shhLIFE!

And so begins day 3 of GTDAgenda testing.

Since I’m an animator at heart (even though I do more managing and meetings now), I decided to try adding tasks to make notes of each fix I wanted to do on a shot I’m currently working on.

I created a project specifically for this shot, and then started listing tasks.

I went stream of consciousness to add as many tasks as I could, just scrubbing back and forth over the animation, adding a task for each.  I was able to add a lot of tasks relatively quickly.  Click Add Task, type, click Save.  Not too bad.  It could be faster if I could enter a bunch of tasks at once, but it’s certainly not a deal-breaker.

The problem came when I went to then order the tasks so I could tackle them most efficiently.  I couldn’t find a way to order them quickly and easily.

In fact, I don’t think there’s any way other than editing the task and changing priority. It literally takes 4 clicks to change the priority from 1-5 of a task.  The other tough thing is that you need to be aware of all other task priorities to make sure you set this task’s priority correctly.  Is the eye tweak a higher priority than the nose tweak?  They’re both facial priorities, so maybe they both go under a priority 3.  But then there’s another eyeline change I want to tackle.  So that’s priority 3 as well.  The big problem there is that I can’t re-order within that level 3 priority to plan my attack.  Very frustrating. * See the update below for a faster workflow!

This is quite the problem for me, it means I really have to think about the tasks as I log them and make sure I do it in the right order.  I don’t want to work that way.. I want to tackle the order of tasks as when I’m in the mode of processing them and figuring out what I have time and energy for.  I could just sort of skip around through the task list itself, but that means that I have to keep re-evaluating each item to see what I have energy for.  I’d rather make the plan once, and then just go through tick tick tick.

I’m hoping that I am missing a feature somewhere, or that the Developer is working on this.  It could certainly make it tough for me to use GTDAgenda to handle shot tasks.

Anyway, here are a few other thoughts that came up throughout the day.

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• Notes per task – need more room than just 1 line.
• Really missing the ability to create a whole bunch of tasks at once.
• Too much mouse traffic with the clicking on Add Task, filling out all the data, and then having to click Add Task.  Would much rather a system where I do quick-add & add @contexts and .Projects at the same time.
• The ability to submit tasks via Twitter is really cool.  It allows me to enter tasks much faster, and then head to GTDAgenda to edit them.
• You can also apply tasks via email.  The subject is the name of the task, and the body is the note.  I don’t know if you can automatically assign the email tasks to projects or not.. it would be great if you could.

Hope people are finding these posts useful!

Update -

Dan contacted me with an update to some of the notes I have above.  I thought I’d include his reply here because there’s some really great news for you gtdAgenda lovin people!   I don’t know when these issues will be released, but the fact that Dan is working on them is great!

One of the next features that will be released is the possibility to insert multiple tasks at once.

Regarding changing priorities, it can be done faster if you select the task(s) and then use the drop-down menu (More Actions) for this action. No need to edit.

When you send tasks by email, it’s not possible to assign a project to it, or context. However, each project and context has its unique email address too, and if you send tasks to its email the task will be added to that project/context.

After 2 days of using the online task management/productivity application GTDAgenda, I’m starting to get into a groove with the software and find my flow. I’ve still got a few issues that pop up here and there, but I’m getting a better hang of managing my todo lists, and displaying them in a way that I personally find useful.

Again, I’ll just say that all of these thoughts are for how *I* like to work. You may agree or disagree, and that’s totally fine. If this helps you make a decision on what kind of task software you’d like to use, great! If not, then that’s fine too. My main goal is to help me decide what workflow I like and determine whether or not to keep using a particular piece of code.

I also hope that these notes help the developers of GTDAgenda. If it’s helpful for you.. great, glad to be of service! I really appreciate the opportunity to use the software!

Anyway, on to the thoughts for Day 2..

First of all, I realized that in order to really get a handle on my next actions, I had to figure out how to order them better on the Next Actions page. By default I had everything listed as a #1 priority, so everything just sort of showed up in whatever order they appeared in. Since I had some @waiting tasks, and some specific actions I figured I could use the Priority feature to at least do some ordering. So I went with the following scheme:

Priority 1 – tasks that I need to do

Priority 2 – Tasks that I need to talk to people about

Priority 3 – Tasks that I’m waiting anxiously on information about

Priority 4 – Tasks that I want to see on this page, but I’ll be periodically checking in on.

This allowed me to have a much cleaner Next Actions list. There are actually 5 priorities, but 4 suited me nicely.

Some other thoughts that have come up throughout the day:

• Pre-defined Someday/Maybe and Archived areas is very handy!
• When using the mobile version of GTDAgenda, i noticed that the Next Actions page doesn’t display the task’s context. It does this in the online version. Personally, I like to see it and I wish it were there.
• If adding a task in project view (gtdagenda mobile), it should know what project you’re already adding to. Currently you have to add that yourself. (Note: I just received a note from the developer, this is a bug that’s been fixed! sweet!)
• When marking a task as done, you currently have to select it first, and then mark it done. I’d much rather just have it automatically marked done when I click it & then allow me to go back and unmark it.
• Can’t edit/modify global goals in the mobile version.
• Would really like a “quick entry” mode so I can just power through all my tasks and add them as quick as possible. Then, once the tasks are in my inbox I could process them into projects and contexts. Currently you have to enter and process all at once. I find I’m using paper to write down my tasks, then I enter them into GTDagenda all at once.
• I like the fact that you can have Repeating tasks, that’s very handy.

