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April 15, 2008
A short list of a few good GTD list managers
Choosing a GTD list manager is much like walking onto a car lot and choosing what kind of car you like. Good chance you're going to be attracted to something completely different than the person next to you.
Good news is that, like a car, if the one you choose has the core components we recommend, it'll get you where you need to go.
A good GTD list manager should give you a bullet-proof, rock solid, trusted place to track your projects and actions. A starter set of lists David Allen recommends to store in that system would include:
Projects
Someday/Maybe
@Agendas
@Anywhere
@Calls
@Computer
@Errands
@Home
@Office
@Waiting For
A few questions to get started:
1. Are you a paper or electronic list person? There is a big difference and it's not only based on how technical you are. Some people prefer the touch and feel of paper. Some prefer electronic. It's usually personal preference and both work well with GTD. If you went to jot down a quick reminder to yourself right now, what would you reach for, your computer or pad of paper on your desk? That might give you a clue.
2. Do you want your lists to sync to a handheld (Palm, BlackBerry or Windows Mobile?) If so, you'll need an electronic list manager to make that happen.
3. Will other people need to see your data? Such as an admin or family member? Electronic may be easier for that than paper.
4. Are you away from your computer most of the time and don't have a handheld? If so, then you'll want to be able to print your electronic lists to work with them when you're on the go or use a paper planner.
5. Any security issues to consider? Some companies, for good reasons, don't want their employees putting company data, like the kind of stuff that would go on lists, on a web-based tool outside of the secure network.
6. Where is your calendar now? Many people will put their lists in the same program as their calendar, to have a central dashboard.
Here's my short list of list managers that I have either personally use or have used, am familiar enough with it because I have coached others on it, or I've heard enough good things about from other GTD'ers to know it works.
PAPER PLANNERS--->
Nearly any paper planner, including a 3-ring binder you can go grab from your supply closet, can work if you like the ring style, paper size etc. My first few years doing GTD were entirely on a paper planner. Just don't hold yourself to the rigid forms they'll include with the planner. Choose the binder style and tabs you like, then use simple lined paper for your lists.
DESKTOP-BASED LIST MANAGERS--->
Palm Desktop (PC or Mac)
Outlook Tasks (PC only)
Outlook Tasks with GTD Add-In (PC only)
Lotus Notes To Do (PC or Mac)
Excel Spreadsheet or Word Document (PC or Mac)
MindManager (PC or Mac)
Entourage (Mac only)
OmniFocus (Mac only)
OmniOutliner (Mac only)
Kinkless (Mac only)
WEB-BASED LIST MANAGERS--->
Google Spreadsheets or Documents
Google Notebook
Remember the Milk
Toodledo
No endorsement implied here from me or David Allen Company, just some direction for you all on your list manager quest. Good luck!
[KF 4/27: You'll will find comments below from people who are suggesting and promoting other products than what I've listed in my post. Please know, since it may not be obvious in their post, some of these comments are posted by the seller of that software with the direct intention of getting you to buy that product. Since I don't have the time or inclination to test everything people are suggesting, nor do I want to block comments on my blog, please just use your common sense when checking out software people are recommending through my blog. Thanks! Kelly
Posted by Kelly at April 15, 2008 11:32 AM
Comments
My Life Organized is very flexible, and available for both PC and Pocket PC (Windows Mobile)
Posted by: Andrew Oliner at April 15, 2008 01:45 PM
Probably because it was what the original GTD list concepts was developed on, but Palm's ToDo list manager is the best that I've used.
However, I got tired of carrying around a Palm handheld, a cell phone, and an iPod, so I just got an iPhone. I hate double entry and I wish every application could talk to each other seamlessly, but we aren't quite there yet.
Remember the Milk and Google Calendar are the best "glue" applications that I've found so far. RTM has a premium iPhone version that works well and since it's web-based, I can get to it at home, at work, and anywhere else I might be. RTM doesn't exactly conform to GTD without customization and everyone has different ideas of how to do GTD with RTM. Personally, I have trouble separating projects from next actions on it, no matter how I set up tags and smart lists. Also, RTM works best at prioritizing when you give due dates for tasks, but that kinda violates the GTD philosophy that if it has a date and/or time, it goes in the calendar, not the lists.
