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Reading Notes: Making It All Work

Author:  David Allen

Format: Audible

Subject:  Productivity

Rating: 2/10

Summary:

I am a big fan of David Allen’s book:  Getting Things Done, so I was very excited to listen to Making It All Work.  Unfortunately, that excitement quickly disappeared, and then turn to disappointment the more I listened.

I thought this book would serve as either a building block for the GTD system, but it is pretty much a rehashing of the previous book.  The core focus of the book seemed to be implementing the GTD system into your personal life.  That is all fine and well, because I really like the system.  In fact, incorporated GTD into all aspects of my life while reading the first book.

I listened to about two-thirds of Making It All Work before I gave up on it.  I am quite certain that I won’t be missing out on any key information that I won’t pick up on somewhere else.

What I liked Most About the Book:  The topic of the GTD system.

What I liked Most About the Book:  The lack of any new pertinent ideas or techniques.  The Horizons discussed in the book are hardly new concepts.

New GTD Concept:  Horizons

  • Projects: 10,000 Feet – The are the shorter items that take need to be completed in about a year’s time and will take more than one action to complete.  Pretty much standard GTD.
  • Areas of Focus:   20,000 Feet – This is essentially a list of all the roles you assume or want to assume in life:  husband, father, accountant, mentor, manager…  So the purpose of this list is to serve as a trigger for your weekly review.
  • Goals and Objectives:   30,000 Feet – A list of Projects that will take more than a year to complete.  You only need to review once a quarter or so.  This list will help trigger projects.
  • Vision:   40,000 Feet – Where do you want to be in five years.  Are your actions taking you there?  What about your projects?
  • Purpose:  50,000 Feet – What is your reason for being? to your ancestors, your descendents, or your god?
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Reading Notes: Getting Things Done

Author: David Allen

Format: Audible / Kindle

Narrated By: David Allen

Subject: Productivity

Rating: 8/10

Summary:

Getting Things Done has transformed the way I conduct my life, which really says a lot.  The book itself describes a system for dealing with the immense variety of activities, commitments, and projects we each struggle to juggle in our daily lives.  The system is built around 5 key steps: Capturing, Clarifying, Organizing, Reflecting, and Engaging.  The purpose of the system is to get all of your obligations out of your mind and into a known centralized location in the form of lists, which should allow you to have a “mind like water,” and more capable of being in the moment.  It should also allow you to have the ability to spend your time working on the activities that you can possibly complete in any given situation.  This system is a lot like Chess in the fact that it takes a moment to learn, and a lifetime to master.

In the three or so weeks since I started reading the book I have made the following progress:

  • My Physical In Box at work is habitually empty (this doesn’t mean I have completed all of the work and don’t have any pending action items.)
  • My Email In-Box is also habitually empty (see above.)
  • I have adopted contextual list-taking as a way of life.
  • Actively adopting checklist for repetitive activities in my life.
  • I have noticed an uptick in my productivity and less loose-ends across the full spectrum that is my life.
  • My mind wanders less when I am in meetings and having conversations.

That last bullet point is a substantial benefit.  Having said that, I found my mind constantly wandering to projects, ideas, and activities as I worked my way through the book because I found it very difficult to digest the information without trying to apply it to my life.  So that was a bit of a viscous cycle.  I will definitely keep a copy of this book for reference.

What I liked Most About the Book:  Seeing my empty In-Box, and the focus on defining the “Next Action.”

What I liked Least About the Book:  The information tends to become more and more repetitive as you read through the book.  All in all, Getting Things Done book reads much like a textbook which to be fair, it pretty much is.

Illustrates the Getting Things Done process.