I don’t know if this is profound or just a case of me finally understanding last month what everyone else gets: Productivity is not one problem, it’s three.
For the past decade I’ve been trying to solve how to be productive as if that problem begins and ends in Getting Things Done (David Allen’s productivity methodology). GTD is a great solution for problem #2 – how to effectively warehouse and inventory tasks somewhere other than between your ears.
The first problem domain is Personal Information Management – everything from (too many) passwords to notes to relevant information to finding information again without searching for it again to shoveling email (got a new trick for this – more on that tomorrow). It’s all the info I need to create, store, pull together and break apart so I can get work done.
The third problem is actually doing the work. How, when drowning in distractions, do I produce good work? In fact, how do I work well even when I’m unmotivated, tired, distracted, and/or brain fatigued? Having the longest task list, the best GTD system doesn’t get you a prize or put money in the bank. Accomplishing, completing, creating, executing, does. Enumerating the work is not the same as doing the work, let alone doing the work well so that other people will pay you for it.
Three implications:
- Information Management comes first. You’ve got to handle that problem otherwise you will be constantly stymied as you try to deal with problems two and three.
- There’s a point of diminishing returns solving the Task management problem with GTD. GTD is not about the first problem, and tangentially about the third problem. Especially if burn all of your disposable time trying to fix problems #1 and #3.
- There are thousands of programs out there for managing some part of your information load, and thousands of GTD-centric programs. But there’s only a few – a tiny few – that focus on developing better focus: Minimal writing environments like Byword and exercising your focus like various Pomodoro Apps. Handful of apps + huge unmet need = startup opportunity.
Also, it’s is a lot easier concentrating on and solving some part of each of these problems than trying to find either software or methodology which will magically solve all three.
So what do you think?
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Very good points, I completely agree productivity is more complex than simply knowing what to do.
I would also add that sometimes the act of “time/activity management” can be misconstrued as actually doing something productive.
Essentially we trick ourselves into thinking we’re doing work by planning-what-to-do rather than actually doing it!
Very interesting. When reading about GTD I always felt that it creates busy work. It takes longer to manage all the small stuff than to keep it in the brain. I have also noticed that the PIM part is getting more important. I can’t imaging where I would be without Jojimbo/Wallet. Why would I have to force myself to focus with something like Pomodoro?
Yep. I agree.
For the Personal Information Management, I’m finding that having an android phone with synced contacts, gmail, etc is fantastic. Also, I have evernote installed on it, and I do my GTD by having a GTD folder. In that I have all of my projects, but more importantly, I have the current todo list (taken from the projects). So my GTD is working at the minute.
Even with good GTD, you still have the problem of priority, it doesn’t make you productive, but as far as I can see it’s not about priorities. The title is Getting THINGS done. Not getting productive things done. Or getting important things done. It’s up to you to choose which things to get done.
I’m just starting to try Pomodoro, but this is something else. As I understand it, it allows you to focus on a task in hand, but again, it doesn’t say which task.
I’m still wrestling with my priorities, but one thing GTD does give me is the ability to not forget things, and this helps me because I don’t have to stress about it. At least I’m getting some things done.
I totally agree. I’ve been trying to find the perfect match for being productive, but without any real success. After Thing + iCal together, after implementing GTD on my Moleskine , I’m now using the brand new Google Calendar with Evernote for Mac. And I really enjoy it so far. A great web app idea would be to apply the Covey’s 7 Habits weekly planning: on the left appears your diverse roles, then for each role you have your weekly goals. On the right side, you have your weekly schedule, on which appears each of your weekly goals at the time you wish. THAT would be a great tool!