Printer presents on approach to effectiveness that works in the real world. He does not present a detailed Productivity System (Which, in my experience, is always too complex to work in practice anyway), but rather flexible, practice-oriented principles for being effective. Consider, for instance, this
"Most discussions of the executive's task start with the advice to plan one's work. [...] The only thing wrong with it is it did rarely works. The plans always remain on paper, always remain good intentions [...] Effective Executives do not start with Their tasks. They start with Their time [...] by finding out where Their time Actually goes. Then [...] They consolidate their "discretionary" time into the continuing Largest possible units. "
In contrast to other authors, Drucker's book goes far beyond a simple to-do list management. He states Principles of Effectiveness like contribution, Building on Strengths, effective decisions, etc. That are - in practice - at least as important as to-do lists.
