What Is Wrong with GTD?
Key Takeaways
- GTD is a complex system that requires a lot of customisation.
- Many users still find it useful and many others now offer their own customised version.
- A new book by author David Allen promises to expand the concept to address work and life harmony.
Beyond GTD: Why Thousands of GTD Fans Are Looking for More
The most effective information workers in today’s competitive global marketplace are those who can master their time and their focus, producing both quality and quantity of output.
» Get the PDF including this article and full references (Club members only)
At the online book-giant Amazon.com, the same book tops the search list of 170,000 plus titles on productivity and over 70,000 on time management. It’s called “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” and was written by David Allen, a mild-mannered time-management superman disguised as a Californian management consultant. First published in 2001, Allen’s 250-plus page how-to book has generated countless reviews and has remained an international bestseller for seven years, still featuring in the Wall Street Journal’s top twenty business books today.
“Getting Things Done” (or GTD to the initiated) is not just another book on business theory though. Allen’s time-management system for the information age has high appeal for workers in the technology industry and has attracted a cult-like group of followers who have taken his advice on as a lifestyle challenge.
The basic concept of GTD is getting all those commitments, bits of information and must-dos out of your head and into a trusted system. The result, promises Allen, is an almost-instant reduction in stress – and an increase in productivity. So why has such a simple concept created such a fuss? According to his legion of fans, Allen has provided a direction for those flooded by email, struggling under information overload and stressed-out because they are trying to keep track of an ever-growing list of deadlines and commitments.
His fans are certainly a force to be reckoned with: GTD returns over ten million hits on Google, has inspired some of the web’s most popular productivity-focused blogs and has spawned a small industry of GTD interpretations, spinoffs and wannabes. As “Wired” magazine’s Gary Wolf puts it, “Allen is remaking the self-help tradition for the information age.” But while many bloggers are zealous GTD fans who are literal in their interpretation of the system, many more are online discussing how they have modified the GTD guidelines to suit their own circumstances – and where they are struggling.
Is this a sign that GTD is failing its users or is it their own application that is the problem? “You can’t prescribe the system,” Allen says. “People have to develop it themselves to some extent.” Allen maintains that GTD solved a problem most time-stretched workers didn’t know they had: they needed to get a clear space inside their head.
GTD’s Bottom-Up Revolution
In contrast to a global corporate monoculture influenced by the top-down approach of management super-gurus like Stephen Covey, Tom Peters and Gary Hamel, who all urge a focus on vision, missions and goals, Allen’s bottom-up system promises to minimise stress and maximise productivity. Every piece of information that our brain is trying to track adds to our stress levels, Allen says. So GTD involves collecting and processing every piece of information, every promise, every thought almost, then storing them in a filing system and retrieving them through a more complex process of regular reviews.
Processing information Allen’s way requires no philosophical soul-searching about overall missions and visions. A series of context-relevant to-do lists forms the guiding principles of the GTD-managed workday. Like many others in the personal-growth movement, Allen made a career of transforming some ingenious mental techniques into practical applications for the corporate world. The revelation that workers could clear their minds by clearing their incoming email, their in-boxes and their desks was something of a spiritual enlightenment for the free-market masses. Allen’s many fans were thrilled by their empty email in-boxes, clean desks and ability to feel some control over the volume of work they dealt with. But then the tweaks started. 
GTD advocates found gaps in the system and started to look for solutions. A global community of GTD fans developed a series of steps that would take them beyond Allen’s system. The internet has changed the global workplace, with more electronic distractions than ever before. Beyond email, we have Facebook, SMS, faster broadband and greater volumes of communication.
Meanwhile, Allen has kept busy spreading the same GTD word first published in 2001. In response to criticism suggesting a gap in the method, he points out that GTD was designed to be technology-independent. “GTD is timeless, it doesn’t matter if people have no computers or spend their whole world on their computer, it’s the same thing. You had both those people in 2001 and you’ve got both those people now,” he says. “Faster internet connections is just quantities, it’s not qualitative change. GTD is about managing your commitment to yourself.
Allen’s new book, “Making It All Work,” to be released at the end of 2008, promises to illuminate GTD followers with the true basics of self-management: control and perspective. But is Allen too late to go beyond GTD? Have the followers left the guru behind?
