Getting Things Critical

The books I ordered from Amazon arrived last week - Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton’s Content Critical and David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

I tried to resist, but Getting Things Done really was inevitable. Goddamn it, I like systems. Fusebox, web standards to name a couple… if someone announces that they’ve come up with a new better more efficient faster better smelling system for doing something I need to do, I’m all over it like a fanatical rash. Kind of sad really, and very very geeky. I read somewhere that the GTD system, like the Atkins diet, turns people into evangelists, and so I didn’t want to look. Plus, the cover looks like a self-helf book which I definitely don’t want people seeing me read on the train. But, the system is solid, it really works, and it’s easily accomodated into tools I already use and love like Outlook, so there you have it. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress down the path to “stress-free productivity” and enlightenment.

Content Critical is so far very interesting, and I’ve only read the first chapter. I find I spend more and more time writing content for clients or at least telling them they need to rewrite some of their stuff, so I figured I’d better get myself some kind of reference material so I can check if I’m telling them the right thing. So far I think I’m on the right track. One quote that got me straight away is this one:

… the only two groups of people who are called “users” are drug-users and computer-users… “User” is such an all-embracing word that it is essentially meaningless.

So from now on, I am going to attempt to wipe the word “user” from my vocabulary when referring to web site visitors. Gerry likes to call them “readers” - my instinct it to call them “visitors” although that doesn’t really imply what it is that they are doing on the site. When I’ve got a bit further in the book I’ll probably change my mind.

So there you go, dear visitor. Hopefully my web writing skills will improve. You will let me know, won’t you?

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