Excellent system for GTD, a game-changer for me. However, the paper-based system is dated as there is now lots of computer-based GTD-applications out there. I use "Things" for mac. ( )

I'm really surprised by all the hype behind this book. If you're even a half organized person, most of the advice presented in this book probably comes second nature. The methodology presented is simply too rigorous to follow. It's sort of like going on a strict diet- you'll lose weight at first, but you really can't live by it.

All of the advice could be summed up as follows:
1) Make a list of what needs to be done
2) If you can do it in two minutes, do it now
3) If you'll never get around to it, just forget about it
4) Work on the remainder of the list as you have time

See, pretty simple. ( )

Will this book change your life? Maybe. I know a couple of people who've tried to implement it and lapsed back into preGTD mode. Having said that, I find some of it hugely useful and inspiring, and may give some bits a go.

Some of the writing is irritating (I'm allergic to the word psyche), and some what he says is blindingly obvious and I've be implementing it since I was 5. Seriously, is there anyone still out there who doesn't have pens and paper next to their phone? It also does contain the best variant on the "action as a verb" game I've come across so far - actionalize. ;-)

Bechdel/diversity: This is an interesting one. I was tempted to do a "not applicable to non-fiction" cop-out. But he tris so hard, bless him, to use "she" and "her" more than "he" and "him". It actually gets to the point where it feels fake - there just *aren't* that many female top executives out there. I've seen the stats. It's very much a baby boomer and possibly Gen X book. It describes a world of work which will increasingly change. All the talk of offices and secretaries and paper in-trays already reads like an anachronism - it may still apply to your typical male baby boomer top executive but not to the world of work at large.

Still, powerful book. ( )

Good to read, difficult to follow :) ( )

Like most self-help books, Getting Things Done will not blow your mind with new ideas, but it does to help focus your energy and stop worrying.

The best tips? Don't keep to-do's in your head, and instead always write them down (or record them in a computer). Also: never write a to-do such as "get tires for car" but instead come up with a NEXT ACTION. Actionable tasks are key to making progress.

The system seems comprehensive but I'm not sure if many people totally follow it. ( )

I’m not big on business books self-help books. Business books often leave me numbed by repetitive illustrations that make the same brilliant point too many times. Self-help books, on the other hand, often seem aimed at losers.

Now that that disclaimer’s out of the way, let me say this: Getting Things Done is revolutionizing my organizational skills. Having recently taken on the Senior Pastorate of a church, I quickly realized my need for a more comprehensive organization system. Allen had the answer that worked for me.

As Allen himself emphasizes, his method is largely common sense that is frequently ignored. The idea is this: if you collect everything in life, process it regularly, and act on it, then you will have far less stress and be able to work creatively. Gone is that nagging voice in my mind that always suggests I look after something else instead of what I’m currently doing.

If you could use some personal organizational skills, give this book a try. It could save your sanity! ( )

Another system for organization and task management, along with Franklin Covey, Day Timer, etc. Some, like myself jugling work and family obligations, may find the focus on tasks and contexts more useful that the alternatives which focus on goals and objectives. However, these are not mutually exlcusive philosophies, just different appraoches to help one get started with getting one's head around one's life--bottom up or top down. ( )

Getting Things Done covers organization from the perspective of helping you think about how to manage your committments. It does not promise a "system" that will correct your disorganization. I use the concepts from this book in my daily life. ( )

I included this book in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com. ( )

a few good ideas about time management and project management. I liked his suggestion to make a "next step" list--forces you to really clarify what needs to be done next for each task, therefore you actually can make traction on things that seem too overwhelming (or too "simple--you can realize that the reason you're not getting the task done is that the first step is too irritating or boring, or whatever). recommended

A clearly presented method for getting organized and being productive. Mr. Allen presents his method clearly and with easy steps that make the method easy to follow.

As with any method of organization, I suggest reading the method and adapting it to make it work for you, as no method will work completely for everybody, but this method is presented in a way that it is adaptable for many people. ( )

I came up with most of these tips on my own, BUT they are extremely well presented and as far as I am concerned the GTD method is the best way to keep yourself organized and stress-free that has thus far been elucidated.

I think that people who are not naturally organized (and let's face it: who is) will appreciate the way that Allen gives simple steps, with a limited variety of options to choose from, to organize your life.

Personally, my "slightly modified GTD method" involves Google calendars (for my schedule) and post-its in three places (on my computer OR in the folder I carry with me during the work day OR in a "holding area" on the back of my desk). ( )

I came up with most of these tips on my own, BUT they are extremely well presented and as far as I am concerned the GTD method is the best way to keep yourself organized and stress-free that has thus far been elucidated.

I think that people who are not naturally organized (and let's face it: who is) will appreciate the way that Allen gives simple steps, with a limited variety of options to choose from, to organize your life.

Personally, my "slightly modified GTD method" involves Google calendars (for my schedule) and post-its in three places (on my computer OR in the folder I carry with me during the work day OR in a "holding area" on the back of my desk). ( )

Excelente para organizarse ( )

If nothing else it made me think about how I do things and how I might make things work better. While I mightn't agree with all his methods, it does make sense to have a method to deal with things and make sure that you have a plan in place for dealing with the various things that arrive on your plate both at home and in work, though the emphasis is really on work.