The GTD Disciples and Their Tweaks
In 2008, the internet harnessed people-power to an unprecedented level. GTD followers like Merlin Mann, Gina Trapani and Leo Babauta tweaked the method beyond Allen’s finicky filing systems into something more tech-savvy, more hip and more Zen. In doing so, they captured a fascinated and engaged internet audience.
While Allen’s book recommends paper, manila folders and a filing cabinet, many of the sites devoted to GTD improvements discuss project management software, text files, email programs like Outlook or gmail, a PDA, paper diaries and even index cards.
Merlin Mann’s jokey 2004 “Hipster PDA” blog post (which involves clipping a bunch of 3 in x 5 in file cards together with a binder clip) was a big hit and launched his “43 Folders” blog into net-stardom. He still holds a coveted spot in Technorati’s Top 100 blog list and attracts 8 million hits annually.
Mann was an early GTD convert; in fact, the name “43 Folders” refers to a system within GTD called “Tickler Files.” These use twelve monthly and 31 daily folders to file physical items that need to be done on a particular date. Mann’s site aims to reframe the productivity plans and methods that Allen had designed for the business world into a context useful for “developers, programmers and garden-variety geeks.”
In 2004, Mann argued that these geeks had work styles, deliverables, and skill-sets markedly different from the average GTD user. In particular, they were almost inseparable from their laptops and technology was a driving force in their lives.
Fast-forward to 2008 though and it seems the work landscape has shifted fast.
So has the GTD-modeling landscape. US-based time management software developer Priacta lists more than 100 GTD software titles on its website. Many are free, others range in price from $10 to $350.
Guam-based freelance writer Leo Babauta says that while GTD is “one of the best productivity systems ever invented,” he found plenty of flaws. So many, in fact, that he published his own version of GTD, called “Zen to Done,” which streamlines GTD for those who found similar problems. Babauta argues that GTD asks for too many habit changes at once, which makes it harder for new adopters to keep it up.
Even though the system is named Getting Things Done, the actual doing is a bit light-on, he says, with many users spending most of their time capturing and processing information rather than actually doing things.
Babauta says that because GTD doesn’t discriminate between the incoming tasks, everything goes on the lists and users become overloaded (although admittedly, with their neat desks and clean in-trays, they don’t look the part.) He believes that some users find the system lacks structure and for those who need clearer goals, GTD can be disorienting. “GTD is more focused on doing whatever comes at you rather than doing what you should be doing – the important stuff,” he writes.
Building on the Principles
Meanwhile, other time-management books are flooding the market and many are building on the principles of GTD. UK productivity expert and author of the 2006 book “Do It Tomorrow” Mark Forster points out that many users find GTD too complicated. “There are an awful lot of lists that you have to maintain,” he wrote on his blog in February, adding that his own system, boasting a similarly catchy and time-saving three-letter acronym, DIT, is much simpler.
Forster adds that adopting GTD won’t clear your workload, with Allen admitting that it’s impossible to do everything. Forster addresses this problem in his own system with “closed” lists. These are lists that can’t be added to without removing something, creating a more realistic approach. “At the end of the day [GTD] still comes down to deciding which task you are going to do out of a whole range of possible tasks. DIT on the other hand encourages you to aim to do everything - and if you don’t succeed in doing everything, to look at why you can’t,” Forster writes.
Allen himself comes close to admitting that a system that identifies priorities is a missing ingredient in the GTD formula. “In my next book, I focus a lot more. The reason I didn’t oversimplify priorities is because it is so complex, and the variables that go into how you make those choices, that almost deserves a book on its own.”
Criticisms and Cat-fights
Canadian project manager Douglas Johnston is a blogger who runs several web sites, including “DiyPlanner.” He admits being first attracted to GTD because it was so procedural, easily digested and easy to implement, but says that after a while, GTD is somewhat shallow. He believes that the sections of GTD that do attempt an overview – “the runway to 50K bits,” as he describes them – are ineffective. “These seem like quickly-written sections to address longer-term issues that GTD doesn’t really handle well; it works best as a short- to intermediate-term strategy, in my opinion,” Johnston writes.
Massachusetts-based US productivity consultant Matthew Cornell is one of the many bloggers who points out that once you have completed the collection process fundamental to GTD, you’re left with one big overwhelming list of what “to do” and not a great amount of help with “how to do.”
