Can't reach Thinking Rock

[ChicagoJCB]

Hi folks,
After doing some research, I downloaded the free version of Thinking Rock. Naturally the process of getting started resulted in some questions, which is when I discovered:

• They've suspended new wiki members "because of spam"
• their "all users" contact us email doesn't work
• there seems to be no other way to get to them

Depending on the answers to these questions I might have been quite willing to upgrade to the paid version. But now I am wondering if I picked an alternative that's dying. I also notice that there's really not much activity on the wiki, and much of their website refers to dates that are at least a year old. I know they are still releasing; the one recent news item is that there's an Android version (that will only work with the paid desktop). But I have no way of getting my questions answered and figuring out whether I ought to spend money. I've moved back to paper capture for the moment.

Any thoughts, ideas, alternative suggestions? I'm on a W7 machine and would indeed like to sync with a Droid.

Thanks,
JCB

 

[Jeff West]

I don't have any experience syncing with a Droid, but syncing with iPhone worked great after upgrading to the paid version.

In the email address you got for all users, change "trtemp@..." to "thinkingrock@..."

 

[ChicagoJCB]

thanks very much! I'll try to contact them and will post what happens.

 

[ChicagoJCB]

Update: maybe it's too soon to give up, but no response and no acknowledgement from Thinking Rock. This does not, of course, make me think I should pay money to use the software.

Any other thoughts or ideas would be welcome.

Thanks,
JCB

 

[Philb]

I posted a link to this post on the TR members forum. Hopefully the developers will get with you soon.

Hi folks,
After doing some research, I downloaded the free version of Thinking Rock. Naturally the process of getting started resulted in some questions, which is when I discovered:

• They've suspended new wiki members "because of spam"
• their "all users" contact us email doesn't work
• there seems to be no other way to get to them

Depending on the answers to these questions I might have been quite willing to upgrade to the paid version. But now I am wondering if I picked an alternative that's dying. I also notice that there's really not much activity on the wiki, and much of their website refers to dates that are at least a year old. I know they are still releasing; the one recent news item is that there's an Android version (that will only work with the paid desktop). But I have no way of getting my questions answered and figuring out whether I ought to spend money. I've moved back to paper capture for the moment.

Any thoughts, ideas, alternative suggestions? I'm on a W7 machine and would indeed like to sync with a Droid.

Thanks,
JCB

 

[Triggaaar]

Is there any love here for thinking rock?

Did the OP hear back? The TR forum is disappointingly quiet, but it is there (not sure if all GTD apps have a forum).

I've downloaded the software and on first impressions I like it. It costs $50 to run with unlimited projects etc, which is quite affordable (if it works well) compared to the apps that charge by the month (which I want to avoid).

Has anyone here tried it, and if so, stuck with it or ditched it for what reason?

Thanks

 

[mcogilvie]

I've downloaded the software and on first impressions I like it. It costs $50 to run with unlimited projects etc, which is quite affordable (if it works well) compared to the apps that charge by the month (which I want to avoid).

Has anyone here tried it, and if so, stuck with it or ditched it for what reason?

Thanks

I looked at Thinking Rock a long time ago. It was too structured for me. It may very well be that they have gone dormant. The space of applications that are nominally suitable for gtd is large, and most will not flourish. A lot of it is over-designed as well. In my opinion, anything priced over $30 per year is not a good value. I would stick to well-known software. Of course, that's platform-dependent.

 

[Triggaaar]

I looked at Thinking Rock a long time ago. It was too structured for me. It may very well be that they have gone dormant. The space of applications that are nominally suitable for gtd is large, and most will not flourish. A lot of it is over-designed as well. In my opinion, anything priced over $30 per year is not a good value. I would stick to well-known software. Of course, that's platform-dependent.

Thanks for the reply. Some people are obviously happy to pay more than $30 a year for the right software, some of them are $60 - $120 a year. Thinking Rock isn't a subscription, so at $50 it's a lot cheaper. But I think they're really letting themselves down with customer communication. They're not dormant, they released the latest version of the software this month.

