The man they call Eric Mack is wondering whether we need GTD 2.0, and if so, what it would look like. In particular, Eric’s postulating whether the methodology needs to expand to include more on managing the information and communication side of doing cool stuff (or “DCS”, did you hear it here first?). Eric’s thoughts are in line with a discussion he and I had back in May of this year, when I asked him what comes after GTD … as in, if we get to black belt and master all of the disciplines of GTD, what’s the next quantum improvement area? (Actually, it’s the same question I asked Jason Womack the same day, although his answer was different to Eric’s).

Now Eric’s gone on record with the answer he told me back in May: personal knowledge management, or PKM.

Well, I think that personal information and knowledge management will play a big part of GTD 2.0. In fact, I believe so strongly that the practice of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) will become such a big part of whatever one might call GTD 2.0 that I’m taking some big steps personally and professionally, to enhance my understanding and skills in this area. In addition to PKM, however, I think there are other skills that probably ought to be considered for a GTD 2.0 tool to take personal productivity to the next level. These include: collaborative tools & skills, social networking, group action management, and information management skills, to name a few.

I don’t disagree with the man, particularly since three of his items in the “what else” list align with pillars in my 7 Pillars model, and I do look forward to Eric (finally) writing up his “7 Pillars of PKM”, or however many there will be.

So here’s my contribution. Firstly, yes, we need to start thinking about complementary areas to maximizing our GTD abilities, and expansionary areas for doing things better in the core of GTD, eg, GTD within teams. My graphical visualization of the next horizon for quantum improvement is this:

Thus we’ve got:

• Vision and Mission … Clarity on what we do and who we are at the very core … PVM, or “Personal Vision and Mission”
• Projects / Actions … Having the disciplines to get things done with as little stress as possible … GTD.
• Knowledge Management … Having the disciplines to manage our current knowledge and learn new things … PKM, for “Personal Knowledge Management”.
• Team Work … Mastering effective paradigms for working well with others … GCC, or “Group Collaboration Competencies”.
• Sustained Energy … Knowing how to muster suitable levels of energy for the demands of each day, and how to cultivate increased energy for going forward … CSE, or “Cultivate Sustained Energy”
• Serendipitous Collaboration … For having sensors “out there” to let us know about cool people and cool projects that we could be involved with … SCO, or “Serendipitous Collaboration Opportunities”

What do you think? What’s the number one area of quantum improvement for you going forward?