Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Things Done

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was looking forward to accomplishing some big things in my life and this book helped me enormously. It goes into great detail as to the philosophy, the mind-set, the action you need to undertake to get things done. The book is kind of long, but that's good, because you get to pick those portions that apply directly to your current situation. I would definitely recommend this book if you are seeking to achieve anything major in your career or for that matter your personal life and want some guidance, some good ideas, and a ready reference source.

The author does a very credible job of tackling today's most pervasive topic. I found myself reading chapters that initially thought I wouldn't be interested in. I would recommend this book for anyone who is after results.

If you have read some of the other popular books out there on getting things done, and found that they actually increase your work load instead ofto streamline it, you might want to give this book a try. In a very methodical, easy to follow approach the author lays out a plan for you to be more effective and efficient. Each chapter focuses on a specific component of being more productive and each is relatively easy to get through. Even before I finished this book, I was eager to put some of the suggestions into practice.

CTD is just what the doctor ordered if you find yourself swamped at work. The author directly addresses such problems such as the pile up on your desk and your shelves, procrastination, how to separate the urgent and the important from the simply important or urgent. I especially liked the traces of humor thrown in here and there. If you are part of the rat race, and you feel like the rats are winning, this book might be for you.

A truly wonderful book. Starting from where ever you are, this will help you to get to wherever you want to be. I looked around for a while before finding a book like this. It is a treasure.

This one totally delivers or rather surpasses even what it promises. The author uses no presumptive or pompous tone in his words, and the advice is sound and totally practical n air-tight with no rooms or loop holes of impractical or non-applicable ideas. With very straightforward punches on best ways of overcoming procrastination along with the emotional awards that it reaps to a great insight into the 80:20 principle of productivity... this book's surely for the gainers. I waited for the next best or good books n wasted off my time n money... but this surely got no match. Congrats Jeff!! Keep up.

First off, if you're looking for David Allen's Getting Things Done, or a supplement to it, this is not that book.

This book is not incredibly bad, but it also is not all that good. The ideas are not original, nor are the presented solution particularly helpful, thoughtful or new.

What really interests me about the book is that three of the extremely positive reviews are very similar (two use the word wonderful in the subject, one great), were written within a few days of each other, and are written by people who have NEVER reviewed anything else. I am amending my review at this point. I originally stated that three of the five positive (5-star) reviews were suspicious. Actually, all five of them are very suspicious. FOUR of the five reviews are from people who've never, ever reviewed anything else. The fifth reviewer has reviewed 3 items--all by Jeff Davidson.

There are no in-betweens here, no 4-star reviews that point out flaws but are basically positive. There are 5, 5-star reviews that praise the book but offer no real detail and don't appear to be from real reviewers who review anything other than this author. Then there are negative reviews that find a lot of faults.

Whatever the reason for this unusual pattern of reviews--whether they are shill bids or not--they certainly change the picture of the book when these positive reviews are considered more carefully. My inclination is to throw out the questionable reviews, which leaves the average review at less than three stars.

My honest opinion is that this book is not as good as it could be or needs to be, and deceptive reviews lower my opinion, not raise it. I do not appreciate attempts, by anyone, to manipulate me.

I was excited about getting this book, but once I got into reading it, I was disappointed in the actual content. It promises quite a bit, and to me, seems to suffer from "breadth not depth" when it comes to most of the topics.

The introductory material is engaging, and I found myself identifying with much of what he says and being excited to move forward. But after the setup, the actual content was underwhelming.

For example, I was looking forward to reading about delegating & managing projects with other people on your team, but disappointed to find recommendations like "assign tasks to people with the best skillset for that task." I found lots of those letdowns throughout the book.

Others have obviously found it helpful, but for me, it tried to cover too much and ended up mostly stating the obvious.

I was decidedly unimpressed when the author proudly proclaimed that he never read instruction manuals, then goes on to describe how he builds his own document on...get this...how to do specific tasks! Isn't that the purpose of an instruction manual?

Further, he prefers to burn the time of an "expert" in the area to get them to tell him how to do certain things.

I should add that this is after several pages of describing how a little time spent up front will make many tasks ahead of you go more quickly and smoothly.

I made the mistake of buying this book, and then buying "TCIGT Managing Your Time" before I noticed they were by the same author. Ouch.

I suppose if you have no clue about how to do the most basic of aspects of getting organized and managing your time, this book will probably do you some good. But I would recommend David Allen's book "Getting Things Done", which is full of much more detailed, and to me, relevant, information.

The book is certainly easy to read and follow, but I was hoping for something more in sync with the David Allen approach than this represents.

My caution is that if you as a potential reader is looking for something to augment David Allen's approach, this is not what you are looking for.