Getting Things Done is Misunderstood

On Tuesday, after a day of marathon meetings, I was feeling paralyzed by overwhelm. I did not know what to work on next. My notes were rife with projects and initiatives I needed to start. Fifty unopened emails sat in my inbox. And the tasks I had set out to do that day were, let’s just say, “neglected”. So what did I do? After my last meeting wrapped up, I went to the coffee shop, processed my notes, reviewed my projects, and ensured each one had a good next action. Once I completed this small act of clarifying and reviewing, my overwhelm was replaced with calm, and I knew what I needed to do the remainder of the week to move key initiatives forward.

For those that are familiar with David Allen’s Getting Things Done system (or “GTD” for short), the clarify and review process I performed is essentially, in GTD parlance, a “weekly review”. And it is a process that I’ve conducted almost every week for over two decades.¹ GTD has enabled me to live and lead in evermore demanding roles and assignments. Given my own experience and success with GTD, that’s led me ask this question: why has it fallen out of favor with the professionals and tech pundits that once extolled GTD’s virtues in the early 2000s?

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I believe it is likely they never quite grokked what the GTD system really is and why it has worked for folks like me for so long.