A Review of Stylish GTD Apps

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Originally Posted by Triggaaar

I tried Doit a few months ago, and didn't like the fact that I could have sub projects. Most of my actions are small jobs that make up a mini project, within another project - is that my problem that I'm not following GTD properly, or should our app have sub projects? If it's my mistake, how should we do it (no pun intended)?

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I think this is one area where the GTD book influences app makers the wrong way. The GTD book makes a heavy emphasis on projects and having a project list. It is certainly right that it is very important to distinguish things that can be done in one action from those that require multiple steps.

But here many apps follow this exact model of a list of projects which I think is an implementation rooted in paper based system. I call this idea of a single list of projects "heavyweight". The action of making a project here provides some mental resistance. You ask yourself, "Do I really want to make a project for this thing that requires 2 steps?" Unless a project feels big enough you find yourself resisting making projects. Just making projects hierarchical would at least let you bury those smaller tasks instead of having all equally visible.

There are other systems where a project is no big deal. It is just a task with sub-tasks. There is much less mental resistance to creating projects here. Some examples are Smthngs and MLO where projects are easier.

I still think someday we will have the "one" GTD app. Still waiting for it and someday may write it myself.

Thanks for the reply - I missed it, but will now subscribe to the thread.

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Originally Posted by dalewking

But here many apps follow this exact model of a list of projects which I think is an implementation rooted in paper based system. I call this idea of a single list of projects "heavyweight". The action of making a project here provides some mental resistance. You ask yourself, "Do I really want to make a project for this thing that requires 2 steps?" Unless a project feels big enough you find yourself resisting making projects. Just making projects hierarchical would at least let you bury those smaller tasks instead of having all equally visible.

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Being new to GTD I don't want to jump to the wrong conclusions, but I like the option to have these projects or just simple actions. If I know something requires just 3 actions, I'll just write those down. But if I didn't have the option for projects and sub-projects, I could have so many actions staring at me I'd be a mess.

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There are other systems where a project is no big deal. It is just a task with sub-tasks. There is much less mental resistance to creating projects here. Some examples are Smthngs and MLO where projects are easier.

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Yes that sounds good.

But am I wrong to be thinking I need projects and sub-projects? Is that against GTD?

Thanks

Big lover of Things in the sense you can grab anything you're working on from your Mac and put it in the right place. Cloud syncing to iPad and iPhone puts it over the top. If only my company would go BYOD with computers!

I've now tried Thinking Rock, Do it, Producteev, and finally My Life Organized. The search is over. I had discounted MLO because I thought it required paying a sizable chunk in subscriptions every month, but that's certainly not the case now. For Windows there's free trial, followed by a $60 license fee if you want the top one. Apps for iPhone and iPad (Android on the way) and no subscription for wifi syncing, but subs if you use their cloud. No good if your a mac user, but macs have other good options anyway.

Now it's time to implement it.

And if you're on Windows there is always Ecco Pro ... amazing piece of software that is more than capable ... even for its age... :)

Not that I have Windows ... :)

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Originally Posted by billjw

And if you're on Windows there is always Ecco Pro ... amazing piece of software that is more than capable ... even for its age... :)

Not that I have Windows ... :)

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Somewhere in my basement, in the heart of darkness, lies Ecco Pro.
Unless I've thrown it out...
Actually, it's available on the web, but really,
why torment yourself?

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Originally Posted by mcogilvie

Somewhere in my basement, in the heart of darkness, lies Ecco Pro.
Unless I've thrown it out...
Actually, it's available on the web, but really,
why torment yourself?

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Haha, Yeah, I know. I had a look over at compusol the other day. Ahh memories .... :)
I'm sure I have the .exe file somewhere too ...

