I’d ask David the following questions:

1. What are the implications of GTD for spirituality? Is there a spirituality behind GTD (obviously I think there is) and how can that be fleshed out and understood? What does GTD imply for “big issues” like peace and poverty in the world?

2. How can GTD be incorporated into education for our children?

3. Does GTD “work” in different social structures? In other words, can the UN use GTD? The Peace Corps? What would that look like?

4. Can GTD be pushed to an organizational model? GTD seems to focus on personal productivity. but is there some way that GTD could become a “new” quality assurance program or something like that? Can you “GTD” your organization beyond just GTDing the individuals?

That’s all I can think of right now.

Oh dear, only one question? Erhm… How do you prevent slack in your system? I can’t imagine that you are 100% disciplined ALL of the time, are you? So if you start to let it slip, do you have any tricks on getting back on track?

After Bryan’s big-picture questions, I’m a little embarrassed to post my decidedly small-picture one, but after being “on” GTD for a couple of years now, I still haven’t found a really satisfactory way of dealing with recurring tasks/chores that aren’t tied to specific dates. Things like changing the air filters, or working on various personal development projects that I don’t have time to do every day but want to maintain with some regularity.

There’s a Mac app whose name escapes me right now that’s designed to handle this sort of thing, but it’s overpriced and didn’t seem to integrate well with the rest of my system(s) when I (briefly) tried it. What I do now is maintain daily, weekly, monthly etc. “Routine” lists that I keep moving forward in my tickler file, but that’s a little too fiddly even without breaking out the individual tasks to separate sheets.

So I’d ask David if he’s dealt with these sorts of tasks in his work — surely he has, but he doesn’t seem to address them in the books — and what recommendations he has.

GTD is pretty obviously geared towards the 9-5 office worker type. How would you scale down the system for someone who doesn’t have as much “stuff” to deal with (students, unemployed, etc.)

I’d ask him how to deal with the army of next actions I now have. Before, I was forgetting, losing track of, or implicitly ignoring some of them. Now I feel like I have laser sharp vision of all the commitments I’ve foolishly made. I’m not saying it’s a flaw with the system. I’m better off now than I was before. But this is the next mountain I have to climb.

In Getting Things Done there’s a line that says, “Let’s assume for a moment that you’re not resisting any of your ‘stuff’ out of insecurity or procrastination.” It seems to me that this assumption actually carries through the rest of the book — that after you’ve defined the true next action, it should be easy just to do it or to feel no anxiety in postponing it. This is sometimes true for me, but other times I generate a next action that sits on my list for weeks. I’d like to know if David Allen encounters psychological barriers with his clients, and if he’s come up with any good tricks or practices for dealing with them. Thanks to this website I’ve read Neil Fiore’s “The Now Habit,” which gave me some insight into why I procrastinate. But I’d like some concrete ideas about new habits or ways of thinking that fit specifically into my GTD routine.

“How do you deal with actions that you can do right now, but have decided not to do at the moment because you have lots of other more important actions pending? Do these go in Someday/Maybe, stay on your context lists, or go somewhere else?” Actually, that is such a good question I aught to post that to the GTD forum. ::adds an action. Another one. Sighs.::

I’d love to know how to adapt GTD for use in schools, or in children’s lives generally. I have a couple of ideas, but most kids aren’t able to figure out their own filing system or manage contexts on their own; likewise they don’t have the resources to invest in a labeler, a high-quality file cabinet, &c. So my question is: “How, if at all, can you strip down GTD for use by children?” (For this purpose, let’s say that ‘children’ refers to people from 10-18 years.)

I would ask David Allen: Have you tried your GTD system in a company or for people that have to put out many fires each and every day?

I know that David says somewhere in the book that one shold not be spending time putting out fires all the time. But if I may explain why I would ask this: I read the GTD book recently and everything I have come across online. I have used kGTD for about 6 months too. The GTD system works great for me except for part of my job. I work in an ad agency with about 45 other people. Each and every day there are many fires (jobs) that have to put out because they are ordered by the clients in the morning or even after noon and they have to be delivered before six or the ads will not be published.

I see no easy way to implement GTD over such crazy work mania - there is no time to write any lists. Next action is more or less to do all the actions at the same time.

How ever GTD works quite good so far for the rest of my life. I am a designer here and also the computer guru (not my words though). I list of things to do, not to mention the things I want to do is a very long one. GTD is gives at least some fun handling all the small ideas and todos. I love to send a brilliant idea on something more to do with Quicksilver into the Inbox of kGTD!

Following is what I said on the davidco thread. I’d welcome any advice from you all as well:

Dear David:

Thank you very much for your contribution - you’ve helped me tremendously. If you were advising someone starting out in the field of personal productivity consulting, what would be your top tips?

Sincerely,

matt

If I could ask the David anything it would be how he discovered the principles of GTD and how he got himself to consistently apply them to his life. I’m smart enough to know what I’m supposed to do, but too stupid to do it consistently yet. “Try, try again” has helped, and I’m doing a better job then a year ago, but I’d love to hear his story.

I read about David Allen on this site, bought the book and I’m really struggling to implement it. Aside from asking him to come coach me, I’d like to know how to work in a less paper based environment. Also, I don’t really understand how he keeps his lists straight. I know I need more practice - it has only been 4 days. If you have a good grasp and would be willing to give me some ‘get it going’ advice, I’ll take it gleefully.

