why does no good GTD software exist for reporting and metrics?

[Evan Siegel]

Perhaps this issue bothers me more than most because I am in IT and specifically data and reporting but I am really annoyed that there is no good option for GTD software. When I say 'good', I mean having two key components that every single piece of GTD software I've seen doesn't have. That is a summary dashboard when you log in and reporting and/or metrics. It's great that you can add projects and tasks but for me the real power of a dashboard when combined with GTD is the ability to quickly determine overall progress for each project. For example, If I log in and see I'm 70% done with project A, I'm far more inclined to finish it on the spot or very soon since I know I'm so close. This becomes especially useful when you have say 50 projects. All these apps are basically check lists. They have no even moderately advanced reporting or analytical capabilities. I wish there was a tool that did it all....allowed you to do a mind sweep, took you through the process, asked you questions, and then identified priority. The closest I've seen to being decent is FacileThings but I don't find it useful enough to use.

 

[TesTeq]

Perhaps this issue bothers me more than most because I am in IT and specifically data and reporting but I am really annoyed that there is no good option for GTD software. When I say 'good', I mean having two key components that every single piece of GTD software I've seen doesn't have. That is a summary dashboard when you log in and reporting and/or metrics. It's great that you can add projects and tasks but for me the real power of a dashboard when combined with GTD is the ability to quickly determine overall progress for each project. For example, If I log in and see I'm 70% done with project A, I'm far more inclined to finish it on the spot or very soon since I know I'm so close. This becomes especially useful when you have say 50 projects. All these apps are basically check lists. They have no even moderately advanced reporting or analytical capabilities. I wish there was a tool that did it all....allowed you to do a mind sweep, took you through the process, asked you questions, and then identified priority. The closest I've seen to being decent is FacileThings but I don't find it useful enough to use.

Don't you really like Todoist Karma? What's wrong with these simple visualizations of progress in Projects?

 

[OF user]

Another visualization trick is in Things 3, where it displays a small pie chart next to each project that displays the progress you are making in that project. Smartsheet, which is really a project manager, can be modified for GTD and to report out metrics but you would have to modify it on your own. Not difficult but it will take a bit of time.

 

[aderoy]

There is an older piece of software called Life Balance from Llamagraphics that has some reporting/dashboard. Used it on a Palm Pilot thru iOS (current).

Dang, just visited the main site, closing the door.

 

[Gnopps]

FacileThings offers nice looking reports. MLO has a project %-meter.

 

[bcmyers2112]

I think most GTD software doesn't offer such a feature because of the nature of "projects" in GTD-world. When you define a project as any outcome that takes more than one action to achieve, in a lot of cases all you'll know is the very next action for a project but not how many actions it will take to wrap it up. You'll simply know when it's done when your reality comes close to matching the outcome you defined.

I used software many years ago that had such a dashboard, and found it to be counterproductive. I kept obsessing about reporting and analytics for projects that didn't need it. It was overkill on steroids.

If you have projects that require such analytics, you probably already have a tool available for that. My suggestion is to use that tool for projects where it is required, and to treat it as "project support" in your GTD ecosystem.

 

[John Ismyname]

I faced the same issue; I have become more productive as a result of using GTD. However, GTD has no way of quantifying this improvement. I ended up creating my own daily scorecard based on what I do that is important to me and contributes directly to my productivity in what I call work units of time applied to pre-determined objectives and indirectly (i.e, sleep, nutrition. exercise). While this is benefical, it has nothing to do with GTD.

 

[Atif Shahab Qureshi]

Which features are you exactly looking for ? Can you please further elaborate? I am a productivity activist, i may suggest you the right one.

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

I am a productivity activist

What a great title!

 

[bcmyers2112]

I faced the same issue; I have become more productive as a result of using GTD. However, GTD has no way of quantifying this improvement. I ended up creating my own daily scorecard based on what I do that is important to me and contributes directly to my productivity in what I call work units of time applied to pre-determined objectives and indirectly (i.e, sleep, nutrition. exercise). While this is benefical, it has nothing to do with GTD.

I wouldn't say "it has nothing to do with GTD." A daily scorecard sounds like a form of checklist to me. GTD is all about getting things off your mind by putting them into lists, folders, or whatever so that you'll see them when and where you need to.

But the question is just how much can/should we quantify in our lives? The conclusion I've come to is: not as much as I once thought. I've learned to let my intuition guide me as to whether I'm on track in a lot of aspects of my life and work.

The longer I practice GTD, the more I feel it's best purpose in my life is not to turn me into a better productivity machine but to enable me to achieve greater peace-of-mind and to be fully present for everything in my life. Sometimes that means giving myself the freedom to "take time to just smell the roses." It's not something I can quantify, yet I know when I'm experiencing that state of mind and I know it's important.

 

[RS356]

The longer I practice GTD, the more I feel it's best purpose in my life is not to turn me into a better productivity machine but to enable me to achieve greater peace-of-mind and to be fully present for everything in my life.

This resonates with me. I spent too many years practicing GTD solely as a means to increase my productivity and efficiency.

 

[jwsouder]

Also really interested in following this. I'm relatively new to GTD, but I've been looking for a good template in Smartsheet, so far to no avail.

 

[John Ismyname]

But the question is just how much can/should we quantify in our lives? The conclusion I've come to is: not as much as I once thought.

I agree. With the Quantified Life movement, its becoming easier for us to get data and reports on various aspects of our lives. With this "data dump", the question becomes how to use it in an effective way. My scorecard makes me focus not on the quantity of where I spent my time but on the quality of what I accomplish! As you said, this does not take the quantification that I though ti would!