Week #1: Getting Things Done by David Allen

What parts of this system work for you?

What parts don't work for you?

How are you using the system (software, daytimer, pda)?

Any tips for others?



My primary tool for the GTD workflow is my PocketPC. I backup and do some data entry on Outlook.

The only part of the system that I'm not using is the Tickler file. I set one up, and just never had anything to put into it, so I let it lapse.


The system works a lot better (I've learned the hard way) if you are dilligent about looking at it as early as possible in the morning, and doing the weekly review.

I'll post in the right place now:D

I agree about the tickler file, I just dont think thats something I can maintain right now. I think I need to master my collecting & processing first.

As for what im using, I think I'll to do most of it on paper at first, and im trying to see if i can getmyself to use this ActionOutline program I mentioned before.

I'm a little hazey on the whole *project* idea and the altitudes, where would a game fit in on this scale? Of course it would be a project in itself, and you would have your own list of nextaction items for it.. but whats this whole verticle thinking about?

Maybe I need to re-read that chapter.

I also don't use the Tickler file. It's helpful for certain professions, but indie development doesn't seem to be one of them. I tried using it for a few months, but it was mostly empty all the time. Aside from things like plane tickets and hotel reservations, most of the things I might put in it are kept in digital form anyway.

I've been using the GTD system for about 2 years now, and I'm very pleased with it. A great companion book to GTD is Ready for Anything; in that book David Allen goes into more detail about certain things, so if you want to understand more of the "why" behind GTD, it's an excellent read. There are also lots of free articles at www.davidco.com that may offer you some new distinctions on the finer points of the system.

One of the modifications I've made to the system is to add a couple extra layers above the projects level for my high-level goals; then my projects and next actions trickle down from there. There's a thread on David Allen's forums where I explained how I do this. Here's the link if you care to read it:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=522

The main insight I can offer into the GTD system is that it's not primarily a system for "getting things done." It's actually a system designed to get everything out of your head and recorded in a trusted system, so that whenever you do work, your mind is clear and focused, and you can easily get "in the zone" and fly through mountains of work with relaxed concentration. The #1 goal of the system is to give you a "mind like water," where your mind is free and clear of all distraction. In that state high productivity is a rather natural consequence.

Trust is the keyword here. You have to be able to trust your system. If you go through the effort to capture everything and then fail to keep your system updated, you'll stop trusting it and you'll lose the benefits. This is why the weekly review is perhaps the most critical element of the system. I do mine every Friday afternoon, and it usually takes me about 2 hours.

I maintain my GTD system on my PC. At one time I used my Palm handheld, but I found that too slow and tedious. However, many GTD users love the Palm for maintaining their systems, especially those that travel a lot.

I use a program called ActionOutline (www.actionoutline.com) to maintain my system. It runs in the system tray at all times, and I can pop it up with a hotkey at any time. It's very easy to use and has a free trial version too. I registered it after a few days, since I found it a great tool for the GTD system. It works like Windows Explorer, except that instead of browsing files, you browse a hierarchy of information that you can organize however you like.

- SpikeSpiegel -
I'm a little hazey on the whole *project* idea and the altitudes, where would a game fit in on this scale?


A project, in GTD terms, is any outcome that requires more than one step. You can't do an outcome, you can only do the steps that get you to the outcome.

Like Steve describes, I have a layer above projects, called goals, that drives the creation of projects. I have a goal of making a game, I have several projects that work to achieve that goal.

In my case, I have projects for specific areas of the game goal. I have a UI project, a demo project, a scripting project, etc. At the day job, I have close to 30 projects for the various things that I have to do, even though all of the projects work towards a common goal.

Finetuning the granularity of each project is something I'm currently working on.


EDIT - the quote disappeared? was never there? weird...

oh, wow. Action Outline is my dream program come true! thanks for pointing it out! goodbye notepad!!!

Ah I see, sub-dividing your "game" into even more projects, that seems alot more managable. Heh if you havn't guess I've been doing the "reactive planning model" my entire life.

To Steve - With action outline, do you use this for your "in" box as well? I really like the program but im not sure if I can really do my brainstorming through it.

And to anyone, If you have any examples of how you would apply any of these techniques that would be great.. for instance, if your plugging away on your code and you do a quick email check and you notice a message from a unhappy customer.. does that get put into your in box? or do you read it right theh? then write down a action item to reply to it?

Well I seriously didn't take much from GTD. It just clashes completly with my lifestyle way of doing things.