A time-management guru cat-fight erupted when New York based IT entrepreneur Mark Hurst, author of a 2007 book about productivity called “Bit Literacy,” called Allen’s approach “a bit of a throwback to a pre-internet age when having complex flowcharts, filing papers and creating tickler items was relevant.”
Hurst suggests managing workloads using a “bit literate to-do list,” where to-do items are created by email and priority lists are automatically generated.
Hurst was slammed for his comments about Allen by Tim Ferris, best-selling author of “The 4-Hour Work Week.” “The tech references in “Bit Literacy” have fewer applications and less shelf-life than GTD principles,” Ferris fired back.
Ferris’s book advocates outsourcing work to poorly-paid workers in developing nations to fund a leisurely lifestyle and has been roundly criticised for its ethically questionable premises, despite its useful tips on time and information management.
Even as other time-management experts disagree on the right approach, GTD remains one of the leading time-management systems around. GTD advocate and Guardian journalist Ben Hammersley became an instant convert when he tried Allen’s approach in 2005. According to him, Getting Things Done “is as close to a cult as a to-do list can get.” Hammersley added that for him, putting the system in place was nothing short of life-changing.
It’s a phrase that is common to GTD converts. It ensures that despite the plethora of alternatives and a technological environment that keeps changing at a galloping pace, Allen’s followers are keeping the faith and keeping their in-trays spotless. Still, as the spotless in-trays begin to lose their sparkle, many who seek solutions beyond the “problem they didn’t know they had” are finding productivity solutions elsewhere. Some of these solutions have a little more depth, more long-term planning and ultimately, more meaning.
»Get the PDF including this article and full references
(Club members only)
Related Articles |
| GTD Is Not for Me |
Author: Fran Malloy
Whakate welcomes your views,
please rate this article or leave a comment.
18 Responses to “What Is Wrong with GTD?”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thanks for the great article, Fran, and for the link. You identify one of the major GTD criticisms: A disconnect with personal goals. For me, though, the bottom-up approach was exactly what I needed. It’d be useful to have a guide-line for conditions under which the different approaches are recommended. Thanks again!
matt
September 1st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Great article. I think part of the problem with the bottom up approach may be the failure to complete the weekly review that GTD includes and putting too many tasks on the the Next Actions list. I actually do a review about every other day to promote project tasks to next actions. What has made my use of GTD especially effective is having it with me at all times. I use Nozbe, available from my Win machine at work and Macs at home and the companion iNozbe which makes my GTD available from my cell phone. And when I cannot type, but something comes to mind, e.g. driving the car, I call into my Jott account and my note or action is automatically transcribed and entered into my Nozbe GTD. As far as life balance is concerned, I keep all aspects of my life in my GTD and this seems to help keep things well balanced. You can read more about my experiences with these GTD apps in a blog post I wrote at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/more-getting-things-done/
September 1st, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Great article. A no-nonsense weekly review is the engine of GTD, in my experience.
Weak weekly review => weak next actions & incomplete processing of inbox => guaranteed GTD crash & burn since =everything= will not be off your mind and into a trusted system.
The =whole point= of GTD is a clear mind, not just productivity.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 am
Great article, very thorough! I couldn’t agree more that GTD needs some definite tweaking, which I chose to do. I think the best parts of the system are: the Project & Someday lists and categorizing tasks by what you are doing (calls, computer, etc.). I love paper, so I use paper on a daily basis, but use technology to manage date-based appointments and tasks.
Thanks for the article!
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Thanks for your comments! It’s really interesting to see just from one small group of GTD users that this one system still caters for such a wide range of approaches, from Brandie Kajino’s paper-based slant on GTD to John’s always-on Nozbe-based system.
Mark makes a good point - de-cluttering your mind was David Allen’s breakthrough point-of-difference and getting back to the basics, continually reviewing your next actions, seems to be key.
