Quote Originally Posted by DougToft View Post
I'm a GTD fan and follow the Study Hacks blog written by Cal Newport. He describes GTD as appropriate only for "shallow work" because it focuses on "cranking widgets"—simple tasks, not deep thinking. Please see:

http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/12/2...s-universalism

What do you think?
Interesting article, and makes some good points. But I think GTD addresses "deep work" in some of the later books by David Allen. And if you are successfully cranking widgets, that should give you time to also clearly reflect on anything deeper you want to work on.

I'm not a GTD expert, but in my experience over the last couple of years working with it, there is no objection to GTD that has not been addressed already by David Allen in his writings.

Every time I've read about alternate systems, or articles explaining why GTD doesn't work, it seems to me that author either (1) has not fully considered or read up on GTD or (2) has not tried to fully implement it. If you've read your GTD books and articles, in some cases it's obvious that a person has no real understanding of GTD or possibly hasn't even read the original book.

Of course, whether a person likes to use GTD, or whether it really is the right fit for someone, is entirely a personal decision. And there are completely valid alternate productivity systems (like Superfocus) that work beautifully for some people (for example, a young, single adult with an entry-level job and renting an apartment, and a married CEO who travels a lot and is building a vacation home, likely have vastly different requirements for a productivity system and tools, although they could both use GTD). But not fully understanding and really trying out GTD first isn't a good reason to reject the approach.