Frank Piacitelli

Update: Consider me no longer suspicious. Thanks to the Behance team for clarifying a key difference between the Action Method and GTD - the fact that it’s based on components of projects rather than contexts. I must agree, that there’s untapped potential here for creative professionals. I look forward to more good things for the creative community from Behance.

For the last several years, most of my brainspace has been taken up by design disciplines, especially web and user interface design, along with a strong focus on productivity and the tools that enable and encourage it. I read David Allen’s Getting Things Done some 18-24 months ago, and though I’m not a complete GTD practitioner, I have adopted several GTD methods. So, if you’re like me and you monitor these conversations that combine design and productivity (43 Folders, SVN, Lifehacker), you’re starting to see these ads for Behance, and you’ve likely checked them out. I don’t yet know what to make of Behance. I’m intrigued, but suspicious. I’m intrigued because the Behance site is great looking, very clean, good visual organization. And they have these paper pads you can buy, which look very nice, and are probably quite useful. They have this Action Method, which has some similarities with GTD. For productivity-minded designers like me, they are pushing all the right buttons. I’m a little suspicious, however. Now, I’m not suggesting that whoever is behind Behance is up to no good. But, the basic ideas of the Action Method, in my opinion, bear enough resemblance to GTD ideas that it seems odd that no acknowledgement or mention of GTD is made. I don’t think anyone would fault Behance with building on GTD ideas - certainly many of us are standing on the shoulders of the giant Mr. David Allen, and he seems to be bearing the weight just fine. Plus, Behance has a page titled “The Behance Team”, on which I expected to meet the individuals who are behind this nice collection of ideas, information, and products, but instead there’s just a paragraph about a nameless, faceless “bunch”. In any case, Behance is a well-packaged collection of ideas and products for the design- and productivity-minded. I look forward to seeing more from them in the near future. Please comment with your impression of Behance.