The Cranking Widgets Blog - Latest Comments in My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

techdigest — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:10:26 -0000

I agree that GTD should not be so hard. I think the only way to fully utilize the philosophy is by keeping it simple. GTD should not require a great deal of effort. But a simple workflow with simple tools should relieve the stress of getting things done.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

just me — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:02:40 -0000

Forget GTD. It's far too cumbersome. Weekly reviews? Oh, please! Read the book "Do it Tomorrow" by Forster instead. GTD is a great idea, if you are ALREADY a super-organized freak. But if you are a normal human, you just need a simple, easy plan that keeps track of things and helps you to get things ... actually ... done.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

Mark — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:28:01 -0000

Goes a long way in explaining the direction and quality of Cranking Widgets content of late.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

NeilOJWilliams — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:15:02 -0000

Good to hear. I'm going to check out those ZTD posts, sounds promising.

I'm by no means expecting a panacea for my productivity woes, and perhaps that's where people fail (the religious road to Damascus moment - then the crushing disappointment when they realise they haven't changed at all).

I'm using RTM - and don't think the technology is my problem. It's definitely better rewriting task names and reassigning them to contexts/lists using a digital tool than paper. And my handwriting doesn't make for attractive lists :)

My problem at the moment is doing the review (of course, same as everyone) and - as you say above - moving beyond collection into tackling those tasks. Still not escaped that email inbox really..

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

paul — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:59:29 -0000

For all these reasons, I embraced and have benefited enormously from Zen to Done which is way simpler.

My wife loves GTD though although there are signs she is falling off the wagon :)

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

AndyP — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:43:12 -0000

Hi Neil. Your post does indeed reflect the best of GTD, and what most people take away.

I think it can work, just need to figure out how to better apply it to the digital world. We'll be exploring solutions over time. I don't like that people just say "GTD sucks" then you discover they are still doing 80% of GTD in their "own" system. I think the key is figuring out what about the other 20% is making GTD hard to stay behind.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

NeilOJWilliams — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:34:19 -0000

Oh wow. I totally recognise all these symptoms and have been lying to myself about them. And everyone else. Here, I just did it just now, on my blog: http://neilojwilliams.net/missioncreep/2008/the... - literally minutes before reading this post of yours.

Hmm. I hope not to throw the baby our with the bathwater though. GTD *can* work, right?

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

PookieMD — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:49:31 -0000

I found GTD highly anxiety provoking, and INefficient. It seemed to use up more time than was necessary.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

AndyP — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:27:03 -0000

Hi Patrick. Great comment. I agree on the religious front. I just keep coming back to one debate in my mind...

Lets take the religious stuff further. If I accept the system is good and I am the "sinner," then what can be done to minimize my sinning? Would the availability of better tools enable me to screw up less? Or is the system actually not as good as I think it is and in need of a new set of principles that better reflects our technology-driven world? Maybe its both?

So much to explore :) Thanks again for weighing in.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

ged — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:11:36 -0000

Leo (of Zen Habits) has done a wonderful job at making GTD really work... "ZTD" is much easier:

<http://zenhabits.net/2007/04/zen-to-done-ztd-th...>

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

patrickrhone — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:27:15 -0000

I think this is a very valid discussion and certainly something I have touched on in my own writings.

I will repost an excerpt from my comments on Brett's post:

"Like any _religious_ book, I feel it is best with Getting Things Done to take away the basic tenants and overall message and them make your own path to true enlightenment. Leave the details and zealotry to the new converts because, in time, they too will either loose the religion or find a path of their own."

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

AndyP — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:26:26 -0000

Hi Tink...

I agree with all points in principle, but whether it is practical for someone to do any or all of them boils down to what people want out of life. (There is something to be said about pairing down and finding more balance though, I have an interesting post in the works that talks about some research on work/life balance vs finding career success.)

I'll probably be writing a bit about tech's role in productivity as well. It can play a big one, but it has to get out of your way and "work like you do" in order for it to really help. That's the hardest part about being a developer who cares about the experience and not just writing code.

