The Get Things Done Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler - Review.
A bookstore pickup.
Working with many different types of people and personalities, I get to see a lot of different ways that people learn, onboard information and adopt suggestions, direction, and concepts. As any consultant, teacher, communicator, and facilitator has had to learn, is to figure out how the student, client, customer learns, to then work with that knowledge to find the best way to get the knowledge we have to you. How well you can learn how they learn, will be a major definer of success. With that I spend a lot of time trying to both learn more about learning as well as finding tools that challenge how I share information. I found this book “The Get Things Done Book By Mikael Krogerus, and Roman Tschappeler (ISBN: 978-1-180-81464-6) in a local Lisbon favorite magazine and bookstore Under the Cover. The back cover said it 41 productivity tools and models, spread across 160 pages. So clearly for this to have any value they will have to have done the work to ensure that it was easily consumed and readable. I picked it up and gave it a read.
Getting Things done.
The book is outlining in its own count 41 different tools to get you started, to get you organized on existing work or to push an existing thought over the finish line. The models discussed will be very familiar to any consultant, trainer, or corporate soldier.
Brainstorming, the 5 Whys, Prototyping and KanBan are all familiar names to those of us who work within this space, but to most common business owners these may be new and innovative ways of tackling concepts, forming information, or outlining thoughts and tasks.
These are in many cases the core of what consultants have been trained on or selling to big companies for years. These tools in most cases have no reason to not be used by anyone of any scale size or problem type. There are a lot of clever ways to build up problems, or thoughts or tasks that can benefit from these approaches, and I am thrilled with this books way of discussing and teaching them.
41 models thought processes and ideas are presented here with less than 3 pages dedicated to explaining them along with very good visualizations and illustrations. This is a quick read and a simple study enough to get you started on a given model and outline to use and benefit from in our opinion.
The authors are quick and to the point when explaining their tools and the models, and they do so with a language that is impressive. The goal with this book isn´t to debate the various pros and cons, or to explain in nauseating detail how to use a given model or who invented it. The book throws a steady stream of models at you with the briefest explanation and discussion at the reader to get you ready to use it. There is a focus on getting things done as the title implies and works to specifically challenge procrastination and decision paralysis. This is exposure learning, by throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the reader in a short very digestible format, the reader gets a sample size of dozens of consultant tools and tricks.
With just enough understanding to get why they are helpful and work and not without the baggage and discussion that often follow them. I know that most of these models presented will come with entire books discussing them and the best way to host a brainstorm, or the logic and psychology in why the 5 Why´s model is good and when to use and not. That´s not the point of this book however, it´s to get you a reader to find tools and tricks to help you frame information, break a decision deadlock, or scope a new idea or though. Framing information in new ways some visually, some by yourself, or in groups, with these tools.
The content is sharp, free of unnecessary fluff and has critical support in the illustrations that make many of the more conceptual or visual models more understandable and easier to adopt.
Summary
This book is great, and very practical for my clients and readers. I think with the practical focus and direct to usage goals of the authors was well achieved and the range of tools and models presented give a great range of options for people to try and test out. There will be a benefit to most users and readers, from what is in the book without the heavy discussion and fluff many of these models are often wrapped in.
The accessibility of good corporate tools tricks and models is exactly what we want to offer in our consultancy work here at Department 45 and this book serves that purpose by sharing the tools and trips in a digestible way for everyone to take up and work on.
A great helpful book and a worthwhile read. If you´re looking for models and ideas on how to get things done or need help structuring you next project, then why not reach out to us on email or DM on Instagram for a free first hour consultation where we will get to know you your business and challenges and identify where we can help and support each other.
Thank you for your time.
Tim H.
Lead Consultant.
