A groundbreaking book about how to harness the power of collaboration and work most effectively in groups - coauthored by Getting Things Done's David Allen
When Getting Things Done was published in 2001, it was a game-changer. By revealing the principles of healthy high performance at an individual level, it transformed the experience of work and leisure for millions. Twenty years later, it has become clear that the best way to build on that success is at the team level, and one of the most frequently asked questions by dedicated GTD users is how to get an entire team onboard.
By building on the effectiveness of what GTD does for individuals, Team will offer a better way of working in an organisation, while simultaneously nourishing a culture that allows individuals' skills to flourish. Using case studies from some of the world's most successful companies, Team shows how the principles of team productivity improve communication, enable effective execution and reduce stress on team members. These principles are increasingly important in the post-pandemic workplace, where the very nature of how people work together has changed so dramatically.
Team is the most significant addition to the GTD canon since the original, and in offering a roadmap for building a culture of sustainable high performance, will be welcomed by readers working in any sized group or organisation.
Perhaps this is for people who are only about to get their first job--because this felt like a word salad of every observation you can clearly make from every [toxic] company ever. It offered a couple of thoughtful advises, but nothing new or groundbreaking.
When David Allen wrote the book “Getting Things Done” in 2001, it revolutionized how many people thought about productivity. However, the workplace has evolved, and more work is now done as a team. Allen has now coauthored “Team: Getting Things Done with Others” with Edward Lamont. Together, they build on the GTD principles and add valuable insights into how we can work most effectively.
Among the key points:
Although workplace teams have existed since work first began, we often struggle to move a group forward and get them to work together. When we work on a team that knows what they are doing, understands their purpose, and has common priorities, it is a positive experience, and more gets done.
The authors present a thought-provoking perspective on the role of the boss in team dynamics. They argue that the main obstacle to effective teamwork can be a boss who is unwilling to delegate assignments and final decision-making. Lamont and Allen propose a solution: owners can still maintain authority over strategic and financial decisions, but this authority must be acknowledged and vetted by the distributed power structure. They caution that if someone plays the 'founders card' to overrule a decision from the self-organized structure, the initiative loses credibility and is likely to collapse.
Teams are effective when the following principles are accepted:
Clarity – They understand what their purpose is and get proper direction. Sufficient Trust – “Trust is built by making and keeping promises. Trust is both an input – you need to invest some to get a relationship going – and an output.” Open Communication – “The ability to speak freely about things that impact the team without fear of punishment.:” Learning – “It is only by continuously learning about their needs and desires that you can have any hope of partnering for the long-term.” Diversity – “Organizations actually need more ‘controlled explosions,’ more unusual people, more lack of symmetry in members and practices in order to deliberately challenge themselves before the market throws them a curveball.”
Allen and Lamont walk the reader through the various stumbling blocks of effective teams and offer practical suggestions for accomplishing a group's shared goals. The GTD philosophy is embedded throughout the book but is taking productivity to the next level.
Slightly repetitive in a good way if you are familiar with GTD which you probably are if you are interested in this book.
Lots of (check)lists to copy and quotes to ruminate about:
Regarding working standards: “What would bother you if we did it consistently?” Or, you could come at it from the opposite perspective: “What would excite you if we consistently got it right?”
„The problem is that too often new goals are set without a ruthless discussion of what other projects the team will be pausing—or cutting entirely—to allow the time, space, and creativity to realize the new goals. Setting additional goals on top of an already undoable list of tasks is simply despair inducing.“
There are five separate stages in the NPM: - Purpose and principles - Vision - Brainstorm - Organize - Next actions
In workshops, when we have our participants plan several of their projects in just twelve minutes, here is a formula that seems to optimize the time: - Purpose: 45 seconds - Principles: 45 seconds - Vision: 2 minutes, 30 seconds - Brainstorm: 3 minutes - Organize: 4 minutes - Next actions: 1 minute
„If you know what you want to do and you do it, that’s the work of a craftsman. If you begin with a question and use it to guide an adventure of discovery, that’s the work of the artist.“ - RICK RUBIN
„If the standards are developed by the team, it takes pressure off any one individual to enforce them.“
„If You Don’t Have a No, Your Yes Means Nothing“
About Delegation: Phase 1: Preparation—Take at least a few moments to prepare for the conversation with the person you’ll be handing off to. Think carefully about your desired outcome, when you want it, and any resources that the person can access as they do the work. Phase 2: Negotiation—Best practice is to actually speak to the person about what you want, versus just firing off an email or chat message. It pays to think about the delegation as a conversation to negotiate—or “co-design”—the deliverable. That collaborative dynamic runs right through this process. For instance, where most people being asked to do something see their only option as simply saying yes,
Five check marks on the cover perfectly summarize this book. The classic "GTD check mark" is now joined by four others, symbolizing the expanded scope of teamwork.