Thanks for stopping by and chiming in!

-Andy

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

AndyP — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:17:19 -0000

Hi Daniel,

Great comments. Thanks for adding to the discussion.

As I read things like "The most popular tools such as Basecamp and Backpack just don't reflect the way I think" I see it as a good point, but immediately wonder what sort of tool would work the way you do? What is lacking? I have the same gripe in that I need something that works the way I do.That is what I aim to figure out. Whats the next *useful* evolution in productivity systems or software.

As an aside, I understand point about big-picture thinking, but at some point someone needs to get in the trenches. For example, I use Backpack to do high-level research and brainstorming. Then I go over it with someone that works for me and she uses the debrief + Backpack to create the details in Basecamp and manage projects. I can't deal with detail, so I work with someone who can :)

-Andy

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

bluelines — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:54:31 -0000

Loved this post. I'm slowly weaning myself off almost all of the alleged productivity tools offered by web 2.0. Very easy to get sucked in, only to realize that truly being efficient is about attitude and actions rather than the tools you use.

I also think we're in the midst of a shake-up, where all of the start-ups that built tools on the periphery of usefulness are struggling to justify their relevance in these tough times. For example, nobody can convince me that a "social media aggregator" is going to save me any time!

The most popular tools such as Basecamp and Backpack just don't reflect the way I think and, while I like the idea of using them, in practice they ALWAYS cost me more time than they save, and they indulge focus on the details rather than the big picture of what's important and what's not.

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

BellTinkR — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:57:55 -0000

There's a lot to be said for a yellow legal pad and a few Post-It notes. I agree that a little planning and time management is a good thing, but when you have to schedule time to do planning and time management, there's something wrong. A few words of advices:

1) JUST SAY NO - to yourself or to anyone else who wants a piece of time that you don't have to give. Sometimes the volume of tasks reaches a point of critical mass whereby no amount of "management" will get them done, and you just have to start saying no to new stuff, and maybe to existing stuff as well.

2) K.I.S.S. - see previous remarks about the yellow legal pad and the Post-It notes. Ink and paper are the most simple method of keeping track of the things that need getting done. Might actually be all you need!

3) TECHNOLOGY COULD BE THE PROBLEM - It's so easy to hit the Evernote button that you will find yourself putting stuff on The List that isn't really necessary. If you never got to it, how important was it, really?

Remember, tech has gotten better/smarter/faster... but we have remained human! Take things at a more human speed, and there will be no need for stress, guilt or elaborate systems for personal productivity, the maintenance of which becomes yet another thing on your To Do list.

Tink *~*~*

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

AndyP — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:10:17 -0000

Reading it would still be much more useful :)

I should add that most of us are more productive because of GTD, we just all seem to go through a similar path and find it hard to keep up.

I am not abandoning GTD. As I say, I still find it to be the best option available. I just recognize that I need to find either: a) A better way to implement it or b) Figure out what aspects make it hard to stay on top of it and figure out solutions.

Please stay with it and keep on reading. Thanks for the comment!

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

WhenIGrowUpCoach — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:56:24 -0000

Uh.....I just bought GTD. On Amazon. No returns.

Maybe I'll use it as a coaster?

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

alexandremrj — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:15:57 -0000

Hello, I been reading this blog for a long time in my Google Reader.
At first, I would love the idea that GTD brought, perhaps I can solve all this mess, but now I simply read your blog for ideas and reviews and perhaps some inspiration for something I can't particularly solve.

I abandoned GTD a while ago, simply went for a project manager to take care of work, a calendar for personal matters and a clock to simply see what I'm doing with my time. At the end of the week I see if I wasted too much time on work, I compensate on something else.
Basically, forget the rules that I couldn't apply and simply go for the simplest thing that can work (and I tried several).

For the blog I recommend a bit less GTD and continue almost everything the same, perhaps check if there are other methods, that's it, I will still read.

Alex

Re: My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD

silverart — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:00:51 -0000

This is great to read! I still use GTD but you describe my feelings very well!