New GTDer: todo/appigo or life balance?

A

alainr

Registered
I just started GTDing. i have a mac and an ipod touch. I am trying to figure out what app to buy. I need to be able to use the date on my touch when offline. i am looking for a program that:
1. works well w/gtd;
2. easy to use; not too much getting up to speed time.
3. will have longevity--be around for several years hopefully.

I have been researching apps and have come down to:
--appigo todo w/toodledo
--life balance-
--nozbe : not sure it is worth the annual fee.''

I eliminated Things cuz i read you can't set up repeating events and OmniFocus because it seemed to take a lot of time to get up to speed.

What are your recommendations? advantages/disadvantages of each?
 
M

mickmel

Registered
I wholeheartedly vote for Nozbe, though I don't have any experience with Life Balance. I've looked hard at Toodledo a few times, but it just doesn't help me Get Things Done as well as Nozbe does.

I wrote a big comparison of them early in the year. Some of the notes no longer apply, but it still sums up my feelings nicely:
http://www.gtdhelp.com/200901/nozbe-vs-toodledo/

Nozbe's fee is a bit high, but look at it logically. A good GTD will save you many hours over the course of a year. Their annual fee is worth what -- an hour or two of your time? Certainly seems like a wise decision.

That said, a lot of people like Toodledo. I had to essentially kill my productivity for the better part of a day and work out of both systems throughout the day. It slowed me down, but I really got a feel for how each one worked. If you get down to just a few systems to decide between, running them in parallel for part of a day can really show you what they're made of.
 
C

ceperry

Registered
Well, I really like Action Lists on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but that's because I wrote it. Action Lists strives to be true to GTD, while not making things too complicated. It syncs with Toodledo so that you can access your tasks online and sync them to Outlook, iCal, etc.

You can get more information about Action Lists at its homepage.
 
Oogiem

Oogiem

Registered
alainr;74293 said:
--life balance-
Click to expand...

I started with LifeBalance. It seemed perfectly suited to me. I ditched it when it became obvious that it could not handle my system when I was really sick.

I thought that Omnifocus was too much effort initially, which is why I went to LifeBalance.

FWIW I dumped LB totally after it failed, have been running with OF since for almost a year now and very happy.

Yes it takes a while to learn and get up to speed but it is far more flexible.
 
Todd V

Todd V

Registered
re: Best Setup

It's best to use a two-pronged approach:

#1: Handheld = collect, access your lists, drill down to a location context, crank on your tasks.

#2: Computer = collect, plan, organize, review

The handheld device is uniquely suited for collection and access. It's also the thing you will have with you the most often to remind you when you need to crank through things.

The computer is still the best place to plan, organize, and review the larger horizons and to ensure everything going to your handheld device is streamlined and up-to-date.

It's also a good idea to find offerings that help you learn some of the more subtle dimensions of GTD. Ready-Set-Do! is a unique file-based approach to getting things done I designed. You could start with that and then branch out to other programs as it teaches you to master the basic habits of GTD with the file system on your mac. It also allows you to email your lists and files to your handheld device. Good luck with the search.
 
mcogilvie

mcogilvie

Registered
alainr;74293 said:
I just started GTDing. i have a mac and an ipod touch. I am trying to figure out what app to buy. I need to be able to use the date on my touch when offline. i am looking for a program that:
1. works well w/gtd;
2. easy to use; not too much getting up to speed time.
3. will have longevity--be around for several years hopefully.

I have been researching apps and have come down to:
--appigo todo w/toodledo
--life balance-
--nozbe : not sure it is worth the annual fee.''

I eliminated Things cuz i read you can't set up repeating events and OmniFocus because it seemed to take a lot of time to get up to speed.

What are your recommendations? advantages/disadvantages of each?
Click to expand...

I think Things, Omnifocus, Toodledo (both web/iphone), and Remember the Milk (web/iphone) are reasonable choices.

You can set up recurring tasks in Things on the desktop, just not yet on the Touch.

Appigo Todo syncs to Toodledo or Remember the Milk. I personally don't like the way Appigo filters data, and don't use it. I use the iphone version of Toodledo instead.

Life Balance is not intrinsically GTD-ish, but can be made so. It has a learning curve comparable to Omnifocus.

I don't care for the Nozbe web interface, and find the cost high compared to Toodledo and Remember the Milk.

If you are new to GTD, my personal recommendation is to try Toodledo and Remember the Milk on the web; they are free (premium features cost a little money). See what works for you, and then go from there.
 
J

jasont

Registered
I'm guessing you checked out my post on GTD, Gmail and the Touch. for reference you can get to it here .

The one downside to this system is if you want to process on the go and don't have a wifi connection. This is not an issue in my world as I generally make all of my capture via paper, and then process when back at a computer. Granted, with all of the free wifi out there it may not be too big of an issue.

If you have any questions feel free to drop me a note on my site.

Jason
 
S

ScottL

Registered
alainr;74293 said:
I just started GTDing. i have a mac and an ipod touch. I am trying to figure out what app to buy. I need to be able to use the date on my touch when offline. i am looking for a program that:
1. works well w/gtd;
2. easy to use; not too much getting up to speed time.
3. will have longevity--be around for several years hopefully.

I have been researching apps and have come down to:
--appigo todo w/toodledo
--life balance-
--nozbe : not sure it is worth the annual fee.''

I eliminated Things cuz i read you can't set up repeating events and OmniFocus because it seemed to take a lot of time to get up to speed.

What are your recommendations? advantages/disadvantages of each?
Click to expand...

I used lifebalance for a long time. It has a steep learning curve, is not something you'll use when sick and energy is at a premium, and upgrades occur at a glacial pace.

I use Things and the mac calendar. You are correct that repeating to dos are not managed by things, on the other hand I do not know of a program that handles repeating to dos and has the capabilities of things or outlines like lifebalance (there may very well be some).

Recommendation: Pick something as simple as you can get away with.

Correction: "You can set up recurring tasks in Things on the desktop" I"m behind several upgrades, and did not know this.
 
H

humblepie

Registered
im more of an ipod touch w Appigo Todo with Toodledo but i seldom use it on the computer but on the ipod.

its great for capturing. You want to capture it anywhere and a handheld is good for that. Having said that, appigo todo is good for planning on the go as well, it does recurring tasks as well.

You can check out my GTD system here.

A good tip. Have a @Commuting context and a recurring action called Planning daily schedule that recurs every weekdays! You can plan on the bus or in the train. perfect use of the time if you are not tired.
 
A

apastuszak

Registered
I love action lists!

ceperry;74301 said:
Well, I really like Action Lists on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but that's because I wrote it. Action Lists strives to be true to GTD, while not making things too complicated. It syncs with Toodledo so that you can access your tasks online and sync them to Outlook, iCal, etc.

You can get more information about Action Lists at its homepage.
Click to expand...

I love Action Lists! Soon as you add tasks linking and a planned status, I'm moving in permanently!
 
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