Time Management According to David Allen

“After years of working with thousands of professionals down in the trenches, I can safely say that virtually all of us could be doing more planning, more informally and more often, about our projects and our lives. And if we did, it would relieve a lot of pressure on our psyches and produce an enormous amount of creative output with minimal effort.” ­– David Allen

A few year's ago Fast Company had an interview with David Allen, a time management “guru”. He talked about the stress of open loops in one’s life and the value of closing them. An open loop is a piece of unfinished business that you know you need to address, but that you are trying to keep track of mentally rather than through some system. As David comments on his web-site (www.davidco.com) the Fast Company article was a little simplistic, but captured the essence of what he teaches.

David Allen is big on techniques that free up time and mental energy to devote to issues of longer term importance. His web site is full of tips and techniques. He has much to say on the use of PDA’s like the Palm Pilot, but also offers advice on how to set up a very effective system using a loose-leaf binder and sheets of plain paper. The heart of his approach is to deal with things once. Not necessarily to do them as they come at you, which is no system at all, but to decide what the next step(s) will be as shown in the diagram below.

David advocates looking at things one at a time. Each piece of “stuff” (piece of paper, voice mail, e-mail, thought, clipping, whatever) is looked at and evaluated one at a time.

“Is it actionable?”

“No?” - Then file it accordingly:

- to trash for items that you don’t need and won’t need;

- to a “someday/maybe” file for items that may become actionable; or

- to a filing system that allows you to find “reference” items when you need them.

“Yes?” – Then decide on the next action.

If it will take less than two minutes then “Do It!”

If longer than two minutes then delegate it, or schedule it or add to a list of “next actions.”

If it will take multiple steps treat it as a project:

- develop a plan for it,

- decide on the next step

- treat that “next step” like any other standalone task.

In his recent book, “Getting Things Done”, David tries several analogies to get his message across to the reader: One analogy is a six level model to use in reviewing one’s work:

50,000+ feet: Life

40,000 feet: Three to five year visions

30,000 feet: One to two year goals

20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility

10,000 feet: Current projects

Runway: Current actions

Although, one can start time management from 50,000 feet or the Runway and work toward the other extreme through intermediate levels, the most logical approach is from the top down. Allen writes “the healthiest approach for relaxed control and inspired productivity is to manage all levels in a balanced fashion.” However, he adds, “trying to manage from the top down, when the bottom is out of control, may be the least effective.” In coaching thousands of clients he has observed that “getting someone in control of the details of his or her current physical world, and then elevating the focus from there, has never missed.”

            Article by Paul Alton originally appeared in a corporate newsletter.