Anyway, I use Double Choco Latte (http://dcl.sourceforge.net/) if you have a webserver with php and some database support, its a pretty nice system, i started using it as a support thing but after playing with it, it can be done to manage work (any kind of work) and people working as well as modules of products or individuals can create their own projects and add work orders to them (like a todo list but more ellaborate and with the capability of generating a global todo list and ppl pick things from there, etc) Its a bit hard to use at first, mainly because the manual, or lack of it, makes most of the features a "lets try this and see what it does" but afte ryou get a grip of it, its a pretty nice piece of software, not to mention its free. I'm tempted to write a non web broser gui to it, but that is pretty secundary.

DCL looks like it would be a pretty handy tool for team based projects, especially if they're geographically spread out.

Here's how I handle my inbox....

I have three stacking plastic trays on my desk: inbox, outbox, and scratch paper. Whenever I come up with some random idea, I write it down on a piece of scratch paper and toss it in my inbox. My outbox is for things that need to leave my office, like items to mail or things related to errands. I take those with me when I go out.

Whenever I go out, I always carry a pen and folded up piece of scratch paper with me. So if I get a brainstorm while out, I jot down a few keywords on the paper, and I toss the paper into my inbox when I get back. Then when I process my inbox, all these ideas get integrated into my system.

I prefer using pen and paper to capture ideas. It just feels more natural to me. Other things like incoming mail also get tossed into my inbox for processing.

I use my PDA (a palm m-130) for it all.

the checklist is divided into categories of "things i should do" & "in the process of diong" and "done". Each of the items in the checkbox has an "attached" item in the memopad for its subtasks and notes.

more questions about action online


1) do you store your completed items? if so do you just flag them as done, or do you have another tree for completed things (Still in the right hierarchy)

2) do you make all your items to do all nodes? or do you use the text area and have the bullets?

Im playing around with how I want to have it setup but i would like to know how everyone else uses this.

I don't store completed items; I just delete them. Some people like a record of everything they've done. I kept such a record for a year once when I was using a paper system, but when I looked back on it at the end of the year, my reaction was, "why bother?"

I don't make all items nodes. I have nodes called Projects, Next Actions, Goals, etc. Within those nodes I use the text area to list out all the projects. I find this much faster and more robust than making everything a node.

Some people have a TODO list, or many such lists, I actually find this tends to agitate me, and will only resort to such means when the TODO item is not already stored in my environment (hard to explain).

On the other hand, I do suffer from a "not getting anywhere" thought pattern, and for this I have a book of achievements which I fill out every day. It's fairly objective, and doubles as a diary when I need to audit how long or when I started something.

However, after a year of this, and looking back over my entries, maybe it's true and i'm not getting anywhere :D !

One question that I had this time through is how many next-action tasks to have per project? Is the next-action really just the single next thing to do?

For instance, this weekend I went down to Miami. I had a project to get ready for the trip, which included things like getting the oil changed and fluids check on the car, getting snacks, printing out maps, etc. Should each of those things been turned into a next-action, or should I have had one action for that project, and when that action was finished create a new task for the next action?

I've tried it both ways in the past.

Since I'm using my PDA, I can attach text to tasks. So for my "Get ready to go to Miami" project (just a task in the task list) I can just keep a text description of everything I need to do for that project.

I've also gone the other way, and created a task for every possible next-action for a project. I end up with hundreds of things in my task list, and it can be somewhat overwhelming.

I know the answer lies somewhere in the middle. It really comes down to what works best for me, but I'm wondering how everyone else approaches this.

You can have as many next actions as you feel comfortable with. Sometimes for a next action for a certain project, I'll write several sentences explaining exactly how I plan to get started on a project or what the next several steps will be. Or I might make several individual next actions if they're relatively independent and occur in different contexts (make a phone call, type up a document, send an email, etc). Other times I list only the very next action. And still other times, I'll create a detailed plan for a larger project and simply have the next action be a link to it. The basic idea is that you want your next actions to be simple enough that you don't feel you've hit an impasse with any project -- you can always keep moving them forward.

Remember that next actions don't serve as a complete project plan. So if you feel your project needs a lot of planning and cannot be done just one step at a time, then feel free to make a plan for it in a separate document, and then have your next action reference the next item in the plan. With ActionOutline you can include URLs and links to local files, so you can just click on them to bring up any reference material you may need.

..meaning that I started to organize my ToDos in a location-based fashion.

Here I have:


Home
Computer
Work
Errands


This will probably get divided some more, but this helps a lot already.