I plan to make re-reading it an occasional thing. ( )

My personal favorite for learning the art of self organization. Really practical. ( )

Allen gives a lot of good tips on increasing your productivity at work. I think "Getting Things Done" is a bit of a misleading title - the book doesn't teach you how to get through more, it just gives you a system for working through things. It's a pretty good system, most of which I was already doing. ( )

This book revolutionised my “to do’s” and makes keeping track of everything and anything you might want to keep track of a breeze – as long as you remember to do the simple reviews at appropriate times and keep a decent filing system going. I had already used the tickler files idea many years before this book and was pleased to revisit the system and the “someday maybe” idea keeps all your “one day I will…” in one place and, most importantly, not cluttering up your psyche.To be honest, I have found that many people, including myself, spend vast amounts of time setting up the framework, tweaking it, maintaining it and generally puttering around with it but the actual “Getting Things Done” is still elusive. But hec, I know exactly what I’m not getting done and how to go about doing it should I ever stop procrastinating, and so it is not cluttering up my brain and nagging “you should be…”. Instead, it sits quietly waiting for its turn on a next action list and the great day when a tick goes next to it. ( )

It's a powerful system Allen lays out, though it takes hard work and dedication. Which is a plus. I mean, organization SHOULD be a challenging thing, otherwise we'd all be organized. Allen is strongest on the system itself -- it's a fresh take on a common-sense issue. He's less strong when he pontificates on his productivity philosophy. (The biggest stretch for me was the assertion that the most gifted person procrastinates the most; it almost made a case for procrastination being proof of someone's superiority.) A few weeks in, I'm still doing pretty well sticking with the system, and I DO feel less stress than I did before, when I wasn't sure where all the "loose ends" of my life were. So, I'm pretty happy with this system. Time will still bear out if it's as good as I suspect. ( )

The best book I know on personal productivity, on how to be an efficient and effective knowledge worker. ( )

David Allen's method for getting things done requires LOTS of lists. Lists of lists and more lists and very intricate systems of where to put your lists and what to put on your lists and a flowchart to decide what to do next. I know a lot of people swear by his method, but just reading about it caused my stress level to skyrocket. ( )

Great book, a classic on how to take charge of the things that are driving your life. It's not a solve-all your problems book, and it will not make your work go away, but the tips here, the tactical approaches to how to keep your work controlled are real and impactful. ( )

An easy read, with some useful tidbits embedded here and there. Probably the most useful for me were:
- the decision diagram (basically, how to process the "stuff" that comes into life's in-box
- always asking the question "what's the next action" -- and writing it down
- getting *everything* down on a written, or otherwise stored, list
- the "tickler" file, and the ability to put stuff away for looking at/processing on a future date

I'm giving it a try myself. Looks like there are some maintenance issues that are going to make or break whether the whole approach works for me. If I come up with any good solutions, I'll post them. ( )

An incredibly inspirational book for getting organized. I haven't started using the practices in full yet, but I plan to very soon. The policies and plans make sense, and are very geek-oriented as they revolve around collecting and classifying. I think Allen is right, if you focus on the next action you can get anything done. Check out http://gtd.43folders.com for more GTD goodies. ( )

After coming accros Getting Things Done (referred to as GTD) on the internet several times, my interest in this book was born. Not being a very disorganized person, I am always open to increase the effectiveness and organization in my own life.

Reading Getting Things Done by David Allen really inspired me to at least start thinking about how I want to organize my personal and work related life, and if there are any big flaws in the way I organize things now. The idea of having an inbox where you drop all your thoughts, ideas and tasks sounds appealing to me, if it will help get things off your mind. As Allen describes it, it is more usefull knowing the things you are not doing now instead off not knowing what you need to do.

Setting up the system seems quite some hassle if you ask me. Maybe that's because it really is complicated, or Allen makes it complicated by going pretty indepth about his system. Ofcourse it is good that he is describing the system as solid as he can, but doing this without too much of a structure made me go lost somewhere halfway while getting my way through the book.

Though I had some problems with a lack of real structure and got annoyed by overload of vague referring Allen is good at (one colleague of mine, a friend of mine, a client of mine at this company, a client of mine at that company, whatever colleague of mine at whatever company), still I am triggered to start of organizing my life and overload of information more.

I am not saying I am exactly going to take over the Getting Things Done method, but will at least consider it. Though I am tempted to say my current way of organizing and collecting seems fine, I might be fooling myself. I am just going to give it a go and see how it works out, maybe it will indeed change my life like it has done for the ten thousands of clients Allen has made happy.

Getting Things Done is a great book for someone who is interested in lifehacks, who is willing to make the best out of it and is constantly looking for ways to give more value to his life, in this case by organizing and emptying your head into the inbox bucket. However, for someone who doesn't think about these things at all, who is not tempted or triggered to improve organizing his information and tasks (let be honest, this is the case for most people) this book is not really your thing and I suggest you just pass it in the bookstore on your way to the comics, with all due respect.

If you are for all this, I also suggest you take a look around at the great tools internet has to offer in setting up this Getting Things Done method. I especially got triggered into Gettings Things Done after reading an article at http://lifehacker.com on setting GTD up within Remember the Milk, a feature rich application that enables you to set up lists of your tasks on your computer and/or PDA with the option of recording your progress. ( )