True to its roots, "Team" remains tool and methodology agnostic, applicable to teams of any size and individuals at any level. It's a must-read for anyone working with others.
The writing style echoes the new edition of GTD: crisp and timeless, focusing on universal principles over anecdotes. While some passages may feel verbose, they're filled with wisdom from experienced consultants. Even better, this book strengthens your own GTD practice.
I read the original GTD book in 2006 and have re-read it multiple times since then, also participated in GTD trainings and discussion groups, I have been using several practices (listed under my GTD book review) for 10+ years. I have read hundreds of books on leadership and strategy and organizing work and while working in IT sector myself I was at first a bit disappointed when the author started writing about Lean and Agile, Eisenhower matrix, collaboration tools, psychological safety, diversity etc. which all felt like common sense to me. Then I remembered that I'm probably not the ideal audience for this book since I have been obsessing about personal efficiency for the last 15+ years thus I have gone through all of those things multiple rounds and mixed them together in the manner that seems most optimal to me. Yet common knowledge is not common practice, I do agree with the main points and it serves as a good "field guide" to the people starting on the journey of team productivity (and maybe they miss a few detours along the way). I was expecting to find more "new things" for myself, but I guess this can only come from knowledge sharing with other seasoned practitioners.
“The constant demand for reactivity has reduced our ability to discern what is truly important and what is simply new and clamoring for a quick response, leaving many worrying about immediate responses to things that have little meaning. Immediate responses are often required because of someone else’s inefficiency and lack of control. Interrupt-itis becomes the order of the day.”
“It is tempting to attribute an unhealthy work environment to some nefarious driving force—someone, or some group, usually at the top—actively planning a negative experience for employees. But in our experience, it is just what happens when not enough attention is paid to the structure and culture in which individuals come to work each day. It isn’t that the people at the top are bad people, or have bad intentions. They are typically under more pressure than most, and their way of leading and managing is mostly a reaction to that pressure. So consumed are they by tactical and operational matters that they rarely find time to do the strategic work on structure and culture that would unleash the talent and motivation latent in their organization”
A great guide to navigate working well in a team. A little slow in parts, but still chock full of great wisdom to effective collaboration. David and Ed share how to achieve healthy high performance, noting that sometimes teams can fall into one of two traps—"healthy" work conditions but with teams that don't achieve much, or high-performing teams that are operating at an unsustainable pace.
If you're new to GTD, I would start with the original GTD book. But if you lead a team or work in a team, then you're bound to get some practical ways to work better with others. You'll get more done and with less stress.
David Allen has done it again. In this book, he takes his world-famous, durable "Getting Things Done (GTD)" productivity system and shows teams how they can use the principles and practices of GTD to get things done together. It's a must-read if you have more than one person in your business.
Praktyczny przewodnik po tym, jak zasady indywidualnej produktywności można skutecznie przenieść na poziom zespołu.
Omawiane są tu różne typy zespołów, ich wartości (zaufanie, nauka, otwarta komunikacja), metodyki działania oraz sposoby zarządzania celami zespołowymi poprzez świadome wykorzystanie umiejętności poszczególnych członków.