Although the consensus seems to be that there's no perfect GTD software, I'm just searching for something that'll do. If I was a mac user, I'd probably give Omnifocus a go. Without that, Thinking Rock looks decent, but then I am a beginner so I'm probably missing its faults.

 

[mcogilvie]

Although the consensus seems to be that there's no perfect GTD software, I'm just searching for something that'll do. If I was a mac user, I'd probably give Omnifocus a go. Without that, Thinking Rock looks decent, but then I am a beginner so I'm probably missing its faults.

Thinking Rock looks like a relational database, which is ok but clumsy and slow. It took me a long time to get Omnifocus set up to be as fast and flexible as I wanted. For people who want something to try, it's hard to beat Toodledo, which is very flexible and costs from free to cheap. I'd start with contexts, due dates and a star and see what works best for you. If and when it's time to move on, no regrets.

 

[Triggaaar]

Thanks again for replying

Thinking Rock looks like a relational database, which is ok but clumsy and slow.

I tried Doit.im and didn't like the lack of sub-projects. With Next Actions being something quite small and doable, I think I should use sub-projects to keep related actions together and manageable. I want my app to fit well with GTD, so I discounted several other nice to do lists and I'm giving TR a go. For someone that doesn't know what they're doing, it's pretty straightforward. I guess I haven't learnt what's clumsy and slow about it yet. I've got my main file in dropbox, and can then work on it from my pc and laptop seamlessly (and anywhere else), with or without the internet. I don't see what's not to like.

It took me a long time to get Omnifocus set up to be as fast and flexible as I wanted.

With all I read on Omnifocus, it would have been top of my list if it had been available for Windows.

For people who want something to try, it's hard to beat Toodledo, which is very flexible and costs from free to cheap.

I've read of many people using Toodledo as a web interface while using another front end. Most of the users are unhappy with it and keep trying other products. Although they mostly return to Toodledo, as their perfect solution doesn't exist, they commonly complain that Toodledo + other are too complicated, so as a first time user that's put me off.

I'd start with contexts, due dates and a star and see what works best for you. If and when it's time to move on, no regrets.

I'm looking forward to reading Tom's conclusion on his large review of stylish apps. For now I might as well keep trying Thinking Rock (it's free for up to 100 actions/projects), but I am interested why people here aren't using it - exactly what am I missing?

 

[mcogilvie]

I don't see what's not to like.

TR is form-based and mechanical. For example, after collection, you are asked if it's actionable or not, and you must check off yes or no. While it's true that gtd has an algorithmic component (flowcharts, yea!), DA has always described it in terms of building habits and emphasized flexibility.

I've read of many people using Toodledo as a web interface while using another front end. Most of the users are unhappy with it and keep trying other products. Although they mostly return to Toodledo, as their perfect solution doesn't exist, they commonly complain that Toodledo + other are too complicated, so as a first time user that's put me off.

TD has a lot of choices available, with many optional fields. A common mistake people make starting out is to try to conceptualize what their ideal set-up will be. Another factor is that 3rd party tools do introduce additional complexity. I feel sorry for people who have a windows pc, an iPad and an android phone. I think it would be hard to make sure all the software is interoperable.

I'm looking forward to reading Tom's conclusion on his large review of stylish apps.

I think I've looked at all of the apps he lists at one time or another. While TR is a too-literal implementation of gtd for me, some of them would be hard for me to set up to use with gtd. There are two sources for advice I trust the most. One is the advice from David Allen and the staff of his company, which is very clear but sometimes hard to accept because it seems too simple. The other is the collective wisdom of all the people who have tried various apps. If you go to the iPhone app store, you will find a lot of useful information even if you don't have an iPhone. You will get an indication of how many people are using a given tool, and what they think of it. There's nothing wrong with trying TR, just remember gtd is a path, not a tool.