What is the most frictionless system you've used?

apastuszak

Registered
I have this problem. I can't stick with a piece of software and tend to hop around a lot.

At work, I have no choice. I need to use Outlook and Microsoft Tasks, both which I absolutely hate.

At home, I have one requirement. The tool must not be tied to a platform. Up until last year, I had an iPhone and my laptop ran Linux. Now I'm all Apple, but I still use Linux occasionally. And even Windows sometimes. I like Apple's Reminders app, but it's very Apple specific. So, when I enter a task, I can't see that task on a WIndows or Linux PC without adding friction to the system.

Does anyone have a pretty frictionless solution that can work across Mac/Windows/Linux/iPhone/iPad/Android?
 

cfoley

Registered
For my list manager, I used a text file synced using Dropbox.

One action per line.

First word on the line was the context.

My text editor had a keyboard shortcut to sort lines alphabetically, which allowed me to quickly group by context.
 

mrkwhlbrk

Registered
I have spent the last couple of years going back and forth between several programs, wondering if I needed psychiatric help. I just recently switched to Everdo, and for the first time feel that absence of drag. I believe it is fully cross-platform. A little pricey, but worth it if it stops me from hopping around apps. I’d have to report back in a few months about its longevity.
 

FocusGuy

Registered
Years ago I used taskpaper or workflowy. It's a text editor
the most frictionless system I used is the bullet journal (paper) with GTD list such as project, waiting for. I found it easy because stuff is easy to update and it has a real impact on the focus. It is also faster that any numeric system. I also like the way it makes me realize what happened in my life.
 
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I am in the same boat but looks different. I finally got into implementing close to a full GTD system in my work. I am doing it in Click up because that is what our team uses. I got FULL into it, then went on vacation for 3 weeks and i'm just back. And i HATE it. Its SO cumbersome. I think before I just had on rose coloured glasses as I always try to make things work.

But now that I stepped away I see how clunky and not GTD friendly it is.

I tried Trello before, same same
Years ago I used Omni focus, don't remember loving it, and now it's a monthly fee.

I feel like switching but it was SO much work getting Click up running kind of the way I wanted that now i can't bare the thought of doing it again on a new platform
 

Matt_M

Registered
I truly and deeply empathize with the OP. I have tried every GTD software application in existence (seriously, you name it and I have tried it) and they all have failed for a variety of reasons. Without going into a tremendously long story, I wound up on Emacs and created the ultimate GTD application on Emacs (no, it's not public ... yet?). It's all plain-text, which ultimately many people seem to also fall back on, as using databases, while nice, have a few inherent limitations: they are a binary format not easily changed, they require an application front-end to manipulate and interact with in any realistic fashion, and databases must have a rigid structure (i.e. a schema) that is tremendously difficult to change (without losing data) and therefore customize. They have a large number of benefits too but that is a whole other conversation.

In short, the reasons I chose Emacs came down to having complete control, and I do mean absolute, complete, unilateral control of every single aspect. Considering that it is already an x-plat software (i.e. works pretty much everywhere), it really makes the most sense. Couple that with the fact the Emacs' capabilities are/is the stuff of legend and the stability of Emacs as a piece of software (it has been in existence since 1975 and publicly since 1985 ... operating systems and tech companies don't even have that kind of heritage), there has been, and is, nothing else to challenge Emacs.

The single downside to Emacs is that it is not for the faint of heart when it comes to working with an old school "keyboard driven" application. Yes, you can use a mouse but Emacs is first-and-foremost a keyboard-centric application that demands users be not only touch typists but quite skilled with keyboard shortcuts and configuring everything. However, provided one does indeed master using a keyboard, they will experience truly boundless possibilities with Emacs.
 

apastuszak

Registered
TaskPaper uses plain text documents, so it can be relatively friction-free.
Linux support fort Taskpaper is iffy. There's an emacs plugin, but I can't find much more.

I've been using todo.txt and that works OK. I just need a better todo.txt client for iOS.
 

apastuszak

Registered
I have spent the last couple of years going back and forth between several programs, wondering if I needed psychiatric help. I just recently switched to Everdo, and for the first time feel that absence of drag. I believe it is fully cross-platform. A little pricey, but worth it if it stops me from hopping around apps. I’d have to report back in a few months about its longevity.
Everdo seems pretty pricey. Need to pay $80/year for the desktop app. And another $40/year for the iOS app.
 

apastuszak

Registered
I am in the same boat but looks different. I finally got into implementing close to a full GTD system in my work. I am doing it in Click up because that is what our team uses. I got FULL into it, then went on vacation for 3 weeks and i'm just back. And i HATE it. Its SO cumbersome. I think before I just had on rose coloured glasses as I always try to make things work.

But now that I stepped away I see how clunky and not GTD friendly it is.

I tried Trello before, same same
Years ago I used Omni focus, don't remember loving it, and now it's a monthly fee.

I feel like switching but it was SO much work getting Click up running kind of the way I wanted that now i can't bare the thought of doing it again on a new platform
I find all the tools available to use at work just clunky in general. We're going through some kind of 'Agile transformation' at work and it's seriously messing with my world.
 

Jim

GTD Ninja
I just need a better todo.txt client for iOS.
I have not looked at todo.txt, so I do not know what its requirements are.

The iOS text editor that I use is 1Writer. It will run custom JavaScripts (that you write), which is how I add needed TaskPaper functionality.
 

apastuszak

Registered
I have not looked at todo.txt, so I do not know what its requirements are.

The iOS text editor that I use is 1Writer. It will run custom JavaScripts (that you write), which is how I add needed TaskPaper functionality.
The problem with iOS is stuff running in the background. I've been trying to use Nextcloud to keep my todo.txt file, and it constantly goes out of sync because at some point iOS kills the Nextcloud client because I have not opened it.

I do 90% of my entry into note andtodo apps on my computer and use my phone mostly for timed notification. In my experimentation with TickTick, if I had a Todo on my Mac and set a reminder for say 2 hours, if I haven't opened TickTick on my phone for days, the task is not synced over unless I pop the app, so I never get the notification.
 

René Lie

Certified GTD Trainer
Have you tried Asana? It has some shortcomings, but I have learned to live with them. I'm all about making the best out of it, rather than trying something else, which is most likely to have some other things I wouldn't like...
 
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