I learned about its existence only yesterday, but a quick glance at iGTD taught me this tasks manager
And it’s free, or better donationware!
Might be worth a look: bargiel.home.pl/iGTD .
I’ve been using it for about two weeks now and really, really love it. I’ve retired my old To-Do list system for iGTD.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve been trying this out for a couple of days, alongside Midnight Inbox, Ghost Action and Actiontastic – and iGTD is the one I have decided to stick with. Seems to do everything I need it to, fairly intuitively, and without too much jargon. Now I’ve got no excuse for not getting on with my writing, the housework and everything else that I’ve been putting off for ages… 
Also, if you like some things about GTD but are not strictly observant (like me) you can still get a lot from iGTD. Still using it, still really liking it.
That’s exactly like me. I don’t do GTD at all, but I really like the idea of grouping tasks by context as well as by project because it lets me handle batches of similar tasks in one session instead of dotting about all over the place. Other than contexts (which I got to grips with by trying out Midnight Inbox), I have my own haphazard system, which fits well with iGTD. And iGTD talks to Quicksilver and seems to sync well with iCal, which is a Good Thing as far as I’m concerned.
By the way, for people who know the GTD theory, Midnight Inbox looks good. There was a bit too much of a learning curve for me, in that it adheres closely to a proprietary model which I have never bothered to read about. What I liked about Inbox was the way it sucks in all sorts of things from your other computer activities and presents them for consideration.
Actually, I can’t get it to synch very well with iCal, not that I’ve tried very hard, but then I don’t like iCal for to-do lists anyway. I’d rather manage my to-dos in a more flexible system like iGTD.
I’ve looked at Midnight Inbox, but it seems very buggy, and I have a horror of losing my data because the most valuable thing I’ve gleaned from GTD is the capture and review process. I want it so that I’m never, ever responsible for remembering anything I have to do. My brain is clear for real work. I also love that the iGTD developer is so involved, cheerful and responsive. It’s donationware and even though money is tight at the moment, I coughed it up for him.
I’ve been using a little web-based application called Todoist. It is actually a complete reversal from what I used to do. I used to have a very complex system with all kinds of macros and such, but I came across this and its simplicity has helped me to focus on just capture the basic things that need to be done (and when). There a few fancy features, such as Gmail, QuickSilver, a Firefox plugin for Gmail, and an API which would let advanced users create their own client side applications. iGTD looks good, but until it can support custom sorted lists, it really is not that useful to me, as I have a lot of projects with sequential actions.
My main concern with web-based lists is that all of your important productivity data is dependant upon the availability of the web site, and your connexion to that site. Now that there is an API, and the developer is working on a solid import/export feature, I feel less nervous about the concept. For the moment, I’m using it with the idea that either Thinking Rock 2.0, iGTD, or OmniFocus will eventually become what I need. At the moment, they are either not quite what I want, in early beta, or not even available yet.
the guy developing iGTD is so enthusiastic about what he’s doing - there are new features and updates every couple of days it seems. he states on his website that the application will always be free! but i think he will probably be persuaded to go commercial with it at some point, it’s becoming so popular, and good luck to him- he deserves it.
i’m not a gtd freak - it all seems a bit puritan-work-ethic for me and some of the new-agey eastern mystic talk that seems to go along with it makes my skin crawl- but you don’t have to be committed to the Holy Church of Getting Things Done to appreciate iGTD. What’s great about this app is its simplicity and its fitness for purpose. it also has a beautiful little QuickSilver plugin, and if you have mailtags 2.0, it integrates with apple mail, so that new tasks are generated from emails by clicking one key. it syncs with iCal (i wasn’t even using iCal - it was too basic) but together they now make a really useful and powerful organiser.
i’m keeping an eye on OmniFocus to see what comes out of there - i always use OmniOutliner for planning and brainstorming, so i expect OmniFocus to be pretty impressive, but iGTD is that rare thing (like Scrivener) it does its job. It does it well and simply.
and i haven’t started thinking ‘i wish it did this or that, perhaps i should look at…’ ending up with three or four different shareware apps, none of which i’m committed to cluttering up my drive. (ok, i admit it, i’m a software junkie, my application folder column in the finder is as tall as the eiffel tower)
but then, OmniFocus hasn’t come out yet…
Midnight Inbox has won me over. Very elegant with two hardworking people behind it making a go of it.
i said i was a software junkie 
- i’ve downloaded inbox - and i can see it’s very powerful.
not sure i like the interface - it looks, well, a bit fancy and fussy. i prefer the pared down simplicity and modern look of iGTD.
i’ll see out the trial and see if it’s worth registering.
I gave Inbox a try a while ago; several tries actually. I wanted to like it, but it was so swamped with bugs, performance issues, and a somewhat idiosyncratic workflow that I never took to it.
OmniFocus on the other hand; just got alpha access to that project a few days ago. And I think that is going to be the one for me. In a way it is a lot like Todoist, very list oriented, very much like working in an outliner. It is still very much an alpha though. While I haven’t had it crash yet, it is awfully slow because it has huge amounts of debugging data going on. It is very interesting to get such a peephole into the development practices of one of the larger Mac software companies.
