Please suggest an ideal GTD solution

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Dear all!

I would be very grateful if you could recommend an ideal “task manager” for my needs:

Must haves (in a decreasing order of importance):
1. Web interface + Android app
2. Tree/outline task view. Many or unlimited subtasks (Ex: Workflowy, MyLifeOrganized)
3. Simple and fast entry. E.g. press Enter for next new task, Tab makes it a subtast, Shift+Tab goes back to parent task (Ex: Workflowy, Todoist, Smartsheet). Sorting of tasks and subtasks by drag and drop. Adding a new task or subtask anywhere in a tree view.
4. Natural language input recognition. Say, typing “Meeting with John Smith tomorrow 3 pm cafe Spoon” automatically enters the task, date, time, and who knows, maybe even people and location (Ex: Todoist somewhat)
5. Simple entry in Android app. Maybe a button on a Home Screen to quickly add a task into Inbox/Unsorted. Maybe also quick adding of a voice note with Unsorted tag.
6. Flexible, customizable tags (categories, groups, flags, contexts, priorities, et al) Good, flexible filters and sorting (Ex: MyLifeOrganized, OmniFocus)
7. Start and end dates and times. Flexible multiple reminders by data/time and (optionally based on location).
8. Active development. Frequent updates and new releases. Attentive to users’ feature requests. Available API.

Optional:
9. Clean and simple, minimalistic interface ex. Material Design for Android (Ex: Todoist, OmniFocus, etc.)
10. Syncing with Google Calendar
11. Deeply customizable (custom fields, custom columns, custom statuses and actions, custom views, icons, etc.). Working with IFTTT or Zapier
12. Customizable views (columns) for viewing and printing (Ex: Smartsheet, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel)

Thank you very much!

 

[mcogilvie]

Considering the amount of research you've done, you know the answer, right? And if you've studied GTD as well as you've studied the todo list market, you know you don't need all this stuff, right?

 

[David Parker]

Have you looked at Wunderlist?

It doesn't have all that you're looking for but it does have a lot. It's free and available on all platforms.

There's a new GTD Setup Guide for it coming out soon.

David

 

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Dear mcogilvie!

If you are saying that it is not about the tools, but about me, I agree.

However, I am the kind of person who'd rather adjust the tools to my thinking than change the way I think. To get fit, I need a nice gym close to home with new equipment and clean changing rooms. I need good running shoes and the latest fitness tracker. I know I do not need any of that to start working out at home which would give me similar and faster results, but I am just not that kind of person.

I indeed looked at many task managers. There is no single perfect solution for everybody, I understand. For me, the ideal one would have a combination of features from Todoist, MLO and Workflowy. But I want just one tool, not three. There are literally hundreds of task managers, so I wrote here to see if someone already found what I am still looking for.

Dear David!

I did look at Wunderlist. It is nice in many respects, but the lack of some features (e.g. tree-view) is a deal breaker for me.

Thank you both for your responses!

 

[Bill Myers]

However, I am the kind of person who'd rather adjust the tools to my thinking than change the way I think.

I would agree that people should choose the tools that are best for them, but sometimes one has to compromise based on what's truly available. The alternative is to stand still in your life while holding out for an unattainable ideal, which is a terrible waste of human potential.

 

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Dear bcmyers2112!

Thank you very much for your response!

Based on your expertise, what would you recommend for my needs? What would you suggest for me to try besides the tools I already mentioned in my question?

Thank you!

 

[iChadman]

This is quite a list of requests. No app meets all of this criteria. However, if you wanted a solid workflow that is customizable, I would recommend Nozbe + Evernote. Nozbe for the projects and actions lists and Evernote for reference material.

 

[Oogiem]

I would be very grateful if you could recommend an ideal “task manager” for my needs:

Must haves (in a decreasing order of importance):
... long list of desired features....

Optional:
... slightly shorter list...

There is no ideal task manager. Your list of requirements reads like a laundry list of things that might work but no single app has all of your required items and certainly no app has all the required plus optional ones.

You cannot expect an app to do GTD for you it must come from within. You can use the GTD system on paper, in plain text files and with any combination of things that work for you. There is no perfect app for GTD and generally beginners expect an app to to do all the work for them rather than learning how to work the system and then choosing the collection of apps that will implement a working system. No GTD system is 100% perfect and no GTD app can handle everything, you have to adapt and adjust to pick out something that will get you started and then fine tune from there.

However, I am the kind of person who'd rather adjust the tools to my thinking than change the way I think.

If you are dead set on getting all those things, especially since you are working in an Android environment, then I suggest you learn Java, SQLite and Android programing and write your own app that does all those things. Android programming isn't that hard to learn and the development environments are free. It's the reason I wrote/am writing my own entire sheep flock management system from scratch. Nothing I could find did what I wanted and I decided I was not willing to compromise my needs because of the research we are doing. I needed far more data collected on each animal than any flock management system was prepared to do and the Zoo and other research systems were not readily available to anyone other than an official organization and also were missing things. If you are not willing to do that level of programming then you will have to compromise on something but only you can decide what is an acceptable level of compromise or what features you can live without.

