I’m very much a pen and paper type of person. I much prefer being able to scribble a bunch of ideas down, then having to fiddle about with a laptop or PDA. That being said, there are a great many people out there who prefer the high-tech approach. This is very apparent by the number of productivity apps out there. They all claim to do many different things, some better than others, but there is yet to be any one productivity software to rule them all! Ahem…
One of the biggest issues I have had with productivity apps is their lack of customizability. If you want something to handle your to-do lists but not your calendar, you’re probably going to be stuck with one anyway. This got me thinking about creating a template of features to help these app designers tailor their software to be more useful for an efficiency-hungry audience. To get started please share your own experiences of the hi-fi approach. What apps do you use? What features do they have? Do they work for you? What would you like to change about them? Heck, why not describe what your ideal productivity app would be? Thanks in advance for your comments.
March 4, 2009 at 04:56PM
I wouldn’t concentrate on what it does, but how. For me it must be painfully easy to use, and also work cross-platform (on PC, on smartphone, in Firefox). That leaves something that’s web based, and compatible across the board. A lot of productivity tools fail for me on this level. I’d like access to the data from anywhere, whether it’s a conference room somewhere, my phone, a library PC, etc.
March 4, 2009 at 05:27PM
I agree with Matt. I want my app to be constantly syncing to my personal and work computers, my phone, and all the apps that are on them. I think the best app for me right now would be a speech-to-text app on my Blackberry that asks whether things should be added to calendars and or to-do lists. Quicker than typing.
March 4, 2009 at 09:10PM
I’m currently using a Palm PDA for my calendar and to-do items and I think I’ve got a nice approach to GTD philosophy; GMail with GTDinbox and Google Notebook are the main companions. My first time commenting on your blog, long ago reading it. Congratulations, James!
March 4, 2009 at 10:09PM
I’m becoming a big fan of DEVONNote and Things but they are Mac only (sorry PC folks). Things is one of the best productivity apps I’ve ever used.
March 5, 2009 at 02:15AM
Echoing a few things others have pointed out, it has to be in sync across all my computers, my iPhone, and via the web. Should be able to look up my tasks anywhere, anytime, and pull up my to-do list even if I am disconnected from the Internet.
It must also integrate with my calendar and email. I need to be able to drop emails into tasks and schedule appointments and deadlines on my calendar from my to-do application.
Above all it has to be simplistic. It must be simple to tag, sort, and categorize. If it takes more then twenty seconds to enter a task and have it sorted, then that’s too long.
Best system I have found is a Moleskine for offline task collecting and Things for digital management. I use Evernote and Together for saving my stuff. Sorry Windows guys, all of those are OSX only!
March 5, 2009 at 02:33AM
I use a Molskines as well. I use a medium sized reporters notebook with pocket for lengthy planning. I carry a Moleskine Volant on me at all times, these tiny notebooks rule! I bought four packs so I’m stocked for the year!
I’m in a toss-up between Evernote and DEVONNote as a note taking app. I’ve used tons of note taking apps and was really happy with xPad for its simplicity. I’ve also recently started using xMind for brainstorming. I never really liked so called mind mapping software but this one is elegant and simple, but powerful.
March 5, 2009 at 11:18AM
It really depends on the scenario. Whenever I was in class I tried using a laptop, but I found that I would get distracted easily, meaning that whenever I typed on the computer I wouldn’t really be listening to the professor at the same time. So for that case I really needed to stick to pen and paper. But there are other times that I would rather jot down my ideas on a laptop because I can type faster, and gather my thoughts better.
March 5, 2009 at 12:39PM
I am also very much a pen and paper person. I like the feeling of crossing off items in my to-do list!
March 5, 2009 at 01:23PM
I am a great fan of pen and paper for lists and notes. I find I think better if I write things down, it really facilitates a brain dump as I can write faster than I can type. Plus I cannot ignore or forget them if they are there in black and white. For stuff that I need to remember whilst I am out and about – I have a terrible memory – I use my Blackberry (shopping lists, contacts, diary, email and even GPS for when I get lost).
March 5, 2009 at 04:42PM
Lots of great comments, thanks! I bought a Moleskine once and didn’t feel right using it. I am a very messy note taker and it didn’t feel right to fill an expensive notepad with doodles and scribbles. I eventually got over that, because I decided it’s better than leaving it taking up space, and I now find Moleskine to be an very sturdy piece of kit.
For me, there are too many distractions associated with the high tech approach, but the idea of being able to access your to-do lists anywhere via a laptop, mobile phone or whatever sounds great. Until your internet goes down that is…
March 12, 2009 at 12:34PM
I started using Things and Omnifocus but I find them too rigid and they don’t work the way I do. I have a Moleskine I use to jot down scribbles and ideas and use MindNode Pro (mindmapping software for Mac) to organize my tasks as I find it much easier to manage tasks visually and being able to drag things around to make your own priority schemes wins me over.