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April 30, 2005
A creeping demon...
Sat next to a Raytheon senior executive on the plane last night from Boston to L.A., and in the course of nice seat-mate chatting, I asked him what he thought was the main thing that got in the way of his productivity. He didn't have to think very long before he said, "organizational processes." Too many forms, too many boxes on the forms, too many rules and regulations for filling out the forms. Brought to mind the over-structuring of the automation of GTD, attempted by some technogeeks. "Wow! This structure really works! Let me create a structure so I now don't have to think at all!" It's another version of the "convert syndrome." Someone experiences something that creates a positive experience, and they reify that into a structure as the source instead of the conduit.
Posted by David at 10:50 AM | Comments (5)
April 28, 2005
Flowers in California
A friend of ours just sent this picture, "taken by a friend of a friend." It's the wildflowers in bloom right now on the Grapevine, which is Interstate #5 going north from L.A. toward Bakersfield. Wow. Thanks, Nancy, and to whomever the person was who snapped and sent..
Posted by David at 04:14 AM | Comments (6)
April 27, 2005
Nice review of the Add-In in PC Pro
Just got forwarded a review of our Outlook Add-In in PC PRO. Nice words words from Ian Betteridge - thanks!
Posted by David at 08:11 PM | Comments (1)
A day with United Educators (and dogwood)
Spent an absolutely delightful day today doing a one-day GTD seminar for United Educators, in Chevy Chase, MD. This organization does really good work handling insurance for most of the U.S. colleges and universities - kind of keeping the fires lit in higher education by minimizing the litigation risks. Several had heard me give a talk with NACUA (National Association of College and University Attorneys) several months ago in Vancouver, and the GTD virus started to spread back at the ranch! Anyway, lovely, engaged, bright and energetic group - that always makes my work fun. And, what a gorgeous spring day in Washington today, with lime-green new leaves on the big trees and stunning dogwood blooms all over.
Posted by David at 07:59 PM
Good coaching from a GTD evangelist...
Thought I'd share last night's email dialogue with Merlin (w/his permission) for those of you who might be interested in the small worm can that I opened two blogs ago...
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Hi, David, Saw your post today on IP. As an enthusiastic cheerleader for your work, I like to think I've attributed to you very generously, but if you ever feel that's not the case, I do hope you'll contact me personally. We good? Best, Merlin
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Merlin, (Unofficially) I think so... I certainly appreciate your support and evangelism, and would like to support you, too. We had people starting to use GTD in ads, promoting their own stuff, and our attorney said we've got to step into this or it would really get out of hand. We're going to be coming up with some guidelines to publish about this, and then you can evaluate your stuff against that. I wouldn't concern yourself at this point. Thanks for communicating... David
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Thanks, David. I appreciate the response. I had a feeling that's the sort of thing that you'd intended in your post. I'm sorry to hear that this has become a problem for you, and I do understand your need to protect your brand. It can be very tricky, though, to communicate these things well on the 'net, where you never know how people will read nuance and tone.
It would be valuable for you to clarify the advice you've received to issue C&Ds--that these are essentially going out to folks who are deliberately lying about a relationship with Davidco or who are
implying non-existent licensing relationships, or what have you.
That's a horse of different color from "fan sites" and the like.
*Big* difference to your GTD community, I can assure you. For what it's worth, "Cease & Desist" is a very emotional hot-button phrase in the online community--where you currently enjoy a *huge* amount of respect, deference, and, as Mr. Bush might say, capital. :-)
It would be an awful shame for any of that valuable web karma to be
damaged by an unnecessary misunderstanding, you know? Just one data
point from an admirer. Anyhow, good luck, and please do stay in touch. Best Regards, Merlin
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Merlin,
I take your coaching to heart, and will post haste work with my attorney to draft something of an "official" document for the community.
David
Posted by David at 04:18 AM | Comments (7)
April 26, 2005
Mighty Times, good friends and local causes
Local culture and good cause stuff, for anyone who might be in southern California... Two good friends of ours (and almost neighbors on the east end of Ojai) are Bobby Houston and Robert Hudson, who created this year's Oscar winning short documentary, The Children's March. They're doing a benefit showing of it at Libby Bowl in Ojai May 13, 7-8:30pm, with proceeds to other friends of ours - the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation.