Since I am "on the go" around Hamburg a lot of my day time (having to commute to work every day for appr. 1 hour) I just check the "Errands" list before I walk out of a door.

:D

On a general note...

I really like this book. I already noticed a definitive productivity increase, now let's see if I can keep it up.
;)

:::emp:::

I have been doing GTD for less than a year, but I really liked how it changed the way I look at things. It also helped me to realize that I had far more outstanding comitments than I really was able to handle, a very common theme for business owners it seems.

What I am working on now is synchronizing home and work. As my office is a separate space, and I use AO as my primary tool, I have yet to come up with a good way of handling home related tasks. Another sore point is email, I really don't have a good way of handling it yet. Processing the inbox takes far too long each morning.

All in all, a very solid foundation for any personal management system, it keeps the focus where it needs to be, out of your head.

I find GTD is helping me a lot as well. I'm in school + parttime work writing software + running my own business + writing a game, so i find having a system to keep track of everything very helpful.

Before I would need to take a long time to figure out where I was and what I needed to do next. Its helping me clear up my thoughts, I'm not a complete space cadet anymore;)

I'm reading GTD at the moment and I've learned so much. One thing I got to ask is, how come they don't teach this stuff in school? I mean like public school, wouldn't it help a lot of students immediately? Same goes for the other books! I always question if everyone was as motivated as Tony Robbins what our world would be like.

Also, When Mr. Allen mentioned how we had to trust our systems, that really hit me because I've used several organizing systems and I was always lazy to update it. The fact that I didn't update it lead to the system's downfall because I didn't trust using it. I have several high school agendas filled up until November, but the rest of the months blank :( .

Yeah, why on earth don't schools teach pupils more about being organised, developing their motivational skills, etc that would actually help them with their work? When I was at school very few kids (including me to be honest) were self-organised, or motivated, and grades suffered as a result.

I just wish I'd read something like this when I was younger.

Most people don't want to know. There are a bunch of people that I've suggested this book to, who never even bother to read it. They sit around complaining about this or that, but lack the self-motivation to do anything about it. Or they will read the book and then just say "Well that's interesting, but it doesn't work for me."

If schools had a Getting Things Done class, then it would be treated like just another subject. Something to be studied the night before a test with just enough retention to pass.

First off, I'd like to give a HUGE THANK YOU for starting with this book. If it hadn't been for almost everyone commenting on how useful this system is, I would never have read it. This system has prevented me from having a nervous breakdown (I'm one of those people who has thoughts constantly racing, and popping up at the most inopportune times.) I only wish I would have had this info 10 years ago.

So far I'm working on implementing GTD pretty much as given in the book. I've gotten my inboxes filled, and am working through them setting up projects and next tasks as I go.

I carry a pen and a small wirebound memo book for capturing inbox items. In the past, I've tried to use my palm pilot for doing stuff like that, but honestly the palm is *not* suited for data entry. Low tech is really the way to go here, in my opinion, as it's quick and dirty.

I do use my palm for keeping track of tasks, projects and calander items. Its pretty straightforward to dump my inbox into the palm desktop and then hotsync.

Here's where I keep stumbling, and thats the filing system. I'd like some other peoples input on this. I'm undecided of whether I should go with a paper based system or with a digital system using my scanner.

I'm not keen on using both, as that would lead to "data inconsistencies" (duplicating records, having outdated records in one system, etc...)

I like the concept of a digital system, primarily for archival purposes. Its also easier to search for and find documents of interest, and takes up less physical space. Oh, and you can link items to ActionOutline. :)

Paper system seems to be faster, you don't lose your whole filing system if your harddrive crashes, and it is easier to work with for things like "cordless telephone manuals" which are too small for a bookshelf, and a pain to digitize.

Has anyone else tried or uses a digital filing system? What are your thoughts / experiences about this part of GTD?


Anthony

Scanning documents would just not work for me. It's an extra task that I have to do for every piece of paper in my inbox. If I attempted something like that, then paper would stay in the inbox.

I have a small filing cabinet for paper files. I keep digital documents on my server. I don't have any problem having two information stores. In my case, digital files get used most often in day to day activities, while paper files tend to be more archival.

Found a piece of software you guys may want to look at other than Action Outline.

It's called KeyNote. You can find it here:
http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html

Similiar and in some areas better than AO.
I found that its multiple tabbed interface is really useful.

Best thing is it's FREE and Open Source (But it's Delphi which I don't have the compiler.)