:)

Dale: I assume you are also posting to Tom Philip's thread on his Best GTD App summary of this project...and in one post over on Tom's site you seem to be using ToDo, but here it almost sounds like Doit is your app of choice. Timing of posts may be an issue. Anyway, I think your priorities sound similar to mine, so I'm curious if you have a period of time under your belt for either of these apps. I'm Windows desktop / laptop and an Android phone. Would like cloud access but hope to have offline capability for some long plane rides. No need for any Apple functionality. Thanks in advance!
Tommy

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Originally Posted by dalewking

I think this is one area where the GTD book influences app makers the wrong way. The GTD book makes a heavy emphasis on projects and having a project list. It is certainly right that it is very important to distinguish things that can be done in one action from those that require multiple steps.

But here many apps follow this exact model of a list of projects which I think is an implementation rooted in paper based system. I call this idea of a single list of projects "heavyweight". The action of making a project here provides some mental resistance. You ask yourself, "Do I really want to make a project for this thing that requires 2 steps?" Unless a project feels big enough you find yourself resisting making projects. Just making projects hierarchical would at least let you bury those smaller tasks instead of having all equally visible.

There are other systems where a project is no big deal. It is just a task with sub-tasks. There is much less mental resistance to creating projects here. Some examples are Smthngs and MLO where projects are easier.

I still think someday we will have the "one" GTD app. Still waiting for it and someday may write it myself.

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Originally Posted by TommyNashvilleTN

Dale: I assume you are also posting to Tom Philip's thread on his Best GTD App summary of this project...and in one post over on Tom's site you seem to be using ToDo, but here it almost sounds like Doit is your app of choice. Timing of posts may be an issue. Anyway, I think your priorities sound similar to mine, so I'm curious if you have a period of time under your belt for either of these apps. I'm Windows desktop / laptop and an Android phone. Would like cloud access but hope to have offline capability for some long plane rides. No need for any Apple functionality. Thanks in advance!
Tommy

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I've gone back and forth and it seems every week or two I give up on the current system and look for something new. I try something new for a while and then eventually run into frustration and give up on that. So basically I don't have a trusted system and things slip through the cracks.

My last attempt was 2Do on Android, which is a very nice and usable app on Android. The problem is that it only syncs to Toodledo, but really only partially because some of the features do not translate to Toodledo.

Personally, I think Toodledo has set back the progress towared a perfect GTD system more than any other factor. If an app syncs with Toodledo, I consider that a strike against it. Toodledo is like a trap. Data goes in, but there is no intelligent way to get it out. Toodledo's model is broken (do we really need 10 different statuses for a task?). Don't get me started about the unintelligible Toodledo web interface.

The frustrating thing is that all of the pieces are out there for a perfect system, just not all in the same program.

My requirements are:

- Usable from Mac and PC. This could be web-based as I don't need offline access from the computer
- Usable on Android tablet. Must be optimized for tablet and not just a bigger version of the phone version!
- Must support email to completely formed task (not just email to inbox)
- Low barrier to creating projects
- Ideally support nested projects
- Some way to support Areas of Focus
- Easy to use
- Support recurring tasks, ideally with complex repeats like "on the last Friday of the month"

The best I have ever done on GTD was when using a paper system. It was great at first, but then the clutter builds up. You have a 50 actions on a sheet, 45 of which are done. This builds up to a reluctance to even open it. I really don't understand how anybody does it with a Moleskine with fixed pages.

What I really want is something that can simulate the experience I had using a paper system on my Android tablet, but with the ability to remove the clutter of completed tasks and other advantages of an electronic system, like recurring tasks, tasks from email, alarms, and the ability to see it on the computer as well.

I periodically consider writing my own app, but that is all I need, something more to get done. And unless someone is paying me to do it, I don't really have the time to do it in my spare time (or the lack thereof).

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Originally Posted by Triggaaar

But am I wrong to be thinking I need projects and sub-projects? Is that against GTD?

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I don't think it is against GTD. There's a whole section of the GTD book about viewing things from different elevations with different levels of detail. So it is certainly not a stretch to have projects within projects.

This was kind of my point that GTD only mentions a single level of project because anything more would be hard to do in a paper system. Creators of electronic systems stick with it because that is what the book talks about.

The system I have found that implements projects within projects, the best is Smthngs. It really nails it (if only they had recurring tasks, email to task, and an android tablet optimized app I would use it).