Alternatives: Quicksilver & Mailtags/Mail ActOn
I’ve used Things before and find it a good system. However, I would get sucked into spending more time entering and organizing than doing. I am intellectually attracted to the “write a list on a sheet of paper and review it daily” method, but want to keep it all on the computer. To do so, I’ve installed Quicksilver (blacktree.com/?quicksilver), a launcher/automator/espresso maker/do-it-all program. One of the options Quicksilver has is “Append to text file”. So, I have a trigger set that brings up a box into which I can type whatever to-do comes to my mind. It is silently appended to my “todo.txt” file. Takes about 2 seconds, so it is very non-disruptive. I also have a trigger to open that file, so I can review it. Since new items are appended to the end, if I want to organize the list in any way, I can do so. Simple, but that’s good for me. It is also free.
The one place where this doesn’t work so well is email, as it is nice to have immediate access to the message when dealing with it. For that, I use MailTags and MailActOn (indev.ca/). Not free, but reasonably priced. MailTags (works with Apple Mail) allows me to tag a file with a due date (along with many other labels that I don’t make much use of). After I tag a message, I file it appropriately and use a smart folder set up to show messages due in the next 2 days to see everything that needs attention. I also have a “pending” smart folder to show messages with any due date assigned. You could do this without Mail Act On, but MAO gives the convenience of a few quick keystrokes to assign a due date of one week in the future (obviously, you could set up all sorts of different time frames). It also allows filing by keystroke, so I can attend to messages very swiftly.
Both QS and Mailtag/Mail Act On can do much more than what I’ve described. Indeed, their flexibility is a little intimidating at times. But, I’ve found them both to be great organizational tools, in addition to their other benefits.
Good luck.
G.