Book Review : Getting Things Done - the art of stress-free productivity - David Allen

There are people who don't like Mondays' while there are some who don't like any day at work for various reasons and one of the main reasons is the inability to work efficiently, meet deadlines, etc. The most basic problem of people who work, irrespective of working in a private or a governmental organization, in a corporate setup is the ability to get things done and that too in a timely and efficient way. If you are a working professional, you would have already guessed what I am writing about. Don't we all need time to get things done that are on our platter, if it's a Monday than the weekend backlog too, however, sometimes because of various reasons, some under our control and some not, there are chances that we may not be able to do so, can we overcome this problem? Are there ways in which we can get things done? 

I recently read Getting Things Done - the art of stress-free productivity (2015 edition) a book by David Allen, who is also a New York Times bestselling author. As you would have already guessed from the title of the book, it is about the different ways of getting thing done at work in an effective and measured way making it stress-free. The book is aimed to be a guide for managing and governing your own activities and enhance your productivity skills. It talks about the GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology in details right from capturing information to engaging with it.

Book Review : Getting Things Done - the art of stress-free productivity - David Allen

The book, Getting Things Done - the art of stress-free productivity, starts with a perfect welcome note which attempts to set the tone and the expectations right from the word go. The book is perfectly divided into following parts and each part has subsequent chapters to go into minute detailing of these parts

1. The Art of Getting Things Done
2. Practicing Stress-Free Productivity
3. The Power of the Key Principles

The first part is more about the introduction to the art and emphasis is on getting used to the habit of practicing and executing the same and then the focus shifts to mastering the daily workflow and understanding the nuances of it. Another important aspect of getting things done at the workplace is the perfection in planning of project and the book gives equal importance to this as well. The second part of the book is about moving ahead from learning and practicing the art of perfecting it with the help of various tools available, time and space management too. Moving ahead, the book also highlights the ways of being organized in terms of confining your stuff at work along with the people that you can have a quick turnaround. The third part, focuses on the power of key principles which are about the importance of habits, rather productive habits and next-action decision making abilities while the book ends with instructions and ideas on mastering the art of GTD (Getting Things Done).

Overall, the book is very informative and could be rather should be read by everyone at non-executive/fresher level to organize their work and master the art of getting things done in a timely and effective way. When you read the book, you may realize that you are already doing a few things which are mentioned in the book, however reading them along with the theory and importance of them you will religiously follow them. For example, one tip that I liked the most was to delegate things on immediate basis and finish them on your own at the very moment if it would take less than 2 mins. The book has charts explaining various models and also covers the Digital Boom that is happening these days. I would recommend this book to anyone who currently is occupied with lots of work, but in reality can make it more stress-free and productive.

Other Details:

Publisher: Hachette India

Copyright: David Allen

ISBN: 978-0-3494-1015-9

Cover Design: Jason Ramirez

You can order a copy of the book from Amazon.