Amber, the latest version of iGTD allows hand-sorting, if you want to give it another whirl. It’s amazing how fast the application is evolving.
Thanks, yes I have been keeping up with its development. Something still doesn’t sit right with me. I think I am just more of a free-form list person. iGTD is much more inclined toward putting all of the pieces into buckets and then letting the application sort it all out. It also places much more emphasis on each task than I care to. There is a lot of UI dedicated to the details of each task. For me, tasks are very simple things, all of the important information is attached to the “project” (in the GTD sense of the word). There are a few exceptions; so what works best for me is a system which allows a little importance to be put on tasks if necessary; but for the most part has an extremely low profile on them.
The way I work, projects are fluid. Making them, merging them, and splitting them are all things that need to be done rapidly. I think OF is going in this direction. You have the main projects which show up in the outliner on the left, but creating a sub-project is simply a matter of deciding to place tasks beneath another task. I think this is what Inbox is trying to do; but it doesn’t come off as being very easy to do, to me.
I see in the most recent versions of iGTD you can easily promote an action to a project. That’s a start, but I do still feel that the application feels a bit “task heavy”. Depending on how you use GTD, that could be perfect.
Let me second the awesomeness of OmniFocus – I tried out iGTD, and its syncing was too complicated and kludgy for me. Maybe that’s changed, I’m not sure. but OmniFocus, oh my, omnifocus. It’s incomplete, sure but it follows a design philosophy that I think scrivener exemplifies: they call it “shrink to fit.”
Basically the program is bigger and more capable than almost anyone needs it to be, but you aren’t overwhelmed by features. Just like in Scriv, how some folks never bring up the keyword panel? In omnifocus, you can use it as narrowly as you like without that “echoy” feeling that pops up in programs like, say, Word – you know, that feeling of “Wow, there’s so much here that I don’t know how to use…” Like a few others, I’m not really a strict adherent to the GTD methodology, and I think that’s really the litmus test of programs like this. How useful is it, and how much does it conform to you, rather than forcing you to conform to it. Scriv lets you use it as anything from a single-document text-editor to a massive information repository/research system/export tool. iGTD felt like, if I weren’t a hardcore GTD-er, I’d be always trying to cram a square peg into a round hole, while OmniFocus feels more like it would support me in whatever manner I felt like using it.
This is just a roundabout way of saying, if you’re looking for a rockin’ GTD/life organizer/productivity porn app, wait for OmniFocus and give it a shot.
Love,
B
i’m sure you’re right about OmniFocus - i must be a long way down the beta testing list from you, i have to make do with ethan schoover’s video teases for now. i know omni can be relied on to make a beautiful to use, elegant application, so i can’t wait to try it.
but take another look at iGTD before you write it off. it just works.
now where have i heard that before?
I keep it simple and use the free Ta-da Lists. There is a great widget available that makes managing my lists a snap!
-Dan
I have no lists and no to-do’s. Just two ever-changing post-it’s by the keyboard.
Dave
Ha. That cracked me up. I’ve been lurking in this thread up till now, mostly becasue I am interested, but have nothing to offer, really.
I want to be able to group files related to a project into one place–mail to and from readers and editors, development files, contacts, etc. I’ve sort of been using Journler for this, but it doesn’t allow me to index files from other places, just import them.
I’m also trying to make this work in Scr. because it would be convenient. But I wonder if I should be doing this in another program that is designed for such things! And the whole issue of ‘to dos.’ I have been using the post-it method myself, or memos in my Treo. But I would like to become more organized in this way.
Thus, the lurking. So now I guess I’d like to ask whether any of these programs will sync with Apple’s address book and allow me to index files and the like so I can bring in files and resource info relating to a particular project into one place. I used to do this with Microsoft’s Entourage and project management features. But it was pretty limited and I don’t use MS products any longer.
Any suggestions or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks,
Alexandria
I think Midnight Inbox is currently the best option if you want a lot of Mac resource collection. Inbox has its own issues though. It pretty much enforces proper GTD usage, like it or not. As a regular old to-do list, 95% of what it does would probably be wasted. Also, last time I played with it, it still felt like an early alpha build, even though they were selling it shrug.
OmniFocus will eventually support full file attachments, URL referencing, iCal synchronisation, and Mail integration too. I am currently on the alpha build list, and it is definitely not ready to use for all of that stuff yet. Some of it works decently though. I think OF will be a much better option for people that want a quick and dirty to-do list without all of the religion fuss that Inbox has. While it is actually quite usable already (I’ve been using it daily for several weeks now), the waiting list to get it is rather–intense. Honestly, it will probably be public beta, or even 1.0 release by the time they get around to adding people that are signing up now.
Great Amber, thanks. I’ll check out Inbox and keep my eyes open for OmniFocus when it enters public beta status. Sounds like it could be just what I’m looking for.
Alexandria