Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Paperback – March 17, 2015

I read the first edition a few years ago and gave copies to everyone on my team. It was very actionable. This 2015 edition is not that.

This new edition goes into more theory, but that makes it much harder to use as a concise guide of how to get things done.

I loved the first edition, but the 2015 edition was tedious to read and I didn't have the patience to get through it. Too bad he ruined a good thing. It would have been better if he'd added a companion book with all the non-actionable theory, or separate chapters.

Summary: For anyone new to GTD, go ahead and buy this 2015 version, or save some money and buy the paperback original for $1.50. For anyone who already has a GTD book, just reread it and take a pass on this one, there's really nothing new.

I purchased the original in March 2001 for use with my Palm Pilot. I subsequently purchased the Outlook add-in around 2007; and my company had a GTD consultant onsite and provided us access to GTD Connect in 2008. I've found the workflow and methodology useful. The underlying original strength of GTD is that the book not only states "what" has to happen, but through a specific methodology also "how" to make it happen.

I was so excited about this 2015 update, with my expectations of entry to the digital age that I pre-purchased in Nov 2014. Just received the book today and I'm sorry to say that David is essentially punting on digital-age specifics in favor of generalities. Further, David admits that this is not a rewrite (though he did "retype the original manuscript").

I'm actually fine with the retype vs rewrite though - as he states, the core ideas and methodology of GTD remain the same. But the reason I went to GTD in the first place was that it provided specific workflows incorporating paper and pencil and Outlook and PDAs - he had done the work to figure out what works and I was happy to adopt his recommendations.

Since the original release there has been a profound shift in the use of technology - hardware, software, mobile and cloud. 2015 finds us in much more diversified and integrated data input/output environment than what the Palm and MSOffice suite offered in 2000, and so there is a very good reason to update the "how" part of the equation to manage this new information capture and task-list ecosystem.

In the new edition, the author provides some digital guideline feature specifics (software outline program should allow for sub-headings, expand/collapse ability), even more generalities, but mostly just derails the digital conversation of any 'how' by sweeping particulars under the carpet with a few ambiguities of "what" needs to be done, not "how" to do it, "Make sure you create comfort with the [computer] applications ["used for developing and capturing project plans and collateral"]. It will behoove you to do regular reviews and updating of this content and keep it current with consistent purging and reorganizing."

Punting on digital specifics of today's workflow world because, in his words, “the rate of innovation in this area means that any specific software program can easily be outdated, upgraded, or undermined by the next new thing", and that he has admittedly "hopped out of the fray, opting instead to provide a general model for how to evaluate the usefulness of any tool" is, for me, not useful. I *know* there is a plethora of digital tool options, and I wanted him to do the work and figure out what works. Fine, publish a revision when the tools change, I'll buy it. That's why he and his team get paid the big bucks. But if I wanted to spend my time figuring the complexity of tools out myself I'd have done that from day one. To me, this would be like Lonely Planets back-peddling on restaurant and hotel reviews. "Oh, there are just sooo many these days, let us tell you what to look for instead,,,, try to find a restaurant with lots of people in it, and look for a hotel with clean sheets." Uh, yea.

The original methodology and task-driven workflow remains true in the 2015 book as in the original. The "psycap" and other psychological drivers and underpinnings are interesting in the new book. But whereas I was confident that I had a pretty holistic system set-up as a result of the original book (and actually, as much a result of a smaller digital footprint, and I know I'm not the exception), I now feel, with this "completely updated" edition, that I have half a system with a digital divide, a "black hole" as the author even alludes.

I understand all the high reviews, the methodology is still very good as described, and yes, freshened. My rating of this book is as a version updated for what we would all agree is an increasingly digital world and unfortunately, whereas the "what" might be explained, I find the book lacking on the "how". I agree that it has helped me refine my thinking about how to use GTD in the digital age,,, i.e., I now think that I cannot rely just on this one book as a holistic model of how to get it all done ;)

For anyone new to GTD, go ahead and buy this 2015 version, or save some money and buy the paperback original for a $1.50 and you'll learn the essentials that have not changed. For anyone versed in GTD, I offer David's statement from this new book: "...whenever anyone loops back through the material, they invariably have a response like, "Oh my God, this is totally different information and perspective" than what they had remembered from earlier, "it was a totally different book each time!" So if you have an earlier GTD book? Just reread it and you'll likely get the same "new" experience and fresh perspective as from this 2015 book, particularly given that there really are no digital age specifics that many of us were hoping for.

As many have reviewed this book after reading the first version, I do not fall into that category.
The 2015 update is my first time reading David Allen's theory of GTD, and it is a great system.
I ended up ordering an addition copy in Kindle format because this is an extra cheap trade paperback printing from Penguin, the paper is too thin to highlight or make note on without impacting the reverse side of the paper.
The quality and usefulness of the content is a clear 5 star book by David Allen.
The quality and presentation by the publisher Penguin Books 2 stars. I have seen better bound mass market paperbacks that this trade paperback that will not hold up to the multiple reads that mastery of the system provided will require.

I hate books in this category that have one or two ideas and spend rest of the time trying to convince you they are right. This book was highly recommended by another business-skills author, but when I flipped through it, it looked like a lot of text and not much substance. I WAS WRONG. I skipped all of the intros and Chapter 1 and dove right in to Chapter 2. If after reading Chapter 2 and the first half of Chapter 3, you are not convinced this book will be full of great ideas, don't bother reading the rest and just return it. I, on the other hand, became convinced that reading the rest of the book, going back and reading the intros, and implementing the author's system in all aspects of life, would effect positive change. I was raving about it to a friend, but I refused to let them borrow it because I know I will be using this book as a reference for the rest of my life.

One part of the intro that is very important (but now you can skip it by reading this) is the idea that implementing the full system sounds like a daunting task. That's OK! In Chapter 2, add it to your projects list. In Chapter 3, the author describes how to break down a project of any size and scope. In Chapter 10, he goes through all the fine details of how to execute a project using all of the tools you learned in Chapters 4-10.

This revolutionized my life. I have been well organized... but I didn't know how to organize the FLOW of paperwork in my life. How to keep my in-box empty. !! My desk was always a pile of paper that I didn't know where to put things... and I would actually lose things on my desk. Whew! NO MORE! I got the physical copy of this book as well as the CD version and listen to it going to sleep and waking up in the morning... when I'm driving, or exercising or doing something where I can just let the information flow through my brain again. The clarity and specific depth of insight and clear instructions have helped me to completely reorganize my office so that projects get completed and nothing backs up. I know EXACTLY what to do when I sit down... and then just go do it. I keep my in-box empty... (mostly... still working on it. At last my whole desk is no longer my in-box. LOL.) I'm blown away by this. I no longer feel the conflict of trying to focus on a project and at the same time thinking I should be doing something else. Everything is written down on my List. It's out of my field of concentration until I want to check my List and see all the random other little things I want to accomplish. Clear focus. Zen mind. Peaceful mind. Balance. Wow. I'm deeply grateful.