Details: $10 adults, $5 students, reception $30 (in advance, includes film) Gospel music and reception with filmmakers at Movino's Wine Bar, 308 E Ojai Ave, reservations call 805-640-9555 (youth foundation phone) Friday May 13 7-8:30pm
Posted by David at 04:17 PM | Comments (1)
April 25, 2005
Heads up for "GTD" promoters...
I'd like to give something of an early warning signal to the rapidly-expanding world of people who are leveraging "GTD" and its methods within their own spheres. Because my company is moving into new arenas of distribution of our education and intellectual property, it is becoming more important to maintain the standard of the brand and the business model to protect and expand the material appropriately. Bottom line: if you're spreading and promoting the GTD methods and techniques from a personal standpoint, because you just care about the value of the information and want to share it with others, I'm in full support of that. If, however, you're using "GTD" and its implicit association with me and the David Allen Company, for personal or enterprise economic gain, that's a no-no. You can expect some version of "cease and desist" coming your way.
I personally hate the police role, and would just as soon ignore it. But we've already had to eat the distasteful back end of something that's not who we are being paraded as such for personal gain, and because our sphere of influence is expanding tremendously, and others besides me have investment in our unique value and its protection in the market place, such is the nature of the material world.
So, do me personally a favor: if there is any ambiguity in your own psyche about what you're doing with GTD and whether you have our blessing or not, please communicate that, and get our take on it, sooner than later. Thanks.
Posted by David at 09:59 PM | Comments (21)
GTD at the Air Command College
Apropos of a comment on my last blog, I've been asked to deliver a seminar in August for 650 officers at the Air Command and Staff College. Apparently the GTD book has been circulating through the senior ranks there, and according to their Course Director for the Art of Military Leadership, Lt. Col. Jim Baker, their voluminous input "can be overwhelming and negatively impact your ability to effectively lead your organization. Development of some basic executive skills to manage this enormous flow of information will help you get out from behind your desk and 'lead by walking around.'" Jim's stoked I agreed to come, and I'm stoked because these are highly influential people, and I've always liked doing work within the military because they are usually so open to learning. (When they're not fighting, they're training).
Posted by David at 10:11 AM | Comments (6)
April 24, 2005
"Reply to All:" ... Duhhhh.....
Love the study just quoted by Red Herring et al about the UK researchers finding your IQ drops when you're distracted by e-mail (and more than it drops when you're stoned on grass!)
Does it really mean we're dumber when we respond to communication? Hardly. I think it's just reflective of the almost universal problem most people have in dealing with input and interruptions - with no real personal system they can trust (which includes consistent processsing behaviors, by the way), people feel compelled to engage with the input as it shows up. But because they can't really deal with it, they just add another loose bolt inside their engine.
GTD may not make you smarter; but it sure may let you keep more of the smarts you have.
We must try to keep the mind in tranquility. For just as the eye which constantly shifts its gaze, now turning to the right or to the left, now incessantly peering up or down, cannot see distinctly what lies before it, but the sight must be fixed firmly on the object in view if one would make his vision of it clear; so too man's mind when distracted by his countless worldly cares cannot focus itself distinctly on the truth. - St. Basil the Great
Posted by David at 02:41 PM | Comments (4)
Days of MINI and roses...
Couldn't resist - my Cooper S framed by our gate and the Graham Thomas rose hedge around our driveway...
Posted by David at 12:37 PM | Comments (1)
April 23, 2005
A slicker clicker
Had dinner last week with wonderful many-year friends of ours in Ojai - Randy and Liz Harward. Randy's an exec at Patagonia, and Liz is dog breeder and trainer extraordinaire (she gave us our wonderful yellow lab, Mollie). You might remember I've blogged about Karen Pryor's clicker training (operant conditioning), which is a way-cool positive model for creating desired behaviors. Liz is not only a proponent of clicker training - she and Randy have created a fabulous digital clicker, with variable sounds, volume, etc. It may seem a little over the top if you're not aware of clicker training, but if you are, check out Karen's endorsement of it!
