Comments on: Ask The Readers: What GTD Apps Should I Try And Why?

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 07:04:23 +0000

Hi, just stumbled across this site and really glad I did. For months I’ve been managing my personal tasks and errands using Things on my Mac (at home) and iPhone and have been generally quite happy with this. It’s simple and does what I need it to do. But I have never found a satisfactory tool for tracking my work tasks, projects and goals. Outlook doesn’t work for me (even with extensive use of categories to sort tasks into contexts and projects) – too messy and I find myself spending too much time managing lists instead of being able to clearly find and focus on my next actions. I can’t install 3rd party apps on my work desktop so have been trying web-based Remember The Milk, which is okay and also has an iPhone app which is great. I’m finding RTM just a bit too “clunky” and haven’t quite got it supporting my GTD system the way I want it to yet, hence the reason I’ve come searching for alternatives. MLO seemed to be the clear winner on this thread. 6 months later are you still using MLO and is it supporting you effectively and helping you be more productive?

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:55:52 +0000

Remember The Milk for me.

By: Airwhale

Airwhale — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:28:42 +0000

I was curious about MLO after reading this thread, so I went ahead and bought myself a copy. I set it up on a USB stick so it’s easy to switch between computers.

I can in no way claim to be an expert with the software, but man, do I like it a lot. I started out using it much like your ordinary outliner/to-do combination (low learning threshold if you have used similar products before), but the longer I use it, the more small gems I find. For instance, the next actions filter is quite neat, if your projects are marked as such and the tasks are listed in sequence.

Another great filter is the goals filter. Set up certain tasks as goals for the week, month or year, and you’ll get them all in a single view, with your tasks attached to them.

The recurring tasks are also very powerful – use them together with a suitable lead time, and the tasks will appear in time for you to move on them before they move on you. No more “Dang! Was that today?” or at least not so much of it!

Speaking for myself I can just say I’m very happy with the program, and I look forward to learning more about it.

By: James

James — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:45:06 +0000

Thanks for checking back. I’m waiting till I get a laptop at Christmas before I try MLO out. Once I’m a bit more portable it will seem more appealing to try an hi-fi approach. Either way I’ll publish a post discussing my findings.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:47:15 +0000

Hey James, how is it going with MLO? I’m looking for something myself and waiting for your progress update!

By: James

James — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:54:51 +0000

Thanks all for the suggestions. MLO seems to clearly win out, even if the sudden rush of MLO support at the end is a little suspicious… Either way, I’ll definitely be trying it when I finally get my laptop!

By: Airwhale

Airwhale — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:09:53 +0000

Right… the resounding support for MLO has now made me register the program and I am currently in the process of migrating my GTD data from Evernote over to MLO.

I set it up to run from my USB stick so I can have access on multiple computers. So far, I must admit I like it better than any task manager I’ve tried in the past.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:08:28 +0000

One more vote for MLO! Hands down the best personal organizer I have ever used.

By: Paul Keith

Paul Keith — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:55:11 +0000

I used most of these but over time I just couldn’t get over the barrier of a list or needing to go to a particular program every time.

Eventually, I returned to the simple idea of text files. I can just create a folder anywhere and I can just right click, name the text file with my task and then put any sub-task within it. It’s basically my brain dump but I also use Remember the Milk for brain dumping.

There is nothing like pressing “T” for a new task but it took me awhile to warm up to RTM’s keyboard shortcuts. Prior to that I preferred Toodledo over it for a traditional brain dump. (but I also used Nutshell, Listography, Checkvist and Nozbe)

Saying all this, I’m not a GTD user. I just apply enough of it to suit my own needs. However most programs force you to apply GTD principles anyway to really use them to a semi-efficient manner.

Since you said you used ThinkingRock, just consider this a warning, although if you really hate the app, MLO might just be for you. It’s feature-full, often praised and highly recommended though I just can’t accept anyone saying it’s flexible because you still can’t really mimic a simple to-do list program totally or shy away from the whole list based form (that said, it’s one of the most straightforward and simple applications out there, albeit with a very high learning curve and UI on first use).

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:16:56 +0000

MLO also runs on my USB stick. My only negative point would be that they could do with some extra video tutorials.