So my friend Michelle Lin was kind enough to solicit a “How I Work Smarter” piece on her excellent ALIEM blog. One of the things I mentioned in that piece was a book called Getting Things Done. I’ve since gotten a bunch of questions and comments about the book. I’d like to take a brief diversion from the main topic of EMCrit and discuss a bit about the book and productivity for docs and resuscitationists.

GTD on ODR

The Books

Getting Things Done by David Allen (A new edition, the first in years will be out in 3-4 months)
The Organized Mind

The Philosophy

A clear mind eliminates stress and allows creativity, so…

Capture all the things that need to get done into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind, and…

Discipline yourself to make decisions about all the inputs you let into your life, so that you will always have a plan for next actions that you can implement or renegotiate at any moment

(altered from Mindzone Wiki)

Problems with the Book

Mindset of the Author
Based on an erstwhile paper-based world
Can be read as Dogma

The Steps of GTD

Collect/Process/Organize/Review/Do

1. Collection/Universal Capture

Index Cards
Drafts for IOS

Inbox(es)

Email
Paper Landing Station (The Traditional/Actual Inbox)
Pocket for Web and IOS

2. Process

What is it?

Is it an action, spam, or something non-actionable you want to keep?

Action Processing

Decide if you want to Do it, Don’t do it, Delegate it, or Put it in your system
Is it a project?
What is the physical next action that must occur to bring you 1 step closer to completion

Next Actions & Projects

Reference Processing

Things you just want to keep or references for actions

Eliminate Paper!

Evernote
Scansnap Scanner (this item will change your life)

3. Organize-If you are not doing it right now, put it in the system

NirvanaHQ or Omnifocus
GCal with Fantastical
Add all reference material as links in your system

Calendar

Only things that absolutely must happen at this date/time

Lists on Task Management System

Especially important to have a someday/maybe list, a waiting list, and have a thorough understanding of scheduled events.

4. Review

Daily

Try to process all email
Kill all paper
Clean off Desktop
Look at Calendar
Look at Focus and Inbox
Make a To-Do Card
Pack for next day

Weekly

(this list is from Mindzone wiki)

Loose Papers

business cards, receipts, etc. – put in in basket for processing

Process Your Notes
Previous Calendar Data

review for remaining action items, reference information, etc.

Upcoming Calendar
Empty Your Head

write down any new projects, action items, etc.

Review “Projects” (and Larger Outcome) Lists

ensure that at least one kick-start action is in your system for each

Review “Next Actions” Lists

Mark off completed actions & review for reminders of further action steps to capture

Review “Waiting For” List

Records appropriate actions for any needed follow-up & check off received items

Review Any Relevant Checklists
Review “Someday/Maybe” List

Check for any projects that may have become active and transfer them to “Projects” & delete items no longer of interest

Review “Pending” and Support Files

Browse through all work-in-progress support material to trigger new actions, completions, and waiting-fors

Quarterly

Higher Level Goals and a super-thorough version of weekly review

Yearly

Vision, Life, Clean Out All Files, Am I going in the right direction?

5. Doing

Happens naturally if you use the method above. However, I alter the canonical method with my daily to-do card and the focus section of nirvana

The Initial Dump (this comes first, but is being discussed last)

Incompletion Trigger List

You will fall off the wagon

Not a problem, redo the initial dump and start up again

Flowcharts

Here is a pdf of the simplified workflow from DavidAllenCo.

A more elaborate version is here:

GTD Flow from DavidAllenCo

Other People’s Take

Official GTD Site
Minezone Wiki Summary
Patrick Rhone’s Version (a bit outdated, but concepts are good. pdf)
The Email Charter (not really gtd, but worth a look)
Want a poster of the image you see above from Aaron Levie, just go to his site
A Pattern Language for GTD

Please tell me your thoughts on this episode. Use the comments section below

Update:

Numerous readers have also recommended doit.im

Now on to the Podcast…

Park Howell

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