Organization and Time Management

This post is a little bit unusual. I won't speak about anything technical today. I've just finished reading "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I've adopted and modified his system and I want to share my thoughts about it.

Why did I decide to read this book?

I had lots of things to do at the moment and I thought that knowing something about time management could help me. I googled "time management" and found this Wikipedia entry. The book was referenced there in the "Further reading" section.

I kept browsing and I realised that this man had created an organizational system. I thought it was interesting, so I decided to read his book.

First experiences

Once I had the book in my hands I realised I had to make 4 command line programs in C in only 10 days! It was a stressful time because those programs were mandatory if I wanted to pass the exam of that subject.

In those stressful moments, I read the first two chapters and applied their concepts. I used an empty notebook I had. It's not magic, but the system works. I felt less stress and I was starting to program. I didn't know at the time whether or not I was going to finish on time, but I was occupied with the task instead of complaining and feeling like a victim. By the way, I succeeded and believe me, it feels great.

What is the GTD method?

I suggest you read this Wikipedia entry first. The core principle of GTD is that if you put all the "stuff" (as the author writes) in a system out of your mind, your mind will be freer and then you feel less stress and work in a more efficient way.

In order to accomplish that, GTD divides workflow into several stages. The first stage, "collection", deals with this principle. The following stages will tell you how to manage every piece of information that you've introduced into your system.

My implementation

I'm not an executive, I'm just a student. The book is targeted towards executives. The book assumes that the reader receives hundreds of emails a day. I usually receive up to 12 or so. So all the email management thing is useless for me (at least for the time being).

It also assumes everyone has an incredible amount of things that require their attention. It talks about making an "in" tray in which you stack all the stuff for later processing. Until now, I have never needed such an amount of space, and I put everything down in my notebook.

I've really enjoyed applying the "next action" principle. For example, I want to buy a present for someone. In order to accomplish this, the book suggests you have to question yourself "what's the next action?" If X is a girl, maybe I should ask her sister for advice... That's the idea. That way, things that seem too big to be executed in a particular moment are split into several smaller actions and that way the task is more manageable.

I joined two stages of the workflow: "process" and "organize" because my mind thinks that way.

I also have noticed that I have activities that I do everyday, those are out of the system. If you pray, brush your teeth, have a shower and sleep everyday I don't see the point in putting those activities into the organizational system. They're already automatic and thus handled.

I have also applied another principle that I read about in another place. Start every activity you can. It's the best way to avoid procrastination. If you have an activity that lasts 3 hours but you only have 1, it is better to start as soon as you can. That way, the following day when you're going to tackle the activity, there will be only 2 hours left.

I like the approach that the book gives to brainstorming. It says something like "first capture all the ideas without judging them, even the silliest one. Once there aren't more ideas, start judging". Spanish people (me included) definitely try to accomplish every step at once. I hope I'll be able to overcome this bad habit.

Finally, before I read this book, when I was going though a crisis, I started to write all that occurred to me in my whiteboard. I keep doing this even now and I also use it as a "collection" tool. That way, I have the ideas in front of me without forgetting anything.