Introduction to the GTD methodology

1. An introduction to this methodology
GTD – Getting Things Done
Jill Christiaens
Project Manager
www.ebi.ac.uk

2. Disclaimers
• This presentation includes only a part of a 300-page book
• It’s one philosophy – may not be right for everyone

3. What is GTD?
• Getting Things Done
• A set of ideas (not a software or something tangible)
• Personal productivity system

4. The concept
• Remembering everything is difficult, cluttering and
annoying
• Define actionable things into outcomes and concrete next
steps
• Organise reminders and free your brain from keeping
track of everything
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them”
Paul Allen

5. Benefits
• Increases your sense of control and perspective
• Makes it easy to see what you have on your plate
• Encourages creative energy
• Makes the most of your peak mental energy
• Structure without constraint
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not
simpler”
Albert Einstein

6. The different components
• The incompletion Trigger List
• The Workflow Diagram
• The Weekly Review
• The Natural Planning Model
• The Project Planning Trigger List
• The Horizons of Focus

8. The five phases of mastering workflow
• Collect – clean your head and capture everything in a
container
• Process – for each item clarify exactly what your
commitment is and check what is the next action
• Organise – plan the next actions
• Review – your list of actions and reminders daily
• Do – make choices on what and how to act next

9. What tools do I need?
• The system is flexible and most tools can be adapted
• Evernote, Trello, Springpad, OneNote, simple “to do”
apps, bullet journal, notebook and pen
• Calendar
Have as few collectors as you can, but as many as you
need.

10. How to get started?
• Capture and organise all of your ideas, to-dos and
responsibilities;
• Clarify the things you have to do;
• Organise those actionable items by category and priority
(assign due dates and set reminders);
• See what your next action should be - you should be able
to pick something you have the time and the energy to do
right away;
• Choose and start your next action and get to it.

11. How to choose which task to do?
• Context
• Time
• Energy
• Priorities
• Stay flexible

12. The daily and weekly Review
• Review calendar and action lists daily: make sure everything on your to-do
list reflects what you need to do that day
• Conduct a weekly review to clean up, maintain and advance your
systems (follow-up on neglected items, shift priorities around if
needed)
• Review longer-term actions and projects as often as needed
• Make sure those to-dos are arranged in specific tasks that you can do
immediately
• Change the priorities if necessary so you do not have to waste time later on
• The reviews will ensure you will be able to see quickly what is most
important, what takes the most or least time to accomplish, and what
you should do next

13. Questions and answers