Filed under: Software, Productivity, iPhone
Things 1.1/Things Touch 1.3.5: Area Sync
Things Touch 1.3.5 has been released along with Things 1.1 and, among a heap of bug fixes and UI improvements, you'll find a new feature for syncing Areas of Responsibility from your Mac to your iPhone (it's not yet possible to create Areas in Things Touch). The feature requires Things 1.1 on the Mac side, which was officially released today, but has actually been available (sans release notes) for about a week (assumedly waiting for Things Touch to make it through App Store approval).
Another new addition (which is more exciting, to me) is full AppleScript support in Things on the Mac. I haven't had a chance to dive into it yet, but it's a topic I discussed with Cultured Code at the last Macworld Expo and I'm excited to see it come to fruition. People using Things in any kind of group setting will appreciate the reconsidered approach to task delegation, as well.
For those who aren't familiar with Things in general, I'll take a quick step back. Things for the Mac has been a staunch competitor in the Mac task-management colosseum. Battling it out with OmniFocus and newer gladiators like The Hit List, it's been recognized by many for its simplicity and elegance. Things is powerful and flexible, while remaining reliable and simple. Things Touch is its iPhone companion, usable on its own or synced with Things Mac.
You may be asking, what's an "Area of Responsibility?" This is one of the features of Things which was hardest for me to grasp. It's not quite a GTD context, and it's not a folder for projects. Basically, Areas provide a flexible means of handling tasks which aren't part of a "project" and aren't necessarily sequential in nature. In the words of Cultured Code:
With an Area of Responsibility (or simply "Area"), you don't ask yourself about the desired outcome, but what standards you would like to maintain. An Area corresponds to an ongoing activity. These could be, for example, job responsibilities, roles you have taken on in your family, or personal responsibilities like health.
Things is available for download as a free trial, and can be purchased for $49.95US. Things Touch, the iPhone version, is available in the App Store for $9.99US.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Evilhomer said 9:19PM on 5-11-2009
I like The Hit List, but if they don't release an iPhone version soon, I'm going to switch to Things.
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Dave said 9:48PM on 5-11-2009
I'm curious when THL for the iPhone is going to be released. The Potion Factory website isn't exactly full of info about it.
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Dennis said 9:53PM on 5-11-2009
Hmm, sounds interesting. But the whole "Area of Responsibility" concept in Things seems really convoluted and half-baked to me -- surprising for an app that hangs its hat on being simple and elegant.
It's good to hear Things finally has AppleScript support though. I'm reluctant to depend on any app that doesn't.
Personally, I still like OmniFocus the best.
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Ty said 10:39PM on 5-11-2009
I find the "area of responsibility" concept very useful for, say, a list of groceries, reminders about birthdays, etc. that isn't really a completable "project" per se.
I started using Mac/iPhone OmniFocus, and although a respectable app, I haven't looked back since I switched to Things. It has everything I need without unnecessary complexity in a much cleaner, more Mac-like design.
Dennis said 12:30AM on 5-12-2009
It sounds like "areas of responsibility" are similar to single-action lists in OmniFocus (i.e. loose collections of unrelated, individual actions).
Things does have a fancier look. But I eventually went back to OmniFocus, as did several of my friends. OmniFocus just worked better, especially with a lot of data. I've also come to appreciate its clean, somewhat understated interface; it feels lightwight, like a text editor.
As for being "more Mac-like", I'm not exactly sure what that means. Are Apple's own apps even "Mac-like" these days?
Juz said 12:12PM on 5-12-2009
I have been using Things for Mac and iPhone since the beta's, and I too find the Areas section very useful.
It has two major differences to Projects
(a) tasks within are not treated sequentially. i.e. they are all valid based on the way you create them, while a project tries to only offer up your next 1/3/5 actions as an ordered list (unless due dated)
(b) completed tasks can be logged from an Area, even if the Area still has active tasks
I only learnt this recently, but this is different to Projects were "completed" tasks show up in your Project list still (marked completed) for review purposes. These aren't logged (removed form standard views) until your project is marked as completed.
I use Projects extensivley for "defined end point" and "Sequential" series of tasks (like getting a client project completyed), but I use Areas for many general areas that cover my basic taks as a manager (e.g. weekly team meeting topics, process improvement ideas etc).
Cultured Code have done a good job so far, and kept me from switching. Omni Focus was too structured, and Hit List was promising with some lovely thoughts on UI, but still a little too busy for me, and lacking iPhone integration. To Do lists that can't travel are useless for me.
Things does needs a multi-machine Sync service though. DropBox sync is a usable work around, but when your Things Database is open on your work machine and you then need to login at home, conflicts can arise. Means you have to keep shutting down the app between locations.
akatsuki said 10:11PM on 5-11-2009
THL is thus far superior in interface, but I gotta agree the lack of an iPhone app is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Too bad there isn't a common interchange between these so I could use the Things iPhone app with the THL.
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wzrdjr said 10:25PM on 5-11-2009
I'm going WAY out on a limb here but I prefer The Hit List - but only for a little while longer unless they release an iPhone version.
