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Getting Things Done

Posted on November 29, 2007 by C Johnson
Advertising, Culture, Design, Tech

Just like the endless barrage of airbrushed cosmetic commercials advertising ‘new and improved must have products’ that are ‘guaranteed to change your life forever,’ it seems these days you can’t spend too much time online without encountering another ‘take charge of your life and get organized’ 2.0 GTD site. Seemingly endless in their availability, GTD 2.0 makes getting organized look ever so attractive and (dare we say it) fun, and are currently cluttering search engines everywhere.
For the uninitiated, GTD is not the name of a car as it certainly looks and sounds, but is an acronym for the rather straightforward (if not uninspired) methodology “Get Things Done.” This time management system, developed by David Allen, focuses on five key stages of … well … getting things done. Namely collection, processing, organizing, reviewing and then … doing. The idea behind GTD is to get as much of your tasks off your mind as possible and, by recording them elsewhere, enough memory space is freed up in your brain so you can then concentrate on actually getting those tasks done.

Logically, the Internet being an infinite storage garage provides an ideal space for these to-do tasks to be managed by means of 2.0 technology … enter Remember The Milk (with its oh so clever slogan of GTD with RTM) Jott, Backpack, Hiveminder, 10 Tracks, Nozbe and many more Ruby on Rails sites ad infinitum …

… and sometimes, ad nauseum.

I’m not saying that these sites don’t have their uses—I for one am a confirmed Backpacker. (And Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush did literally avert untold disaster on a recent holiday.) The GTD ideology is, likewise, not without its valid points. But like the products advertised in aggressive cosmeceutical marketing, It’s unlikely that any one of these sites will bring about the incredible changes in your life that you’re hoping for. The problem? For me, it’s the simple paradox that using these sites requires an ability to remember to use them—a skill which proves to be a problem for many a GTDer in the first place.

So is investing your time into the overabundance of Internet GTD apps a worthy endeavor or is it just a waste of your ruddy time? You decide. There’s certainly no shortage of sites to test out.