1. Getting Things DoneThe art of Stress-free Productivity Jorge Munir El Malek Vázquez Vigo, 05/09/2011
2. Agenda GTD ‘GettingThings Done’: Author, Method and BookStructure Stress & Anxiety Beginning GTD Be water my friend! Stuff vs Actions & Projects GTD Workflow Horizontal & Vertical Dimension Conclusions
3. GTD ‘GettingThings Done’Author, Method and BookStructure Author: David Allen ProductivityConsultant. http://www.davidco.com/ Method: Action Management Method. You do not Manage Projects or Tasks Actions Time Management System. Book Structure: Part 1: General description of GTD & Natural Planning Method. Part 2: Implementation Guidelines. Part 3: Additional reflexions
4. Stress & Anxiety When stress? Perception of having ‘Too much to handle and not the time to get it all done’ When anxiety? Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation and action. Some sources: Inappropriately managed commitments. Too many involvement and ideas (no focus). Ineffective personal organizational systems. Potential solution: You must first identify and collect all those things that are "ringing your bell” in some way, and then plan how to handle them.
5. Beginning GTD HumanMindWeakness Our mind is not so smart Example: Do you have a flashlight somewhere with dead batteries in it? When does your mind tend to remind you that you need new batteries? The Major Change: Getting it all out of your head. The mind is overload with Stuff. Stuff works as myriads of little monitors popping up arbitrarily and distracting your focus.
6. Be water my friend! The Promise: The ‘Ready State’ of the Martial Artist. Experience what the martial artists call a “mind like water” and top athletes refer to as the “zone”. The Principle: Dealing Effectively with Internal Commitments. How many incompletes or open loops are pulling your attention? There are much more than you think. Basic requirements in Managing Commitments First: Clear your mind by emptying it! Second: Clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it. Third: Once you have decided on all the actions you need to take, you must keep reminders of them organized in a system you review regularly. Your mind will keep working on anything that's still in that undecided state
7. Stuff vs Actions & Projects WhatisStuff?Anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn't belong where it is, but for which you haven't yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step. As long as it's still "stuff," it's not controllable. What is an Action?: Physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion. What is a Project?: Any desired result that requires more than one action step. You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. What is the objective? Stuff Objetives, Results and Actions
8. GTD Workflow GTD: 5 phasemethod. Collect. Process Organize Review Do Workflowdescription: We (1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4)review as options for what we choose to (5) do. GTD mustbesupportedby a trustedsystemoutsideyourmindwhereyou can come back toregularly and sortthrough!
9. GTD Workflow Three Models for Making Action Choices Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment Context. Time available. Energy available. Priority. Threefold Model for EvaluatingDaily Work Doing predefined work. Doing work as it shows up (real time) Defining your work. The Six-Level Model for Reviewing Your Own Work 50,000+ feet: Life 40,000 feet: Three- to five-year vision 30,000 feet: One- to two-year goals 20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility 10,000 feet: Current projects Runway: Current actions
10. Horizontal and Vertical Dimension You need to control commitments, projects, and actions in two ways— horizontally and vertically. Horizontal Dimension Itmaintains coherence across all the activities in which you are involved. Vertical Dimension It manages thinking up and down the track of individual topics and projects. Natural Planning (vs Reactive Planning) Defining purpose and principles Outcome visioning Brainstorming Organizing Identifying next actions Peter Drucker: “In knowledge work the task is not given; it has to be determined
11. Conclusions Anxiety & Stress as result of lack of control, organization, preparation and action. Our mind is not so smart as we thought. We need an external trusted system. 3 Steps for managing commitments. Clear and empty your mind. Clarify your commitments and decide your objectives. Establish actions and keep reminders. Main objective: Translate Stuff into Actions. GTD Workflow: 5 steps. Collect Process Organize Review Do. Horizontal & Vertical Dimension: Natural Planning.
