Getting Things Done
David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) methodology detailed in his book of the same name is a simple enough concept.
At it’s most basic, Allen’s theory hinges on the idea that all tasks should be recorded, scheduled, and then moved out of a person’s current mindset to be completed later.
This enables a better allocation of the time and resources and ensures that attention is focused on the tasks that are the most important, not necessarily the most urgent nor front of mind.
This theory, together with minimalism in everyday working, can be used to great effect to boost organisational productivity. In most workplaces, too many people surround themselves with tasks and to-do’s that are designed to give an impression of busy-ness.
In reality, they are not actually achieving very much at all.
Side note – More on this phenomenon in detail is available from this external blog post – Becoming Un-Busy.
Another element of this movement is life hacking. There are many resources available on the web devoted to this subject.
‘Life Hacks’ started off as inexpensive or even free way to make little life tasks easier (usually by taking an item or product intended for one purpose and transforming it to perform another – paper clip cable ties anyone?).
The term has since been broadened to encompass software ‘hacking’….but not in it’s traditional sense. Instead of trying to burst though firewalls and other security measures, life hacks is all about making technology work better for you.
Lifehacker is an excellent resource and has a technology focus on this subject.
If you want to explore this further I would suggest taking a look at some of the links below. They offer entry-level insights into the GTD theories and also life hacks.
Or you can contact me for a deeper discussion or information on GTD or life hacks. I’m a firm believer and supporter of both through Waypoint.
Tools for ‘Getting Things Done’
Remember The Milk – Android / iOS – Fantastic List Management application
Evernote – One of the most popular applications for storing information, including web pages, notes, lists, links.
Becoming Minimalist – Blog curated by Joshua Becker which goes further and covers both personal and corporate minimalism in more detail.
Google Drive – Complete cloud-based solution for full document storage, plus document, presentation and spreadsheet editing. Also available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
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