GTD Benefits

Probably the most important decision any person takes is “What do I do next”. But with so many things to remember or do, a good way of selecting the next task is critical.

I admire Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. I’ve tried to use the approach and for me it works. The greatest plus I’ve gained from the approach is :

• Don’t do things in the order they arrive on your desk (or inbox)
• Do them in the order you want to do them in
• Remember to review your tasks weekly (if you don’t the lists get longer and longer and you eventually give up)

To do all this you really need a computer solution. I’ve tried to use many of these on a day to day basis and this is what I found for these four GTD task management products:

1. My Life Organised (MLO)
2. Achieve Planner by Effexis
3. Toodledo
4. Pocket Informant

Using GTD methods when you’re away from your desk

Few of us stay in one place. It’s great to be able to quickly view or add tasks to your GTD system when you’re not by your computer.

For each GTD software product I’ve assessed whether it is Usable with:

• A windows Mobile Computer
• An iPhone

A quick summary of to do list software for different situations

If you only use a PC, choose :

• Microsoft Outlook for a simple to do list
• Use Effexis Achieve Planner for extra features

If you use a PC and want to sync with a Windows Mobile PC choose:

• Microsoft Outlook on the PC with Pocket Informant for an entry level solution
• Use Effexis Achieve Planner on the PC with for Pocket Informant for extra features

If you use a PC and want to sync with an iPhone choose:

• Toodledo on the PC and iPhone for an excellent result.

If you want your to do lists only on a Windows Mobile PC choose:

• Pocket Informant
• Toodledo

If you want your to do lists only on an iPhone choose:

• Toodledo

Read on for more detail…

1. My Life Organised (MLO)

Summary

I found MLO an excellent and flexible tool. If you need synchronisation then a sync with your Windows mobile via Outlook works a treat.

I may have stayed with the product if only the memory leaks and subsequent lock-ups had been fixed.

Advantages

Provides an excellent hierarchical list of outstanding actions.

Problems

I experienced repeated problems running MLO a few years ago. It would lock up from time to time. On researching this, other users had reported memory leaks.

It may have improved now. However I just checked out the Google Groups Forum and one MLO user in April of 2009 reports an application lockup that meant the application had to be killed via Task manger. So maybe problems persist.

Synchronise with Windows Mobile

Yes, via Microsoft Outlook

Synchronise with iPhone

No. As at June 2009 this development is “planned”

Effexis Achieve Planner

Advantages

Provides an excellent priority system for To-Do items. I particularly liked the division between “work” items” and “personal” items. The inbuilt priority system can sequence your next action list based on business or personal or combined priorities.

I would have stayed with Achieve Planner if it provided an iPhone interface.

Problems

The learning curve can be a bit long.

Synchronise with Windows Mobile

Yes

Synchronise with iPhone

No.  I frankly think it will be a long time before any iPhone app appears. Web based software like Toodledo can most easily provide an iPhone app as the iPhone app just needs to link to the Toodledo web site and Toodledo developers can control both ends of this link.

But the Achieve Planner files are sitting on your PC and so are not accessible. It is not even easy for the developers of Pocket Informant

Toodledo

Advantages

Currently my preferred option.

It provides pretty well everything you might need:

• Sort tasks by priority
• Hide completed tasks or tasks to be done “someday”
• The iPhone implementation is excellent and syncs flawlessly
• You can structure tasks into folders (e.g. different work projects)
• You can repeat from completion date or due date
• Dales can be input in friendly terms (e.g. repeat every week”)
• The calendar gives a picture of task due dates
• You can assign times top tasks – this, for instance, helps Toodledo suggest how you could spend an hour.

—————————————————-

Problems

It is web based. So your data is not on your PC. If that worries you you should look elsewhere. There are occasional minor bugs, but nothing of any real significance.

Synchronise with Windows Mobile

No

Synchronise with iPhone

Yes. There is a splendid iPhone implementation which is regularly upgraded.

Pocket Informant

Advantages

This product has a well deserved reputation as the very best product to provide easy access on a Windows mobile handheld for:

• to do lists
• calendar access
• email
• contacts

It integrates smoothly with Outlook held on Microsoft Exchange or with Outlook on a local PC

As a to do list manager, it is lacking some of the more advanced features from Toodledo or Achieve Planner. But if portability is your top priority and you have a Windows Mobile handheld, this could be the product for you.

Problems

It does not run on your PC (But you can use Outlook or Effexis Achieve Planner with good results (I used Effexis with Informant for a year or so.

Synchronise with Windows Mobile

Not applicable

Run on iPhone?

There is a version for the iPhone but so far it has been buggy and slow. Also it does not presently sync with Outlook. Web IS the developers say that Apple block this.

It can synch with Google calendar or Toodledo. But if you use Toodledo you should really use the iPhone version of Toodledo for a really smooth operation.

Web IS suggest you can sync with Outlook through Google calendar. I suggest you avoid this as it means there are now three pieces of software involved in your sync operation. The likelihood of problems is immense. Indeed there are reports of users losing records by tasking this approach