Todo List Quest: Gneo and Todoist, where I am now

Alright, it has been a little bit since I have talked about the todo list quest. I am still in the process of going through different apps and putting their info in the spreadsheet. But, I wanted to let you all know where I am now in the aspect of managing my own lists from day to day.

Currently I have separated my day job and the rest of life in to two different task management apps. For work I am using Todoist and for the rest of my life I am using Gneo (the G is silent, but I like to pronounce it anyway :)

These two apps both fulfill different purposes for me. Some people would discourage you from using two different apps and systems to manage tasks, David Allen would probably be one of those. But, at this point in my life it helps me to keep work from invading the rest of my life.

Todoist is for work

I really like Todoist, the system is clean and because of its integration with chrome through an extension it works really well. I do almost all of my work for my day job in chrome so Todoist is always there for me to dump things into. It also integrates with Gmail so that I can turn emails into tasks (one of the criteria I was looking for).

Gneo is for everything else

I have selected Gneo as my first full test for a new personal todo list because of a few features. The first one is its integration with Evernote, Gneo is essential a skin for an Evernote notebook stack. I have long heard of people using Evernote for GTD but I just couldn't get the interface to work for me for task management. Gneo ends up making that interface much more user friendly. I really like the idea of my todo list data actually being stored in Evernote where most of my other project data will also be stored.

The second reason is that Gneo uses the Covey matrix as one of its task views. I am a huge fan of the work of Stephen Covey and I love the way the matrix organizes things. I didn't put this on the criteria because at the time I hadn't ever seen an app that did it.

A third reason is that its integration with Evernote allows me to use it with Drafts for quick input. I find this to be super useful for the capture step of GTD.

So there you have it, for now I am using these two apps for work and personal life. I am still testing others and adding them to the spreadsheet. I will right more full reviews of the apps in the future.

Both apps are nicely put together and have responsive teams. If you have used either of the apps please tell me what you think of them and any tips you have for using them.

Todo List Quest: Technology and GTD

So I said yesterday that we could actually use anything that allowed for the basic structure of lists and folders as a todo list for GTD. That is true, but I also said that technology has morphed some of the application of GTD.

Here is what I mean:

• Technology has made it possible for an inbox(like email) and a todo list to be integrated together.
• Technology has made it possible for items on a list to have reminders, thus blurring the lines between Calendar, actions list, and tickler. 
• Technology has made it easier to use the concepts of context because of multi tagging. In a tag where I can multi-tag I don't have to choose to put an item in the @home or the @high energy contexts, I can tag it as either and search on one or both of the criteria. 
• Technology has changed the way in which we keep reference material, how much of it we keep, and made it possible to attach reference material to a particular task or project.

The list could go on, but you get the idea. Essentially the buckets of GTD, some of which David Allen specifically wanted to have hard lines, aren't so much buckets anymore. They are more like sections on a cafeteria tray.

The question then becomes how distinct do you want those buckets to be? Do you want the clarity of distinct buckets and therefore will use a different app for each one. Or, do you want the convenience of one integrated system where things might get a little blurry?

Clearly looking at the todo list quest criteria it seems I want an integrated system. I still like the idea of distinct lines, but the ease of moving a piece of information from one bucket to another appeals to me. That being said I am now at the point where I don't think there is anything wrong with pursing using a simple system that is lists and folders if that suits you. What I hope is that both you and I find a way to live better.

In the comments below let me know what changes you think have come to GTD from electronics and technology.

Todo List Quest: GTD requirements

As you know I am on a quest to find the most sophisticated todo list app (based on my own criteria) in the world. One of the things I have really been wanting is what I called on the spreadsheet "GTD ready."

I started with an idea of what that meant pretty abstractly in my head. But as part of this quest, and also as part of my own personal search to be more productive, I have been reading "Getting Things Done" again. My hope is that by rereading it I will get a better grasp of what the actual requirements of a good GTD todo list are.

Here is the secret then: It's pretty Simple. David Allen talks about all different kinds of systems from low-tech to high-tech. Of course because he wrote this book before the advent of the iPhone and the smartphone revolution that followed, what he means by high-tech is a palm pilot.

The requirements:

• Lists
• Folders

That's it, that is all he says you need for your lists.

By this criteria almost every todo list app out there qualifies to be used for GTD. All it needs to do is let you create lists and let you separate those lists into different sections. In this regard the app that most mirrors David's examples of the low-tech pieces of paper in a manilla file folder is the app Clear. And even it does more than that.

That is it, most apps can be GTD ready by the book's definition and the problem is that technological advancements in the last 10 years have changed a lot of our perceptions and the actual practice of GTD has morphed for a lot of people accordingly. 

But that is a discussion I will save for tomorrow. For now know that whatever app You choose you can probably use it for GTD exactly the way that David Allen intended when he wrote the book. And that can help you remember to live better.