There is apparently a cult, whose bible is called Getting Things Done
“Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” (David Allen)
Jeff Porten wrote a brief article in the current TidBits:
GTD, the Short Version -- The premise of GTD is that we all fill our lives with “open loops,” promises we make to ourselves to get something done later on. The problem is that our brains aren't built for this kind of work; if you remember you need milk only when your cereal is dry, or you need to send an email message when you're in bed staring at the ceiling at 4 AM, you can't actually fix the issue at that moment. These open loops create a sort of psychic backlog, since all you can do at that point is worry about things, not do them.The GTD method has five steps: collect, process, organize, review, and do.
Collect simply means that you note these items in specific places; i.e., a dry-erase marker on the kitchen fridge, or a voice recorder by your bed, for the examples I mentioned above.
Process takes all of the items you've collected and determines what needs to be done next, such as “buy more milk.”
Organize puts all of these actions into “contexts,” so you'll complete them more easily; when you buy your milk you can also buy bread, but you can't usually send an email message.
Review places these organized lists back into your brain, at least enough so that you have the lists you need, when you need them.
And finally, you actually do the things on these lists, when you're ready to do them with the least effort and the most effectiveness.
We are, to be blunt, technophiles, so perhaps this technique/cult will be beneficial to us.
Part 2 is here
Tags: Macintosh
