GE T T I NG

THE QU I CK S TAR T GU I D E

TH I NGS

DONE

02

OVERV I EW

05

BENE F I T S

09

GE T T I NG S TAR T ED

12

CAP TURE

15

C LAR I F Y

17

ORGAN I Z E

20

RE F L E C T

23

ENGAGE

26

SUMMARY

O V E R V I E W

03

Getting Things Done, often referred to as GTD, is

a productivity and time management framework

developed by David Allen.

The core principal of the GTD methodology is to

move ideas, projects and tasks out of your mind

and into an external system of record.

The idea is to remove distraction, and free your

mind, so that you can focus on the tasks that

need doing.

There are five pillars to the GTD methodology,

including:

OVERV IEW

Capture

Clarify

Organize

Reflect

Engage

Unlike many other productivity frameworks, the

GTD approach does not specify any particular

tools or processes for organizing this information.

While this lack of rules can initially deter some

from adopting the GTD methodology, the

flexibility of its approach is ultimately what makes

it such an effective process for boosting your

productivity.

In particular, without a set way of recording ideas

or tasks, the GTD approach allows you to adopt a

system that best suits you.

This could be anything from using pen and

paper, to sticking post-it notes on a whiteboard,

or using an online task management application.

04

B E N E F I T S

06

The GTD approach to productivity and task

management is recognized for a number of

benefits including:

BENEF I TS

Focus on reducing stress

David Allen, creator of the GTD methodology

believes that stress can be reduced by putting

reminders into a “trusted system external to your

mind”.

The GTD approach supports this as the process

of capturing your thoughts, ideas and tasks is

designed to remove the burden of

remembering these things from your mind.

Turn tasks into action lists

The GTD approach takes items on your do to list

and turns them into actionable steps.

This underlines that the GTD approach is all

about getting things done, and not just creating

lists for the sake of it.

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GTD is not restricted to just tasks

The GTD framework should not only be used to

manage work tasks.

In fact, ideas, dreams, experiments, and other

points of interest should all be recorded in your

GTD system.

They do not need to be prioritised straight away,

but if you believe a thought is of importance, then

it should be noted down.

This then allows you to focus your mind and

energy on more immediate things.

You should improve over time

The fourth pillar of the GTD methodology forces

you to reassess your tasks and how you

approaching your day to day life.

Because GTD has inbuilt flexibility this pillar

should encourage you to constantly change and

fine tune your approach to task management

and productivity.

Just like the GTD methodology doesn’t

distinguish between tasks and ideas, there

doesn’t need to be a separation between work

and family life.

If you believe a task in your personal life has to

take priority over a work-related task, then it

should be at the top of your list.

This encourages a healthy work-life balance

where you can objectively recognize what

requires your time and effort on that particular

day or occasion.

GTD encourages work/life balance

At the end of the day you need to believe in the

system so that it works best for you. Trial and

error often brings the best results.

08

Accepting that you don't need to do it all

If a task isn’t actionable then the GTD approach

means that it is either discarded or filed away for

future reference. This allows you to quickly work

through incoming content, ideas and tasks so

that you can focus on what is truly important.

G E T T I N G

S T A R T E D

10

The GTD approach to productivity and task

management, like all other tools and frameworks,

is only as strong as the person who chooses to

implement it.

Therefore, before you dive in you need to be

willing to give it the time and effort required to

benefit from its approach.

In fact, research published by Phillippa Lally from

the University of College London showed that it

took more than 2 months (66 days in fact) before

a new behaviour becomes automatic (i.e. habit

forming).

Therefore, it is not realistic to expect that the

GTD approach will be immediately in sync with

your daily workflow. It will take time, and it does

require commitment.

Once you have chosen to commit the GTD

methodology you need to decide on a system of

record keeping. David Allen recommends

GETT ING STARTED

starting with pen and paper, and I would echo

that sentiment.

During the early days of adopting the GTD

methodology, you need to be flexible. You need

to spend the time finding what method of record

keeping works best for you, and that can involve

some level of trial and error.

Personally, I tried everything from pen and paper

to Excel spreadsheets and online applications,

before deciding to build a tool that worked just

how I wanted it to (the result being the task

management application called Task Pigeon).

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C A P T U R E

13

The first pillar of the GTD methodology is

“Capture”.

This is a core principle of the framework and

requires you to capture everything that could be

of value or occupy space in your mind.

This includes:

THE F IRST P I L LAR

To do lists

Ideas

Recurring tasks

Longer term projects

Basically, anything that requires your time

and attention.

