Is there a place for new app for GTD?

[TesTeq]

Will they be eager to pay you up front?

After some careful thought, I've decided to end the try-before-you-buy concept. It occurs to me that customers tend to more fairly evaluate a product if they are asked to pay for it. Said another way, giving your product away seems to result in a less-than-fair evaluation of the product.

Oh, that's a very interesting and controversial decision. Let's assume that now you've got in a given period of time:

100 pay-now customers and 10 converted from try-before-you-buy (with conversion rate 1%)

Do you really think that more than 1% of those 1000 who tried your product will be eager to pay you up front?

 

[mr.chris]

Oh, that's a very interesting and controversial decision. Let's assume that now you've got in a given period of time:

100 pay-now customers and 10 converted from try-before-you-buy (with conversion rate 1%)

Do you really think that more than 1% of those 1000 who tried your product will be eager to pay you up front?

Well, if those 1000 have tried Intention+ally then they are already on the try-before-you-buy plan and so won't be paying me up front. The upgrade to 1.6 won't change things for them. New customers -- customers who have yet to download Intention+ally before version 1.6 comes available -- will not have a try-before-you-buy option.

That said, here is my thinking (bear with me):

* Mobile GTD is a niche market with limited supply and high demand (relative to other niche markets). I say limited supply because, despite the huge number of apps that claim to be GTD compliant, it would seem that adhering to David Allen's methodology in a monolithic package is either troublesome or not cost-effective for organized software development houses.

* OmniGroup is the current champion in this market despite having what is hands-down the most expensive and unintuitive array of products on offer in this category. As I have stated elsewhere on this forum, OmniGroup have my congratulations! Creating an iPhone GTD app three years ago must have been daunting. I don't begrudge them their success, however, in these times, if your closed applications ecosystem (i.e. the OmniFocus family of apps) requires users to receive training outside of simply using the apps and a support page on your web site, you are doing it wrong. Incidentally, I am active in these forums both as a promotional venture and as a hedge against my own confidence in this regard; if I am doing it wrong, I want to know that sooner.

PROS:
Given those points, there are a significant number of people who are willing to throw down at least US$20 and up to US$90 AND go through specific training AND tollerate the need for a website support page just to have GTD compliance on their computing platforms. I am both astonished and encouraged by these facts. My app is no where near those price points (and I suspect never will be). I have the advantage as long as I can perform to expectations.

CONS:
The sociology of this niche market is such that even the slightest rebuke (however unfounded) produces a negative impact that is more influential than five independent, all-star reviews among people of equivalent social status.
At the same time, if someone with an influential status (say, an executive of a medium to large corporate) gives a product in this niche a positive review, the people in her/his circle of influence seem to fall all over themselves to buy it. OmniFocus is evidence of this, for I say a pen, a small spiral note pad and a disciplined filing system trump OmniFocus's UI, and I suspect I am not the only one who thinks this. I'm sure those in this forum who go to the trouble to acclimate themselves to OmniFocus will ultimately find it useful. My point is, acclimating yourself to your software shouldn't be necessary.

Thus, try-before-you-buy presents too many opportunities for random and unfounded bashing of my app which I must then devote time to defending. People who are willing to pay, on the other hand, are willing to get their money's worth in using the app properly and, if they like it, they are willing to support it and maybe even cheerlead for it. If they hate it, they will go out of their way to burn it down, but since they were willing to pay for it, odds are they genuinely want something that works which means their gripes are likely constructive.

 

[Suelin23]

"Next Actions" lists are components of "Projects".
To simply have a "Next Actions" button out in the open and not associated with a "Project" is akin to having a simple, flat to-do list -- which is certainly "far from being GTD".

Did you not see/read the prompts the first time you opened Intention+ally?

"Contexts" again, according to the methodology, are the people, places, things, events and circumstances needed to perform an Action

According to GTD, next actions can be part of a project, but they can also be standalone isolated actions, that are only on a context list. I found I couldn't edit the tasks ie add context detail etc until they were in a project.
Yes I did read the prompts.
But intuitive to me, means if I want to filter the next actions by context, I look for the word 'context'. It was only after you explained that the places, things, etc were contexts that I realised they were. So to me it wasn't very intuitive, and I was indeed looking for GTD words in the app.
I also had trouble adding a place, I spent about 30 seconds trying to add one before I gave up. It needs to be a bit easier.
I also don't think Omnifocus is that great, but if you are looking for something with really great features, check out Pocket Informant. You don't need to buy it, you can download the manual from the internet and it has all the features in it.
Also, I think it should have a lot more features for the price you are asking.

