GTD – Get Things Done . . . please.
I just read Mashable’s GTD Toolbox: 100+ Resources for Getting Things Done. I’m amazed by the sheer number of GTD apps. It’s awesome, because it shows just how productive software developers want to be. I bet most of those apps are a result of a developer thinking, “Gah, why can’t real life be as organized as the code I write?”. I’m guilty of doing this.
Unfortunately, I still haven’t found any GTD apps that I could put up with. I’ve found a few that have come close. Some will do well in one respect, but fail at another. A lot of the ones I’ve used fail at everything. Why is it so hard to write an app that’s intuitive enough to not have to bear a vicious learning curve, or worse (for the trees <3 ), make you want to revert back to your trusty Moleskine?
I think a lot has to do with the lack of planning on the developers part. I think if they were to just spend the time and ask their potential user base what features they want in an app (or suite of apps) before they start writing code, thinks would be better for everyone.
On that note, what are the criteria that a good GTD app must have? I know this is a very open-ended question, but there’s got to be a core set of requirements that all of these type of apps must have. Here’s a list of the features I personally think are important (in order of importance):
- Ease of capture – Make it easy to capture ideas, audio, photos, videos, hyperlinks, text, etc.
- Media support – Support for a broad set of media – text, images, hyperlinks, audio, etc.
- Portability – It’s got to work with me, not against me. I’m not going to take notes on my iPhone if I have to spend just as much time transferring it to different devices (computer to computer, iphone to computer, etc) as I spend capturing. I’d rather just use the trusty ol Moleskine.
- Launch time – The amount of time it takes to open the app and write some text (or take a picture or record audio) should be minimal. It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to capture media, because nobody wants to stop a freight train of thought while they wait for a clunky app to catch up.
- Integration – Synchronization with existing, widely adopted software is essential. Apple has already done a great job on the calendar, mail, and file management while the Mozilla community has a great browser called Firefox. A decent app should be able to work with all of these apps, not against them.
A good example of media support and ease of capture is Process 3, which I got for free during Macheist’s “Mac Giving Tree” promotion (I think). Unfortunately, the ease of capture in Process 3 is only found on the desktop. As far as I know, I cannot view my tasks over the web or on my iPhone.
What are some other important features?
Organization is one, but I don’t know what the best way of organizing a bunch of unrelated information is. Maybe there should be multiple ways of organizing things. For instance, an app could support organizing things by user-defined categories (Work, School, Personal) but also by due date or priority. Perhaps these should be separate views and the user should be able to toggle between the two without having to be burdened by dealing with both at the same time. Or maybe there should be multiple versions of an app, with the only difference being how things are organized. One version might be for people oriented more towards business, and another might be for people focusing on creativity.
Visibility is another important characteristic that needs defining. A GTD app should let the user know exactly what needs attention. A robust notification system involving calender alerts, emails, and text messages would work great, but that’s the easy part. Visually, how do you organize a list of todo’s? By priority? By due date? By area (School, Work, Personal, etc.)? What about things that you haven’t assigned a due date or priority?
Any ideas?
Oh, one more thing. Someone should name their GTD app “Catchup” and use a bottle of Ketchup as the logo. “iGTD” and “ToDoList” are really lame names. Don’t be so boring! People are going to be looking at this app a LOT.