Absolutely 100%, Ditto what Sigurdur said. I’m on the creative side of marketing, as well.

How do I actually get around to DOING the things I’m making lists about? I so often find I’m reading about how to get organized, making lists, and the problem remains that I’m still reluctant to go and DO the first thing on my lists.

Excellent system. Perfectly logical. It seems to take a great deal of discipline to start it up and keep it going. If you’re reading this and this is not an issue for you, then this is not a problem for you. For those of us for whom it is though, can you suggest a way to begin to implement this into our lives that doesn’t require doing the whole thing. I’m looking for something more specific than, “Pick one thing and start with it.”

What does David Allen thinks of GTDers obsession with 3x5 index cards (HPDA & stuff) that has absolutely nothing to do with his book?

David - Two or three years ago you were offering a seminar called, “Leveraging Focus and Vision.” You stoppedd offering it. I’ve heard that it included psycho-cybernetics concepts and addressed many of the issues that some of us have with staying on track with the “Doing” phase of our workflow. Do you have plans to bring that seminar series back? Better yet, how about a book that we can study? If neither of these is a high priority for you, can you at least briefly summarize the concepts for us?

While were on the subject, are you working on a follow-up book to Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything?

How do you apply GTD to writing books? In particular, what next actions are involved? “Write chapter 3” seems rather large to be one action, but smaller actions might have to be redefined again and again as the chapter takes shape.

Hi, I love the GTD system and have had great fun putting it in place. The one question I would like to ask is how does a chronic procrastinator make sure that he gets on with the ToDo lists?

I’d like to underscore all the questions asked above on the subject of procrastination. As Eric said, “I’m smart enough to know what I’m supposed to do, but too stupid to do it consistently yet.” I find David Allen’s advice to be right on the money about the smallest and most practical things as well as the big ones, and I’m very curious (read “panting for”) his ideas about this!

[…] GTD, DIY & Productivity What would you ask David Allen? - 43Folders […]

The question I have wanted to ask for five years since reading and working with GTD is, “May I have access to your personal implementaion for one week to study and learn from?”

I’d sign any NDA or legal document imaginable to see how the master does it.

I would ask David to shadow me (or any other professor) for a week, and then help me implement GTD in a way that really works for academics. In the kind of work I do, it seems virtually impossible to identify discrete next actions.

How do you get back in the saddle after you’ve let your system crumble a bit (or a lot)?

Hi All, These are all great questions. I have a couple to add…

1) I would like to know where he bought his filing cabinets. I went to his seminar and he showed pictures of his workspace. He had this great modern looking two drawer, wide filing cabinets. Sort of a raw-wood looking workspace. Were these custom made? They looked great and would work well in my office space. 2) I have found on the davidco forum many tools for motivation that GTDers use. I would love to ask him to put these and his own into a pamphlet for sale on his website in PDF format. These tools include answers to questions like: How to get motivated on a project? How to tap into your own creativity and passion for a seemingly “boring” project? Suggestions from the list include spend 5 minutes brainstorming with a mindmap, then give yourself 1 day to make a decision… etc. etc. There were some better suggestions and I can’t remember them now. I think I need to go back and re-read the forums and make my own list. 3) How do I add “fun” to my weekly review? I feel good every time I work through my weekly review but it’s never as fun as the first time I did a complete sweep. I’m looking for that rush again from the first time I started the system.

Thanks!

Merlin,

Love the thread. I don’t have a quesiton for David per se but one for you. Why don’t YOU ask him? I’m sure you could wrangle him for an ultra-cool 43F podcast.

Go get him Tiger (or Leopard),

James

As several others have commented, getting everything into your GTD system is sometimes only part of the solution. Chronic procrastination will sabotage even the best, most organized system. While I’ve found that my GTD system has reduced my impulse to procrastinate, it can also serve as a convenient (and engrossing) time-waster. If I had one question, I’d ask David Allen about his insights into procrastination, and his suggestions for combating it in the context of GTD. “The GTD Habit,” perhaps?

I would ask him how to apply GTD to housework. People seem to struggle with that and wind up with a hybrid GTD/Flylady system. It can also be tough to apply GTD to non-office jobs, like in manufacturing.

But really, I would ask him “If you had the chance to introduce GTD all over again, is there something you could have explained better that would have generated fewer questions?

I would have several questions for David.

1. What advice do you have about implementing GTD for an entire organization such as a team, a school, or a company. I’ve tried to spread the word at my own work, and while it’s catching on with some people, most of the office is still somewhat resistant. The hard part is getting people to just read the book in the first place. For example, I see a lot of potential for project managers to adopt a GTD system as standard practice in a company.

2. If you could work with Apple’s Mac OS X development team, how would you incorporate GTD at the operating system level. It would be great for example to see Apple’s next version of Mail fully implement GTD with support from system-wide services, such as consolidated inboxes for both mail and documents.

3. Since the publication of Getting Things Done, what would you change or modify? Since no system is perfect, what would GTD 2.0 look like?

No question for Dave yet: I still to keep applying GTD more until I feel I have earned the right to say it “I have tried that, but….”

Suggestion for 43 Folders - add each of these (related) questions to a separate topic page & let your readers have a go at answering them. I know there are some I am “itching” to comment on, but this is not the best place.