Smartytask for GTD: New online GTD manager

[apenney]

Have any of you heard of Smartytask?

http://www.smartytask.com/

I just signed up for it and I am really enjoying it. They really have struck the balance between features and simplicity. I am really impressed with it. You can try it free for a week I think, so check it out.

They only have a mobile app for the Iphone right now, but when I asked they said they were on the way to releasing Blackberry and Android applications. In the meantime I just print out my overview pages each day.

Definitely worth checking out, especially if you use Iphone or Ipod as your mobile GTD manager.

 

[mcogilvie]

They only have a mobile app for the Iphone right now, but when I asked they said they were on the way to releasing Blackberry and Android applications. In the meantime I just print out my overview pages each day.

Definitely worth checking out, especially if you use Iphone or Ipod as your mobile GTD manager.

They don't actually sync to an iPhone app; they just have a web page for Mobile Safari. It looks like a pretty basic GTD implementation. For $10/month or $100/year, it's at the upper end of GTD apps. I don't think it's a good value, and I don't think a week is a reasonable trial period.

 

[PeterW]

They don't actually sync to an iPhone app; they just have a web page for Mobile Safari. It looks like a pretty basic GTD implementation. For $10/month or $100/year, it's at the upper end of GTD apps. I don't think it's a good value, and I don't think a week is a reasonable trial period.

Yep, fully agree.

I tried it out a month or two ago when it first appeared. There is no mobile app, there is no "waiting for" list (you have to use a context for that), there were some very obvious screen glitches with the time/energy functionality that I reported and got no response to, there are no user-forums for support, and a bunch of other things. I felt it was a good 'beta' that needed work.

There are other fully-functional and well-supported cloud-based apps out there that do much more for much less.

 

[apenney]

would you mind naming a few of the highly regarded cloud apps your speaking of? I am new to online GTD managers, but I really enjoyed Smartytask. If there are others available that work far better I am definitely interested.

 

[PeterW]

would you mind naming a few of the highly regarded cloud apps your speaking of? I am new to online GTD managers, but I really enjoyed Smartytask. If there are others available that work far better I am definitely interested.

Two that I would recommend:

Toodledo www.toodledo.com
Can be used for free or for a $15/year subscription you get additional features. Not specifically designed for GTD but is such a flexible system that you can set it up to handle GTD methodology. It syncs with a number of iPhone apps (including Toodledo's own iPhone app) and one or two Android apps. There is a third-party Outlook sync tool, and you can do neat things like send emails with attachments to your inbox, add tasks via twitter, get reminders via SMS, etc.

Nirvana www.nirvanahq.com
Currently in beta testing so no cost on signup at present. Designed specifically for GTD and has a nice interface. Still missing a few features that I'd like to see but way in front of SmartyTask.

 

[mcogilvie]

Two that I would recommend:

Toodledo www.toodledo.com
Can be used for free or for a $15/year subscription you get additional features. Not specifically designed for GTD but is such a flexible system that you can set it up to handle GTD methodology. It syncs with a number of iPhone apps (including Toodledo's own iPhone app) and one or two Android apps. There is a third-party Outlook sync tool, and you can do neat things like send emails with attachments to your inbox, add tasks via twitter, get reminders via SMS, etc.

Most of the better-known list tools have many ways to work them within the GTD framework. Toodledo is a good choice for someone exploring electronic lists, because of the low entry cost (free) and the many options. Unless you have a developed way of doing things, I think it is probably best to start simply, using only a few fields: contexts for sure, and maybe a few others. One advantage of Toodledo is that you can see if you find value in using things like a star, priority, tags, start dates, et cetera rather quickly, and turn them off if you don't. My feeling is that the fewer fields to fill out in entering items the better, so the question with any given field is whether there is value in organizing your items by that field. In other words, don't set things like priorities or start dates if you won't use them.

 

[Trombonist]

Having spent a short while looking at Smartytask, there are a couple of negatives amongst some very good stuff that mean it's a non-starter for me:

1. As mentioned earlier, no apparent help section or community support. A lot of the app is straightforward, but there's some areas that aren't intuitive.
2. No (apparent) shortcut keys. For me, using the mouse (or more than likely a trackpad) is simply too slow.

Something to look at again in 6 months+ when they've added some functionality (if I'm not on a Mac and running Omnifocus by then.)

 

[mark.thompson]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I had been using Smartytask to keep track of things online up until recently. I just discovered a tool called Pocket (http://www.letspocket.com) and so far I'm loving it. Instead of lists, you record ideas in note form. Like Smartytask, it's web-based and very intuitive. You guys should definitely check it out if you're interested in Smartytask or other similar utilities.

- Mark

 

[clango]

I think, we need to continue to exchange our ideas about the applications, because I noticed too many times there are new applications not ready, not enough developed, without the minimum required support.

Personally I'm using Toodledo and Ultimate To Do. Toodledo I think it's well established while Ultimate need to develop further, even if function properly