Editing David Allen (author)

{{short description|American author and productivity consultant (born 1945)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = David Allen
| image              = TNW Con EU15-David Allen - 4.jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = David Allen in 2015.
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1945|12|28}}
| birth_place        = 
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| alma_mater         = [[New College of Florida|New College]]<br>[[University of California, Berkeley]]
| occupation         = Management consultant and [[author]]
| spouse             = Kathryn<ref name="how mastered">Paul Keegan, June 21, 2007 [https://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/07/01/100117066/index.htm How David Allen mastered getting things done]''Business 2.0''{{deadlink|date=April 2024}}</ref>
| website            = {{URL|https://gettingthingsdone.com/}}
| module             = {{Listen
|pos         = center
|embed       = yes
|filename    =  David Allen - voice - en.ogg
|title       = David Allen's voice
|type        = 
|description = Recorded in May 2016
}}
}}

'''David Allen''' (born December 28, 1945) is an American author and productivity consultant. He created the [[time management]] method [[Getting Things Done]].

== Careers ==
Allen grew up in [[Shreveport, Louisiana]] where he acted and won a state championship in debate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/07/organize-your-life/303455/|title=Organize Your Life!|work=The Atlantic|date=July 1, 2004}}</ref> He attended New College (now [[New College of Florida]]) in [[Sarasota]], [[Florida]], and completed graduate work in American history at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="Berkeley">Keith H. Hammonds, April 30, 2000. [https://www.fastcompany.com/40384/you-can-do-anything-not-everything "You can do anything – but not everything"] Fast Company, retrieved April 8, 2010</ref> 

After graduate school, Allen began using heroin and was briefly institutionalized.<ref name="Heroin">[[Gary Wolf (journalist)|Wolf, Gary]]. September 25, 2007 [https://www.wired.com/2007/09/ff-allen/ Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency] [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']] : 15.10</ref> He is an ordained minister with the [[Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness]].<ref>Jack Coats, 2000. [http://www.msia.org/newdayherald/archives/7497-david-allen-ministering-to-the-business-community "David Allen – Ministering to the Business Community"] The New Day Herald online retrieved January 18, 2008</ref><ref>Jack Coats, 2000. [http://www.msia.org/newdayherald/archives/7496-getting-things-done "Getting Things Done: David Allen's Keys to Completion"] The New Day Herald online retrieved October 24, 2007</ref> He claims to have had 35 professions before age 35.<ref>David E. Williams, February 9, 2007 [http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/09/david.allen/index.html Cutting through the clutter to get things done] CNN</ref> He began applying his perspective on productivity with businesses in the 1980s when he began consulting at [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]]'s human resources department.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2007/09/ff-allen/|title=Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency|first=Gary|last=Wolf|magazine=Wired |via=www.wired.com}}</ref>

== Publications and habitat ==
Allen has written three books: ''Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44868871 |title=Getting things done : the art of stress-free productivity |date=2001 |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-88906-7 |location=New York |oclc=44868871}}</ref> which describes his productivity program; ''Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1129684569 |title=Ready for anything : 52 productivity principles for work and life |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-4055-1075-2 |location=London |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |oclc=1129684569}}</ref> a collection of newsletter articles he has written; ''Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life'', a follow-up to his first book. In 2015, he also wrote a new updated version of ''Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 2024, David Allen has co-authored ''Team: Getting Things Done with Others'' on how to work effectively in groups using GTD Principles.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Allen |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CevFEAAAQBAJ |title=Team: Getting Things Done with Others |last2=Lamont |first2=Edward |date=2024-05-21 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-593-65290-9 |language=en}}</ref> 

== Personal life ==
Allen lived in [[Ojai, California]] with his fourth wife, Kathryn.<ref name="how mastered" /> In 2014, they moved to [[Amsterdam]] in the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/01/once-here-we-started-falling-in-love-with-amsterdam-even-more/|title="Once here, we started falling in love with Amsterdam even more"|first=Robin|last=Pascoe|date=January 17, 2024|website=DutchNews.nl}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | author=Allen, David | title=Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity | location=New York | publisher=Penguin Putnam | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-14-200028-1 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/gettingthingsdon00alle }}{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book | author=Allen, David | title=Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life | url=https://archive.org/details/readyforanything00alle | url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Viking Books | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-14-303454-4}}{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book | author=Allen, David | title=Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life | url=https://archive.org/details/makingitallworkw0000alle | url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Viking Adult | year=2008 | isbn= 978-0-67-001995-3}}{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book | author=Allen, David | title=Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity | location=New York | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-14-312656-0| edition=revised }}{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Beardsley, David. (April 1998) "[https://www.fastcompany.com/33961/dont-manage-time-manage-yourself Don't Manage Time, Manage Yourself]." ''Fast Company.'' Issue 14, p.&nbsp;64.
* [[James Fallows|Fallows, James]]. (July/August 2004) "[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/07/organize-your-life/303455/ Organize Your Life!]." ''Atlantic Monthly.'' Vol. 294, No. 1, pp.&nbsp;171–2.
* [[Gary Wolf (journalist)|Wolf, Gary]]. September 25, 2007 [https://www.wired.com/2007/09/ff-allen/ Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency] [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']] : 15.10

== External links ==
{{Commonscat|David Allen}}
{{Wikiquote|David Allen (author)|David Allen}}
* [https://gettingthingsdone.com/ The David Allen Company website]
* [https://cruciallearning.com/getting-things-done/ Crucial Learning's Getting Things Done course]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, David}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male bloggers]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:American business writers]]
[[Category:American self-help writers]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:New College of Florida alumni]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Shreveport, Louisiana]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]