▍我很荣幸能够在2016年的12月通过Skype参与了奥斯陆的搞定™聚会并采访了David Allen。本次采访是关于David的事业远景。在2001年他首次发布GTD®搞定™书籍，15年后他将搞定™方法论带到了全世界。
这些年来我看过很多关于搞定™方法论的创始人David
Allen的采访。我发现大家都从未问过David的事业远景。15年间，他从2001年首次发布搞定™书籍到成功发展到全世界。
我被授予了特权共同举办奥斯陆搞定聚会，这是全球最大的搞定™线下聚会，来者超过了700人。我联系了David，他非常愿意在那么多搞定™爱好者面前进行现场采访。
我和David Allen的采访
我：那么David，你能和我们分享一下你在2001年首次发布第一本搞定™书籍到15年后发展到全球业务的旅程吗？
David：我来提醒一下大家，GTD®搞定™就像是武术。当我在练习成为空手道黑带时，我大部分的训练都是基础训练。GTD®搞定™也一样。真正的运用和它的力量来自于最基本的步骤。
这是一个非常简单的方法，并不像你学一门新的语言。你只需要理解一系列的练习和一系列的认知过程。
对于你刚收到的邮件，你会问自己什么问题？你要怎么逃离出你的收件栏并且合理的处理那些事物?
这些都是GTD®搞定™的精华；如果在自己还没完成一个任务时突然又有新的事情来找你，这样的情况下你需要问自己什么问题？
| 认知科学家已经研究发现你的大脑最多能够处理的事只有4件。
在1981年，在培训还未正式在业界运行时，我创办了Allen学院。我开始意识到我当时在空手道中学习清空大脑来准备迎接惊喜的方法也同样适用在业界。
我的世界正在变得越来越复杂，于是我开始寻找能让我头脑清晰的方法。然后我开始将这些方法介绍给更多朋友。结果就是，那些有用的方法对任何人都适用。
与David在线采访
2年后，也就是1983年，Lockheed集团的人事部总经理邀请我组织一场讲座更多的听众。这让我受宠若惊。
接下来的25年，我不断的改进我的方法并且试图研究如何让它变得盈利。随着时间的过去，我发现我做的东西非常的独一无二。
GTD®搞定™做贡献的是帮助大家发觉什么是在巡航控制或者是自动驾驶控制之外的，让你知道如何将焦点放在眼前。
我：回首2001年，当你首次发布第一本书时，你预测到GTD会发展到多远？
David：我的第一个目标其实只是将这些理念写成书，以防万一哪天我被车撞了。我花费了4年的时间完成第一本书，刚开始写是在1997年的时候。当时我觉得我的发现是管用的。我知道它也是通用的。
当时我最大的客户是Goldman Sachs. 我的方法像病毒似的蔓延到全公司。那个时候我仍在经营我那小小的咨询公司。这本书能够帮助公司建立品牌。
我：2001年出版书之后发生了什么呢？
David：出版书后的第一年，它成为了美国的畅销书之一。2年后，也就是2003年，平装书版本也随之出版了。
巧的是当时也是博客诞生的时候。技术界的博主们比如Guy Kawasaki,是我的发烧友，他当时帮助我到处散播搞定™。
我所做的很多事情都是为了弄清楚我如何平衡全球利益和保持品牌的纯洁性。在一些国家，我们发现了很多人在盗用搞定™。品牌于是受到了影响。
|我的对该品牌的兴趣是改变从现在开始100年的世界，这样我们就能在一个只有项目而没有问题的世界。
大概10年前，我们决定将规模扩大，从只有我，我的书和我的演讲到扩展成为全球的品牌，并且同时保证它的质量。
然后创始Franklin Covey的团队来找我并且想来代表我们。这则是开始扩大到全球的开始。
我们现在覆盖了全球60个国家。GTD®搞定™的扩大不是靠我们，而是靠那些被受益的人群。
▍I had the pleasure of doing an interview with David Allen on
Skype at the Oslo GTD Gathering in December 2016. This is
his perspective on the time between publishing the first book in 2001
and seeing GTD as a global movement, 15 years later.
Over the years, I have read many interviews with David
Allen, the founder of the Getting Things Done methodology. The one thing no one
asks about is Davids perspective on the time between publishing the first
book in 2001 and seeing Getting Things Done grow to a global movement 15 years
later.
I’m privileged to be one of the co-hosts for Oslo GTD
Gathering, the world’s largest GTD Meetup group, with
more than 700 members. I contacted David and he was more than willing to
do a live interview in front of a bunch of eager GTD’ers.
My interview with David Allen
Me: So David, can you please tell us about the journey from your
first book in 2001, up until seeing Getting Things Done becoming a global
movement 15, years later?
David: I’ll remind you all that GTD is much like the martial arts. When
I was training for the black belt in karate, most of my training was in
the basic moves. The same thing is true with GTD. The real application and
power of this come from simply applying the basic moves.
It’s a very simple methodology, it’s not like you have to learn
a new language. You just have to understand a series of practices and a series
of cognitive processes.
What do you need to ask yourself about the email that you
just received? What do you need to do to get that out of your in-basket and
appropriately engage with whatever that meant to you?
And that’s really the essence of what the GTD methodology is;
What do I need to ask myself about the things that I let come into my world
that can’t be finished the moment they show up?
The cognitive
scientists have now found that the maximum number of things you can handle
inside your head is four – 4.
Back in 1981, I started Allen Associates without any formal
training in business. I had started to see that what I learned in karate about
having a clear mind so that you were prepared for people that surprised
you in a dark alley, was possible to transfer into the business world.
I started to try to find out what would help me have a clear
head as my world started to get more complex. Then I started to turn
around and use the same techniques on other people. What I found was that
the ones that worked, they worked universally.
Two years later, in 1983, I was asked by the head of HR at the
Lockheed Cooperation to put together a seminar to present my findings to a
wider audience. This really hit a nerve.
For the next 25 years, I was improving my model and trying to
find out how I could make money from this. Over time, I figured out that what I
was doing was unique. Nobody else was doing this.
What GTD has done is help people to figure how to find what is
not on cruise control or autopilot and then, how do you get that on autopilot
so that you can be able to focus on what’s in front of you.
From my interview with David Allen
on Skype at the Oslo GTD Gathering.
Me: Back in 2001, when you published your first book, how far did
you think that GTD would reach?
David: My first goal was actually just to write the manual about
this in case I got run over by a bus. It took me four years to write this book,
I started in 1997. By this time, I felt that I had proven that my findings were
working. I knew that this was universal stuff.
My biggest client at that time was Goldman Sachs. My method just
went viral inside that company. At the time, I still had my small consulting
firm. I figured that the book could help build the brand.
Me: What happened after the publication in 2001?
David: The book became a best-seller in the US that first year. Two
years later, in 2003, the paperback edition of the book came out.
This coincided with the start of blogging. It turned out that
some of the early bloggers in the tech world, like Guy Kawasaki, loved my stuff
and was spreading the word about Getting Things Done.
A lot of what I have done since this is trying to figure out how
do I leverage this global interest and at the same time keep the brand
pristine. In some countries, we have had numerous cases of GTD pirates. The
brand was starting to run out from under us.
My interest
with this brand is to change the world 100 years from now, so that we live in a
world of projects, not problems.
So then, about 10 years ago, we decided to try to scale this up,
from being me, my book and my speaking, to being a global brand and, and at the
same time keep the quality.
Then the people that built the Franklin Covey network came to us
and wanted to represent us. That was the start of going global.
Now we are represented in 60 countries. Still, the fact is
that GTD is marketed, not by us, but from people who get it.
