[ghoti]

So I'm a procrastinating slacker of the worst kind. I hoped that ToDos in Mail would bring some relief, but they're quite limited and too easy to ignore.

So when I got TaskPaper as part of MacHeist, I started using that because I had it and because it was nice and simple. Too simple though, I couldn't even find a way to set due dates, sort by different criteria, etc. I realize that simplicity and bare-bones is a design goal for that program, and I'm usually all for that - but this was just too limiting.

I had seen talk about OmniFocus, and when I went to check on its progress recently, the list of features was scary. You can promote tasks to projects, demote projects, move stuff around everywhere, it was just too much! While a lot of that stuff is undoubtedly useful, I just don't think I need all that stuff and it's just overpowering.

On the MacHeist forums, people kept talking about this application called Things. In terms of googling, that's a terrible name of course, but once I found it I instantly loved it. It has a clean user interface, lots of features, but isn't a monster like OmniFocus. There are some clever shortcuts, and overall it feels very lightweight and efficient. It's pretty neat to have all your tasks listed, and you can pick the ones you want to work on today, and then have them in a separate view. It also handles due dates in an intelligent fashion and the tags, projects, and areas of responsibility are a really good way of structuring stuff.

Things is still in beta and will be released sometime in spring. There is a mailing list that you can sign up for, and when you do that before January 31, you get $10 off the price of the program when it's released.

Just thought I'd talk about these programs a bit and see what you guys think.

[Dutch Pear]

Originally Posted by ghoti So I'm a procrastinating slacker of the worst kind.

Hey, I can beat you at that! (somewhere in 2011:-)

But I'm a Things user as well and really loving it. I've tried the igtd app, but things is just way better.
Now I just have to stop myself from procrastinating in actually updating it frequently

[Yonzie]

OMG. clicked your link and looked at the picture and it looks totally awesome. nice overview, obviously grouped... wow.
Now, if someone found out how to get things done just by writing them down...

Edit: watched the screencast, and I must say it looks pretty darn perfect. Not too complex, not under-featured. The only extra thing I'd wish for is giving each task a score, like the Printable CEO.

[Koodari]

If I'm not mistaken, you do not need the "TaskPaper.app" to use "Taskpaper". It's a text file format that can be edited with any editor. Obviously there are better and worse editors, and extensible editors like TextMate and Vim can be augmented to work very nicely with Taskpaper files.

I like that kind of interoperability and platform agnosticity *very* much but back when I looked into it I was convinced something very important was missing from the format or the tools. Or that it would have been too big a job to set it up to do everything I want it to do. Don't remember. Meh, I'll be on the Mac for foreseeable future anyway, and I actually trust Omni to do the right things.

I have OmniFocus. I got it at an insane price, like $17 or so, after applying four (4) different discounts! I'm currently in the process of moving my crap in there. No verdict yet. I'm coming off OmniOutliner. My todo in OO eventually deteriorated to be just an archive instead of a live GTD system plus archive. The entire thing expanded and viewed in Print Preview is 47 pages, I kid you not. I didn't use any scripts and once things reach this point, you *have* to have automation. OF should have the most heavy duty automation and I'm looking forward to actually making my system live again.

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by Yonzie Edit: watched the screencast, and I must say it looks pretty darn perfect. Not too complex, not under-featured.

I watched this too. I'm not sure it has enough teeth to herd my flock of work (no outlining, right?), but it certainly looks nice and uncluttered, and you can pretty much tell how it works from the screencast. In comparison, I already have a handful of projects and another handful of to-do items in OF and don't quite feel I'm in the driver's seat yet.

[Yonzie]

Originally Posted by Koodari I watched this too. I'm not sure it has enough teeth to herd my flock of work (no outlining, right?)

