Insights and inspiration for project professionals

He went to New College, now New College of Florida, and completed graduate work in American history at the University of California, Berkeley. 

After graduate school, Allen began using heroin and was briefly institutionalized. His career path has included jobs as a magician, waiter, karate teacher, landscaper, vitamin distributor, glass-blowing lathe operator, travel agent, gas station manager, U-Haul dealer, moped salesman, restaurant cook, personal growth trainer, manager of a lawn service company, and manager of a travel agency. 

He is an ordained minister with the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. He claims to have had 35 professions before age 35. He began applying his perspective on productivity with businesses in the 1980s when he was awarded a contract to design a Lockheed program for executives and managers. 

He is the founder of the David Allen Company, an executive coaching firm using his "Getting Things Done" methodology. David Allen Company presenters, not Allen, regularly give one-day public seminars on the method, and Allen himself occasionally gives lectures or sessions. 

Allen was also one of the founders of Actioneer, a company specializing in productivity tools for the PalmPilot. 

(  About - Getting Things Done® ;  David Allen (author) - Wikipedia ) 

Summary 

Your mind can hold so much. As we have read in Atomic Habits and Deep Work, getting a reliable external system is essential. By reliable, David means tools you trust you will get to use appropriately, which will comfortably fit into your lifestyle. 

It would help if you captured the ideas and thoughts circulating your mind appropriately and relieved the mind from decision fatigue or unreliable decision making. 

This also allows you to make sense of your priorities. 

“Reflect for a moment on what it actually might be like if your personal management situation were totally under control, at all levels and at all times. What if you had completely clear mental space, with nothing pulling or pushing on you unproductively? What if you could dedicate fully 100 percent of your attention to whatever was at hand, at your own choosing, with no distraction?” – David Allen 

Be present at the moment and have control over what you need to do at his moment. 

Build a trusted system (an external brain), and actively capture, clarify, and remind yourself of whatever you need to do at the time you need to do it. Here is my GTD (Getting Things Done) system and the three habits that allow my GTD system to be successful: 

1. Capture: 

“There is no reason to ever have the same thought twice unless you like having that thought…Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection tool, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.” ‐ David Allen 

- When something comes up, capture it (email to yourself, shopping list, idea and maybe list, etc) 

2. Process: 

“You must clarify exactly what your commitment is and decide what you have to do, if anything, to make progress toward fulfilling it…You must use your mind to get things off your mind.” ‐ David Allen 

Find the right place where you put the processed items and decide if you need to act on this or the NEXT ACTION. 

- What do next? 

- Who to involved? 

- When to get back to it? 

- What is the measure of success or completion? 

 

Complete is complete. Create mini projects and “break them down "into action list. 

3. Review 

“The more complete the system is, the more you’ll trust it. And the more you trust it, the more you’ll be motivated to keep it…(each week) Get clean, clear, current, and complete.”– David Allen 

He also provides clear examples of what you can do in your daily life. An email is a standard tool for most working people. He proposes a drastic but effective way to productively process data input and output clear and final decisions. Releasing your brain from having your mind elsewhere when you need to be in the present is essential. 

What is controversial is that David gives importance to the detailed actions that will contribute to the next level. However, he mentions the review from top to bottom in the weekly review. 

Therefore, it is crucial to develop the vision, have a clear purpose, break it down to the action level and work your way through it by prioritizing the list. 

Reading this book will also be fair to people with chaotic schedules, parents, emergency workers, Hyperactive people, and more. David advocates for the CPR throughout the book: 

- Capture to relieve the mind and let it generate ideas instead of holding them 

- Process these captured items as quick as possible and timely (do in 2 min), transfer (to another date or folder), delete (no action needed) 

- Review to make sure you have left no stones unturned. 

As project managers, we are in this situation every project. We depart from a purpose and a definition of what is considered complete and successful. We develop a planning and Information Management System. This information system could be the basis for capturing. Simultaneously, there is a breakdown of the actions leading to deliverables. The naming can be sprint log, Project Priority action chart, Backlog, Deliverable Mapping, and others. 

We assign the best way to apply CPR to the action and constantly define if it is worth continuation while processing the activities necessary to complete the action. A PM will use tools and external brains (like David Allen says) to support clear decision-making with the right set of people. 

This step transitions to the review where actions are completed, measured, and verified deliverables. 

These remind me of a saying that you can only eat an elephant piece by piece. Relieving our mind from serious thoughts was a point of interest in Deep Work and made a complete comeback in Getting things done. 

I do not doubt that Getting Things Done is a very practical book, and I even recommend the workbook and the teenager's version for your young adults. It takes practice to develop the habit. I am surprised that it was not clearly mentioned that you also need a partner to keep you accountable, even if it was mentioned quickly throughout the book. There is always an action to be followed with or by someone else, and they are your accountability group as much as you are theirs. 

Clearing the mind leaves space for better decision-making and primarily handling difficult situations under stress at the moment. 

I have tried and failed so far in keeping up, but I am willing to keep on trying to find the method that will free up my mind. I will find the best version for me very soon, and I believe it will exponentially expand my capabilities. I hope you do the same. 

 

A few lessons from the book: 

1. Be comfortable in your choices 

2. Relieve stress by creating an “external brain.” 

3. Capture all critical thoughts and items in a reliable place 

4. Write down the outcome and next action for each item

a. Define the desired outcome 

b. Define the Next Action

i. Accomplish the action now if it takes less than 2 minutes. The most straightforward approach for the small 2-minute tasks is to do them right away rather than wasting time trying to manage them in your system. 

ii. Pass the action to the right person (your co-worker, spouse, accountant, etc.). Then put the item on a “Waiting For” list that tracks everything you’re waiting on others to complete. 

iii. Put the action on one of your Next Action lists. (We’ll explain these next.) 

5. Use a Calendar and Next Action lists always to know what to work on next a. Only put to-do items on your calendar if you must do them on that day/time, like an appointment. 

6. Create a Projects List to keep track of everything in one place 

7. Keep track of non-actionable items with a Someday/Maybe list and calendar reminders a. If some of your captured things don’t require action or decision now, but maybe in the future, either save it as a future reminder on your calendar or put it on a Someday/Maybe list. 

8. Create a library of references that works for you, create your internet 

9. Review your entire system weekly to stay focused and oriented 

 

Conclusion 

Having a clear and comfortable way to apply CPR: Capture, Process, Review, is essential for freeing the mind. This freedom will allow for better decision-making. It will open your brain space to process what is now, in the present moment. You will enjoy the present and avoid worrying about what’s on your mind because you will already have to classify it. 

Better if someone refers to an item you have classified, your library of references will help you capture how you have processed, reviewed it, and completed the item. With major luck and technology, you will even have a time stamp. 

We can have the world be better based on fact instead of hearsays and confusing thoughts. 

Check-out the 10 Tips for Success with GTD® (gettingthingsdone.com  for more insights.