, a very similar book. I would enjoy having a group to discuss such strategies. I have a couple other individuals in the medical business who are interested in learning more, teaching and discussing.
Anyone interested in getting together presumably at DMS at some point for such a discussion? Not really talking about a class, but if someone is quite an expert I guess they could present is as a class. I’m heavy on the tech side and not so good at the business end of things.
I’m now onto some other books - Peter Drucker - “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” and “Lean Startup” (Eric Ries) and have Gary Blank’s book on the horizon.
We absolutely need to have a meeting to discuss this stuff. So relavent to DMS folks.
Lean startup principles are counterintuitive but seem to be an important concept for business success. In addition innovation and entrepreneurship are essentials that must be forcibly implemented as all forces of human nature and incentives will eliminate them from an organization.
If you are in DMS you may have more things going than you know what to do with. Allen’s system is really good. And I’m sure there may be many such ideas and books for organization. His premise is that one is continuously distracted by the open loops in your brain of the undone and incomplete tasks in your life that may number 50 or so. Getting those things out of your head and into a trusted system of task and project accounting is an amazing step to reduced stress and more creativity with a more clear head. And these are only the side effects of a system that will help you “get things done”. That is the ‘theory’ but I can tell you that just to state that it is true is an understatement.
Anyway he has a good and fundamentally simple system that really boils down to a simple flow chart for handling virtually any ‘thing’ that seems unfinished or out of place in your life. Be glad to talk about it at the Bio meeting on Saturday. I’m not selling anything, just FYI.
I will also be glad to talk about some of the other books I have recently read re innovation and entrepreneurship and minimalist startups.
Regarding “Getting Things Done”, if you have the audio book, there is mostly one image you need
Summarizing the whole system . . .
In spite of what you might think, your brain really doesn’t multitask, at least on important, cognitive things. See diagram.
“In basket” takes everything that is an “open loop” or “to do” off your mind and puts it in a TRUSTED system.
You can’t “do” a most of a “to-do” list or a project. You can only do ACTIONS.
These things otherwise bounce around in your mind repeatedly, stealing bandwidth from enjoyment, productivity, creativity. How many times do you think “gotta call my brother” "got to do taxes (example of a ‘project’), ‘pay mortgage’, ‘get car inspected’, ‘get car registration’, ‘get new credit card’, ‘get extra car keys’ (a few on my list) ?
What happens without a system?
The continual distraction of the open loops in your mind - stealing your energy
oops, forgot car registration . . . again . . . might get citation, have to stand in line at DMV and waste half a day instead of just doing it online, taxes become a real pain and cost you money bc you don’t do them real time during the year, credit card expires and so your phone and electric don’t get paid, now they want to you mail a check - 100x more work, possibly screwed up credit, might lose my last car key and have to call a locksmith or not get to work one day.
You know exactly what I’m talking about . . . you are making your life more stressful, more work for less outcome, costing you more $, makes it harder to be a good dad, spouse, less time for Makerspace, etc.
Everything goes into your “in basket” - if it doesn’t doesn’t fit, write it on a page and put into the basket.
EMPTY your in-box per the diagram - (more to it you don’t see - a dated tickler system is part of it)
Look at diagram - really simple - only 8 final boxes on the flow chart. BTW a project is anything with more than one step - this takes care of either a simple two-step process or “launch new company” . . . and he goes into project organization in a simple way - - - projects break down into projects (sort of like fractals or recursion, but you will at least break things down into simple actions that are all ‘actionable’.
That’s mostly it.
Sorry, I know that sounds like a cheap infomercial. I should be asking for your credit card info at this point
But . . . its just a book plus your time to read or listen to it. And about $50 worth of office supplies that you might already have.
As Allen implies, humans did not evolve over 100k years to manage complex lives. Just 100 or so years ago if you wanted to know what to do, then you got up with the sun and saw that crops needed attention and the tools that needed sharpening. That was your action list. We have socially evolved exponentially but our brains have not. We all need a system of some sort.
If we do have a business book discussion group, this would be a good one. PM me or post your impressions.
