Making It All Work

I finished Making It All Work by David Allen. This is GTD2.0. GTD is shorthand for Getting Things Done, his first book. MIAW just doesn't roll of the tounge since it is not a TLA. It was fun to read a book when you have already researched the topic.

David is quite bold to say that no one has ever said his system does not work. In one interview, there was a pause after this statement and you could tell the the interviewer was thinking 'No critics! Seriously!'. I have found plenty of criticisms and recommended improvements. My favorite is 'Zen to Done'. He has stated that it is a process and the details are what works for you. So, if you do not like the system, then you must not be using the details that work for you.

Reading MIAW, I can see several areas where David has responded to the non-existent criticism. The martial arts 'Mind Like Water' terminology is downplayed. He was guilty of misrepresenting Eastern philosophy. He has tried to emphasize the higher levels of the system vs the gritty details. Although he mentions the 50,000 foot 'life purpose' in GTD. What everyone took away from it was how to organize and prioritize the things we do everyday. In MIAW he spends many more pages on the different levels. The previous book emphasized business, the examples in this book are often life related. Even the subtitle Winning the Game of Work and the Business of Life telegraphs this shift. I still don't think he has done enough in the area of how to clean house when you have 100 uncompleted next actions which are now obsolete.

I do think that GTD/MIAW has more or less nailed mental organization and that is why I bought the book after reading the library's copy. I think the 'Process' focus is genius (I am a process engineer). So much of organization is 'Use this software' or 'Buy my planner' which is inflexible. The other pitfal he artfully avoids is fixed priorities. I am sure everyone has at some point succumbed to ABC priority coding only to realize three days later that priority A is obsolete and priority C must be done immediately.

I have been spending a lot of time researching personal efficiency. So much so, that I think I need to stop wasting time researching. :-). I would say this book is probably the best single resource for this. Becoming more efficient is a lot like dieting. You do really good and see progress then one of the busses of life run you over and you fall off the wagon. Later, you feel like there is too much going on and you just have to get organized and efficient again. David's books have enough detail that you can re-read them and find a perspective that you did not get the last time through.