Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147766 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 290 pages

Customer Reviews

Brings order to chaos
I think I could win awards as the world's most disorganised person - getting 150+ emails a day and managing to deal with about 10 of them in any detail the rest got at best a quick skim and at worst completely ignored.

And then I discovered this book. I bought it as something to read on the plane on the way to my holiday in US (sad I know!!) By the time I arrived in US my eyes had been opened to how to change things and for once the change didn't mean completely reinventing myself. It was literally a case of bringing structure and order to the chaos. I finished the book sat by the pool.

Then I got back to work after 3 weeks away, opened Outlook and found over a couple of thousand unread messages. Made the changes laid out in the book and started to apply the principles. Seven hours later 40 tasks in by taskbar and no messages in my Inbox - for the first time in years I felt like I was in control. I knew what needed to be done and when.

The only problem is that I keep going round preaching about how wonderful the systems is - all my colleagues seem to have noticed the change suddenly the person who can't tell them what is coming up knows exactly whats on the list of tasks. And more importantly takes great delight in ticking the tasks off as each one is completed.

I have bought a second copy of the book because I want to have one permanently in my desk drawer to refer to and to lend to my colleagues.

I can honestly say that this is the first book which has changed my life. It won't be joining the extensive collection of self-improvement books on my bookshelf - this one is one you want to open again and again.

Thank you Michael Linenberger - keep up the good work.

Verbose and slightly nauseating
Linenberger has a way of working that suits his environment and may suit yours provided you are a bad manager of your own workload or you work in a badly managed company, so that you are overwhelmed by tasks and e-mails. If you are not in that situation, this book is not for you.

Like many efficiency gurus, Linenberger states that his version of task management will work for all. It won't. He states, for example, that that one should leave replying to e-mails to the end of the day, which indicates either that he does not deal with customers or that he has no understanding of good customer service.

Linenberger has that management consultant's habit of inventing new and slightly nauseating buzz words to describe normal business processes (Now-Horizons, Manage-Your-Now! and so on). He is also very verbose. The whole system could have been explained in a few pages, but he talks down to the lowest common denominator and is happy to repeat information constantly. He is also given to hyperbole - this is a set of tips and practical lessons on using Outlook more effectively and not a "hugely powerful concept".

As for the system itself: if you fit into his target market, it should work for you - I already use a similar system (though not in Outlook), and I am never overwhelmed as Linenberger seems to be. However, a good deal of what he writes is simple common sense. It is good that it is written, as many people need this spelled out to them when they are over-worked, but this book is overrated.