All the things task apps aren't getting right vs. paper
michaeldhopkins.posterous.com
michaeldhopkins.posterous.com
The only GTD app I've ever found useful is TaskPaper [1], and that's because it pretty much "just" a piece of paper, taking just enough advantage of the possiblities of software to make it truly powerful.
Just use Local Storage to get the user started right away. When he decides to sign up you can copy the local data to the server side storage.
And FTR, part of the advantage of native apps is that they'll never be relegated to "just another browser tab" or lost in a sea of favicons. When I'm going to invest time in a workflow / application / product, I almost always prefer the native app to web app for this particular reason.
Yes they are two seperate matters. But they still have a problem in common: They introduce barriers you have to overcome until you can use / test the app. I guess an app without such a barrier is doing a lot better.
And FTR, part of the advantage of native apps is that they'll never be relegated to "just another browser tab" or lost in a sea of favicons. When I'm going to invest time in a workflow / application / product, I almost always prefer the native app to web app for this particular reason.
Valid point, this is one of the downsides when you focus on non-native apps. It will be interesting to see if this changes when web apps get more traction. If they ever do.
I personally like Emacs Org Mode and I use Dropbox to synchronise tasks between computer. It's much more powerful than most TODO/GTD apps I've seen, it doesn't really break your workflow (as a developer, I spend a lot of time in Emacs anyway), it just works and I have full power of a decent text editor embedded in it. That means keyboard macros, incremental search, copy-paste, etc. Some TODO apps, especially web ones, end up in rewriting the capabilities of a text editor, without success. Reminds me of Greenspun's 10th Rule, but applied to Emacs instead of Common Lisp.
For example, WorkFlowy has this amazing look&feel, it's beautiful, simple, functional, but I get angry as soon as I try to write something, because it lacks lots of the basic components of a Windows 'text field' box and also has weird (Mac?) shortcuts that interfere with my text writing habits (the "typical ones", not the "Emacs ones"). At least that was last time I checked (few months ago).
TP was still trying to do too much for me. I.e. copy/paste would inevitably mess up the structure, and wait, why am I supposed to babysit that structure in first place? And what's up with the awkward fulltext search collapsing projects by default when matching them?
NV doesn't need any structure. It burns into your muscle memory and then just disappears. I can't praise it highly enough.
http://eightthumbs.com/idolists/
It let's you make lists and check off items. That's all!
Paper is not dependent on:
-Having an internet connection
-Being booted into your OS
-Not in a full screen application
-Having enough battery
-Amazon's servers being up
-The code breaking in some weird corner case
-The company that's running the site declaring bankruptcy and packing up
While none of these things are especially high probability events, the fact such apps are dependent on so much infrastructure adds up.
I've been using a completely paper-based GTD system for a year or so, mostly because I haven't known any really convenient native app for task management. I switched to Org Mode later, but I don't think there was any paper fault in this - it's just that my GTD schemes always collapse after 6 to 12 months and I have to start from scratch. So then I sometimes switch tools.
One disadvantage of paper-based scheme (at least the one I've used) that I know is that it can get noisy when you have lots of tasks finished. It's harder to find an active TODO item between 20 or so crossed out DONEs on a page.
- Having paper near your computer.
- Having a pen that works,
- or a pencil ...
- of which the point doesn't break off.
- etc.
Or if you go everywhere with a backpack, you can carry a thin paper binder with your task list with you. I've once used to do both binder and HipsterPDA at the same time.
//EDIT
> I use taskwarrior. It's CL and kicks ass. http://taskwarrior.org
I thought by 'CL' you mean 'Common Lisp' and went straight to downloading the application source. It's not Lisp, it's 'Command Line' :(. Anyway, the app looks really nice.
The lack of any rigidity or standard form for input is also liberating. I can scribble down copy, lists, diagrams, flow charts, all with a single intuitive interface. Name an app that can claim that!
I think part of the problem with other task apps is that they try to be really good at one thing; organizing tasks. The problem with this is that you want to spend as little time as possible organizing tasks, which means the apps marginalize themselves by nature. You don't get enough time to learn how to use them, you forget to check in, you keep stuff in your head, etc.
For me, org-mode worked because I spend a lot of time organizing things other than tasks in it. But if I wasn't already familiar with it, I'd be spending too much time trying to figure out how to use it and I'd probably forget to check it.
The problem generalizes to this: organizing tasks is not a generic problem. The problem is highly informed by your life. Paper works because you can do whatever you want with it. It only looks like people using paper are using the same system. They're probably not.
Side-note: I have used so many task apps that I am embarrassed to list them here, and right now I am settled with Toodledo for the main task db and Tomboy for daily tasks and general notes. I am not totally happy with it, but at least it does not get on my way. My "system" is a combination of GTD and Covey's 7-habits that I use for almost a decade.
Also, I find it very hard to keep large amounts of paper organized in a useful way over longer times, and you need to carry it around. When you keep it online, you can access it from everywhere.
Search function is very useful and more efficient than rooting through stacks of old paper. If you have a lot of notes, you'll always lose exactly that sheet of paper that was most important.
Good old paper does have some advantages, but it doesn't cut it for me anymore.
They're brightly colored, often aren't stuck on at right angles, and frankly refuse to be ignored. They're just the right amount of annoying, and I'll be interested to see how digital GTD applications manage to toe that line.
This, definitely. Nothing helps retain information better than writing it down.
Am i the only one, who doesn't have a paper and pen at all? The only pen i own, is a small one from Victorinox swiss card (http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?categ...)
5. ... One knows a handwritten task takes a few moments to write, so one considers whether it should be done immediately more readily. Also, handwriting a task gives one time to decide to stop writing it down and do it/forget it. Task apps accept tasks as quickly as people type, so users might enter too many trivial tasks that should be completed immediately or dropped, and there is hardly any time to reconsider before the task is completely entered.
8. Assuming the task-keeper has good handwriting, the basics of an action item can be jotted down more quickly than entered in a computer or mobile device, to be revised later.
Author doesn't seem to be able to decide which is faster.
The main ding against using paper for me is that I'm seriously out of practice when it comes to handwriting. My writing is often illegible even to me and my hand cramps up quickly after only a few lines of sustained writing.
I can "follow along" much more easily at a keyboard. The big problem with going all digital though is that even whipping out the iPad and jotting something down is "too much" time, in that I often say "screw it, I'll just try to remember it".
If you want an intuitive task app that doesn't require you to register and feels like simple paper try: http://fourtimesdaily.com
it saves your tasks just on your computer (LocalStorage)
Here is a boingboing article on it http://boingboing.net/2011/03/08/of-the-many-many-fac.html