Lotusphere 2009, David Allen, and our Brains
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David Allen is about to enter a lovefest that may surprise him at Lotusphere 2009. As the author of the acclaimed "Getting Things Done," his organizational acumen has taken hold to become nearly cultic. Those of us who follow Getting Things Done (GTD), understand that the method is worth the effort. I have a GTD graph pinned to the wall, two feet in front of me. My GTD buddies say things like, "what is the next step?" We know who we are.
But, those of us who are Lotus Notes professionals have a deeper affinity with David Allen than sharing office rituals. Because David Allen Gets-Things-Done with Notes, and he has done so for fifteen years. You just have to listen to the excellent podcast with David Allen, Eric Mack and Bruce Elgort. Listening to David, you'll find yourself saying, "I knew it, I knew it all along. Notes is the right platform." And, it's not just technology about which David has been so foretelling. It's also about how we think.
Turns out that while our techno-culture has been enhancing multi-tasking, we are really not very good about doing it (except for the simplest or most repetitive tasks). GTD is a terrific tool to pry free of doing too many things, simultaneously. How David Allen figured this out by observation is a mystery, but he gets the credit. Now days, with fMRI scans it's possible to measure the neurological confusion generated by multi-tasking.
The UCLA psychologist, Russel Poldrack explains that, "humans are not built to work this way. We're really built to focus. And when we sort of force ourselves to multitask, we're driving ourselves to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we're being more efficient."
My recommendation for this year's Lotusphere '09 is simple. Get to the David Allen session early, take notes, and . . . focus.
Technorati Tags: Lotusphere09, David Allen, GTD
David Allen is about to enter a lovefest that may surprise him at Lotusphere 2009. As the author of the acclaimed "Getting Things Done," his organizational acumen has taken hold to become nearly cultic. Those of us who follow Getting Things Done (GTD), understand that the method is worth the effort. I have a GTD graph pinned to the wall, two feet in front of me. My GTD buddies say things like, "what is the next step?" We know who we are.
But, those of us who are Lotus Notes professionals have a deeper affinity with David Allen than sharing office rituals. Because David Allen Gets-Things-Done with Notes, and he has done so for fifteen years. You just have to listen to the excellent podcast with David Allen, Eric Mack and Bruce Elgort. Listening to David, you'll find yourself saying, "I knew it, I knew it all along. Notes is the right platform." And, it's not just technology about which David has been so foretelling. It's also about how we think.
Turns out that while our techno-culture has been enhancing multi-tasking, we are really not very good about doing it (except for the simplest or most repetitive tasks). GTD is a terrific tool to pry free of doing too many things, simultaneously. How David Allen figured this out by observation is a mystery, but he gets the credit. Now days, with fMRI scans it's possible to measure the neurological confusion generated by multi-tasking.
The UCLA psychologist, Russel Poldrack explains that, "humans are not built to work this way. We're really built to focus. And when we sort of force ourselves to multitask, we're driving ourselves to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we're being more efficient."
My recommendation for this year's Lotusphere '09 is simple. Get to the David Allen session early, take notes, and . . . focus.
Technorati Tags: Lotusphere09, David Allen, GTD
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Posted by Eric Mack At 06:54:18 AM On 12/18/2008 | - Website - |