Academics/writers/advanced students on GTD?
fannywrightist
professor, but have found little documentation on the web of actual
academics using it.
Isn't this an untapped market of knowledge workers who seem to be
missing out on what GTD and technical innovations like Furl can do to
revolutionize how we find, organize, and synthesize huge amounts of
information?
Can anyone point out any resources I've missed or more general advice
aimed towards the difficulties that academics and writers particularly
deal with in their work. For example, are there any suggestions on
handling projects that tend to be more holistic with several stages of
development--like writing a book or dissertation. It seems that the
traditional time management solution of chunking or even simply
identifying actions becomes all the more difficult the more abstract
your work becomes.
Any sympathizers out there?
meg
spreading meme. Three of us on my hallway alone are using it, in
various ways of course.
No doubt we're all missing out on some of the tools and innovations
that would help; it's the nature of the game. But the specific
reticence about academia may be due to a sense that the fundamental
problem is the same, regardless of the workplace.
Regarding research projects, academics are already used to thinking in
terms of projects rather than tasks; I did my dissertation before GTD
came out, and we were already getting the advice about next actions and
so forth.
I'm not sure I have any good ideas to offer up... Merlin Mann has cited
Annie Lamott's *Bird by Bird* at least a couple of times, and the title
says it all. As a kid, she was writing a report on birds that she'd
put off till the last minute, and she was near tears, when her father
said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."
Somehow that's a lot more comforting in times of panic than the bromide
about a thousand-mile journey beginning with a single step.
Jeff Kenton
group (or something similar). Maybe now is the time to start it?
My sense, as an academic, is that academic work has the "patina" of
being ill-structured, where ideas flow and change freely, and people
generally can be a little less strenuous in their day-to-day work.
However, underneath it all, there is a tacit assumption that work gets
accomplished on a fairly strict timeline. In other words, academia is
often a place where you can feel free to change your focus as much as
you like, but don't expect anybody to pity you when twelve years later
your dissertation is not finished (or grant application is not
written, or your articles never get published).
For me, the secret has been removing my ideas from the "idea
incubator" and working on them independently. Otherwise, the concept
never leaves the incubator, and thus will never get done.
Among other things, I think academic people could benefit from GTD
principles. I know I have become WAY better at managing my work and
outside life since GTD came along.
My $.02
Jeff
All intellectual improvement arises from leisure - Samuel Johnson
meg
school, and juggling teaching, book project, articles, advising, and
endless committee work is waaaay more work than running a business.
As for that patina of unstructure, it's as I told my mother: "Yeah,
Mom, you're absolutely right -- my time IS my own. I can choose any 75
hours out of the week to work!"
I would subscribe to an academic GTD group, most def. But do we have
enough to say that would bore the non-academics in order to justify a
separate group? (And are there enough of us?)
Bob Freud
professional life. Think we'd miss all the discussions on moleskine
mods if we split off right now. Perhaps we can start some threads here
and see if we have enough to say that's different enough to justify a
new group. A number of writers on productivity are strongly
suggesting limiting the number of groups we participate it and even
read.
Obvious topics for GTD for Academics include some of the following:
Research
Course/Syllabus/assignment design
Encouraging GTD use among students
Tenure/Promotion
fannywrightist
GTD, but few meta-conversations on it.
Maybe we need a forum, insofar as we can claim we have unique
needs/techniques. In fact, we could almost use a forum for debating
whether or not we need a forum--as even articulating our (really, my)
difficulties seems to be challenge enough on its own...but maybe we can
avoid this excess. Heaven help us if forums begin to sprout like
committees.
So let me be more specific.
I think for me the trouble has to do with forming the next-action--in
part because so many crucial turns in my thought seem to come
together/apart through ordered spontaneity. Perhaps this is because I
work in the humanities, but I imagine this orientation crosses
disciplines.
Given this workstyle, I am often caught between trying to find the
structure offered in management approaches and cultivate the
inspiration of those wonderful writerly guides, like Bird by Bird. How
do I create next-actions that I can have peace with (and isn't that the
point?) between these conflicting demands? Although some would pair
these approaches as progressive stages in the same process (from rough
to finished, creative to structured), in my experience, they swing back
and forth like a pendulm or even a battle being waged.
