David Allen in India with resolve to get things done

Productivity guru and founder of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, David Allen, arrived in India with plans to expand the reach of his ideas.

Allen is on a multi-nation journey, and India is a major port of call. On Friday, Allen appointed a young firm, Calm Achiever, as the master franchisee for GTD in India. The firm’s founders Mohammed Arif and Mohammed Ali Vakil have been GTD trainers since 2008.

Addressing reporters here on Friday, the 70-year-old Allen, whose thoughts have become widely popular thanks to a book on GTD, said, “With the success of the book, I could have kept to just lecturing and speaking. But there was the need to reach out, and help people benefit further through GTD, which is both important and powerful.”

While the franchisees will be focused on disseminating the techniques and knowhow on GTD, the David Allen Company’s role will be to certify those undertaking and completing the course.ce

Getting nostalgic about his tryst with GTD over the last eight years, Mohammed Arif said, “When I was asked to take care of HR operations at our family business (Vakil Housing), I had to contend with a mess of sorts. The company had to grow, and we needed people. It was hard to manage things, and finally, help came when I looked online and came across an old website of David Allen, through which I began to inculcate the best practices of GTD, and things got better. After implementing just 10 pages from David’s book, I felt a 50 per cent improvement in productivity.”

Arif said that the GTD courses can be provided to both individual and corporates, with the former being charged Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 for a two-day course, while the latter (around 30 people) will have to pay $15,000 for the same period.