Great to hear from Matthew Cornell (someone who earns his living from productivity consulting!) that the bottom-up approach really works .. despite the problem with “keeping it real” and keeping on track with your key goals, GTD still clears the mind and lets you work efficiently. Sounds like there’s still a lot of life in Allen’s breakthrough.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Fran, be honest now: When have you had a “spotless” (meaning cleared to zero) inbox? You say that clearing the inbox has lost its sparkle, but have you done that yourself for even a few days to discover how that changes your perspective? Methinks you were superficial in your research, and didn’t try out the very approach that is the subject of your article. I had hoped for more from Whakate. Needless to say, I won’t be clicking on that PayPal link to donate for more.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hi Emile, Actually my email inbox is *always* empty at the end of the day, (really!) and has been since I first read David Allen’s book … but I have to confess i have found a few ’stash’ folders where i put things I’m not sure what to do with and they can build up .. (it’s amazing how we humans can find subversive ways of undoing our own best intentions!)
Part of the impetus for this story came from my discovery that i sometimes spent hours sorting my emails, procrastinating on a more productive task .. And though I remain a fan of GTD, I stand by my conclusion: David Allen is not the only guru (though I admit he’s a pretty good one!) and there are lots of other ways to skin a cat or empty an inbox.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for the honesty. I also stand by what I said about your inbox. Processing it to zero doesn’t mean moving stuff to stash folders. As long as you haven’t installed the habit of deciding what the email means the first time you open it, and dealing with it then, you haven’t experienced mind like water that the book talks about. The stashed emails are holding some portion of your attention that could be used more productively. Deciding about the email when you open it can also mean deciding not to decide, by putting the email in a place you trust you’ll look at again in time to handle it. That’s what Allen calls incubating it — a mindful process that frees your mind far more than a stash folder can.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Heh, so how about skinning a full inbox? Having an empty inbox is something that I can only DREAM about, though transferring information out of my head and somewhere safe is something I have gotten down– now to organize them! This article showed me that I may not be the only one struggling to get it all under control, but its the problem I have with GTD to begin with. Like it said in the article: not a lot on HOW to get stuff done. And after its all pretty and organized and tied up with a bow… it’s still staring me in the face!
Oh well, try and try again! Thanks for the article!
September 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
First of all: great article! Thank you Fran! I am grateful for an article that does not rehash the usual GTD marketing wishy-washy.
“Mind like Water” is David Allen’s enticing mantra.
For someone who supposedly has reached that state, Emile does sound a bit tense.
All this so-called “processing” of emails cannot hide the fact that often all you do is to move them from the IN-folder to some other folders, only to be able to say you have a “spotless” inbox.
Wherever one’s emails are, once you read them your subconscious mind will not forget about them - which is good, not bad.
DA calls the processing of his Next Actions “cranking widgets”. That sounds like mind-numbing wheel-spinning and pencil-sharpening to me.
GTD is not only useless but counter-productive for creative knowledge workers.
-laurent
September 19th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Hi Laurent, Emile & Moof, thanks for your comments. I think Moof summed up the experience of many - GTD is a wonderful way of getting yourself into an organised state but having processed all that loose undone stuff, many people find it a bit overwhelming to decide where to go next.
I take your point about processing, Emile - sounds like you have made GTD work very well for you. For those who systematically follow weekly reviews and other GTD methods, it can indeed be a useful system.
However I suspect that many people who are perhaps not quite so linear in their approach - and who may have a lot of things that come before them not easily categorised or dealt with immediately - need something more.
David Allen’s promise to to expand his concept to address work and life harmony may well give us that guidance - or perhaps we will have to look within ourselves.
I don’t think there is one system that will work for every person, every time. the trick is to find something that works for you, most of the time.
Or if you need lots of variety in your life - why not try ‘em all out for six months each!!
September 21st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Laurent: Yup, the Email Shuffle! Done that! What I want to learn to accept is that sometimes, I can’t always be in control. Alas, my Inbox is like my life… and that’s not a bad thing!
September 30th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I really like your observations.
For me GTD is still great and I really recommend it to anyone although you may end up with endless lists. What I like the most is the flexibility of this system that allows you to bend it to your needs. Other thing I like is sort of peace of mind that my stuff is there in the system and let me do something that’s not on it. But once your are done you can reffer to the system and pick things where you left them.
Thanks
October 13th, 2008 at 10:19 am
GTD is not really about which tech you use, it’s just a mental process for getting things done.
The system can be applied to offline, online, high tech, low tech.
the point is having a brain outside your brain, that keeps track of data.
and having a clear way of processing that information so you can get things done.