Autorzy pokazują, że nawet najlepiej zorganizowana jednostka nie osiągnie wiele w środowisku, które nie wspiera współpracy. W świecie przeładowanym informacjami, gdzie technologia nie rozwiązuje problemów komunikacyjnych, kluczowe staje się zarządzanie przepływem pracy, jasność celów i przejrzystość procesów i na tym koncentruje się narracja tego tytułu.
Książka bardzo mi się podobała i dostarczyła zarówno satysfakcji z lektury jak i dużo nowej wiedzy. Jest konkretna, nie przegadana, każda strona, zdanie i poruszany wątek wnosi unikalną wartość.
Pozytywnie na jej odbiór wpłynęło to, że autorzy we wstępie zapowiadają co czeka na kolejnych stronach i w jakiej strukturze utrzymana będzie dalsza część.
Doceniam też przystępność wykorzystywanego języka i to co dla mnie ważne - dobrze zbalansowana między teorią i przykładami. Zobaczyłabym tu jednak nieco więcej bezpośrednio wskazanych narzędzi umożliwiających wprowadzenie omawianych koncepcji w życie.
Uważam, że dużą siłą tej książki jest jej uniwersalność i to, że niezależnie od pełnionej roli w zespole czy wypracowanych wcześniej nawyków pracy, każdy znajdzie tu praktyczne wskazówki, które pomagają usprawnić współdziałanie i lepiej rozumieć dynamikę zespołową (i to nie tylko na płaszczyźnie zawodowej ale też prywatnej pokazując rodzinę jako zespół).
Getting Things Done with Others provides a systematic approach for leaders to think about how to enable a team to meet its goals. The book builds on Getting Things Done a seminal book on individual workflow productivity and takes it to the next level with teams.
The book identifies the 5 steps of a team through an inter-related set of horizons. Purpose and principles, vision, goals, areas of focus and responsibility, and projects. The authors argue that starting at the top and clearly setting up purpose and then ways of working will enable a team to become more than a sum of its parts.
At each stage there is some support provided, but I would have appreciated much more clarity and evidence. The book suffers from the lack of nuance and depth but does have kernels of helpful information. One highlight: "Average Team = do the high-level thinking, publicise it and then do not implement. Good team = reinforce the purpose, vision and goals on official channels. Best team = link day-to-day decision making to whether each decision will get them closer to fulfilling their purpose or achieving their vision."
The authors have persuasively written about the importance of leaders to think about how to set up systems of work for teams and I found this to be a helpful, if not somewhat shallow, resource.
TEAM: Getting Things Done with Others offers a solid framework for improving how teams work together, with helpful reminders about the importance of planning, prioritization, and execution. I appreciated the focus on simplifying processes and the reminder that adding more people doesn’t equal more productivity—often, it adds more noise.
There are some genuinely valuable takeaways, like how to delegate more effectively, build shared team habits, and avoid the trap of just reacting all day. The sections on workflow clarity and the impact of overcommitment were spot on, especially in today’s fast-paced, tech-saturated work environments.
That said, a lot of the content felt recycled, and the book was too focused on promoting the authors' systems and services. I also found it lacking in deeper discussion around human factors like emotions, trust, motivation, and interpersonal dynamics—which are essential for real team success.
A good skim for team leaders and project managers looking to tighten up their collaboration habits. Just don’t expect much on the emotional side of teamwork or how to navigate complex people dynamics.
As someone who has long embraced Getting Things Done for personal productivity, I was excited to see how its principles could apply to team environments. Team: Getting Things Done by David Allen and Edward Lamont delivers just that—a practical guide for team leaders and managers to enhance collaboration and efficiency.
One of the things I implemented from the book was a simple change in how we run meetings. We now take collaborative meeting notes in a shared document, and allocate a few minutes at the end to reviewing action items, making sure each is clear and has an owner, which then captures it in their personal system. This small shift has already made a difference in how we work together.
This book is not a one-time read—it’s a resource you can revisit, learn and practice. I’ve added to my yearly review process a note to scan Team for more applicable insights each year.
If you're in a leadership role, this book is a must-read. It has the potential to transform how your team works together, making collaboration smoother and more effective.
