I come from the software industry, where David Allen’s Getting Things Done system of “stress-free productivity” is quite popular. Software types are continually looking for that extra edge in efficiency. GTD related techie blogs such as LifeHacker and 43Folders evolved into major destinations for the productivity obsessed.
As we first started studying law offices when creating Rocket Matter, I was struck by the lack of GTD adoption in legal circles. I thought it would be a given. I mean, here’s an industry where time is literally money. Furthermore, if you miss a deadline you can be sued, or even worse, have your license revoked. Literally and figuratively, law firms have a ton of i’s to dot and t’s to cross. And in a typical law practice, there’s a lot of balls in the air at once, so it’s very easy to miss something.
This week Rocket Matter will take a deep look at David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system of productivity and personal organization. Used by C-Level executives, and highly popular in creative and high technology disciplines, the GTD system helps practitioners achieve high levels of efficiency and lower levels of stress.
What is GTD?
The popularity behind GTD is its stark simplicity, especially when compared to other forms of organization (i.e. 7 Habits). The whole system revolves around:
- * Capturing information and getting it out of your head.
- * Creating an actionable plan of concrete next steps.
- * Organizing your next action items in a logical and workable manner.
- * Deciding what to do, delegate, or defer.
- * Reviewing your projects and next actions on a regular basis.
We’ll explore these concepts over the next week in detail. But the core idea is to transform the stress-causing “stuff” (and Mr. Allen has a specific definition of “stuff”) floating around in one’s psyche into recorded, concrete next action items, placing them in context, and reviewing them continually.
Key idea: Getting Things Done is highly correlated to Getting Things Out Of Your Head.
The cool thing about the system is that it doesn’t force you to get a Filofax, or use a specific software program. Any systems that allows you to review and capture your thoughts and put them into working order will do. So GTD systems are as high tech as new software or as low tech as a stack of 3×5 index cards.
And Rocket Matter, with it’s highly flexible task and categorization features, combined with headache-free billing, is a perfect vehicle to implement GTD for lawyers.
Tomorrow: A look at why and how a lawyer should adopt a GTD system.
Links: “What is Getting Things Done?” from David Allen’s website.
4 Comments
You are going to find lots of things are different between IT/software companies and law firms!
I have found very few solos or large firms where anyone knows anything about GTD. So, thanks for doing this series, Larry. I hope lots of legal peeps learn from it!
I found GTD several years ago, but soon realized it had too many categories and lists for me to stay on top of – I was spending all my time figuring out my lists! So I literally created my own organizational system somewhat based on GTD and a few other systems which I call DAFT.
As for so many balls in the air – who do you think it is keeping track of those items… the attorney? Nope! In most instances, it is his/her secretary/assistant – you know the one who never gets a mention as a “professional” in law firm.
It is the assistants of the world who are keeping those busy lawyers and firms humming along; not missing deadlines, clients happy, etc.
So think of the assistants at law firms as you write these columns – dedicated, overworked and under appreciated peeps – they need GTD even more than the attorneys!
Thanks Andrea! Let’s get a guest post from you on DAFT.
I am a late-comer to these posts. I was reading with interest, because I am a lawyer, who has implemented GTD in my TimeMatters system. I also recently began my consulting practice, assisting other lawyers and law firms with productivity and increasing profitability through use of technology, as well as implementing paperless office solutions. My reading of the GTD book would indicate that David Allen wants us to capture information and get it OUT of our heads, no INTO our heads. The concept is that, with all kinds of tasks and things rattling around in our heads, we can be stressed out. So, we get it OUT of our heads and into a sysem that we trust to work for us. You have picked up this concept in the main body of the post, but in the first bullet point, you say to get it “into your head.” Good post, otherwise! Thanks.
Hey Kris:
You’re absolutely right! You want to get it out of your head. That was a typo, and I’ve fixed it. Great catch.