International Mac Podcast

It seems I start every post with a discussion of my GTD theme, but I do want to say that it has evolved. Instead of being about GTD, the system, it’s more about organizing and removing distraction. It is in that spirit that I bring you a comparison of many apps that any writer may find a use for: the fullscreen text editor. This idea revolves around removing more or less everything but your words from your screen, and having you concentrate on what you type. (more…)

This series was started when David Allen’s system, Getting Things Done, was all the rage. I was somewhat fascinated by it, and the name doubled, and continues to double, as a collective name for any way to organize tasks. However, this is not the only way to accomplish organization, and not the best for many people. There are several different ones out there, and you can pick the one you like best, or make your own. (more…)

The wagon, or bandwagon, as it is called, is a notoriously slippery and narrow thing. This means that it’s incredibly easy to fall off of it. It’s easier than falling off a log, in fact, because before falling off a log you become concerned about how much it will hurt when you hit the ground, while when falling off the bandwagon it doesn’t really hurt at all, at least not at first.

Overstretched analogy aside, it is a fact of life and of GTD that you’ll stop doing it at some point, whether it be intentionally or not. Even David Allen, the man who started it all, admits to falling off the wagon frequently. Naturally, he being who he is, he’s probably come up with strategies to get back on. However, I’m not here to tell you about him, I’m here to tell you about me. (more…)

Edit: I neglected to mention that SimpleTask Mac is in Beta, and coming out of it as soon as Apple approves SimpleTask iPhone. Also, I previously stated that SimpleTask iPhone would be free, but it will be $1.99.

You may have noticed, although probably not, that I deliberately avoided the words “Getting,” “Things,” and “Done” in the title of this review. There is a reason for this. SimpleTask is not a comprehensive GTD app. GTD has a specific meaning with specific criteria, although it has drifted away somewhat from referring to David Allen’s book. There are at least two categories of task lists, and the one most people think of is the more complex one, which involves dates and priorities and tags and contexts and such. The other one that springs to mind less often is just a list, with checkboxes and titles. SimpleTask falls into this category.

Another category it falls into is the Delicious Generation. There are many interpretations of this concept, but I like mine the best. A delicious app is one which uses nonstandard GUI to great advantage. The most famous example is Delicious Library, which departs from the standard Finder-like way of presenting large groups of items, and uses the idea of a bookshelf. Others that fit in to this category are iVolume, The Hit List, Disco, QuickPost, Tweetie, and many more. SimpleTask succeeds with this model, which makes it a pleasure to use. (more…)

There are four basic steps to GTD: Collect, Process/Organize, Do, and Review. I’ve taken you through the first two, and the third doesn’t need much explaining. The fourth, the Review, I haven’t. And that’s because I’ve been a very bad GTDer. I haven’t been doing my review.

All right, I’d better tell you what it is. The thinking behind it is that you don’t see all your tasks every day, so it’s easy to have them fall out of your mind. After all, that’s a principle of GTD, to not have your tasks cluttering up your brain. The Review is where you go and look at either (a) the tasks you don’t see on a regular basis, such as a Someday/Maybe list you keep, or (b) everything. Yes, everything. (more…)

This is the last part of my series on The Hit List. You can read the first, second, and third posts, or the full article as it was meant to be seen.

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This is a part of my ongoing series on The Hit List. You can read the first and second posts, or the full article as it was meant to be seen.

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