Getting Results the Agile Way: A Personal Results System for Work and Life by J.D. MeierMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Context & Why I read this book
This is the fifth book I read this year as part of my 52-book challenge. I am highly interested in personal productivity and in my profession (software engineering) agility is a big thing. That's why this book looked quite interesting to me.
What the book is about
In this book, J.D. Meier presents his personal productivity system called "Agile Results" which is based on his experience in the area of software engineering. "Agile Results" consists of
1) "Hot Spots" (a way of balancing different life domains or areas)
2) Weekly Results (Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, Friday Reflection) — a way of planning and reviewing on a weekly basis
3) Action, Reference, Calendar (Distinguishing actionable from the non-actionable matter)
The author himself calls it a "results framework for work and life". Compared to other popular systems, it is very modular and light-weight. There is no need to adapt it as a whole. While this is one of its strengths it is also its weakness. After reading the book no real "system" emerges. Rather loosely couple techniques are presented which is not necessarily helpful for a beginner.
One lesson I am taking from it
I specifically want to remember the idea, that one should not become a slave of one's backlog. A backlog is a catalog of potential action, not a must-do-list. Time changes the value of things and focusing too narrowly on everything in a backlog results in missed opportunities. So instead of being "backlog driven" one should think in terms of "value delivered".
Reading Recommendation / Who should read this?
Every modern book about personal productivity has to be compared with Getting Things Done
by David Allen. Making this comparison, I would not recommend this book to the average reader. Instead, just deeply read GTD and be done with it. For personal productivity geeks like myself, however, it can be a worthwhile read, though. It does not really read as a "book". It feels more like a collection of strategies, techniques, concepts, and metaphors. Like a summary, one has written for an upcoming exam, even. That is also why, although it contains good ideas, over time it got quite monotonous. There is just too much loosely connected content here.
I am rating it a 6 on my personal rating scale:
1 ⭑ — Abysmal; extremely bad. Couldn't / wouldn't finish. No one should waste his time on this!
2 ⭑— Very bad; skipped part of it; skimmed most of it.
3 ⭑⭑ — Bad, but forced me to finish; close to no nuggets to be found.
4 ⭑⭑ — Rather bad; finished but definitely would not give it a re-read.
5 ⭑⭑⭑ — Modest; a few nuggets; reading recommended in certain circumstances
6 ⭑⭑⭑ — OK; the average read. Tangible weaknesses, but recommended with some reservations
7 ⭑⭑⭑⭑ — Good read, despite minor weaknesses; generally recommended
8 ⭑⭑⭑⭑ — Very good; would recommend nearly without restriction
9 ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ — An outstanding work; worthwhile to be read twice or more often; a definitive recommendation
10 ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ — A work of genius; should be required for everyone
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