Of course, a lot of the programmers/designers/software developers that
seem to thrive with GTD might have similar issues. But for some
reason, I haven't run into good discussions of it. In my heart of
hearts, I suspect that the disconnect might just be that in the
process of producing academic arguments there are many unnamed
steps/rituals beyond brainstorming, reviewing, mapping, listing, et al
that are much harder to pin down. Maybe they aren't meant to be.
But don't you wonder?
Or is it just me?
GTD Wannabe
me on track. In my previous life, I had a busy job, with lots of
responsibilities and open loops. Somehow, I was organized enough to
get it all done. I have no idea what happened when I went back to
school - it's like productivity and I became strangers. Too much
flexibility perhaps? So now, I'm using GTD to put more structure in my
"work". See, I can't even call research work! I've only been at the
GTD stuff for a couple of months, but I'm hoping that I can stick with
it and force myself to be more productive in my research. I also find
that plotting my hours of productivity helps - forces me to be honest
with myself. Not every hour spent in front of the computer is a
productive one ;)
Also, I've noted a tendency in academics to be pretty laissez-fair.
Meetings never start on time; you're lucky if people respond to your
emails, even when you make the questions clear. From an organizational
behaviour perspective, I find it fascinating. How do universities run,
if everyone is an absent-minded professor?
Jeff Kenton
--snip--
> Given this workstyle, I am often caught between trying to find the
> structure offered in management approaches and cultivate the
> inspiration of those wonderful writerly guides, like Bird by Bird. How
> do I create next-actions that I can have peace with (and isn't that the
> point?) between these conflicting demands? Although some would pair
> these approaches as progressive stages in the same process (from rough
> to finished, creative to structured), in my experience, they swing back
> and forth like a pendulm or even a battle being waged.
structure). Some people are able to withdraw from the never-ending
idea sharing and finish their work. Others get very involved in the
idea sharing and never get anything else done. This manifests itself
often in some decisions NEVER getting made, and other decisions
constantly being unmade and remade.
I'd suggest leadership as the solution. However, people with PhDs (or
other terminal degrees, are about as herd-able as cats (I am one).
Each wants autonomy, and feels threatened when his or her ideas are
not valued (Yes, I know this is a caricature. But not as far-flung as
you think).
Without external structure, academics must be willing to impose their
own structure; over their own work, over their own decisions, over
their own lives.
To answer your question, I think that once you have made your mind up
about how something should "look" when it is done, then you can feel
free to withdraw and finish the project without further input from
anyone else.
--snip--
> But don't you wonder?
comfortable striking off on their own paths, and finish what they
start.
Academia, in that sense, is just another type of creativity.
And when the stereotype of the "absent-minded professor" sets
expectations very low, a motivated and disciplined professor can kick
some major butt just by sticking to ones guns and finishing what gets
started.
Jeff
Jeff Kenton
person suggested putting ACAD on the subject line, preceding an
academic discussion.
That way, we know that the conversation is on academic topics, and we
would not have to start our own group to have those discussions.
Until we reach Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point or even accumulate Ev
Rogers' critical mass of early adopters and early majority, we should
probably not split off.
Just some context.
ehd
Academic to address GTD and other organization strategies. The
intention is NOT to replace 43 Folders but simply to supplement it.
Academia is a special environment and our problems, goals, and tasks
are often quite a different flavor than in the "Real World". Again, I
want to emphasize that I do not mean to ocmpete with 43 Folders or
steal subscribers but just to provide a smaller forum for academics
concerned with academic writing, time management, course planning,
dissertations, etc. Merlin et al. please let me know if you think this
experiment is not necessary.
Homepage: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/The-Efficient-Academic
Group email: The-Efficie...@googlegroups.com
Description: Professors, Instructors, and Graduate Students
interested in getting things done more easily and quickly. We discuss
organization, task management, and tools that helps us to be more
productive and not procrastinate. We tend to discuss David Allen's GTD
system but not exclusively.
Pascal Venier
A collective blog on academic productivity might be another
possibility.
Pascal Venier
message after. Good luck with your TEA group.
ck
> Meetings never start on time; you're lucky if people respond to your
> emails, even when you make the questions clear. From an organizational
> behaviour perspective, I find it fascinating. How do universities run,
> if everyone is an absent-minded professor?
I've noticed at my university, too. However, I've also noticed that the
successful faculty (and the administers) are not absent-minded
professors. They are highly organized, answer email on time, and are
always on time for meetings. The same seems to be true of people who
are selected to serve on department committees and of people who are
the "big names" in their research field. I'm a mid-level faculty
member and the lesson I've learned so far is that the absent-minded
professor-types tend not to be the ones who are making a difference in
their departments and in their field. It's the organized people that
run the show.
