The other ideas I liked were the concept of Agenda projects to keep track of topics to cover in specific meetings and using a Waiting folder for work you are tracking but have been delegated to other people. Don’t let it build up, move items out into Archive or Action Required folder so you’re not digging through thousands of messages for the ones you need. The same principle applies to an email inbox. Allen’s approach is to frequently empty your inbox by actioning, scheduling, or delegating tasks. It’s a capture tool, used for recording every commitment you make and idea you have. The first revelation for me was that your inbox is not your ToDo list.

However, there a few nuggets in there which are too good not to share. I don’t want to go into too much detail on the GTD methodology, there are far better resources out there and the book itself is very comprehensive. David Allen’s book, although fairly exhaustive really opened my eyes to a better way of working. When I moved into management I started creating ToDo lists but no matter how hard I try they always seem to fall out of date. I felt my eyes had been opened.Īs a developer I’ve grown up with scrum and kanban. But, when someone who seems to always have his eye on any number of spinning plates throws three letters in your direction I find it’s a good idea to listen.Ī little googling led me to a Todoist blog post and then onto David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. I raised an eyebrow, it sounded like some kind of car maintenance routine. He said he’s a great believer in the GTD method.

I was recently talking with a colleague I respect greatly about personal organisation.

Gtd weekly review todoist