020. David Allen: On Productivity and Spontaneity

TODAY'S GUEST   David Allen is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on productivity. His 35 years experience as a management consultant and executive coach have earned him worldwide recognition. His bestselling book, the groundbreaking “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”, has sold millions and been published in thirty languages; and the “GTD” methodology it describes has become a global phenomenon, being taught by training companies in more than ninety countries. David, his company, and his partners are dedicated to teaching people how to stay relaxed and productive in our fast paced world.     EPISODE SUMMARY In this conversation we discuss: [2:58] Life during the COVID pandemic, living in the Netherlands [6:23] Effects of COVID on GTD implementation [9:13] Loving Magic, Models and Systems [11:30] Crucial Design Innovations in Tech [14:43] Early Attempts at GTD Software [16:14] Being an Exchange Student in Zurich in high school [18:53] Choosing an experimental Liberal Arts college [23:19] Becoming a spiritual seeker in the 60s and 70s [27:01] Helping businesses improve their process [28:40] Searching for models [30:28] The roots of GTD [31:48] First big corporate break [34:26] The Getting Things Done book [35:44] What is GTD? [37:57] Is GTD the Natural way of planning? [41:49] The Design of GTD [45:47] Iterative Development [47:39] To GTD or Not to GTD? [49:08] Geeking out over the reMarkable Tablet [53:55] The spiritual aspects of GTD [1:00:32] GTD and spontaneity  [1:05:02] The Dao of small things [1:07:06] Does David Allen have unproductive days? [1:09:18] GTD and Pipelines [1:13:31] A short sermon from David Allen    EPISODE LINKS David's Links 🌍 GettingThingsDone.com 🌍 GTDConnect.com 📘 Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity 📕 Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done 📔 Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life 📣 Twitter: @gtdguy 📺 David Allen's TEDx Talk Other Things Discussed 🌎 John-Roger.org 🌎 Charles Simonyi, Software Engineer 🌎 I Ching 📔 Daodejing 🌎 Rumi, the Sufi poet 📝 reMarkable Tablet   ABOUT US Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected] 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer Remake Labs:  RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram Eran Dror:  EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Om Podcasten

Remake is a podcast about Design, Systems, and Society. And I'm Eran Dror, a product designer and researcher of eastern religions. In each episode I interview someone who’s trying to change our lives for the better in some meaningful way, whether through a new product, new venture, or new way of looking at the world, and I try to understand how they came to it, what makes them tick, and what we all can learn from them. I truly believe Design is strategic, that it goes to the core, that it's at the root of what it means to be human. In this show we explore an expansive view of design, and cover Systems Thinking, Social Innovation, Secular spirituality, and the future.