As I mentioned in my iCal series, I employ David Allen's
"Getting Things Done" (a.k.a. "GTD") method of organizing tasks and
projects. Actually, I'm gradually implementing this approach, and
this fall is the time when I intend to get all of the digital
(read: Mac-based) aspects of my workload into the GTD system.
And as I also mentioned in my iCal series, I've been a fan of
the "Kinkless GTD" (kGTD) solution, which takes the outlining power
and elegance of OmniOutliner Pro and uses a well-conceived set of
AppleScripts to sync that data with iCal. I love the Omni
products, and I think the basic concepts of the kGTD model are
wonderful.
In fulfillment of my goal to get my digital act together, I
blocked apart a chunk of time this morning to get it going.
Two hours in, and I was making great progress: I had worked
through most of the projects that were on the horizon between now
and, well, almost as far out as I have projects planned for.
Oops, It Isn't Kinkless
Great - time to sync, then go get some lunch. Oops! Kinkless
lost about one-third of the tasks and actions I had entered over
the previous two hours! What happened?
It turns out that I am not alone in my surprise; a number of others have
encountered the same problem. And apparently the developer of
Kinkless has been aware of it for more than a month - and hasn't
addressed it. Suddenly my confidence in kGTD, at least in the way I
use it, has dropped substantially. (Note: It's clear from the
comments on the Kinkless forum that many have figured out the
culprit elements of kGTD and are successfully working around them.
If that works for you, kGTD is probably still the best option
going. But those solutions eliminate my methods for GTD
organization, so it doesn't work for me any longer.)
In light of that, I went on the hunt for a new GTD application.
What follows is a roundup of what I've found, and my thoughts on
which suits me best.
GTD Overview
If you're new to the idea of Getting Things Done, here's the
scaled-down version: Your productivity is limited by all of the
other things on your mind and competing for your attention. You'll
therefore significantly increase efficiency and effectiveness by
getting those things out of your head and into a genuinely trusted
system of organizing them with the confidence that you'll have them
on-hand when you need them (so you don't need to keep them in mind
until then).
Following this central concept, Allen unfolds a brilliantly
simple plan for unloading your brain and keeping it focused on the
next actionable task, all the while organizing the rest of your
tasks, projects, and other information into that trusted system. It
boils down to three basic steps:
- collect all data
- process it into projects, single tasks, and archives
- review/plan/do, which entails reviewing what needs to be done,
planning when and how to do it, and then doing it
That's the oversimplified thumbnail. For more information about
the system itself, check out David Allen's website, Merlin Mann's 43Folders website
(named for the 43 folders involved in the GTD system), or read the
book,
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free
Productivity, by David Allen. You'll also enjoy
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and
Life, also by Allen, which is a collection of
snapshots of GTD at work from his newsletter.
What I'm looking for in a GTD solution is a basic set of tools
that will fit into my existing workflow. I'm already committed to
iCal and Mail, as well as DevonThink for my digital reference files
and archives.
The missing link is in the task and project management area. I
want a solution that will allow me to process my projects into
actionable tasks, then organize them as I execute. I want something
that can allow for creating new tasks one right after the
other without a lot of troublesome menus or mouse clicks. I
want one that will interact with iCal - specifically, one that has
a bi-directional synchronization with iCal's task list.
I also want an application that is a stand-alone solution, one
that I can keep open all the time. Naturally, I'd also like it to
be very Appl-icious; I love the way good Mac applications work, and
if I can find something that fits that mold, all the better.
Okay, I admit it: I basically just described Kinkless GTD. But
since I've lost confidence in Kinkless, I'm hopeful that I can find
something with similar features and function.
Web or Browser-based Options
GTDTiddlyWiki employs
the flexibility of a wiki with the straightforward approach of GTD.
An open-source solution that is fully customizable, the
GTDTiddlyWiki is a popular and useful option.