 

[mcogilvie]

Dear Mr. Chris,

Please don't take this in the wrong way, but
I'm not sure you're presenting yourself
or your product in the most favorable
light possible in this forum.

 

[mr.chris]

According to GTD, next actions can be part of a project, but they can also be standalone isolated actions, that are only on a context list. I found I couldn't edit the tasks ie add context detail etc until they were in a project.

Right. Perhaps it is a misinterpretation on my part, but I implemented the standalone-contexts-list feature as being the results of a context search (i.e. search for #internet, and get a list of all Next Actions with that hash-tag context). That contexts can be set only after having associated Actions with Projects is an attempt to keep one from living in the Inbox the entire time. I will reassess these decisions...

Yes I did read the prompts.
But intuitive to me, means if I want to filter the next actions by context, I look for the word 'context'. It was only after you explained that the places, things, etc were contexts that I realised they were. So to me it wasn't very intuitive, and I was indeed looking for GTD words in the app.

Yes. So as not to alienate those who had yet to discover GTD, I attempted to keep GTD concepts in tact with a minimum of GTD jargon. Thanks for this insight! Perhaps I will update the app such that a switch in the preferences will alter the user interface to contain GTD jargon in buttons and prompts.

I also had trouble adding a place, I spent about 30 seconds trying to add one before I gave up. It needs to be a bit easier.

I see. Were the "categories" and "locales" the issue?

I also don't think Omnifocus is that great, but if you are looking for something with really great features, check out Pocket Informant. You don't need to buy it, you can download the manual from the internet and it has all the features in it.
Also, I think it should have a lot more features for the price you are asking.

I'll check it out! Thank you very much for your feedback!

 

[mr.chris]

Dear Mr. Chris,

Please don't take this in the wrong way, but
I'm not sure you're presenting yourself
or your product in the most favorable
light possible in this forum.

I'm hesitant to make a volley on this point as it is not germane to the forum parameters, but I am very interested in the topic of the alleged importance of presenting things in a "favorable light". Perhaps the forum moderators will forgive us this exchange just this once so I can explain:

I'm sure that what you say is true.

I come from a culture here in the southern United States that views the notion of "presenting things in the most favorable light" as being equivalent to "an unwillingness to be entirely forthright". Being forthright garners respect; being less than forthright garners suspicion and distrust. I understand this is popularly viewed as "bad business sense" because being forthright has the potential to enflame others' egos. However, being true to my character is important to me; it keeps me healthy and level headed. That plus GTD helps me maintain several revenue streams (of which Intention+ally is a member). I consider myself to be fairly diplomatic. However, and for example, if faced with a situation where my stated intentions (no pun intended) are being brought into question, my response will be forthright and leave nothing to interpretation. If you make the right friends, this is the best way to live.

I'm sure I'd be an abject failure as a politician though.

If you would like to continue this discussion, please consider using this forum's "private message" function found under the "My Forum Profile" link.

 

[Suelin23]

I see. Were the "categories" and "locales" the issue?

Yes, they were! Maybe rather than selecting you just type the names in directly?

 

[TesTeq]

Thank you, interesting business strategy.

Well, if those 1000 have tried Intention+ally then they are already on the try-before-you-buy plan and so won't be paying me up front. The upgrade to 1.6 won't change things for them. New customers -- customers who have yet to download Intention+ally before version 1.6 comes available -- will not have a try-before-you-buy option.

That said, here is my thinking (bear with me):

* Mobile GTD is a niche market with limited supply and high demand (relative to other niche markets). I say limited supply because, despite the huge number of apps that claim to be GTD compliant, it would seem that adhering to David Allen's methodology in a monolithic package is either troublesome or not cost-effective for organized software development houses.

* OmniGroup is the current champion in this market despite having what is hands-down the most expensive and unintuitive array of products on offer in this category. As I have stated elsewhere on this forum, OmniGroup have my congratulations! Creating an iPhone GTD app three years ago must have been daunting. I don't begrudge them their success, however, in these times, if your closed applications ecosystem (i.e. the OmniFocus family of apps) requires users to receive training outside of simply using the apps and a support page on your web site, you are doing it wrong. Incidentally, I am active in these forums both as a promotional venture and as a hedge against my own confidence in this regard; if I am doing it wrong, I want to know that sooner.

