There is not a lot of new material, although there is some. There are interviews with various GTD “luminaries”, folks who are in high-profile positions and use GTD. There are some additional, and sporadically participated in, forums. Certinaly, the public forums are much busier. However, here are my main reasons for leaving:
Once you have downloaded the PDFs and podcasts, and once you have posted in a couple of forums, there isn’t a lot there that is new. A lot of what is there for download is from the 9-or-so month beta period. Once you’ve caught up, well, there isn’t much left to do on the site.
For that price, I was expecting new major content every week (podcasts, etc.), and new minor content (articles) every day or two. You would think that there would be at least something new every week. It seems like there is something perhaps every 4-5 weeks – new interviews with a “luminary”, new TechGTD interviews with a “luminary” from the high-tech world, etc. However, these come at intervals that are far apart from what one would expect for $48USD per month.
The idea of Connect is great. The reality is that, as an early adopter, you are like anything, paying for being on the leading edge by having to make some stuff up as you go along – like making up that there is a lot in Connect for your $48. As I said above, there are new podcasts every 4-5 weeks, but if you look at Merlin Mann's 43 Folders Podcast and The Cranky Middle Manager, you get that now, if not more often, and you get it free. Everything else is on the site is kind of fluffy.
Clearly, GTD Connect is trying to ensure that folks who want a way to reach out and speak to the folks at The David Allen Company have a way to do so. They are trying to ensure that you have a way to reach David, and trying to ensure that those who feel they need to avail themselves of some kind of contact below a coaching level can do so. To be fair to both sides in this debate, they are also trying to ensure that Davidco has a pretty steady stream of income – which is just fine in my opinion, as Allen and his folks have every right to make money off of his ideas. Hell, the book has sold several hundred thousand copies, so he’s kind of done that already, but this is for the select few that want more. Good for them for doing it.
The problem is that Connect doesn’t seem to have an idea about what it really wants to do. It wants to reach out to folks, but is using a shotgun approach – new articles (which used to be free newsletter articles from Davidco), new podcasts (which were never available before, admittedly) interviews, etc., etc. But nothing that really gives a feeling of focus – something I think everyone that uses GTD is really, truly looking for.
Because of these reasons, I’d decided to lapse my membership. Perhaps in a year or so I will get wistful, think it was a great idea, and join again to see what it is like, but probably not. There just isn’t enough in there for me. As with anything, your mileage may vary.
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