(Actually I can't believe this guy is giving this software away free.)

Just an update.. is everyone still using what they learned from this book?

I think I'm going to re-read this book and try to force myself to stick to it more.

One aspect of my life that its working great for is going to the gym, I used to keep all that stuff in my head (what I did last time, how far I ran etc). now I have a neat little note book and write it all down, not only do I have less junk banging around in my head, I have a excel spreadsheet that I can see my results with! BEEFCAKE:D

Also I use it for my day to day tasks, like if I know I have a pile of things to do I write it all down and check them off as I go.. I need to get my long term system working better though..

Anyone else?

Yeppers, I'm still using what I've learned!

Although, I *still* have a cardboard box full of stuff as my inbox (really low priority things, like "find a shelf for this and put it away"), my standad inbox is regularly getting cleaned out and acted upon.

The area where I'm struggling is to get a regular routine down, and I just need to sit down and write up a checklist of the common tasks I need to take care of each day. I know one of the biggest things is actually *looking* at my palm pilot to see what I've got to work on... it also hasn't helped being sick for a week :).

Like any new habit you want to form, I need to untrain the old bad ones first and put in place the new good ones; it's just going to take time and persistence, but this book really gave me some serious hope for not becoming overwhelmed.

Ahh... the gym... to be a beefcake once again, instead of a buddhacake!

Anthony

Same here. I'm still using what I've learned from both "Getting Things Done" and "Organizing From the Inside Out." (BTW thanks for recommending these books!!!)

So far, for the month of December I've been able to clean out, organize, and maintain my bathroom, hall closet, kitchen, and living room. I still need to organize my desk and my bedroom but its cool to see that the 'equalize' steps are actually working and not falling apart a week (or 15 minutes) later.

My inbox, which currently is a round wooden dinner table, still has piles and piles of papers and other junk (about 1-2 years worth)that I still need to finish sorting through, but I'm about 50% done. And I also have this backup hard drive with about 40 GB of files I need to start looking through and figure out how to organize in some logical manner.

So I obviously still have a ways to go, but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think the biggest improvement I've seen so far that really got my momentum going was keeping my dishes clean. I think I'll always hate doing the dishes, but I've found it so much easier to do these daily 10-minute equalize steps rather than wait until the last minute and have to spend an hour at the sink just so I can make myself a snack.

Now I know it probably seems like I'm just writing about "Organizing from the Inside Out" rather than "Getting Things Done", but I honestly don't think I would have even started with all this organizing from OFTIO if I didn't read GTD as well. I think GTD has more of the big picture view for getting anything done and organizing anything, while OFTIO focused on just organizing your physical space.

So I can't wait until I finish getting my apartment organized and "off my mind" so I can then finally start trying out all these concepts on getting my software business more organized and more productive.

Also, has anyone listened to the audio version of "Getting Things Done"? I'm thinking about buying it so I can listen to it in my car and at work, but I don't know yet if the audio version is any good. From my experience, some audio books can be pretty poor when compared to their paper version.

I'm working through the Getting Things Done system now, and I like it a lot so far. I like that it's very step-by-step, appealing to the software engineer within, but also open-ended in some parts allowing you to use the system as it best suits you. The focus on emptying all the random little things out of your mind and into a system really works. I think I need to go back and really study some parts of the book that i had skimmed through quickly to get some more benefit out of it, but it's definitely been helpful.

I got the book for Christmas, and I'm on my second time through with it.

The two-minute rule has helped me get a lot of small tasks done quickly, which is a large bonus. I'm still in the process of setting up my system, but I'm already feeling the benefits of a clear(ish) mind and knowing that ideas I've written down aren't going to get lost.

It's the first book of it's kind that I've read, but I really enjoyed it and it's inspired me to push that little bit harder to achieve what I want.

Started reading the book a few days ago and I'm at the part of how to organize (almost 2/3 through book). I'm loving it so far and little things like the 2 minute rule I have already been applying. I can't wait to get started with the system. I have set aside Wednesday for going through the process. In the meantime my eyes have been darting around and actually seeing all this "stuff" that qualifies for dumping into an in basket when it comes time to begin. Things that I have come to actually accept as decoration/fixed objects/ actually have actions attached to them. I have most of the office supplies I need and they are readily accessible (my work area is very clean), but I'm really hung up on deciding on my tool set.