King Design's
Tasks is another online implementation, though this one is not
explicitly designed to be a GTD application. It is GTD-compatible,
though, and a free level of service is available. It can work in
collaboration with iCal, allowing you to keep a localized version
of your projects on your Mac. It will also send you email reminders
of the tasks on your list for that day and can help you track
billable time if you need it to. To get the permanent function of
the regular version requires a paid subscription or purchase of a
server-installed setup. There is also Tasks Jr., a locally hosted,
browser-based system, and Tasks Pro, which is a multi-user (almost
"enterprise") version. Tasks is a pretty good step in the right
direction for a GTD setup, particularly given its multilevel
options.
iCommit is
another online option, something like a wiki but without the hassle
of setting up. It's gotten a lot of good reviews (see GTD wiz
Merlin Mann's affirming words in iCommit: PHP app
for doing GTD) but has the downside of being "first-come,
first-served" on the developer's private server.
30Boxes is an Ajax option
online, which means that it is an active application that runs
within your browser in the same way that Writely and other similar applications
do. 30Boxes is lean and fast, which gives it an advantage over some
Ajax apps. It has a calendar, task list, and limited Gmail
interaction. The interface is nice, with a familiar feel - it has
an OS X-style "dock" on the side to navigate between sections.
Tasktoy is one more online
option. Tasktoy has a simple interface, but it lets you categorize
by context or project. You can also attach notes to tasks. I
haven't played around with Tasktoy as much as the others, but from
what I can see it is basically another similar concept to Tasks
(but with fewer features).
MyTicklerFile is another
online application specifically designed to work with GTD, though
this one works with a broader concept in the GTD system. It has
more explicit synching with iCal (and 37Signals' Basecamp, by the
way) and will email your upcoming tasks to you weekly for a
GTD-style "weekly review". It costs money for a subscription,
though, if you want to manage more than one project or the full set
of tickler files.
Tracks is
another open-source, browser-based solution, though this one comes
with a web server that allows you to run it locally if you prefer -
or have it hosted online through tracks.tra.in. Tracks doesn't
exactly work with iCal, but it does offer calendaring functions -
so maybe it could be an iCal replacement.
37Signals' Basecamp and
Backpack are both very
capable project managers, and both have iCal integration. Even
better, both have varying degrees of localization - dashboard
widgets, at least, and PackRat works as a localized companion to
Backpack. Some are convinced that Basecamp (see Getting
Hicks Done) or Backpack (see Backpack and
GTD and Backpack:
New GTD Implementation Ideas) are the final answer for GTD
applications.
(I know - there are other similar services, like Sproutliner,
HiveMinder, and Remember the Milk. My take on these is that they
are simply smaller-scale, less popular versions of Backpack; thus,
they probably have about the same potential for GTD
implementation.)
And then there are the more general-purpose online tools by our
friends at Google: GMail
and Google Calendar.
Gmail has been adapted into a GTD system (see GTD with
Gmail Whitepaper) and even improved upon (see A Better Way of Using Gmail
for GTD). Similar work has also been done with Google Calendar
(see GTD with
Google's New Calendar).
I can understand the appeal of these systems as GTD
implementations, especially if you use more than one computer often
- as in one machine at work and one at home. My setup is more
straightforward: I use a single laptop for 95% of my computing, and
I have it available even when I'm using another machine.
Also, I don't always have an Internet connection - and even if I
did, I'm not sure I want to do all my work in a browser.
Backpack offers the most in terms of localized companion
software (between PackRat and the Backpack widget, it's about as
good as it gets) without a lot of advanced setup (sure, Tracks can
be installed locally, but it requires knowing your way around
Ruby on Rails to set
things up). And I'd like a bit more ability for notes and contexts
attached to tasks than Backpack allows. And as much as the
MyTicklerFile approach appeals to me, the cost of a subscription is
a bit prohibitive for me.
I'm not sure that any of the browser-based solutions will do
what I'm looking for. Check back on
Wednesday for my look at applications and solutions that run on
your computer and don't require Internet access, small and large.
