Why Does Getting Things Done Have To Be So Hard?

David Allen and his book Getting Things Done (GTD) is legendary in the realm of personal productivity. It is a methodology that recognizes some level of difference in the individual, but always focuses on “inbox zero”. In other words, think of your life as a set of buckets:

1. E-mail inbox certainly qualifies.
2. In-basket on your desk comes to mind.
3. Notepad for meetings.
4. Voicemail boxes.
5. White board on your refrigerator.
6. Mailbox at the house.
7. Wallet (filled with receipts, business cards, etc.)
8. … and just about anything in your life that collects stuff you need to think about or process.

But GTD is really a lifestyle change – or maybe a brain rewire, as it were. It takes commitment for it to work, which oddly enough most things do (surprised, I know). However, as my life seems to become more and more complex, I am instinctively seeking more and more simplicity.

So, I continually look for tools to help me increase my productivity (and really just keep me honest to sticking with the “plan”). I found this little utility I’m working with now, a GTD Outlook 2007 Plug-in by Netcentric. I don’t have a lot to report yet, but it seems very slick so far. I hope to use this for the next few weeks and have a little more legitimate product review post out for you all.

Aside from some technical issues at first and the ease of use for filing and setting the “next action item”, I got one question…

For a tool that is geared around a process to help you distill your life into their critical components and maximize your time to do more of what you want to do, WHY would you have a 127 page manual to dig through?

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken serves on the board of the new Managed Print Services Association, an international industry organization seeking worldwide best practices for the managed print services industry. He is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting with you.