I'm not a huge fan of computer organization at all, because it's not portable and requires using the computer for yet another aspect of my life. At the same time though, the computer is by far the most logical choice for things like Next Action lists, which require lots of editing (something paper is terrible at). Having this stuff in a notebook of some sort would make it very portable but the notebook would become very messy very quickly, which is bad both for organization and the negative psychological effect lots of scribbles has. I'm thinking at this point of keeping the action list digital, the contact list digital, but sticking to paper for everything else. I already have plenty of notepads for writing down ideas and plans, so I'll reorganize those to match up with the GTD system, and include one scrap pad specifically for the purpose of jotting down ideas that can then be immediately placed into in for formal processing later (same thing someone else in this thread mentioned). Paper is the fastest way of getting stuff down and is less stressful then entering the same data into a computer.

Do you guys have suggestions on what type of calendar works best? I'm looking for a small physical booklet thing. Portability and being able to see an entire month at a glance is key. I've been put off by the calendars I looked at since they have appointment areas (a good thing) but they only go from 7am-7pm or similiar nonsense. I need the full 24 hour day due to a varied sleep schedule. You would think finding a calendar would be simple but it's turning out difficult to make the "right" choice.

Since I'm planning on storing contacts digitally, what software do you guys use for that? I can't stand Outlook 2000's interface for the contact list, and I don't trust it to not lose this vital information. I want something that's simple, easy to use, not tied into other software (ie. not part of a mail client), easy to use, and easy to use. I'm almost tempted to write my own, but that would be counter-productive since there must already be a good solution.

Filling will be a challenge as well but I already have a filing cabinent for general stuff so it's more of an issue of reorganizing my current filing system to match GTD and actually using it regularly. I love the idea of the tickler file and this is definitely something I'll be using frequently. I have a lot of things that will fit very nicely into it. Has anyone found actual use for the label maker or is this something not work getting? I can't see a terrible need for it in my circumstances.

For portable action lists similiar to Action Outline, I suggest using a Palm OS PDA with ShadowPlan from Code Jedi (http://www.codejedi.com). Checkout the screenshots (http://www.codejedi.com/shadowplan/screenshots.html).

ShadowPlan is probably the most powerful outliner software on any platform. You can set target dates, have checkboxes, progress bars on tasks. You can filter by priority etc, sort by anything.

Many ShadowPlan users are GTDers and the discussion groups are very active with many useful tips on how to best use it.

Coupled with a Palm's calendar and address book, you've got all you need.

And Grafiti 2 is very easy to learn, just write all letters as you would write them normally in small case.

I'm using a Palm Tungsten T3 with ShadowPlan and absolutely LOVE it. (both s/w and h/w)

Originally posted by Lizardsoft

I'm not a huge fan of computer organization at all, because it's not portable and requires using the computer for yet another aspect of my life. At the same time though, the computer is by far the most logical choice for things like Next Action lists, which require lots of editing (something paper is terrible at). Having this stuff in a notebook of some sort would make it very portable but the notebook would become very messy very quickly, which is bad both for organization and the negative psychological effect lots of scribbles has. I'm thinking at this point of keeping the action list digital, the contact list digital, but sticking to paper for everything else. I already have plenty of notepads for writing down ideas and plans, so I'll reorganize those to match up with the GTD system, and include one scrap pad specifically for the purpose of jotting down ideas that can then be immediately placed into in for formal processing later (same thing someone else in this thread mentioned). Paper is the fastest way of getting stuff down and is less stressful then entering the same data into a computer.


I use a Palm VII to store all my action and project lists. I'm currently using David Allens suggestions at his website:
http://www.davidco.com/tips_tools/tip43.html

It's extremely easy to whip out the palm and look at what needs to get done, and check things off.
When I need to jot down ideas, tasks, projects, what have you, I carry a small memo book and pen with me. I use that to record stuff quickly, and then dump it into my inbox when I get home.
A couple of times throughout the day, when I'm at my computer, I'll update my palm desktop software (the PC side of the palm pilot) with my inbox stuff and then HotSync. This process gives me the benefit of having a system that permits quick searching, data retrieval and data archives, without the headache of trying to do data entry on the palm -- which is a serious pain.


Do you guys have suggestions on what type of calendar works best? I'm looking for a small physical booklet thing. Portability and being able to see an entire month at a glance is key. I've been put off by the calendars I looked at since they have appointment areas (a good thing) but they only go from 7am-7pm or similiar nonsense. I need the full 24 hour day due to a varied sleep schedule. You would think finding a calendar would be simple but it's turning out difficult to make the "right" choice.

Again, I use my Palm's standard software for this. It permits me to view day, week, and months at a glance, and isn't limited to the timeframe; you can also search it electronically ;).