I have to use Outlook at work, but I don't like it much. To tie my calendars together, I use Google Calendar which syncs to Outlook now for free. Unfortunately, it doesn't sync to the iPhone calendar application and I don't use Outlook on the machine that I sync my iPhone to, so I pretty much don't use the iPhone calendar app unless I just want to look up a date. I may set up Outlook at home just as a dummy calendar/contact sync point with Google so I can sync my iPhone to it. I have no desire to actually use it for e-mail - I prefer Gmail for many different reasons.
LIkewise, Google docs and Google notebook fit a pretty good niche for always having information at my fingertips. For that matter, I've also e-mailed documents and notes to myself since they're easy to tag, archive, and search for in Gmail.
Both RTM and Google Calendar can send summaries and reminders via SMS, which has become quite helpful once I got an unlimited text message plan.
Finally, I try not go anywhere without my paper notebook and a good pen. For taking notes, brainstorming, and "prototyping" lists and projects, nothing beats paper and pen. I usually annotate items in the notebook with little icons to remind me to add them to my calendar and GTD lists.
I'm thinking about writing an iPhone friendly list manager that is a functional clone of the Palm software one (but I'd be happy if someone beats me to it) - that's the one big thing I miss about my Palm.
Posted by: Christopher Palmer at April 15, 2008 02:04 PM
Another webtool I find very useful is Vitalist: www.vitalist.com.
Posted by: David S at April 15, 2008 10:24 PM
For Mac, I highly recommend Things (http://culturedcode.com/things/). It's still in beta, so a few features are still missing (most notably sync capabilities, but that's coming soon), but it is very nice and simple, and it passes almost every point (except for the synchronization) of your "What makes a good GTD manager" list.
Posted by: ZZamboni at April 16, 2008 02:15 PM
I've tried GTDagenda (mentioned above), and I think that would be the one I would go with if I were looking for a web-based tool.
I also recently came across Tudumo (PC only), which is really easy to use and has some great filtering options built in.
http://www.tudumo.com
Posted by: Barrett at April 22, 2008 08:21 PM
We use Famundo. Its a web-based, family-oriented calendar and organizational app. By now, this family can't live without it!
http://www.famundo.com
Dorie
Posted by: Dorie at April 24, 2008 07:12 PM
Hi,
For Blackberry users, Next Action! is really quite a good program. Can be found at:
http://www.s4bb.com/software/nextaction/
Not connected with them, I just think it's good software.
Posted by: Kona's Dad at April 24, 2008 10:34 PM
I would like to suggest a Mac and Windows compatible duo:
TodoPaper for Windows
http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/
and TaskPaper for Mac
http://hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper/
Both of these apps are extremely lightweight, removing the tedious busy work that comes with managing your to-dos with other applications.
(Disclaimer: I am the developer of TodoPaper)
Posted by: Jordan Sherer at May 6, 2008 09:57 AM
I, personally, am hooked on Thinking Rock http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/). It is designed to easily capture all of GTD, can export an .ical-file to sync your calendar from and, best of all, the PocketMod-report gives you a folded up slip of paper in your pocket with all your next actions as well as space to capture new thoughts. Just toss yesterdays' in the Inbox in the morning, process the captured thought (as well as anything else in the Inbox) and print a new for today. Best combination I've ever used.
Posted by: Paul Reinerfelt at May 12, 2008 01:46 PM
I am relevantly new to GTD as an approach to my work flow, but it's so simple that I am hooked. Trying to get the rest of my team to adopt a few of it's principles, but thats another story heheh
I have been looking around for apps I can use on the suite of macs in my studio and have dumped a few links on my blog. Hope they help as much as the suggestions in the post and comments.
www.iamgaz.co.uk/blog
Posted by: iamgaz at May 27, 2008 05:23 AM
Iwantsandy.com works at least as well as remember the milk, perhaps a tad better and is worth checking out.
Posted by: Steve at June 2, 2008 08:51 AM
I consider myself pretty fluent with software programs and services and I found IWantSandy hard to figure out. I spent about 15 minutes with it and could not figure out how it worked.
Posted by: Kelly at June 4, 2008 11:26 AM
Now that you cleared my confusion elsewhere(Sept. 2006 blog),I have managed to get my own ideas sorted.Surprisingly though, I am really impressed by the "Now factor" !!! and, how everything in GTD branches out from that singularity.
The GTD struggle has well and truly begun.
Thanks again
Pankaj
Posted by: Pankaj at June 28, 2008 10:52 PM