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Dave Barnes said 10:34PM on 5-11-2009
1. I have one AREA right now. My house. I am dumping all my thoughts about upgrades and rehab into that Area. Seems convenient.
2. Both Potion Factory (The Hit List) and Cultured Code (Things) have a problem, in my opinion, with "communication".
a. CC has hidden their forum so the new use really cannot find it. PF uses a Google group which really sucks as a support mechanism.
b. Neither one twitters/blogs/publishes on a systematic basis so you have no clue if they are still even in business.
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Chris said 6:47AM on 5-12-2009
The absence on twitter is'nt the truth, at least not for Cultured Code. Just go to http://twitter.com/culturedcode and stay in touch. That's for me the way to stay in touch, since I dont follow their blog. With your statement that the forum's are hard to find, you're right. gGroups always sucks when it comes to support...
sterlingz said 9:33AM on 5-12-2009
I have to agree with you Dave that the communication is weak. I think Cultured Code does a better job though, they at least have somewhat of a roadmap of what features are coming. The Hit List, while it has a good start, seems feature incomplete to me, and I have no idea whether more features will be added during the beta period, or whether it's just bug fixes at this point. The word on the iPhone app is basically "When it's good and ready." Sorry, that's just not good enough. It worries me that THL is basically just being worked on by a one man shop in his spare time. I'll wait for final judgement for the 1.0 release, but the lack of documentation, relying on the Google Groups for support, and no communication about roadmap or iPhone release is enough to make me want to steer clear even though I own the app from MacHeist. $70 for it is insane, if its current state is any indication of where it will end up. Basically, its claim to fame is Smart Folders, Tabs, and Easy Keywording/Contexts. Those are nice features, but don't justify that price tag.
I love OmniGroup's products, and I've tried really, really hard to get into OmniFocus, but I just trip over the UI every time. Dealing with the inspector is a hassle, and as with THL, it's easy to go out of control with folders. To Omni's credit, they constantly work very hard to update the app and add new features, and are very active in their communication and support.
Coming back to Things, I think the UI is the one out of the three that actually allows me to keep using the tool. It's a personal thing, and while I think have their merits, Things is the one that I will actually use. The iPhone app, while requiring WiFi syncing, is fast and responsive. To be honest, when using the OmniFocus iPhone app, the MobileMe syncing was so slow that it was a real hassle to use. Again, Things Touch is the app that I actually USE.
I like the Areas feature very much, and I disagree with the author's take on them. I look at Areas as kind of a cross between contexts and project folders. For one area of my business (for example, online marketing), I have various projects that relate to that, and I can nest those projects within that Area. It gives me a quick snapshot of various areas of my business, and a way to shortcut directly to those projects. Also in the Projects view on the iPhone app, it groups projects together by Area on the summary page, providing some nice order. My one quibble on the iPhone app, is I think there should be a shortcut to the home screen on every screen. OmniFocus has this and it's great. It's very easy to get buried many layers deep, and it takes too many taps to get out. This would be a great feature for the Mail app as well.
Dennis said 1:20PM on 5-12-2009
I've been using OmniFocus' MobileMe syncing between multiple Macs/iPhones for quite some time now, and it's the best syncing implementation I've ever used, really rock-solid stuff. Being able to sync with the cloud and not have the other devices nearby (on the same LAN) is fantastic. I could never go back to the inconvenience of a Bonjour-only syncing solution now. :)
The key in keeping things speedy is to make sure you regularly sync all the devices. If you don't, OmniFocus has to hang onto all the un-synced transactions, which makes the database grow. As long as I sync regularly, my huge database typically only takes 10-30 seconds to sync on a 3G connection while I'm walking down the street. It's beautiful.
robjennings said 11:31PM on 5-15-2009
Things launched with a lot of bugs. I've bought the app when it left beta status and some things just didn't work. Syncing with To Do's in Mac OS X caused nothing but problems. Syncing with iPhone caused nothing but problems. I hear the new version solves some of the problems but I got tired of waiting. I have to say I feel that Things has been overrated. I don't use it anymore because my business has grown and I found I needed a solution that allows further collaboration. I use Basecamp but it's To Do functionality is limited.
James said 11:16PM on 5-11-2009
Wow, that was a confusing post.
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RHernandez said 12:15AM on 5-12-2009
Uh, what's really needed is multiple computer sync. I like things, but I need my MBP, MP and iPhone to all sync. When are they releasing that?
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Dennis said 12:29AM on 5-12-2009
I think OmniFocus is the only one with multi-machine syncing right now. It's been working pretty well for me.
Jack Welde said 12:37AM on 5-12-2009
The new Applescript support is terrific, solves a number of issues.
I just added a script to the Things wiki (http://culturedcode.com/things/wiki/index.php/User_Contributed_Scripts) that makes it easy to turn a Mail message into a to-do in Things, complete with a link back to the original mail message. Very useful if a lot of your tasks come via email.
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