GTD doesn’t tell you how to get things done faster, or do less work.
it’s a system for letting your brain be free of keeping all your to do lists in your head.
and it frees you from cracking giant “to do” lists that can’t be managed properly.
The part about GTD that excites me is not the tech side, but optimizing the process of GTD itself.
or taking the pricinples of GTD and applying them in weird ways not normally thought of…
for example, I got the idea to organize my desktop by creating 2 folders.
1.Inbox
2. Filing Cabinet (with 26 folders A-Z)
Based on the concept in the book for a physical filing cabinet, you
put all your files (reference material) in a folder called “filing cabinet”
where do you find that notepad file “jerrys e-mail address”
in a filing cabinet labeled A-Z?
most likely, either under J (jerry) or E (email addresses)
still can’t find it? use your google desktop search bar.
How about that picture of grandmas and the kids?
try “P for pictures” or G for “grandma and the kids”
The key is finding and naming a folder and file something you’ll actually remember, something your brain would naturally find.
you wouldn’t call a file “crazy picture of grandma” and file it under C for crazy pictures (that makes no sense to your brain)
It’s simple hacks like that, that make my life easier, that’s the exciting part of GTD… the rest is just details.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I had the pleasure of interviewing Fran Molloy. She makes some interesting points in her blog article. She gave me some fantastics qutoes as well more of which I will post later in future articles.. I wrote my response to her overture here:
http://jasonrspencer.com/2008/10/11/the-getting-things-done-phenomenon/
She is also a very talented writer which makes the above article a real pleasure to read. The point with GTD if properly implemented is that you still need a daily tool for recalibration and this is still going to be some form of list to make your descisious about your priorities. The corner stone of the GTD model to me is that it really helps you clear your head so that you can tackle life’s bigger issues.
People often miss the subtler “higher altitudes” because they are taken for granted in Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything. Often times, no matter how much you state something which David does clearly in both of these books about the multiple levels of perspective, people miss the boat because they want someone to hold their hands through it and expound upon it in excrutiating detail.
Regardless of whether you choose to go top down and bottom up you have to credit his integrity. The comendable thing about Allen is that he does not monetize his system in such a proprietary matter as other Productivity experts. He also does not borrow other people’s ideas without crediting them. He both credits his sources and he also does not slam other people’s way of thinking–unlike other people do. All I can say is that Whakate is on to something here and I want to thank Fran for making me think!!!!
October 14th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
This is a great discussion.
@Mark, @Emile: You guys are spot on in your comments about mental clarity and the “Mind Like Water” state. It’s crucial to “getting” the GTD system.
My thoughts on GTD: Some might feel overwhelmed by neverending to-do lists, but that feeling should instead trigger another response: NO. This means that you will have to start refusing new tasks, and the best way you can start doing that is to be conscious of everything you need to do.
Have you guys checked out the reader’s article “GTD Is Not For Me”? Would love to hear your comments on that one.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Thanks for your comments Jason … yes I do wish I could get David Allen in to hold my hand while I try to get a bit more control over my workload! … and good tip Adrian, learning to say NO is a really good tip for managing when things start to overwhelm ..
October 31st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Great overview of the development of the GTD/productivity madness. :)
Personally, I’ve found GTD’s principles very helpful. I think they continue to apply regardless of what implementation you choose.
On the other hand, GTD actually doesn’t specify how many lists to keep, what to put on those lists, how often to review, how often to process your inboxes, etc. People think that the system does, but from interviewing Mr. Allen on my podcast and attending his seminar, it’s clear that he is proposing a very flexible approach that fits well with the variety of implementations.
See http://precisionchange.com/2008/06/04/episode-9-david-allen-can-make-time-disappear/
In the language of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, GTD is a set of strategies for getting things done, but not the specifics of how to do them, nor a substitute for actually doing them!
In addition to strategies for doing, we also need specific ways of implementing that work best for our unique contexts and personalities. Many people also need a way to deal with unpleasant emotions like stress, anxiety, anger towards a boss/coworker, etc. GTD helps at a cognitive-behavioral level, but not so clearly at an emotional level. Lately I’ve been coaching people to deal with such emotions (as make up procrastination) with a technique called Core Transformation.
Having effective strategies for doing is great, but it’s not everything.