I'd say instead look for a suite of specialized apps that cover the major GTD needs, a list manager that allows creation of lists by context, a decent calendar and a place for electronic reference material.

My GTD system is in the Apple environment, I use Omnifocus (which gets most of your requirements), Calendar and DEVONThink. I've adapted my workflow to use the tools and don't worry too much anymore about the best tool but instead focus on learning how to better use the tools I have.

A great artist can carve a masterpiece with a penknife and a bad one can have a full set of chisels and never get anything worthy of the name art. GTD is an art form but the tools you use are irrelevant in determining how good your life art is. I suggest you pick something, and start practicing the art of GTD and worry about getting better tools once your skills demand something different.

 

[Bill Myers]

Dear bcmyers2112!

Thank you very much for your response!

Based on your expertise, what would you recommend for my needs? What would you suggest for me to try besides the tools I already mentioned in my question?

Thank you!

I don't know of any app that meets all of your stated requirements. Moreover in my experience the more fully featured an app is, the less intuitive it's interface is. You're holding out for something that likely doesn't exist.

My suggestion would be to be more flexible with those requirements. As others have pointed out, you don't need these things to succeed at GTD.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ad-tasklist]

Dear All!

Thank you very much for your responses! I am willing to compromise on some features, while the absence of others can be a deal breaker for me. Nozbe, for example, does not have subtasks/tree view.

Learning how to program and creating a tool just for myself is way too complicated and honestly not worth it. However, when I do find one tool with the least compromises, I am willing to pay its developers to implement additional features as an option. The question is: the developers of which product are more likely to agree to that? Todoist, for example, did not. They only said they forwarded my feature requests to the programmers to be implemented sometime in the future, but it’s been two (!) years since that happened, and none of my feature requests materialized.

Another option, of course, if a tool has an API, I can approach freelance developers in the market to make a more feature-rich tool for me. But I’m not sure if it will be easier or even possible.

So that’s it. I’m still looking, and any further advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[Gardener]

However, when I do find one tool with the least compromises, I am willing to pay its developers to implement additional features as an option.

I think that that would involve a LOT of money--in the double-digit thousands. Maybe (probably?) more.

 

[tismey]

Have you looked at Remember The Milk? It had a quite significant update earlier this year, and it seems to tick a good number of your boxes.

1. Web interface + Android app

YES, although being an Apple user I can't vouch for the quality of the Android app

2. Tree/outline task view. Many or unlimited subtasks (Ex: Workflowy, MyLifeOrganized)

SORT OF. Three levels of subtasks, and you can simulate a tree view with clever use of Smart Lists

3. Simple and fast entry. E.g. press Enter for next new task, Tab makes it a subtast, Shift+Tab goes back to parent task (Ex: Workflowy, Todoist, Smartsheet). Sorting of tasks and subtasks by drag and drop. Adding a new task or subtask anywhere in a tree view.
4. Natural language input recognition. Say, typing “Meeting with John Smith tomorrow 3 pm cafe Spoon” automatically enters the task, date, time, and who knows, maybe even people and location (Ex: Todoist somewhat)

YES and YES - RTM's input syntax is really powerful, although you may have to accept that it isn't _exactly_ what you're describing here.

5. Simple entry in Android app. Maybe a button on a Home Screen to quickly add a task into Inbox/Unsorted. Maybe also quick adding of a voice note with Unsorted tag.

No idea, sorry.

6. Flexible, customizable tags (categories, groups, flags, contexts, priorities, et al) Good, flexible filters and sorting (Ex: MyLifeOrganized, OmniFocus)
7. Start and end dates and times. Flexible multiple reminders by data/time and (optionally based on location).
8. Active development. Frequent updates and new releases. Attentive to users’ feature requests. Available API.

YES, YES and YES.

It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's very flexible.

 

[Oogiem]

I think that that would involve a LOT of money--in the double-digit thousands. Maybe (probably?) more.

That depends. I'd look at open source first, and if you can find someone who wants the same things maybe they will do it for a lot less. FWIW I've been asked to do a version of my LambTracker program for a different livestock species. Because of the way I designed it and because of the desire to support open source I'd be willing to do it for $1500 or so. If the items are that critical then perhaps it's worth it to the OP.

 

[Gardener]

That depends. I'd look at open source first, and if you can find someone who wants the same things maybe they will do it for a lot less. FWIW I've been asked to do a version of my LambTracker program for a different livestock species. Because of the way I designed it and because of the desire to support open source I'd be willing to do it for $1500 or so. If the items are that critical then perhaps it's worth it to the OP.

Yes: I was operating on the pessimistic assumptions that (1) we were talking about completely new behavior instead of a variation on an existing behavior and (2) it was a feature that the software developer wasn't all that interested in having in the product. I can see that a little bit of money could shift something already on the priority list to a higher position on that list, especially if it's a modest variation on existing behavior.

So, for example, paying OmniFocus to support multiple contexts per action is probably something that money can't buy--they seem philosophically opposed to it, it would be tremendously complicated, and it would probably weigh down the testing and coding effort until the end of time. Paying them to, oh, add a slightly different sort or filter, one that others have also asked for, would be on the other end of the scale. (If Omni had any sort of pay-for-feature model, that is.)