Our sweet Mollie...
Posted by David at 08:15 AM
April 21, 2005
Hey, who knew about approving comments?
My apologies, for those of you who have submitted "Comments" on the new format. Didn't know that I have to "approve" them. (I did, btw). Robert's now going to set it up so they're auto-approved (so, go easy on the razz's etc., OK?) Thanks.
Posted by David at 04:36 PM | Comments (6)
My kingdom for a simple voice recorder
OK, call me retro. Where is the simple voice recorder I had years ago that had one record and playback button, was simple and easy to use on the run while you were driving, etc.? They've feature-crept those things so much now, the best I could find (as the new Palm doesn't have record function) was the Olympus VN 120 for about $30. But, I'm sorry, who on earth needs three digital folders and 100 files on this? Anybody out there found anything on the market you're actually using that's as good as the good ole days?
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity. - Tolstoi
Posted by David at 03:40 PM | Comments (29)
April 19, 2005
New labeler R&D
As many of you know, I've been very attached to our Brother PT-15 labeler, which I've used for more than ten years - never found anything faster or slicker. Unfortunately they've discontinued it (of course - the refill tape is the cheapest. What could I have been thinking!?) Am testing the new Brother PT-18R, which so far seems pretty cool. USB connectable for quick printing with my typeface-du-jour, rechargeable in a stand for mobile labeling... (not sure how long that charge really lasts yet). Any of you had any experience yet with the PT-18R?
Posted by David at 10:42 AM | Comments (5)
April 18, 2005
The world of coffee
Gave a very fun GTD seminar Friday at the SCAA Conference (Specialty Coffee Association of America). I was sponsored there by one of our favorite clients, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (actually, by their Foundation, which is committed to spreading GTD wherever!) 'Twas a fascinating mix of people in the room - a nascent entrepreneur about to set up his own coffee house in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; growers from Mexico and Guatemala; a USAID project manager who's working with pan-African coffee enterprise; to a rep from Kraft Foods. According to my Green Mountain Coffee bud, Paul Comey, fifteen years ago there were barely 200 people at this convention. Now there are 15,000. Ah, the success of legal designer drugs...!
Posted by David at 11:39 AM | Comments (2)
April 17, 2005
A spring day...
Ahhh, one of those days to be unreasonably joyful, spend time in the garden when it makes no sense, and be thankful I have a place like our place in Ojai to come back to...
Kathryn and Cosmo Topper this morning, amidst our exuberant roses...
Posted by David at 04:17 PM | Comments (2)
April 12, 2005
New blog, new work, new life...
Lots going on (understatement).
Re: blogsphere stuff, you'll notice a different look. I've migrated to Movable Type - not because of deficiency with Notes-based format, but (according to my tech team, who are now dealing with infrastructure stuff way out beyond the end of my pier), this will provide some connections to our other site that has some advantages.
[Have any of you experienced that strange point-of-no-return transition from "I know, touch, have-intimate-knowledge-of-everything-in-my-company" to "I sure hope that the cool people I've got on board know what the heck they're doing..."?]
One of the major cool people on board with us now is Robert Peake, the official CTO of DavidCo.
Robert Peake, DavidCo CTO (with Ludmila, wife of Chirill Trescencov, our "animal!" programmer)
Robert's younger than I like to acknowledge, has major experience in PHP (he's a writer/contributor to European PHP rag), e-commerce subscription management, and other web back-end stuff; and is part of the peculiar camp of spiritually-oriented folks I tend to hang with. Building a robust internal CRM, and having the full-time internal capability to manage and maintain it, as we grow, in addition to creating a stable web-based back end of our own, became strategic issues for us, and Robert's heading that charge. Eric Mack (personal productivity tech guru) and Greg Fisk (Web graphics/function/marketing guru) remain key players on the team. But we needed our own guy inside to manage all the projects for which this heady cyber-infrastructure is key.
Much more to come. Just wanted to say "hi" to everyone paying attention here, and assure you that things are alive and well here in the "mind like water" camp.
Posted by David at 06:44 PM | Comments (2)
