Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen

            In my quest to find useful information about managing your programs and considering ways of sustaining and scaling your program into 2016 and beyond, I’ve found another very useful source. The book discusses five steps in mastering workflow.

            “We (1) capture what has our attention; (2) clarify what each item means and what to do about it; (3) organize the results, which presents the options we (4) reflect on, which we then choose to (5) engage with. This constitutes the management of the horizontal aspect of our lives, incorporating everything that we need to consider at any time, as we move forward moment to moment.”

The book offers practical methods related to each of the five steps, with detailed chapters on how to implement these steps. Some examples include the following:

The Six-level Model for Reviewing Your Own Work:

Ground: Current Actions

Horizon 1: Current Projects

Horizon 2: Areas of Focus and Accountabilities

Horizon 3: Goals

Horizon 4: Vision

Horizon 5: Purpose and Principles

The Natural Planning Model

1. Defining purpose and principles

2. Outcome visioning

3. Brainstorming

4. Organizing

5. Identifying next actions

The book offers step-by-step directions on how to utilize the steps outlined in each chapter. In addition it has a number of examples on how these ideas have been used by other successfully. It also is peppered with motivational quotes.

I would highly recommend it to help anyone wanting to enhance his/her ability to manage projects. It is highly readable and very useful.