This information then needs to be recorded in a

"trust system" that you will actually use, not just left

on scrap pieces of paper in your office.

The principle behind this approach is what David

Allen calls “emergency scan modality”. In

essence, this means that if you fail to capture the

things that require your attention you will

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constantly jumping from one thing to the next.

And that is not the most productive way to tackle

your to-do list!

To capture this information you can use any

method that you prefer. Some popular methods

and applications used include:

Pen and Paper

Excel Spreadsheets

Task Pigeon

Evernote

Todoist

iOS Reminders App

C L A R I F Y

16

The second pillar of the GTD methodology is

Clarify. This pillar is all about creating actionable

steps for your list of outstanding tasks or ideas.

For example, let’s assume one of your tasks is to

“book a flight to the United States”. That is the task

that you wish to accomplish. But how are you

going to actually do that?

In the clarify stage you could break this down to:

THE  SECOND  P I L LAR

Choose dates for vacation and submit

leave request to work.

Search for flights to New York and book

one that is under $1,500.

Check passport is still valid

As you can see this takes a task or idea and

breaks it down into a step, by step action plan,

thus giving clarity to what actually needs to be

done.

O R G A N I Z E

18

Not all tasks are going to have the same level of

priority, and that's where the third pillar of the GTD

methodology comes into play.

Organize is essentially the prioritization step in the

process and sees you categorize or group

information and tasks in places that are easy to

recall.

For example time sensitive tasks can be added to

your calendar, ideas for new blog posts could be

added to your to-do list or task management tool,

etc.

While this seems like it could be done on the fly,

as you create each task, remember that the first

pillar is really just a “data dump”.

No matter where you are, or what you are doing

in the capture phase you are just writing the item

down. Nothing more, nothing less.

THE TH IRD  P I L LAR

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You then need to schedule time each day to

proactively manage your tasks, clarify and

organize what you have to do.

This is often easier said than done. People often

fall apart at this stage as they struggle to work out

what takes priority in their life.

An alternative way of looking at this is to consider

what provides the most value. For example as a

Manager in a business is your time better spent

on revenue generating activities, or writing back

to an email from an old colleague?

If you judge tasks by their value to you, your team

or your company then prioritizing them suddenly

becomes a lot easier.

R E F L E C T

21

The fourth pillar in the GTD methodology is to

reflect. This should not be viewed as a step per

say, but rather a process that you run on a regular

basis.

The purpose of the reflect pillar is to regularly

review the tasks on your list.

THE  FOURTH  P I L LAR

Are they still important?

Do some need to take on a new level of

priority?

Or can some be forgotten about altogether?

By taking this approach you will not get hung up

on needing to complete a task if it is no longer

relevant or providing value to you or the

business.

In addition to this, you should reflect on the entire

GTD process. Are you noting enough things

down? Are you prioritizing effectively? And

determining clear next steps for each task.

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This feedback loop should help you improve

your own knowledge and understanding of how

you work and what makes you most productive.

E N G A G E

24

The fifth and final pillar of the GTD methodology is

the action stage, engage!

If you have followed the rest of the methodology

correctly you should now have a clear list of tasks

that are priorities and have a series of next steps

that need to be taken.

By the time you get to this stage there should be

no question about what tasks you should be

working on first and have completed by when.

Often there is a misconception that to-do-lists are

created to keep you busy. That is not their

purpose.

To do lists are created so that you can prioritise

and complete tasks! That is to say, they should not

stay on your list any longer than they need to.

Another facet to the engage pillar is relevant for

people who lead and manage others. While the

item may be on your to-do list are you in a

THE  F I FTH P I L LAR

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position where you are delegating the task to

someone else.

If so, the engage process needs to also take into

consideration who in your team is best suited to

that task and how will you assign and manage

that task while they work on it.

In these instances, you may find that a task

management tool provides the extra functionality

you require to effectively manage this aspect of

your workflow/to do list.

S U M M A R Y

27

In summary the Getting Things Done

methodology is a flexible and easy to understand

approach to time management and productivity.

To get started all you need is a pen and paper!

While you can certainly make the system more

sophisticated than that, start with the basics and

find a rhythm and flow that works best for you.

Most importantly however remember that every

thought, idea or task is important.

Write it down, clear your mind, and schedule time

to prfioritize and reflect on your list

This ebook was prepared by Task Pigeon, a

task management application that makes it

easy to create, assign and manage the tasks

you and your team work on each day.

To learn more visit: www.taskpigeon.co

IN SUMMARY