Work culture 3: GTD in India

For the first time since I read the GTD book, I have been unable to use it. Our work here is managed by a senior developer named Ajay. Typically, he delegates us tasks which take 1 - 3 days to complete. We have 1 - 3 tasks, we aim to close tasks which are not waiting anything.

Ajay actionalizes tasks for us, often giving very specific instructions on next actions. This reduces the need for to-do lists. We are also not supposed to remember much. My time perspective is usually 2 - 4 days forward. There's no point in maintaining to-do list, when I know that after completing the few actions in the list Ajay may tell me to do anything between heaven and earth.

This may sound stressful, but it's actually quite relaxing when you don't need to actionalize and prioritize all the time and you're not blamed for mistakes you forgot to fix a month ago.

First I had trouble adapting to this work culture and got some blame. Once I stopped caring everything started to go smoothly. Then Ajay delegated me two larger modules, which took weeks to complete. While writing those modules I was able to use GTD. Ironically, it was those periods which restored my reputation to normal levels.