Is it me or do posts about GTD like these come off as masturbatory.<p>IMHO, GTD is the &#x27;paint shedding&#x27; of project management. It&#x27;s a good &#x27;filler&#x27; for management that lacks creativity and&#x2F;or the courage to take risks.<p>-----<p>In a sort of pseudo Maslow&#x27;s hierarchy of team effectiveness here&#x27;s how I&#x27;d order needs from foundational to self-actualization.<p>1. Trust<p>A team that lacks trust is one where everybody switches from an &#x27;us&#x27; to a &#x27;me&#x27; mindset.<p>Employees that are terrified of making mistakes won&#x27;t take risks and may fail to perform at times when taking action is critical.<p>People working in an environment of distrust will inevitably silo knowledge out of the interest of self-preservation.<p>Self-serving management can be especially destructive to the cohesiveness of a team due to their wider reach.<p>2. Responsibility<p>Related to trust but there are some cases where a person is well intentioned but may be incapable of doing the work on their own. It&#x27;s the employees responsibility to seek help and the managers responsibility to identify and assist those who are struggling.<p>3. Resources<p>A more difficult problem for management due to financial constraints and bureaucratic barriers. A team won&#x27;t be able to realize it&#x27;s full potential without the support of good leadership to fight for the tools&#x2F;resources necessary to do the job right.<p>4. Mentorship<p>Not always possible if time constraints are an issue. If 1-3 aren&#x27;t suffuciently covered the team may be stuck in a cycle of perpetual death marches. Either way, if room can be made to foster mentorship it should. Not only does it bring up the struggling employees. It may even act a catalyst that transforms a very skilled 2x engineer who works well on their own into a 10x engineer capable of making organization-wide improvements that benefit everybody. This is the environment where leaders are born.<p>5. Professional Development<p>The best of organizations don&#x27;t have to fight to keep employees because their culture can&#x27;t be found elsewhere.<p>Information sharing, widespread experimentation, community engagement, etc... Can be positive signals that a company is harnessing its full potential.<p>Not only is working for such an organization a great experience but it literally levels up the skills of its employees and the organization as a whole.<p>-----<p>Notice how I never mention process? That&#x27;s because it doesn&#x27;t matter nearly as much as the so-called &#x27;process experts&#x27; are willing to admit.<p>No matter the workflow chosen. If you compare cohesive team with strong leadership and persistent culture against a team built on foundations of mistrust... The former will outperform the latter, attract better talent, improve faster over time, and produce better results.<p>The changes with the potential for the greatest impact come from shifts in priority. The first shift is from identifying the &#x27;what&#x27; to an actionable &#x27;how&#x27;. The second comes from a transition of &#x27;how&#x27; to building a persistent culture based on &#x27;why&#x27; the organization works the way it does.<p>Leadership that constantly cycles through various iterations of &#x27;how&#x27; are holding their organization back from realizing its full potential.<p>Standardizing on a process like agile has a few benefits. It looks good on a resume, is easy to measure, and lowers the barrier to onboarding new employees. What it explicitly <i>does not</i> address is a lack of strong leadership and&#x2F;or purpose that organizations require to be successful.<p>I&#x27;m no expert in this domain but I have had the privilege of working alongside some truly exceptional leadership, as well as experience working with some extremely dysfunctional organizations.<p><i>Aside: If you really need a solution to fix the issue of unnecessary interruptions. Disable all notifications on a predefined schedule and stick a red sticky note to the side of your monitor that reads &quot;not now chief, I&#x27;m in the zone&quot;.</i>