Making Ideas Happen

While this book has plenty of good points (taking responsibility, using your time wisely, improving teams) I feel that it's more of a rehash or a summary of recent rediscoveries. It's worth a read if you've been out of touch with productivity, time management and team dynamics, but if you've been paying attention, I wouldn't take the time to read this book.

Even though it is written by a different author, this book reads like a sequel to David Allen's über-famous Getting Things Done (GTD), only this time geared specifically toward the broad category of anyone who creates, a.k.a. creative people. Like GTD, the concepts here aren't particularly exciting but I'm hoping that like GTD, they'll be life-changing.

Since reading GTD several years ago the concepts of “what's the next action” and having a trusted system for tracking projects have become firmly engrained in my life and work. They work. Even so, I still find that I have a ton of projects that are started, and despite having clear “next-actions,” for whatever reason I haven't finished them. That's where Making Ideas Happen comes in. This book begins by explaining a similar system to GTD. Belsky calls his version “The Action Method” (with a nod to David Allen). The basic components are:

-Projects organized by actions (your own and delegated), references and backburner items
-Minimal note taking
-Designed materials (nice paper, software, etc. to make you want to use your system)

There's, of course, a flowchart:


So far, all very familiar, all very GTD. The other 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the book begin to get interesting and contain new and interesting information that builds on familiar GTD concepts.

Belsky discusses prioritizing projects by energy levels.


Getting past the lulls excitement in projects:


Other topics are: How to kill ideas that lack potential. How creativity is about shipping more than ideas. How to focus meetings and meeting follow-ups toward creative goals. How constraints beget greater creativity. How to form rituals around productivity. How to harness the strengths of those around you to successfully complete projects. The benefit of sharing ideas (great section). How to get and give constructive feedback. How to organize groups and spaces to maximize creative productivity. How to self-market tastefully. How to manage creative teams and be a leader of creative people (there is quite a bit on this).

Definitely worth reading, probably multiple times. There is a lot to digest.