Getting Things Done

For the last several years, I've kicked off my annual book list by re-reading Ben Franklin's _Autobiography_. I just love the conversational tone and how wide-ranging it is, and there's a surprising amount of still-practical day-to-day advice in there. Honorable mention to _How to Win Friends and Influence People_ (I agree with other comments that earlier editions are better) and _Getting Things Done_. Thanks for starting this thread! Lots of good recommendations here.

Depends on the audience. Generally, it's always "Getting Things Done" and "So Good They Can't Ignore You". For fellow programmers it's "Clean Coder" and "The Pragmatic Programmer". And I always wish my managers and tech leads read "The Mythical Man-Month".

> converting asks to deliverables, managing expectations from management, enabling team members by opening communication channels across teams, time management These all sound like David Allen's Getting Things Done, the art of stress free productivity. > converting asks to deliverables GTD teaches you to ask what the correct outcome is and what the next action item to get there is (and what those questions even mean) so your projects are always moving forward > managing expectations from management GTD talks about setting up project lists so you are current and keeping you current when you meet with management >enabling team members by opening communication channels across teams GTD teaches you how to brainstorm with the group and how to ensure everyone in a meeting knows what the next step to move the project forward is >time management GTD teaches you someodels to help you best know what your time landscape is and give you reminders of what tasks need to be when and where if known otherwise it has a model of helping set priorities based on contexts available to you

Getting Things Done By David Allen. I feel like everything I do is a decision and not a reaction now.

David Allen - Getting things done Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro Tony Robbins - Awaken the giant within (maybe he's released a better book than that now, but it was impactful personally back in the 90s)

> Getting Things Done by David Allen Agree. Despite being ubiquitous and universally recommended, I think this book is still somehow underrated.

* Getting Things Done by David Allen This book taught me so much about how to manage my life, and taught me how to review my own systems. * SICP, On Lisp, and Let over Lambda It's hard to pick one exactly, because really it's about opening your mind to radically different programming paradigms than what's popular. Learning lisp well enough gives you confidence to attempt to create new programming languages, through code generation, or even mentally thinking about an API as a language rather than just a series of functions.

Getting Things Done - the 2001 version I read two years ago, I use the general idea and it helps to have a clear head when your fighting fires daily. Never Split the Difference - some very practical negotiation strategies. Mini Habits by Stephen Guise - short book but awesome method. I am still doing the one pushup habit since last March. How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck by Steve Stockman - I wanted to improve my video production for my programming course for kids. I am still learning but this book has been a huge help. The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking by Barbara Minto - huge help with improving my written communication at my job. The Coaching Habit by Michael Stanier - short book but huge help when your transitioning to managing people. Made to Stick by Dan Heath - was a huge help in planning how I would teach elementary students last month about programming. The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch - aside from application of Pareto principle, I took away the idea that books provide the best bang for your buck for knowledge density. The 4 Hour Work Week - great inspiration to start your own thing. The $100 Startup - like the 4HWW but with more details.

I would recommend it, but I have some remarks. There are 2 things I’ve learned from the book that I still use daily/weekly: 1. Capture everything, it keeps your head empty so you can focus on the task at hand. If something comes to mind I drop it in my Todoist Inbox to review later. 2. Weekly review: no matter how good the method is you use, as long as you don’t regularly clean it and keep it up to date, you won’t use it for very long. It also makes sure you can trust your system. The GTD system has a downside I think: you could end up implementing it perfectly and never forgetting anything and getting shit done. But the question remains if you are getting the important stuff done or just all of the small tasks in life? Just as one of the previous comments also suggests.

I think the 2001 version of the book is fantastic. Even if you do not follow the whole system, you still come away with some gems.

There _are_ an infinite number of _things_, but which ones are important it's up to you. I will be advocating GTD. It doesn't only give you the framework. Once you're done with the basics, it also allows you to make clearer decisions. A nice quote (self-translated, I wasn't reading in English): When the boat sinks, you don’t think about its course. "Essentialism" is another classic in the subject, more disciplined in rejecting unnecessary stuff, complementary to GTD in terms of your concerns.

It's my #1 favorite book. I don't think you need to read the entire book. Watching David Allen's talks (Google, TED) and reading the GTD cliff's notes should give you a good idea of what the methodology is all about. I only mastered the first step of the methodology, that is to capture everything that comes to your mind. I think it's the most important one.

I recommend it. I don’t recommend following its system to the letter. But it teaches some techniques that are useful for making sure you’re focusing on the right things and for making sure important things don’t fall through the cracks.

I'm reading it right now and enjoying it. Overall the way I view these books is if I get something from them that is worth more to me than the $15 or so they cost it is of value, I don't have to agree with or implement everything in them whole hog.

- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - Godel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter - Language, Truth, and Logic by A. J. Ayer - Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows Books that serve as investment philosophy guides for those who've developed a habit of saving money but are looking for the "next step" in building more wealth. From the mind of one of the greatest investors of all time: - The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (get the annotated version with an epilogue written by Warren Buffett!) - The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America A book that discusses what matters most in your life from a resource-allocation, measurable results standpoint (family, etc.): - How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen A book I read 10 years ago that forever changed the way I manage productivity and organization both at work and in my personal life: - Getting Things Done by David Allen Books that show that our universe is just as crazy, if not crazier, than science fiction: - Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy - Quantum Chance: Nonlocality, Teleportation and Other Quantum Marvels…

Getting More - Stuart Diamond. I still think this is the best book on the art of negotiation. Getting Things Done - David Allen. If you have adult ADHD like me, and you haven't read this, it's the first system that's really worked for productivity for me. Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl. Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh. Cosmos - Carl Sagan. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin. The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin. Wild Seed - Octavia Butler. The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” If you need a comparison. this is the Japanese historical equivalent of Game of Thrones combined with a bit of MacBeth. The rise and fall of two shogunate families, and an analysis of the tragic flaws of character that brought their fall about. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.…

Getting Things Done by David Allen

"Getting Things Done" by David Allen I've been obsessed with productivity and mindfulness ever since.