I completely agree that it's not a project management app. It's more of a very fancy to-do list, which is exactly what I've been wanting
My problem is that I tend to forget what I should do/need to do and normal to-do lists (paper/text) don't work for me because they're bothersome to keep updated. Since I'm also exceptionally good at procrastination, I tend to have a huge to-do list (if I could just remember it all). This huge list looks very scary and just depresses me to the point where I don't get anything done With Things, it looks like I can group it as needed and hide most of it as "postponed" and such, which is nice, since it's there, just hidden.

Now, about that iPhone companion app...

[ghoti]

Exactly. I don't need the project management and refining of tasks. I can specify my tasks on the right level of granularity, and if I ever have to break one up into smaller bits, I'll do that by hand. This just gives me a good way to organize the things I need to do to keep an overview and not forget things or overlook a deadline. So this is perfect for me. I don't doubt that there are uses for all the power OmniFocus has, but I just won't need it.

But it's good to see applications of different complexity being developed, choice is always good.

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by Yonzie I completely agree that it's not a project management app. It's more of a very fancy to-do list, which is exactly what I've been wanting

Come to think of it, I think the biggest difference might be that in a way Things wants to be more. In the screencast it's used to isolate what the demonstrator plans to do today out of the whole (low complexity) workload. An "orthodox" GTD app treats everything more or less as a timeless flow of work, leaving all hard deadlines for the calendar to handle, so the app is where you go in search for work when you don't have anything scheduled. In theory, it replaces the questions "what to do today" and "what to do now when I didn't get my daily stuff done" with the simple act showing you a short list of "next alternatives" at the instant you actually have time to work, for as many times as you can and want to continue working after completing the previous task. This helps the most in a context with interrupts, unknown timeframes and changing circumstances.

I wouldn't really call OF a project management app, that label makes me think of Microsoft Project or OmniPlan. Omni's "task management tool" term is a much better fit.

[Kickaha]

Agreed, Koodari. I'm an OF convert. Used the Kinkless OO scripts originally, migrated to OF with nearly the first public beta build, and haven't looked back.

It has *drastically* simplified over what it used to be - they smacked it around, conceptually and in the UI, about a month before shipping, and it polished up nicely. Features a plenty, but most of them aren't really 'features' if you think of it as OO on steroids... they just become part of an outliner's stock in trade. (Such as hoisting and delegating - kind of unique in a GTD app, expected in an outliner.)

It still has a few spots I'd like to see refined, but at this point it's paid for itself many times over.

[dfiler]

Wow, those apps are beautiful. Thanks for the links!

Somehow I doubt a technological tool will have an effect on procrastination though.

[hmurchison]

I'm bummed that I missed out on the OF %50 buy in before it officially shipped but honestly I've got the GTD book and when I sit down and read through it and engage a plan I'm probably going to go with OF. I'd rather drop the Big Iron first and see if it does damage to my procrastination habit. It it's too much I'll move to something lighter.

[Mac+]

Chalk up another positive vote for OF. It offers a lot of features, agreed, but it also provides, as Koodari mentioned, the capability to see what's next according to context and this is a huge motivator for me when I feel in the mood to "get things done".

I am really becoming something of an Omni Group "groupie" I think. My dock has OmniWeb, OmniFocus and OmniOutliner Pro all residing there presently. I love their stuff.

[torifile]

Big bump. Gruber linked to a review of Things (as ghoti said, it's a horrible name for googling info about the app!). I downloaded it and I've been trying it. It's brilliant. Even though I've already got OF and OF for the iPhone, I bought it. And the iPhone version.

I've tried repeatedly to use OF and it's just too complex. I've spent too much time trying to figure it out. Things is logical - "projects" and "areas" both make sense. "Contexts" aren't built in but it's got a very flexible tagging system that makes finding your own system natural and easy. I'm using a quasi-context system. All in all, it just feels more like something I'll use on a regular basis. We'll see.

One thing that strikes me is how beautiful the app is. OF is just kinda ugly. I'm an eye candy whore.

[noleli2]

Funny this should come up now. I just downloaded the OF demo last night. Today is my first day of (trying to be) productive!