Jeffrey Windsor
a group blog. We're all prone to sermonize to the point that an
article/comment format might serve us better than a straight
newsgroup.
I'll even host it. If, that is, we decide we all want it. I'm too
tired right now to make a decision (having just loaded, driven nearly
a thousand miles, and unloaded all the belongings of a 95 year old
woman). I'll take suggestions for software (I'm biased toward
WordPress or Textpattern) and a name.
--jw
meg
and future).
That itself is a danger: If everyone pegs you as having your shit
together, you get extra work as a prize. I know so many people who
have stalled out at associate professor because they got caught up in
Making A Contribution. Organized people, beware!
Harvey Simmons
Now, after two layoffs and a long stretch out of work, I'm in culinary school and working in a kitchen. It's weird. It's like I have excess flexibility. There's a lot less structure to my days. There are lots of days when I really have no idea what I will be doing until after I get to work and clock in. I have no computer or email access at work, so it's HPDA and Moleskine while I'm there. Each day at home, I plug the appropriate notes into either Mozilla Sunbird or the BOTF.
BOTF = Big Old Text File
Incidentally, I also keep a large Moleskine in my backpack containing my favorite "go-to" recipes. My soon-to-be-former manager likes to ask me to do things like, "Do something with these beets for a lunch side dish." It's good to have time-tested recipes with me at all times.
Since the degree program I'm in is actually an AAS program, it's not even close to a PhD, but a good idea (like GTD) doesn't care where you use it.
Leila
cusp of entering grad school for an MFA in creative writing. BUt I do
have next actions on my hipster PDA, and an inbox which I haven't
cleaned out properly since vacation ended this past week.
Tomorrow is orientation. I'll be juggling classes, writing fiction,
ferrying my kids to childcare, and household obligations. Feels like
way too much. I just clutch the Next Actions cards to my breast and
hope for the best.
Would love to see more GTD threads run by academics and creatives. I
really don't care to be an academic although I have those skills (and
am going to use them during the MFA) - but writing stories, novels,
essays and articles, and selling them, is paradoxical knowledge work.
On the one hand you need structure and organization. On the other hand
the brain needs time to just moodle. Next action: take a walk and think
about plot issues?
Leila
should be retyping a short story right now
Mary
dissertation/other projects with GTD. I'm still reading/digesting the
GTD book, so i have no tips yet. It seems potentially perfect for
academic work - the whole system seems very flexible and everything -
but for me it's just finding the time to launch the implementation -
i.e., getting everything into IN and then getting everything out of IN
again.
but honestly, I still have questions about organizing project files
with this system. I probably just need to think more about how I myself
proceed through writing a chapter (which I've never done before, so of
COURSE I don't know how I do it), and then I'll know how I organize my
files.
ANybody out there use a tickler file? Has it worked for you?
Mary
Mary
forum with 'ACAD' at the beginning of the subject line, to keep
participating in this forum (for all the good ideas floating around)
but to alert other students and profs to the relevance of that question
for them.
Chris Lott
technology, my avocation and education are all centered around
creative writing. Except in the cases of non-fioction writing of
particular kinds-- most of them work related (technical writing,
articles, reports)-- I don't find that I do much to apply the GTD
methodology to the writing process. But it does directly effect my
creative work in a few ways:
1) It helps me keep the rest of my life organized enough that I
actually have time to write.
2) It helps me better keep track of all the mechanical (and
horrifyingly mind-numbing) paperwork involved with publication:
submission, revision, etc.
3) In order for GTD to work, you have to be consistent about applying
the process. This carries over to how I write. I don't always like
doing my weekly review and processing my inbox, but I go ahead and do
it anyway. This carries over to the writing process. I believe in
writer's block. But I also believe it can be overcome with some
relatively simple methods, which are hard only because when things are
tough we are most apt to want to put things off and not take the
necessary steps because we "don't feel like it." Getting better at GTD
has made me better in this area.
c
Chris Lott
> I don't find that I do much to apply the GTD
> methodology to the writing process. But it does directly effect my
> creative work in a few ways:
carrying around so much extra, unneeded detritus that is better kept
track of with NAs and contexts has allowed me to become much more
proficient at capturing ideas when they come to me. Like many others
here, the relationship between convenient conditions and good ideas
are inversely proportional...
c