Reading David Allen’s book Getting Things Done was a key professional development moment for me.  It transformed my understanding of knowledge work and allowed me to bring organization to my office for the first time.  I would not have achieved my current level of success without the principles outlined in the book.

So who is this man behind the GTD® logo?  The web site, Early To Rise, recently interviewed David Allen to learn more about his background, how he developed the core GTD® concepts and his current personal goals for this work.  Here is an excerpt from the interview where David is asked about how the Getting Things Done philosophy fit into professional training programs that were around twenty years ago.

What was your specialty exactly?

It really became how to create more space in the mind and get rid of distractions. That was just an informal approach, but an HR rep showed up to one of my workshops at one point and flat out said we need more of my methods in society. Not long after, I did a presentation for Lockheed with these methods and it hit a nerve. That’s when I knew I had something unique.

You can find the full interview on the Early To Rise web site.