This article is part of our Process 101 guide.

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a time management methodology created by productivity consultant David Allen. Based on the principle of writing things down and breaking them into small, actionable steps, it allows you to focus on completing actions, rather than trying to remember them.

Think about it. When you go to the supermarket you take a list of groceries and tick them off as you wander up and down the aisles, because you know if you’re reliant on memory alone, it will take that much longer, become more stressful, and ultimately, you’re going to forget the bin bags.

The GTD workflow comprises five stages:

1. Capture: collect what has your attention
2. Clarify: process what it means
3. Organise: put it where it belongs
4. Reflect: review frequently
5. Engage: simply do

In essence, GTD is all about process, or as Allen says, “applying order to chaos”.

Once you have everything written down, life becomes simpler. The team has a common understanding of what needs doing and why it’s important. You can then categorise tasks in a way that makes sense to your business (e.g. by department, job role, project…etc) and actions can be assigned to individuals so they can just get on in the best way they know how. And ultimately you have a record, which means you can analyse the way your business is operating, see where the issues lie and improve it over time.

With a common understanding and more visible presentation of the way your business operates, finally things can be done the same way, by everyone, every time, because all your team has to do is work their way through a simple checklist:

beSlick is our simple application that can help you to just get things done.

It’s really simple because we’ve only included functionality that helps you to better enable process in your organisation. It’s been developed in conjunction with end users so it mirrors the way process works in the real world.

So what have you got to lose?