Kolz Blog

One of the biggest reasons why especially IT-people, bloggers and geeks are drawn to GTD is it's possibility to tweak and play with the system. For some reason, the 5 phases of GTD invite to find, install and play with all sorts of online and offline applications. Because it is mainly build around lists, contexts and the notion that you have those lists with you, mobile applications talk with desktop applications, online web 2.0-esque startups built around lists and the likes. But over the last two years I am into GTD, I must say I have yet to find the perfect system. And you know what? I don't think I will ever find. If I were a very literate person, I would insert some smart Buddha quote here about the journey and the destiny, but forget that. I want to talk about five systems I have tried myself and why I stopped or will stop using them. 1. OnFolio I used OnFolio way back in 2005. I wrote a couple of articles about OnFolio and the battle with Evernote. To my surprise, OnFolio won. But it wasn't for long. OnFolio was a great way to collect information, but not more that that. I couldn't really work with it throughout the whole GTD process so after a short period of time, I simply stopped using it. And to tell you the truth, I haven't missed it since. OnFolio is now part of Microsoft and it looks as if Vista might have some features from OnFolio 2. GTD Outlook addin Very soon after I started with GTD, the Outlook addin caught my eye. Since it is promoted on the David Allen-site, I bought the add in and installed it on my laptop. I use Outlook only for my professional email. Everything personal goes through Gmail. But because of the way we work in our company, Outlook is the best way to work and collaborate. The add-in does it's work pretty OK, but I had some big issues with it recently. The latest issue is because of updates on the Outlook security, the add in doesn't work properly. But also some earlier issues like changing toolbars and errors with the toolbar when my iPaq is in it's cradle and synchronizing, makes it for me very difficult to maintain it's use. It's become a burden to update, tweak, work-around all those issues. I just want to use the thing, nothing more. I was recently notified of the Jello dashboard for Outlook. I must say, it looks interesting. Perhaps worth a look. But the GTD addin, I was a fan, but have become more of an average enthousiast user. 3. Backpack As mentioned, my personal and professional workflows are separated. Because of different emailsystems and interests, it feels better for me to separate them. In 2005, I found Backpack and again, fell for it's charms. I'm a sucker for webbased applications. I wrote an extensive review on how to use Backpack in the GTD process and to this day, it is one of the most-linked and most-read articles on my blog. But to be honest, I don't use Backpack anymore. Same reasons as the Outlook addin. Too difficult to keep up, There were all sorts of hacks needed to get into GTD with it and no real GTD principles in it's core. For instance, I wrote about a hack to get into the context-project relation, you use tags. But the use of tagging is underdeveloped in Backpack. No autocompletion for instance. I hate that. It means I have to think whether I used "@computer" or "@pc" for instance. I know, there are worse things in the world, but in my tiny little productivity corner, these are things that bug me. Backpack also has a calendar, but it's use is totally oblivious to me. It just doesn't work, integration with iCal format sucks and there is no integration with Backpack itself. So yes, I still have a Backpack account, but I don't use it for GTD anymore. 4. GTD Gmail I have to say, this is one of the best Gmail extensions I have seen in a very long time. Also, the biggest plus is that the development starts with GTD in mind. So when you install this on your PC, shazaam, your Gmail becomes the epicentre of your GTD world. This is all great and excellent, if you use just one PC, with one browser (Firefox) and you don't use Gmail as a mobile application. I did all of that. I have multiple working machines and I use Gmail a lot when on the road with my iPaq. I must say, I am very charmed by the way the whole extension is integrated and the ways you can use it. I love the different labels and search options. But after trying it for a month, I didn't feel a click. No chemistry between me and the application. I found myself not trusting it completely. So out it went. 5. MindManager I always found MindManager one of the best prorgams to capture and organize your thinking. When I got the opportunity to get a licensed version, I started investigating if you could use Mindmanager as a GTD program. And it turns out, you can. Especially with GyroQ, a most-excellent add-in to MindManager as reviewed on this blog. But again, after working with it for a month or so, I find MindManager to be very slow and hard to use to get some fast work done on your projects. Because I put all my projects and tasks (in my personal life) in a big honkin' mindmap, I quickly found out MindManager is not too happy with big maps. Takes ages to load on my laptop (Dell Latitude D620) and editing such a big mindmap (around 40 branches with sub-projects) is not the most fun thing to do. But there might be some hope. Gyronix, the makers of GyroQ, also released ResultManager which should work as a sort of dashboard for different mindmaps. So I think I'm gonna try and see of there is some GTD-ness in it. But MindManager as your sole GTD system is not the way to go for me. Conclusion In between the systems mentioned above I also had some flings with the likes TiddlyWiki, RememberTheMilk, ListPro and some other systems. The biggest problems with migrating is well, the migrating. You have to copy-paste all your stuff into this new system, get around the new kid on the block, get used to it...So I tried some systems with just two or three little projects, but that doesn't work to well either. Because you'd have to think what goes where. Another conclusion is if you are serious about GTD, you need a system that is built for GTD. The Outlook Add in and GTDGmail have this, so make sure you try them and see for yourself if it your cup of tea. I do have a tendency to try ThinkingRock. It is built around the GTD system and has some nice features. But I have this big mountain of exporting/importing everything out of MindManager...Perhaps I should try ResultManager first, see how that goes and then look further. I hope this article gives some direction on where to look for in a system, what some of the issues may be with existing systems and what you can expect. What are your experiences with the mentioned systems? Good? Bad? I look forward to the discussion