EffTD Interview Part One: David Allen
Written by Mike Vardy
Wednesday, 08 April 2009
David Allen
Right before last month’s GTD Summit, I had the opportunity to chat with the surprisingly reasonable and like-minded David Allen. I say this only because prior to contacting him, I’d been of the mindset that he was a staunch anti-supporter of Eventualism and EffTD. Quite the contrary, as you’ll read here - seems as if he’s given EffTD his own seal of approval!
For those of you unfamiliar with Allen’s work, I have two things to mention:
1. He is the creator of the popular productivity system and accompanying book Getting Things Done (or GTD for short - it’s an acronym). His latest book is entitled Making It All Work and it expands and refines what he’s been preaching for the past several years.
I have a 24″ x 36″ whiteboard hanging on the wall in my office that I use for brainstorming ideas and capturing concepts.
I love it for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it is so easy to edit. Try something, draw something, write something - if you don’t like it you can erase it and try again.
Working the dash is not a new concept. Merlin has written about dashes a few times, and our very own James Mallinson wrote about it last week in a roundabout way. But I’ve recently discovered for myself how well it works, especially with stuff I’ve been putting off.
Now, I don’t go so far as to set up an elaborate forumula for it like the [’(10+2)*5′] technique, but the whole concept of working within a small window of time has proved effective for me. I can’t really say much about it that hasn’t been said before, but I can share my own experiences and examples.
The other night, my computer warned me that it’s scheduled shutdown was in ten minutes. So, I went ahead and quickly read some articles and dashed off a couple of e-mails that I had been putting off. I was surprised how much I had gotten done in just a short time. It was pretty exciting.
Scott Ginsburg has a great column in the latest newsletter from Jeffrey Gitomer. In the article he discusses a double-handful of ways that you can make someone feel important, valued, and needed. These are, of course, important ways to develop and enhance your relationship with your team at work, even your family and friends.
I was struck by three of these tips, involving the use of notes:
3. Take notes. Taking notes is proof. Taking notes keeps you mindful in the conversation. Taking notes honors someone’s thoughts. Taking notes is respectful. Taking notes increases someone’s self-esteem. Not to mention, if you don’t write it down, it never happened. Do you carry a notebook or jotter with you at all times?
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April 8th, 2009 by Stephen
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