GTD: Real-life experience with Things

Great review of Things. I worked with a printable system too, before finding an electronic application that allows me to view my entire GTD at work on my Win machine, at home on my Macs and even on my cell phone. And another app lets me call in tasks to my GTD without any writing or typing, great for those thoughts that hit me while driving. I've written about my experiences with GTD in a blog post at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/more-getting-things-done/ John

I've been an OmniFocus user since its alpha days, and I managed to score a copy for under $20 through a combination of discounts. I'm not sure why some people find OmniFocus difficult or inflexible. In fact, I've gotten to the point where entering stuff into OmniFocus and managing it via my list of projects and contexts is second nature -- which is exactly where you want your GTD system to be, no matter what it is -- whereas with Things it seemed like it was taking me 3-4 extra steps to do anything.

I don't care for the "everything's a tag" approach that Things takes (an approach also taken by Taskpaper) -- it ended up being just too much work trying to keep my contexts sorted out. I'm a tenured college professor and I have about 4-5 dozen projects going on at any given time, and a hard-edged context mode is absolutely crucial for my work. Things just played a little too fast and loose with contexts for me. But then again, that's why they make different kinds of software. OmniFocus works for me, Things works for others, and the world keeps turning.

I do like Things' user interface very much, and the concept of Areas is a very handy one. Although I didn't stick with Things I felt like I learned a few things about GTD and the way I do it after playing with the demo.

Another vote for Appigo's Todo and RTM. This has been a great combination for me, as at home I use a Mac but at work I'm stuck on a PC. I didn't think I'd like a web app but the flexibility is very nice.

I can add tasks via my iPhone, web, email or Dashboard widget. Then sync down to Appigo Todo and have all my tasks with me.

My wife can create a grocery list from home and then I sync my iPhone and walk into the store!

RTM also provides alarms via SMS so I can get alarms directly on my iPhone for my key tasks. When Todo adds "due time" this will become a perfect task list/reminder system for me--and we don't need to wait for Apple's Notifcation Services.

Appigo just released 1.2 with new quick entry! This is awsome.

I am a fan of Things but I think may people in the "Delicious Generation" just look at the pretty UI and let a lack of features and functionality slide...

I read the article.
Have bought Omnifocus for Mac in past. Never got into the habit of using it.
Bought Thing today for iPhone. I am using it already on iPhone and on Mac. It's great :D
(and I registered to get Thing on Mac with discount).

This is simple. and it works !
GREAT WORK!

I recently wrote my thoughts on Things Touch over at my blog: http://billglover.co.uk/archives/2008/09/06/636

It's a nice application but if it fails to become part of your life, it will quickly become yet another to-do list full of unfinished tasks.

The application is very much secondary to a good methodology. Get the methodology right and you will find Things & Things Touch a great supporting double act.

do any of these applications keep the to do list local on the iphone? I would hate to be out of 3g or edge service and not have access to the app.

A couple of counter-comments are in order:

First, Jeremy, if you had actually read the article instead of just posting, you would know that there is a total of one paragraph that talks about purchasing the app. Maybe you're omniscient and know what the price of every iPhone app is, but a lot of our readers actually look at the posts to get pricing information.

Second, Adam K., that comment was totally out of line. None of our staff is allowed to accept anything from vendors; that's how we maintain our ability to remain objective about products. When one of us really likes an app (like Things), we may get a little enthusiastic about it in the post. You'll notice that this is filed under "Analysis/Opinion" -- it's my personal opinion, and you don't have to agree with it. Just don't imply that me or any other member of the TUAW Team would accept money or any other payment from vendors.

TUAW Steve

I couldn't agree more. It makes you wonder how much they payed the author to write this (not that they would, but the article actually makes you think this). If TUAW keeps doing this, I feel I won't be able to continue reading them anymore. There are so many Apple sites to read anyway...

People look at Omnifocus and they freak out. Yes, it's extremely powerful, but it's also very flexible. You can choose how anal about GTD you want to be with it.
The iPhone app is amazing. They added location-aware features to contexts, you can record voice notes and take photos to add to actions. They thought of just about everything. It's a great app.

It is still early days for GTD apps, with none of the contenders really standing out yet. I'm using Things right now, but I'm not committed to it. My reasons:

1) I own OmniFocus, but find it too "religious:" its obsession with GTD orthodoxy means that it is horribly overcomplicated. If you enjoy spending enormous amounts of time organizing your tasks "just so," it is definitely the app for you. It is, however, the most mature of these apps, with the most implemented features and the most stability.

2) I'm using the beta of Things, and like its simplicity and elegance. And I don't mind the WiFi limitation for syncing. It is still lacking lots of features, though, including drag and drop into the organization pane and, as others have noted, contexts and tagging for the iPhone. If these are implemented well, I may pay the bucks and stick with it.

3) The most elegant, least intrusive GTD app yet is Dejumble. It opens from the menu bar with a single click, takes up little screen real estate, and has plenty of hierarchy. The developers made a horrible mistake though: I paid $8 for the iPhone app, only to find that it was totally nonfunctional--and remains so. The money didn't bankrupt me, but the irritation was a deal breaker for me.