GTD Reviews so you don't have to. - Latest Comments

Re: GTD Apps for Mac OS X – A Mega-Update

evanheckert — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:53:01 -0000

Well, we're looking for enthusiasts of the GTD methodology to take over the site, as we just don't have the time to keep it current right now. There's a new redesign already made and ready for whomever wants to take this and help a lot of people, and make money doing so.

Re: GTD Apps for Mac OS X – A Mega-Update

Buz — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:39:25 -0000

I notice your update is almost a year old. Should I consider gtdreviews stale and obsolete?

Re: Apple Announces the iPad

hire android developer — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:25:09 -0000

Apple iPad is one of the best devices in 2010 and now it will launch iPad 2 soon and I am anxiously waiting for it, just think about the features it may have. Hopefully iPad 2 will also be the best device in 2011.

Re: Becoming a GTD Black Belt

søgemaskineoptimering — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:53:21 -0000

The events that are happening in the Middle East are not that far removed from what is happening right here in the United States. The people want their freedom and are willing to protest and even ...

Re: What Makes a GTD App Great?

Matt — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:35:36 -0000

1. Seamless filesystem integration. I organize all my project files (an increasingly, everything on my machine is either 'project' or 'reference') and keep them up to date. I want my GTD app to know what files I've got in all my 'project docs' folders. Only a few apps do this at all, and none of em exceptionally well. Midnight Inbox does it best, IMO.

2. Extensibility. Gimme some way to connect my GTD app to the rest of my appflow. Quicksilver/scriptability/API/export/import... something. Omnifocus does this great. Ideally, make it easy to develop add-ons or plug-ins. At some point I'm going to need to hook the software into Evernote/email/Firefox/OmniOutliner/Scrivener/TextMate, etc

3. A community forum.

4. The most minimal interface possible.

5. Better quick input abilities. Either let me brainstorm in outline mode in your quick input widget, or let me type out an outline quickly somewhere else that you will parse and separate into projects and tasks. Better yet, let me brainstorm in Xmind and then import the file as a project tree. Even better-- give me a mind map view inside the GTD app.

6. Keyboard shortcuts for every routine task. Especially opening a quick input panel.

7. Drag & drop/keyboard task-to-project-to-task promotion and demotion. iGTD did this best (r.i.p. sigh)

8. Let me collaborate. Give me some way of tagging some projects as group ones to share with other actors.

Re: GTD Apps for Mac OS X – A Mega-Update

Rodri — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:49:49 -0000

Firetask (http://www.firetask.com/) was out of the list.

Re: iPhone App Comparisons

qewler — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:38:37 -0000

I'm missing 2 here:
www.producteev.com - great app
www.doit.im

Re: What Makes a GTD App Great?

Ready-Set-Do! Creator — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:35:03 -0000

The basic criterion of evaluation for any GTD application or tool should be whether it is more effective in helping you get things done than the last tool you tried. There is also a big difference between that and whether it helps you get things better organized than the last application or tool you tried. Getting Things Organized is a necessary but not sufficient condition for Getting Things Done. Is it helping you get more done—with more peace of mind—and helping you become more present to the immediate situations you find yourself in? If so, it's a good tool; but alas, hard to quantify or chart.

Re: GTD Apps for Mac OS X – A Mega-Update

Ready-Set-Do! Creator — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:28:43 -0000

Ready-Set-Do! - a unique, file-based approach to getting things done on the mac.
http://www.readysetdo.com

Re: GTD Apps for Mac OS X – A Mega-Update

Carlos Fletcher — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:49:42 -0000

thinkingRock is the best app I've used so far.

Re: Capture Crayons in the Shower

Chad Crider — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:11:46 -0000

I use AquaNotes (http://www.myaquanotes.com). They work pretty well. _Chad

Re: Mac App Comparisons

evanheckert — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:53:05 -0000

Hey John, thanks for stopping by! We'll be releasing the iPhone chart with the new GTDReviews.com major redesign coming up in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Re: OmniFocus for iPhone Updates to v1.7

evanheckert — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:48:49 -0000

You and me both! Are you rocking the iPhone 4? I just have it on my lowly 3GS thus far.

Re: OmniFocus for iPhone Updates to v1.7

Baasshapshap — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:10:31 -0000

Love it! Can't wait for the iPad version

Re: Mac App Comparisons

John — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:19:18 -0000

Fantastic Chart. Looks like OmniFocus and Things are solid for we iPhone nerds :D Can't wait to see the iPhone chart!

Re: PC App Comparisons

evanheckert — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:46:01 -0000

Ryan,

Stay tuned over the next few weeks, as you'll be very pleased to see how this has developed!

-Evan

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

evanheckert — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:44:33 -0000

Ryan,

That's a really intriguing implementation. It's very cool to see that you implemented things to the letter for a full two years before breaking the system down to something that is more customized to you. I think too many people give up on GTD before giving a real chance to work for them.

That said, it's supposed to help you get stuff out of your head and into a system, and as long as it accomplishes that, it doesn't matter how closely it follows the "GTD" how-to in the book.

Thanks for contributing! I hope to see you again in the comments here in the near future!

-Evan

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

Ryan — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:02:15 -0000

I've been using many of the principles of GTD since 2003, and time has taught me a alot about my own workflow and how I work best.

For the first 2 years or so, I followed GTD to the letter. I even had the Brother labeler recommended by A job change, going back to school, and starting a family put enough constraints on my time to show me what I needed and what I didn't. I realized that, given other priorities, I no longer had the time, or the desire, to maintain a number of lists, goals, and projects. If I'm reviewing and actually doing the items on my list, the need for a strict structure disappears. So, I've simplified over the years and used the GTD principles that work for me:

1) The Inbox: a single repository for mail and unprocessed "stuff" keeps my wife and I sane when faced with clutter.