If you are familiar with GTD, this seems unnecessary and boring, and maybe bogus. The general problem of the book is trying to stretch GTD from a valid individual coping mechanism to something bigger than it is. GTD is not for everyone. It's not going to fix horrible environments.
I gave up at the point where he's talking about willpower vs. system change. He uses the analogy of dieting vs. an obesity epidemic. If there's an obesity epidemic, then there's a problem at the sytem level that requires system change as opposed to blaming the millions of victims that there is something morally wrong with them. Okay, fine. But then, he goes right back into how successful people discipline themselves to eat less and move more and make better individual choices all day long every day. This is nonsensically missing the whole point about system issues, passive prevention, and how to change group behaviors with minimal stress.
Getting things done change my life and gave me the time to read books, before that book I always said I don't have time to read and I don't have time for this I don't have time for that. The concepts in this book have changed my way of working and will hopefully change my life for the second time because now more than managing my time it is important for me to be able to manage the time and performance of my team. The way the first book give me a clear step by step system to manage my own time this one lays down a clear system for managing and delegatting work to my team. I will definitely come back and update this review after implementing what I have learnt but I am already seeing the benefits in every meeting and every interaction and every task that I am deleting to my team.
How do we get our team to be more productive? Allen answers these questions and more by introducing principes of team productivity, communication, effective execution, and stress reduction. The author includes element from his Getting Things Done and adds new advice.
The layout is well-done and easy to follow. The information is helpful, practical and easy to implement using virtual, hybrid, and in-person teams. The text is well-written, engaging, and insightful. Readers who like non-fiction, books about team productivity, and managing teams will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collections.
Please Note: A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are our own. No other compensation was;received.
The “Getting Things Done with Others” team excels in collaboration and productivity. They communicate effectively, ensuring everyone is aligned. Love how the book connects with agile approaches, emphasizing flexibility, continuous improvement, and efficient task management. This alignment with agile principles makes the team’s methods even more impactful and relevant in today’s fast-paced work environment.
I enjoyed the author's other books on office organization, and hoped this would be as groundbreaking. It wasn't as applicable to my current situation but it is a good reference from an experienced businessman that will benefit many people who work in team settings. I anticipate this being a reference that will be used often for many working professionals. It was a little dry of a read, but good information.
If you already know the GTD model and use it consistently, then you probably don't need this book. While they share some ways to adapt the model to be more effective in teams, I didn't feel like anything they shared was an "ah ha" moment. Plus, a big chunk of the book is a summary of Getting Things Done. This might be okay for people who don't know the model at all.
I loved the original GTD book. This one I just couldn’t get myself to enjoy. The writing is pedestrian and i had this nagging feeling the whole time that neither author really understands what it is like to be a middle manager in a large organization. I put this one down and started reading Andy Grove’s “High Output Management” instead and I’m glad I did!
Veel inspiratie in te vinden, die bovendien steunt op duurzame/menselijke principes. Zeker aan te raden dus. Naar mijn gevoel te veel focus op de zelf bedachte methode, die nogal rigide of vergevorderd lijkt voor teams met weinig ervaring. De Nederlandse vertaling komt soms vreemd over, misschien te letterlijk van het Engels vertaald.
I’ve been using GTD for many years, and this book effectively translates the personal principles into team principles. Especially if you lead a team of any kind, this book will help you lead it better.
David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” was super helpful to me years ago when I needed help figuring out productivity. I’m excited for how “Team” will help me now with the people and groups I lead. Super practical and I saw lots of potential applications throughout it.
Paar aardige dingen die me wel inspireerden of aan het denken zette. Het boek las verder niet erg lekker weg, kan wellicht door de vertaling komen. Ik vond het een beetje te veel overal overheen vliegen en niet echt concreet en pakkend
Utile soprattutto per chi ha poche basi di organizzazioni e lavoro in team. Ma al di la di pochi schemi valido soprattutto per riflettere sulla natura stessa del lavoro della conoscenza e come è cambiato, specialmente negli ultimi 5 anni.
Well, going from a classic edition of GTD to the Team model, mainly written by someone else wasn't what I expected. If you condense down to actual value and techniques, templates, it isn't much new or impactful.