The Power of Cranking Widgets | GTD Times
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008I am a big fan of productivity and personal organisation books. And I think the whole David Allen GTD is very impressive, insightful and exciting. In a few years I imagine the processes will be common place and stock standard. I’ve been implementing the process for a while now, still refining it, still a long way to go. One of my favourite concepts in GTD is that of “cranking widgets”:
One of these hidden gems is the concept of what David Allen calls: “Cranking Widgetsâ€.
The concept is simple – according to David – one of the healthiest jobs psychologically is the one where you show up at work and you see three things:
• A bunch of un-cranked widgets
• A widget-cranking machine
• A bucket to put the cranked widget
Isn’t your job now tad simpler? All you have to do is just take the un-cranked widget, put it into a widget-cranking machine and later put the cranked widget into its bucket.
I have listened to the old, out of print, pulled from the market, GTD seminar audio CD’s many many times. This is not the audio of the book, but an actual seminar which contains LOTS of material that is not in the book or not unpacked fully in the book – like the “cranking widgets” concept in full.
Sometimes Helen and I have listened to them in the car on a long drive and she has commented “thats level of organisation is not possible” – but with GTD many things are made possible. 
Anyway I was encouraged to see that they have released a new edition of the GTD seminar audio CD’s. Only they are $US395. I would certainly pay that much to see David Allen live… But for a CD set? Anybody want to go halves/quarters/eighths with me? You do get 10 audio CD’s of material. If it is anything like the old set, there is alot of “natural planning model” cruft that I found irrelevant, but the exposition of GTD expands on the book incredibly well. (I’ve also read “Ready For Anything” by Allen – it’s ok but not great)
The next best thing to seeing David Allen live is – listening to GTDLive! If you’ve ever wanted to attend a David Allen seminar but couldn’t, here’s the next best thing. GTDLive! is our brand new audio of a full 2-day seminar – packed with insights, tips, and practical applications on GTD in a way that only David can tell you. This is a great value at over 50% off the cost of just a one-day seminar! With GTD Live, you receive this recording of a full 2-day seminar that you can listen to over and over again – anywhere, anytime.
I don’t think GTD is for everyone. Some people seem to naturally organise themselves according to GTD principles. Others will need to spend a few years trying the old school Covey “big rocks”/”first things first”/”top down”/”time prioritisation” model in order to realise that it doesn’t quite work. For those of us who are naturally disorganised and hate ourselves for it, including Christian leaders, GTD is some great Egyptian/hippy methodological wisdom to plunder.