2) Lists: Just 2: Now and Someday/Maybe. I write my tasks as clearly defined actions, with as much detail as I need to remember what to do. "Call my financial advisor about setting up a new IRA" is a lot more actionable than "Retirement". Everything starts off on the Now list, but if I find that I haven't started to work on it after a week, it's probably not that important to me currently, so I will move it to the Someday/Maybe list. My Someday/Maybe list is actually pretty sparse, so I only need to review it in detail every quarter.

3) Writing: While much of my reference is electronic, I must keep my lists and calendar in paper form. I find that the act of writing longhand allows me to remember my larger goals, so I have very little need for hierarchical lists of projects, areas of focus, etc. If a task is really complex (i.e., buying a house), I'll make a mindmap, but that's about as complex as it gets. Since I'm reviewing my list constantly throughout the day, I can easily recall why I put a particular task on the list.

4) Focus on what's important: I've learned to be honest with myself and stop feeling guilty for what's not getting done. If I've had a task on my list for over a week that hasn't moved forward, it gets reevaluated (and often deleted). This rather strict approach keeps my list lean and clear, as well as makes me think twice before committing to things I don't have time for.

Hope this helps!
Ryan

Re: iPhone App Comparisons

thegreatkatsby — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:47:14 -0000

Awesome Note is pretty great, I think. It's marketed as more "list oriented" than "task oriented", but I think it's extremely task oriented too.

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

Paul Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:56:43 -0000

Looking forward to it Evan. The concept sounds good.

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

evanheckert — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:38:04 -0000

Paul,

I replied to your review - thank you again for taking the time to post it!

In regards to the app comparisons, we're in the middle of a redesign that specifically addresses the exact issues you mentioned. The results will be a quick and easy system to identify which apps are specifically relevant to a user, and eliminate the rest. Comparison will be aesthetically pleasing, easy to read, and neatly organized.

I look forward to your updated review as of the redesign! Stay tuned in the next few weeks!

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

Paul Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:39:36 -0000

That's true but I think the infinitely customizable aspect can also come off like an excuse.

Not in a derogatory way as it is a testament to any good system how people can customize it to their needs.

However if as productivity users we simply succumb to the statement that the ambiguity and vagueness is intentional, then people who can't get GTD to work becomes forced to ask whether it's them or it's GTD and that can result in an unnecessary addition of stress to those already struggling people.

To compound the problem, a statement like that can not only be given by any fanbase of any well done enough system but it makes it seem like David Allen is conning people with books on how to "clarify" GTD by intentionally making it ambiguous to sell future books.

I've no doubt GTD has many variations because I myself have gotten many ideas from GTD. That said, GTD can't be for everyone even with it's flexibility and the easier it is to narrow down why it works and why it might not work for somebody, the easier it can allow for people to adapt what works for them in GTD and combine it with concepts separate from GTD.

As for the app choices, to quote my review of this blog here: http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.ph...

"The app comparison link on the bar is easily spottable and it has just a good balance of not so known and well known apps that it works but the whole vertical check list doesn't work.

It just isn't skimmable. Applications are not antivirus software first of all but this also isn't Wikipedia.

People are not looking for in-depth interpretations of what software has what.

People want to understand as easily as possible how each application stack up relative to their needs of GTD.

They don't want to first memorize which application has e-mail and then scroll down just to see which one has printable lists and then scroll up again. A table like this would be better served as a questionnaire that asks what the needs of the GTD searcher are and then show a list of the results at the end of the quiz and then maybe at the end, you show this table with the needs of the searcher highlighted while the other options are grayed out."

That said, it's a minor critique but I also see some popular names missing in there like ThinkingRock, GTDInbox for Gmail, Evernote...but I'm not really sure which applications you've intentionally omitted and which you didn't know about.

The way GTD is implemented for software, like the way GTD is done in Remember the Milk, they're even more flexible because many of them don't aim to implement the whole system into it. Rather they allow the user the flexibility to set something GTD-like into such a system therefore I'm not really sure whether you omitted certain apps because of this quality.

You may also like to look into Linux apps like Tomboy Notes and BasKet Notepads. BasKet Notepads' GTD template in particular helped me vastly understand GTD around the time I was mostly grasping the concept from blogs rather than the actual book.

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

evanheckert — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:25:32 -0000

Foolness,

I think much of the ambiguity to which you're referring is the fact that GTD can be infinitely customized to an individual's needs and lifestyle. In our post on black belt (http://www.gtdreviews.com/2010... there's a video in which David Allen points out that there are as many different implementations and variations of GTD as people in the room in which he was presenting.

This ambiguity and vagueness is intentional. GTD is a methodology based on a set of principles and best practices that can be implemented into any lifestyle with any amount of depth and thoroughness desired. The point is to get stuff out of your mind and into a system that can do the task management for you, so you can put your mind on more creative things.

I do agree that many people get swept up in the "Oh, Shiny!" of the web-2.0 list managers. That's actually one of the main points of this site, so people can find a list manager that fits their lifestyle, rather than try them all and get caught up in what's shiny.

How are we doing?

Re: GTD Over The Years – What Changed?

evanheckert — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:24:52 -0000

Anyone else have an opinion on GTD in the world of productivity?

Re: Capture Crayons in the Shower

evanheckert — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:14:37 -0000

Foolness, thanks for that insight! I think you've nailed a core practice when implementing GTD that is probably the most underrated of all the various steps. I've found it very easy to pre-judge thoughts or ideas before jotting them down, rather than the practice, or "art" as you eloquently called it, of jotting down every single thought you've got. Definitely something for GTDers to keep in mind!

Thanks for being a pioneer in the GTDReviews comments! Let's see who else is as brave!