GTD and Genealogy? Yes!

Getting Things Done aka GTD is a productivity methodology outlined in the best-selling book by the same name. The books author, David Allen, presents the concept and steps to organize your life for stress-free living.

The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow, covered in the book are:

1. Collection
2. Processing
3. Organizing
4. Reviewing
5. Doing

I've been working toward GTD nirvana for six months now, which I understand is nothing. It's not uncommon for people to spend a year or more getting their system "down" so that it becomes routine. 

I've read the GTD book once and listened to the audio version as well. I follow GTD blogs, listen to GTD podcasts and participate in GTD groups on various social media platforms. To date, my GTD application has been at work. However, the more I look at the five steps, the more I see this workflow applying to genealogy research.

1. Collection - gathering all your "stuff" into one place. Documents, photos, books, emails etc.
2. Processing - what do you need to do with the "stuff"? Scan it, read it, file it, share it?
3. Organizing - if you need to read it, where does it go? if you need to scan it, do you have a scan folder? Do you need to scan it before you read it? What is the next step?
4. Reviewing - What needs to be done first? What is your next action? Does it need to be a project? If you have 4, 500+ pg county histories to read...that may need to be a project.
5. Doing - Scan it, File it, Read it

Isn't this what we as genealogist do? I think David Allen is a closet genealogist! I wonder if he knows it? I would love to hear from any other genealogists who have applied GTD to their research process.