Getting started with Getting Things Done (GTD)
This is the introduction to a short series of posts about my mission to improve my productivity by applying the principles of Getting Things Done (GTD), David Allen’s self-help bible on workload management.
An enormous amount has been written about GTD, and everyone’s implementation will vary. So in this series I will focus on what I personally have got out of it, and the lists, tools and gadgets that make up my evolving GTD system.
The series will be:
- The cult of Getting Things Done: an introduction to GTD
- The best bits from GTD: my top 5 takes from David Allen’s book
- What, where and when: defining my GTD to-do list contexts
- My GTD system: Getting Things Done with Remember The Milk and Windows Mobile 5
I will tag all the posts with GTD, so bookmark (even better, socially bookmark) this URL to see all the posts in one place: http://neilojwilliams.net/missioncreep/tag/gtd/
I hope my contribution to the sprawl of GTD bloggery may help a few other newbies get started with Allen’s method, and be of some interest to veteran GTD geeks to compare their set-up with mine.
I am just getting started with GTD, and will be really grateful for any comments and suggestions from those who have been using it for longer. I’d also welcome your ideas for other posts to add to the series, if there’s more you’d like to know.
Related posts (auto generated)
If you enjoyed this post, why not leave a comment or subscribe to my RSS feed to get future posts delivered to your feed reader?
Comments
Good timing. Have been falling off the GTD wagon a bit recently, so would be good to see how you get on.
The key problems I have are:
- home/work boundaries: especially if you work in social media stuff
- using agendas properly
- managing to do the Weekly Review
- defining proper ‘next’ actions, without ending up just spending all the time on GTD admin
- living without some kind of prioritisation of the list
Thanks guys. You’re both pretty much to blame for introducing me to GTD.
Steph – I can see those problems heading my way too, but I think I may have the first one cracked by using an @online context. Basically that’s the stuff I *could* do either @home or @work – and if there’s a leaning either way I’ll sometimes double-tag an @online action with either @home if it really ought to be done there or @work if it’s too boring for weekends/evenings.
It’s working so far, but flouts Allen’s ‘hard edges’ – and it’s way too early to call. I’m still collecting all my backlog. And likewise, yet to manage a proper weekly review… the office is possibly not the place to try.
But I am a believer!
Hmm paragraphs don’t render well in my comments css. What gives? Will add fixing that to my someday/maybe list.
[...] all the cool kids are doing a series of themed blog posts, so I’ll join the party: over the next few weeks [...]
Hello, I'm Neil Williams. I'm a government web geek, a dad, a husband, a grower of veg, a keeper of hens and a lapsed comedy writer, roughly in that order. 
Good luck with that! Will be good to compare notes