El libro GTD por David Allen en inglés

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Product Description

In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:

€ Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
€ Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
€ Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
€ Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
€ Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 267 pages

Amazon.com
With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"

That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy

From AudioFile
Productivity trainer and consultant David Allen offers a crash course in basic time management and personal organization. While Allen's reading is a little stiff, his enthusiasm for the topic and his passion for systems comes across loud and clear. Allen's message is concise: Organize yourself to free your mind for greater pursuits. And this simple production makes that daunting task seem possible. It's a quick glimpse at setting goals, clearing clutter, and staying focused. Allen's reading, although one dimensional, suits the nature of the topic, making this worth the time for the effort it will save down the road. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Allen, a management consultant and executive coach, provides insights into attaining maximum efficiency and at the same time relaxing whenever one needs or wants to. Readers learn that there is no single means for perfecting organizational efficiency or productivity; rather, the author offers tools to focus energies strategically and tactically without letting anything fall through the cracks. He provides tips, techniques, and tricks for implementation of his workflow management plan, which has two basic components: capture all the things that need to get done into a workable, dependable system; and discipline oneself to make front-end decisions with an action plan for all inputs into that system. In short, do it (quickly), delegate it (appropriately), or defer it. While an infomercial for the author's consulting practice, this road map for organizational efficiency may help many who have too much to do in too little time, both professionally and in their personal lives. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

A OK book, but just another "guru".
I bought this book after read some remarks in the Internet and magazines. Part I is the best one, where you get to know the basics and concepts about GTD. Part 2 is how the author does implement these basics and concepts in his day-by-day. Not for everyone. Part 3, just skip it. I wouldn't tell a friend to buy the book.

Too long but still excellent
I got this book at the same time as Getting Organized: Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity in the hope that one or both would help me tame my crazy life as a middle manager in a software company. Both books have something to offer - in my review of Getting Organized, I suggested skimming or reading several books and articles and taking the best suggestions from each.

While "Getting Organized" takes a Cliff's Notes approach with two-page chapters that take about two or three minutes each to digest, Getting Things Done goes more in depth, almost to a fault. I found that the first few chapters of Getting Things Done were much better written than the other book, and also stayed more technology-neutral, leaving it to the reader to decide whether to use paper files, day planners, PDAs, or list management software.

As others have written, the "processing stuff" flowchart that appears early on (page 32) is worthy of being printed, framed and sat on your desk for daily reference. It's the best summary I've seen of the different types of input items we all deal with and the choices we can and should make when dealing with them.

There's also a lot of meaty stuff that encourages you to think about your work habits and how you segment your time: Right now, am I categorizing input items or am I working on individual items? What's my energy level and mood right now and how should that affect what I do next? Do I have five minutes free or a solid hour?

I'm still developing my system, but essentially I use a combination of list management software (the excellent Remember the Milk) and email/calendaring (Gmail and Outlook) to keep track of things. I have one list per major area of responsibility ("Home - Finance", "Home - Medical", "Work - Management", "Work - Project xx", etc.) and I add things to the lists as I think of them. The author of the other book (Getting Organized) kind of pooh-poohs making huge to-do lists, but personally I agree with David Allen that getting that stuff out of your mind and into a list management system is key to being able to relax and pick what area to work next. You don't have to ever *do* every list item - in fact, trying to "finish" all your lists just isn't possible and the last list item is always "die a peaceful death" - but you should at least brainstorm it out once to clear your head. Usually the first time you do this you end up with 200 or so items - that's ok.

Now that I have my lists created, I make sure to spend some time each morning deciding not which items to complete that day, but which list(s) to focus on. I might block out a solid hour using Outlook to work on management or HR items, and another hour to catch up on email. When that "meeting with myself" pops up, I just go to the related list and grab the top priority item from the list - that way no area of focus gets starved.

I also like Allen's rule about Doing It Now if it takes two minutes or less, but I'd add the caveat that it's possible (for me at least) to find enough two-minute tasks to fill a whole day. So I would time-box it: spend 30 minutes doing as many 2-minute items as you can, then do something bigger.

I haven't finished the book yet, as I've already found plenty of things to try and am finding success, but that's ok. If you buy this don't feel duty-bound to read every last word the first week. Just learn, assimilate, test, repeat.

Good stuff overall.

Practical and useful
This book was practical and useful for me at home. I love the "tricks" that Allen teaches in this book and have been using them for about two weeks. I am doing the things I always knew I should be doing. Having it all out of my head has made a big difference for me. I have used many other systems and have kept the big picture parts of those systems because Allen says this system is about the nitty-gritty, actually getting things done, but you still need the big picture tools.

I am starting a new job and I feel as though my life is organized enough NOT to have to worry about what I am leaving undone. After 7 years of full time school, I had 4 garbage bags of paper in my overstuffed file drawer. Now, I remember the lesson, if you have it but can't find it, what's the point of having it? This helps me to know what to keep and what to toss. It is a worthwhile investment even if you only use a few of the tricks that he teaches to increase your organization.