Since I'm planning on storing contacts digitally, what software do you guys use for that? I can't stand Outlook 2000's interface for the contact list, and I don't trust it to not lose this vital information. I want something that's simple, easy to use, not tied into other software (ie. not part of a mail client), easy to use, and easy to use. I'm almost tempted to write my own, but that would be counter-productive since there must already be a good solution.

Same as above. Data entry done either manually with pen and paper, entered into the PC at first convenient chance, and retrieved using the Palm.


Filling will be a challenge as well but I already have a filing cabinent for general stuff so it's more of an issue of reorganizing my current filing system to match GTD and actually using it regularly. I love the idea of the tickler file and this is definitely something I'll be using frequently. I have a lot of things that will fit very nicely into it. Has anyone found actual use for the label maker or is this something not work getting? I can't see a terrible need for it in my circumstances.

David recommends getting a high quality filing cabinet. I can't agree enough with this statement. I have a really nice one at home, and two crappy ones at the office. I hate them, hard to open, tip over, hard to close, etc.
Tickler file has been somewhat useful for me, although I suspect that as I get my organizational system down more, it will be used less and less.
Label maker is another must, although do *NOT* get the Brother Labeler's like DA recommends.
1. They are expensive
2. They don't have split back tape, and trying to get the backings off the labels are frustrating. (I mentioned this to one of the floor staff at OfficeMax and his reply was "I've never heard that." So I asked him to print out a test label for me. I tried to peel the backing for 10-15 seconds, then gave it to my boss who tried for 10-15 seconds, who then gave it to the OfficeMax guy, and it took him 30+ seconds to get it.)
3. It's difficult to get a power converter for them.

I recommend getting a Dymo labelManager 100+. You can pick them up at Wal-Mart for about $30, they come with an adapter and use splitback tape. I got one for work, and I'm probably going to get one for home.

HTH
Anthony

Almost done the book. Haven't been able to set aside the time to truly implement the system, since I'm in crunch mode to release RC1 of CustomBar on the promised Feb 16th date. Tuesday I am definitely going through with this though since that will be a nice break from 12 hour coding sessions.

The KeyNotes program mentioned in this thread is great! It doesn't do everything I want but it comes very close, and it is incredibly nice to be able to organize your whole life in one flexible document. I have had KeyNotes open (not just in system tray but on taskbar) for the past fives days and have been using it constantly. I have the first tab reserved for implementing Next-Action related things, as well as things such as goal lists, which are related at examining life at different heights. Having everything in a tree under this one tab allows a great way to have "life" be visible in a manageable and accessible form. I also have tabs for each of my major projects, under which, thanks to the tree mode, I am able to have practically EVERYTHING related to planning/progress in one spot. I've now reconsidered my views on computerized planning software. The only catch is that it's not portable, but things like shopping lists can easily be printed. Material coming in when on the go will simply get jotted down on a notepad and then later formally processed with Dave's system. I also gave ActionOutline a try, but it just seems like a less powerful version of KeyNote. It has the tree but lacks the tabs that really give KeyNote its power.

Labeller is going to go on the someday/maybe list ;) There just doesn't seem to be much that begs to be labelled. I've always differentiated between things like notes by different color/brand of binder/notebook so I think I subconciously have been making purchasing decisions where most of my materials are very easy to tell apart. Labels wouldn't hurt when filing, but the filing cabinet doesn't get enough coming in since so much of my reference is digital.

I just started reading this one. It's hard to get into because I'm also reading "How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling" at the same time which is so much more easy and fun to read.

Anyway. I find that David Allen beats around the bush too much. After I'm done reading a section I think "I was supposed to get [IDEA] out of this section but I'm not sure I did." His writing style also leaves a lot to be desired. Communications software? I guess he means my e-mail. Why doesn't he just say so? I don't like having to put a filter between what he says and my understanding of it. Another example. He keeps mentioning "tickler files" without having explained what they are yet. Quite annoying.

I'm sure he has some good things to say, with all the positive posts I've read. I just hope he gets to them soon.

henning

I've finished the book a few days ago and feel the same. It's definitely very interesting, but why does he repeat again and again the same things? Why is the methodology spread over the whole book instead of clearly explained at one place? I'm afraid I'll have to read the book again and note important things each time I see one to be able to implement the system.

About the tickler system, yeah, annoying; you could look in the index or something and read the part about it right now instead of wondering each time DA mentions it without explaining.