IMHO GTD is right in two key things i) put everything into inbox; ii) distinguish between tasks, tasks with deadlines and events (e.g. a doctor appointment). But it doesn't give us some key insights needed to prioritize and to avoid getting stuck into executing unimportant things. IMHO, the kanban concept of work-in-progress limits is crucial.

I felt the same way about GTD for the longest time, until I decided to read the small book and see what the fuss was all about. It completely changed the way I look at productivity and getting things done. GTD is not so much about David Allen or The GTD Method, but about a logical, structured way of processing inputs into your life. The more inputs you have, the more you'll benefit from the ideas (I consider them ideas more than 'methods') presented in the book. I don't follow GTD exactly the way David presents it in the book, but that's just the thing: What I learned from the book was not a specific method, but how to think about task management in a way that makes sense given the limited capacity of my brain to remember a large number of transitory things.

I'm about 100 pages in, and the concepts seem very sensible so far. It boils down to methodically keeping track of your to-do's in one list, not in your head, so you don't have those distracting "oh right I need to do X" moments throughout your day. The book is a collection of tips to help you do that better -- you can take bits and pieces if you want. I have no doubt that if I actually started doing what he says my days would be more productive and less stressful. That said, so far the book is really verbose, so I'm unsure if I'd recommend it over an online summary.

If you haven't already read it, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen is one of the best known productivity books. Some people I have spoken to say his method isn't for them but I've found it useful, even if I haven't implemented everything he suggests. I'd also recommend "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" by Charles Petzold. It starts at simple circuits and builds up a picture of how computers work. It has really helped me get my mental models of what's going on inside a computer straightened out!

IMHO to really change your whole life perspective, you must experience a traumatic event, not reading a book. Anyway I would say that a book can trigger a change of perspective on a particular aspect of your life: '4-hour workweek' - Tim Ferriss (on lifestyle) 'Get Things Done' - David Allen (on organization and productivity) 'The Way of the Superior Man' - David Deida (on relationships) 'The prince' - Machiavelli' (on business and strategy) 'The little prince' - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (on meaning of life) 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics' - Richard Feynman' (to remember you to be humble) A lot of other books had broaden my perspective of life even if they weren't enough to trigger a change. That list would be immense.

Just listing books that have had a big impact on me: * The Now Habit - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1585425524 * Getting Things Done - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0142000280 * Simply Christian - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061920622 * Surprised by Hope - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061551821 * The Great Divorce - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652950 * Mere Christianity - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652926 * The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - http://www.amazon.com/dp/048629823X * Tao Te Ching - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060812451 Books from the Bible that I like: * Genesis * Judges * Ruth * Tobit * Job * Psalms * Ecclesiastes * Sirach/Ecclesiasticus * Everything written by John

Getting Things Done http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effe... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People) Starting Strength http://startingstrength.com/ (controversial :-P) The Paleo solution http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/... (http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/0982565844)

Getting Things Done is a permanent resident of my bookshelf (and OmniFocus is one of all of my devices). That's exactly the sort of guide I was looking for, but for a company instead of for an individual. So I am very eager to check out your other recommendations; thank you very much.

If you're planning on running a business: The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber. If you don't have your own shit togethor productivity wise: Getting Things Done, David Allen. This: http://managinghumans.com/ might be what you're after in terms of Engineering/Development management

Getting Things Done - since reading it in the spring, it's changed the way I approach projects. I would have been SO much more productive when I actually had time to kill in my 20s.

Business: 7 Habits, 8th Habit, Getting Things Done, 4 Steps to Epiphany, Straight from the Gut Spiritual: Book of Mormon, Book of Isaiah, The 4 Gospels in the New Testament Relationship: The 5 Love Languages, Men are from Mars Women from Venus Physical: Spark, The Vitamin D Solution

Amazon has a wide selection of books on CD. "Good To Great", "Getting Things Done", etc. http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/69726/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2325563013_d62ca9cde5.jp... (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2325563013_d62ca9cde5.jpg?v=0) I'm a fan of "The Pragmatic Programmer". Other books I thought were a good read: getting things done, 4 hour work week, and founders at work. I've also got all 6 seasons of 24 on my bookshelf =/, probably not the most productive times of my life.

Getting Things Done, by David Allen anything by Edward Tufte The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil Dip, by Seth Godin

1984 (George Orwell) The Four Hour Work Week (Tim Ferriss) Getting Things Done (David Allen) Deception Point (Dan Brown)

This has come up a couple times before. However, specifically for entrepreneurs, the books to read are: 1) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 2) Musashi's The Book of Five Rings 3) Gonzo Marketing by Christopher Locke 4) Getting Things Done by David Allen 5) What Management Is by Joan Magretta There are other books, but less relevant in a business context.

Some of these have been mentioned, but these stand out for me Programming: Getting Real The Pragmatic Programmer Hackers and Painters Business: Good to Great Start Your Own Business (I knew basically nothing about small business before I started, and it's a good intro) Crossing the Chasm (good so far, haven't finished) Technology/Culture: The Long Tail The World is Flat Productivity/People: Getting Things Done Getting to Yes How to Win Friends and Influence People

GTD didnt work for me. The bits that I did find useful were 1) make lots of lists 2) read your lists often

There's plenty of interesting books out there and many are fairly specific for the task you're trying to solve. The book that has helped me out the most is Getting Things Done by David Allen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done It's better than any other personal development book.