I just listened to a very interesting interview of David Allen of GTD® fame conducted by Merlin Mann of 43 folders.
In the interview Allen speaks frankly about the development of the GTD system, and concludes that if he were to write the book today, several years later, it would have “no difference whatsoever” from what he originally published. He also said that based on feedback that he has gotten over the years, “no-one has said anything (is) wrong in there.”
Of course, the difficulty that arises is that it’s impossible to evolve the work to the next step when there is no creative input, and little idea of how the system could be improved. This is something Allen alludes to later in the interview when he talks about coming out with a third book, and the pressure that’s on him to take things to another level (both from his fans and his publisher!)
He talks about the new frontier having something to do with people giving themselves the time to”get into” the system, and also mentions the “low implementation percentage” that GTD experiences.
I think that a paradigm shift would help.
Here is the message I’d say to David in a nutshell, in response to the concerns shares so openly in his podcast:
” GTD is an excellent system, and I love it, and use some of its ideas. However, it is simply one system that works for some people who share a particular style, culture, comfort with technology, etc. Most people struggle because they need to develop their own time management system, and don’t know how. Also, they don’t realize that their system needs to evolve over time, and that the best starting point is the system they are using right now, which can only be changed gradually over time. Encouraging this self-determination, and the acceptance of their need to grow themselves patiently over the course of their lifetime is the new frontier.”