The workshop 'Getting Things Done for Technical Communicators' presented by John Kearney and Karen Mardahl focused on the GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology and its application in technical communications. Key agenda items included an introduction to GTD, real-life examples, and practical tools and methods for self-management and productivity. Participants engaged in exercises to develop their purpose, vision, ideas, structure, and next actions to improve their workflow and organizational skills.

1. Getting Things Done
for
Technical Communicators
#TCUK15 workshop
John Kearney & Karen Mardahl
29 September 2015

2. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

3. Intros
How did Karen and John end up doing this
workshop?

4. Two David Allen quotes…

5. Two David Allen quotes…
“We teach what we
need to learn the most.”

6. Two David Allen quotes…
“We teach what we
need to learn the most.”
“The greatest human fear
is being out of control.”

7. Two words…
Control
Perspective

8. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

9. Exercise
Get ready to write on a
piece of paper or your
device...

10. Exercise
1. Purpose

11. Exercise
1. Purpose
2. Vision

12. Exercise
1. Purpose
2. Vision
3. Ideas

13. Exercise
1. Purpose
2. Vision
3. Ideas
4. Structure

14. Exercise
1. Purpose
2. Vision
3. Ideas
4. Structure
5. Next action

15. Exercise
1. Purpose
2. Vision
3. Ideas
4. Structure
5. Next action
(The “natural planning” model)

16. “... a wealth of information
creates a poverty of
attention…”
- Herbert A. Simon, 1971

17. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

18. What is GTD?
Self-management.
Key elements?
1. Control
2. Perspective

19. What is GTD?
Workflow to get control (based on “natural
planning” concept):
1. Gathering
2. Processing
3. Organising
4. Reviewing
5. Doing

21. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

22. How does GTD apply to techcomm
Karen and John share examples.
Start thinking about what YOUR examples
might be.

23. John’s GTD for TCUK Presentation
1. Purpose: To present at TCUK.
2. Vision: I get through the presentation, noone dies, I get
good feedback, I get asked back!
3. Ideas: Key takeaway(s), draft slides, themes, photos,
topics, intro plan, timing check.
4. Structure: Key takeaways, intro plan, themes.
5. Next Actions: Capture takeaway points, compile notes
made so far, plan weekly time slots, rough out intro.

24. More examples
• Dealing with
Helicopter Boss
• Juggling demands
from two different
groups with different
models
• “License Pack”
story
• Boss respect
• Peer respect
• Vaccine against
Imposter Syndrome
• Making your work
visible

25. “Indeed, the limitations of both working
and long-term memory are such that you
cannot rely on them to recall all the
important facts when they are needed.”
- Francis Heylighen & Clément Vidal (2007)

26. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

27. Real-life examples
• Colour emails
• Hashtag emails
• Mail emails!
• Kanban TOC
• Life-preserver
• Travel plans

28. Make sure your system is sustainable. It
should be a benefit, not a burden. Some do
fine with just a to-do list and a weekly review.

29. It feels good to feel good about having your
work organised!

30. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

31. Tools and methods
• Squeeze ball
• Noise-cancelling
headphones
• Productivity tools
• GTD folders
• Scans/photos
• Dictation
• Siloing
• Reviews, daily and
weekly
• 2-minute tasks
• “20-minute” chunks

32. The Terror of Unstructured Time

33. Focus

34. To-do list?
or
Time-to-think schedule?

35. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

36. Now it’s your turn - hands-on time!

37. Sharing from the hands-on activities
“This slide intentionally left blank because it is
your canvas.”

38. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. The little exercise
3. What is GTD?
4. How does GTD apply to techcomms?
5. Real-life examples
6. Tools & methods
7. The big exercise
8. What’s next?

39. What’s next?
What will YOU do next,
now that the workshop
is concluded?
What are your…
Next Actions?

40. Reference
John “@jk1440” Kearney Karen “@kmdk” Mardahl

41. Image & quotation credits
• Lego. Skyblue-lego. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Skyblue-lego.jpg#/media/File:Skyblue-lego.jpg
• Lion. ”Just one lion" by Picture by user:Robek, repositioned by user:Wulfstan - Own work. Licensed under CC BY
2.5 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Just_one_lion.jpg#/media/
File:Just_one_lion.jpg
• Squirrel. ”Sciurus-vulgaris hernandeangelis stockholm 2008-06-04" by Photograph by: Hernán De
AngelisCampephilus - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sciurus-vulgaris_hernandeangelis_stockholm_2008-06-04.jpg#/media/
File:Sciurus-vulgaris_hernandeangelis_stockholm_2008-06-04.jpg
• All other photos private
• GTD poster shared with kind permission from Customer Service at The David Allen Company
• H.A. Simon quotes from Simon, H.A. (1971): Designing organizations for an information-rich world, in: Computers,
Communications and the Public Interest, Martin Greenberger, ed., The Johns Hopkins Press. Referenced in
Heylighen Francis. & Vidal, Clément (2007). Getting Things Done: The Science behind Stress-Free Productivity.
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/GTD-cognition.pdf
41