonia. A few months ago I would not have even dreamed of the major overhaul I did on my office two weeks ago. Better living through chemistry, indeed! Something else, though. Is it just me, or does David Allen's method give far more detail on collecting and processing than on doing? I'm using my small purse-sized Franklin Planner at the very least, for collecting. I always found the most use out of it for that, since I then had the collected info in an easily searched system when I needed it later. Just recording the details of important phone calls made me armed and dangerous. Now I'm using the tickler file to remind me of things I need to do each day, but I think it works better as an aid to rather than a system in and of itself. Here's the thing. When you read Hyrum Smith's book, he tells you to review the day's activities and then plan the next day every evening, or first thing in the morning. Covey's system says to do a weekly view of the bigger picture. I'm not sure it makes any difference which system you use. If it does, you figure that out by process of elimination, I'd think. (I find daily much more helpful to me.) But by not giving specifics at all, DA kind of leaves a lot of us floundering, doesn't he? He doesn't want to dictate a system, but instead he takes a target audience that needs help with structure, organizing and decision-making -- and seems to say, "Oh, you figure it out, you'll be fine," when it gets to the most vital part -- DOing. Maybe I'm wrong. I've read the book and am now listening to it, and maybe more will sink in. But it seems that most people come to websites and yahoo lists with the same kinds of questions -- how do you actually DO it? It seems to me that presenting a few different examples, from totally tech to totally lofi, just so readers can see how it works in action -- would be a good thing. » POSTED IN:
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