David Allen’s Favorite Productivity Fans Books “How It’s Done”
David Allen, author of the Getting Things Done productivity bible, shares his five favorite productivity books in a new interview with Five Books . GTD fans will recognize titles such as Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto and Daniel Levitin ‘s Organized Mind . He names what makes each book so important and discusses the impact of his own. Some highlights:
About self-fitting GTE fans:
The weird paradox is that the people who are most attracted to work are the people who need it the least … The good news is that I hang out with some of the coolest people you will ever meet. attracted to my work. The bad news is, people who really need it don’t show up.
About organized consciousness :
I’ve known this from my own experience for the past 35 years: your head is for ideas, but this is a terrible place to cling to. I mean, your head is a shitty office. So [Daniel J. Levitin] confirmed it in a very carefully researched book.
On resistance to the Manifesto of the Checklist :
Anyone who finds checklists boring and unnecessary – come on, do you have a calendar at all?
On the ironic impact of “productivity technology” on productivity:
I’ve seen quite a few studies that basically state that productivity hasn’t increased in the last 10-15 years while technology has grown exponentially. Thus, advances in technology do not necessarily translate into increased productivity. In fact, for some people, it’s like, “My God, I have a new computer program that I need to learn. God, my productivity just dropped from trying to figure out how to make the best use of this technology. “
This is a great interview and a great set of references; go read it .