PROS:
Given those points, there are a significant number of people who are willing to throw down at least US$20 and up to US$90 AND go through specific training AND tollerate the need for a website support page just to have GTD compliance on their computing platforms. I am both astonished and encouraged by these facts. My app is no where near those price points (and I suspect never will be). I have the advantage as long as I can perform to expectations.

CONS:
The sociology of this niche market is such that even the slightest rebuke (however unfounded) produces a negative impact that is more influential than five independent, all-star reviews among people of equivalent social status.
At the same time, if someone with an influential status (say, an executive of a medium to large corporate) gives a product in this niche a positive review, the people in her/his circle of influence seem to fall all over themselves to buy it. OmniFocus is evidence of this, for I say a pen, a small spiral note pad and a disciplined filing system trump OmniFocus's UI, and I suspect I am not the only one who thinks this. I'm sure those in this forum who go to the trouble to acclimate themselves to OmniFocus will ultimately find it useful. My point is, acclimating yourself to your software shouldn't be necessary.

Thus, try-before-you-buy presents too many opportunities for random and unfounded bashing of my app which I must then devote time to defending. People who are willing to pay, on the other hand, are willing to get their money's worth in using the app properly and, if they like it, they are willing to support it and maybe even cheerlead for it. If they hate it, they will go out of their way to burn it down, but since they were willing to pay for it, odds are they genuinely want something that works which means their gripes are likely constructive.

Thank you, interesting business strategy. Every GTD Connect conversation is a lesson for me!

 

[Oogiem]

So as not to alienate those who had yet to discover GTD, I attempted to keep GTD concepts in tact with a minimum of GTD jargon.

My take on it is that I ignored the app because it was not using GTD terminology. Unless a "GTD App" uses the terminology I have an automatic assumption they don't really follow GTD precepts. I would make the default using the standard contexts, actions etc terminology and optionally change the terms to something else.

That said after reading this thread I did download the app and have tried it. I would never have even considered trying any new app that I had to pay for. There has to be a try before you buy option, a free version or a very inexpensive price or I will not even consider the app. I'll try a bunch of 99 cent apps just to see if I find something better but I won't pay $9-20 for an app unless I already have experience with it and know it will work.

For me the portable option is an adjunct to a desktop option so as long as I can try the desktop and sync is supported I'm ok with waiting until after I've tested a desktop version to try the portable one. Omnifocus provides a 14 day free trial for their Mac app.

So far on my first relatively quick attempt at using it I found it completely un-intuitive but then again, I am a very happy user of Omnifocus and so probably not your target market.

Things I still can't get is how to add contexts that are not places, events or persons. It appears there is no way to create a context for a tool or an energy level (The @computer or @braindead) contexts that so many of us use. I don't want to use location services or google maps to define stuff. Events as a modifier seems very confusing because events are from calendars and the whole point of GTD next actions is that they are not scheduled or timed. Hardly any of my next actions are related to people so adding a person to an action is not helpful.

I've got some projects each with some items but I need to edit the action items and I can't figure out how to do that. I can't see how to get an overview of all the projects I have nor can I group the projects into logical sets by area of focus. In fact I can't even see how to get a list of what I actually have to do or reset things easily.

While the inbox is clear and I can add things I can't get the prompts to display again. I want to easily get to a setting page to determine what help I need or turn it off.

So far I've played with it for about 3 hours this morning and at this point I would say it is not at all a GTD app because it appears to be difficult or impossible to implement key features of the entire GTD method.

Anyway that is my take on it.

 

[mr.chris]

So far on my first relatively quick attempt at using it I found it completely un-intuitive but then again, I am a very happy user of Omnifocus and so probably not your target market.

Noted. This is some great feedback despite your stated bias -- Thank you!
Ok. So far I have noted your preference for explicit GTD prompts and for try-before-you-buy. Continuing...

Things I still can't get is how to add contexts that are not places, events or persons. It appears there is no way to create a context for a tool or an energy level (The @computer or @braindead) contexts that so many of us use.

In Intention+ally you would append those context keywords anywhere in the text of the Action.
For example:
"Post Review RE: Intention+ally #computer #nrg5"
"Watch that #braindead t.v. show daughter keeps bugging me about"

You can make-up whatever context keywords you want; I use "#nrg5" to indicate an energy level of 5 out of 10. This method is based on Twitter hash-tag syntax.
Don't worry if the text of the Action becomes long, Intention+ally will simply wrap long entries into the Description section and put ellipses at the wrap point.

