I wanted to jot down a few quick points about productivity, which has been one of my interests for quite some time.
I am a long time follower of Cal Newport’s blog (medium-length introductory talk to his main points here) and his motto (taken from Steve Martin): Be so good they can’t ignore you.
Also, like nearly everyone who has ever come near the topic of productivity in IT, I have been using my own kind of GTD-like workflow and I would recommend Allen’s approach when looking for a good place to start.
Aaron Swartz’s post on the topic has brought me some insight, for example not all kinds of activity having the same priority:
my list is programming, writing, thinking, errands, reading, listening, and watching (in that order).
His words have stayed with me over the weeks since I’ve read them first. I admire their brevity, simplicity and clarity.
Let’s not forget Lars Wirzenius’ GTD for Hackers. It’s a well-written description of a GTD implementation, giving a practical introduction to the topic.