Book Notes: “Team: Getting Things Done with Others”
Team: Getting Things Done with Others
by David Allen and Edward Lamont
2024 — Viking — 336 pages
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.
Purchase the book here and I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. But, by doing this, you help support my reading habit! Thanks.