Later, when you want to find everything #braindead, scroll to the Search area (it's on the far left) and tap the #braindead button. All of your #contexts are listed in that area and tapping them will bring up a list of Next Actions that contain them. If you want to search for multiple #contexts, just type them as a space-delimited list in the search field (i.e. #internet #work #nrg10). Of course you can enter search terms that are not #contexts in the search field too.

I don't want to use location services or google maps to define stuff. Events as a modifier seems very confusing because events are from calendars and the whole point of GTD next actions is that they are not scheduled or timed. Hardly any of my next actions are related to people so adding a person to an action is not helpful.

I think I understand your perspective, however, while Intention+ally certainly does not *force* users to append Events, People, Places or any other context to an Action, there are circumstances where those options are needed. Customers have used the Events option to setup GTD Ticklers for Next Actions that sync with their desktop calendars, Some Next Actions have a "drop dead date" which needs to be kept in mind, etc.
An Action like "Meet with Concept Team RE: Beta Project" might need to be associated with the relevant team members so as to more conveniently call them about last-minute changes of plans, etc. (tapping on Person cells displays their contact information -- tap their phone numbers to call them from within the app).

I've got some projects each with some items but I need to edit the action items and I can't figure out how to do that.

While in Portrait view: Tap the "Edit" button, or
While in Landscape view: Tap the pencil icon.
Then tap the Action you want to edit; the keyboard will appear and the current entry will be pre-entered in the text field. Tap that Action again to edit its description.
(If you are already adding/editing entries, just tap the Action you want to edit)

Interestingly, none of the "blind" tests of the app indicated that testers found any issue with editing an Action entry. If it wouldn't be a bother, could you describe how you were expecting to edit an Action?

I can't see how to get an overview of all the projects I have nor can I group the projects into logical sets by area of focus. In fact I can't even see how to get a list of what I actually have to do or reset things easily.

The Projects list is the pane on the far right. It's the one you see upon first opening the app. Every project is listed there and that pane is presented every time a Project is created. Re-ordering the list of Projects is done via standard Apple UI table reordering. Tapping a listed Project will take you to that project's pane where you will be shown the current Next Action(s) (in series or in parallel, at your option). Tap any of those listed Next Actions to get more context about them.
This too was no problem among the "blind" testers. As I say, the Project overview pane is designed to be the most prominent of all the panes. While developing it I was concerned at times that it might be *too* prominent. Can you elucidate as to why it was difficult for you to notice? It would be a great help.

Grouping the Projects into logical sets is accomplished via Sub-Projects:
Create a Project titled with the name of the logical set, then
Create Actions representing the Sub-Projects belonging to that logical set, finally
Tap and Hold those Actions to convert them to Sub-Projects.
Having done that, tap those Sub-Projects to begin entering Next Actions.
If necessary you can continue doing that within each of those Sub-Projects to make more sets.

There is a first-time user prompt for this.

While the inbox is clear and I can add things I can't get the prompts to display again. I want to easily get to a setting page to determine what help I need or turn it off.

Yes. Per Apple's "Human User Interface Guidelines" (which must be strictly adhered to for approval by their reviewers in Cupertino, CA), app Settings must be located within the Settings app (it's the three-cogs icon initially found in the device's doc).
There you will find the Intention+ally settings where, among other settings, you may reset the first-time user prompts.

So far I've played with it for about 3 hours this morning and at this point I would say it is not at all a GTD app because it appears to be difficult or impossible to implement key features of the entire GTD method.

Anyway that is my take on it.

Thank you for spending that time! I truly appreciate it. I note that the "key features" you state are "difficult or impossible to implement" are really just one feature: the need to enter context keywords (the Twitter-style hash-tags). I describe these on the app store product blurb, but I do not currently have a first-time user pop-up for them. That is an oversight on my part and will be corrected in the next minor release. The other issues you describe seem at first glance to be related to unfamiliarity with iOS user interface standards rather than an impossible to implement key feature, though, as I say, I hope you are willing to elucidate those as well as why noticing the Projects list pane was problematic.

Thank you again for this very helpful feedback!

 

[mr.chris]

Yes, they were! Maybe rather than selecting you just type the names in directly?

Yes. That is what Google Maps does and what I was hoping to avoid for very interesting (but not GTD related) reasons. I won't bore you with the details (unless you are a computer scientist/engineer in which case you might be mildly interested)... I will strive to improve the ease with which map entries are committed. Thank you for this.

 

[supergtdman]

There is a place for an app for Project Support materials