Like I said, I’m starting to get into the swing of it. I’m finding areas of GTDAgenda I like, and also areas that I’d like to work with differently. I appreciate all the links to other todo and gtd management tools, I’m putting them on my to do list and checking them out!

Hopefully later this week I’ll get to start using some of this methodology for my shots & we’ll see how it holds up.

In my quest to find the “perfect” GTD system for my use, I’ve decided to actually try a few todo systems for a week at a time until I find the one that I like the best.  I’ve got a rather complicated workflow that I need to support. Some things I’ve come up with as prerequisites are:

1. It has to be cross-platform.  At work I use Linux, at home I use Mac, and in meetings I use my iPhone and pen/paper.  So I need to be able to add tasks in any environment, and get access to my information at any point as well.
2. It has to be fast.  If it takes too long to enter data, it’s not worth it.
3. It has to be flexible.  There’s no way I’m going to be able to develop the proper system right off the bat.  I’m expecting it to modify and change over time, so I want it to be flexible and easily scalable.
4. It has to be fun. If I don’t like using it, I never will.
5. It has to be visually pleasing.  Seems shallow, but when I look at it I want to think “woah momma!” not “oh grandpa, put your pants back on”.

Thanks to a quick email by the developer of http://gtdagenda.com who is doing a great job of getting the word out about his system, I’m making it my first pick to try using a GTD methodology for my work.  I’ve been using it for day and a half, and will post the results of my findings over the course of this week.  Since I’m learning this software as I use it, I’m sure there are going to be things I discover or things that power-users can tell me that I’m not aware of.  If you have particular tips and tricks about various softwares, please let me know!

This isn’t a full review, just some first impressions based on using it for the past day and a half.  Your mileage may vary.

GTD Agenta – First Impressions

My initial thought as signing up was that the website itself does a great job of giving you an overview of how the tool works.  It’s got screen shots, breaks things down into sections, and a quick read gives you the basics of how you can use gtdagenda rather quickly.  It even gives some examples of how to impliment GTD and ZTD with their tool.  Very handy!

Below I’ve listed some Pros and Cons based on my initial experience.

Pros

Dan (the developer) is very responsive. I’ve emailed him a few times and he’s been very quick to get back to me with responses and notes.  I’ve certainly used other software where the developers take a long time to get back to their users, or never do.  Dan responds personally to email, and also does a great job about getting the word out about GTDagenda.  He obviously is very passionate about it.

Eventual IPhone application (no ETA). One of my requirements is an iPhone application that syncs with the tool.  Currently GTDagenda has no iPhone app, but it does have a mobile version that works pretty well.  Unfortunately, I’m often in meetings where I have no internet access, and need to be able to have something local that I can sync with.  Dan has mentioned that there is an iPhone app on the way, but there’s no ETA on it.

Context/Projects list on right is very nice. I really like that on the right hand side of the screen are you list of contexts and projects.  You can quickly filter by either of these and each one shows you how many tasks are in those contexts or project.  Cool!

Projects with tasks but no “Next Action” flag turn red. This is a great way to make sure that all your projects can move forward.  Super awesome fantastic!

Interaction is relatively fast, no long redraw time . While not the speediest web app, it’s certainly no dog.

Checklists.  A great way to help you form productive habits.  Like going to the gym every day.  Nice.

Calendar on the sidebar. I like the calendar on the right to quickly see what’s due or done on any given day.

High Level Goals. Basically this is like grouping the projects into bigger projects. Handy for doing things like “Projects – Mine” and “Projects – Others” for projects you’re responsible for, but other people are doing them.

Email Notification – you can have GTDagenda email you every day with your “next actions”.  Nice!

Cons

No current iPhone app, only web access. If you work where you have spotty access, this limits ability to use GTDAgenda

Only 1 context per task. I like to use multiple contexts to handle people, departments, locations, etc

Can’t assign a “person” to a task. For example, if I’m waiting for John to finish a shot, I want the @waiting for context, and the @john context.

Very linear workflow.  You MUST create a project and a context before you create  a task.  If you’re in the middle of creating a task and then you need to add a context, you loose your task creation.  This really inhibits my workflow.

No quick way to add a task. You must be in Task/Next Action, or project pages.

Adding contexts and projects wasn’t intuitive right off the bat. The first time I wanted to add a context I had to hunt around to find it.

UI seems a bit messy. I prefer the clean UI of Todoist

Date due can’t have a specific time, only a day

Not “AJAX”ey enough. This is totally subjective, but I prefer the interaction of Todoist.

Can’t reorder tasks on Today. If I have a whole bunch of Next Actions, I would like to be able to look at them and then order them in the order I want to attack them.

No automatic assignment of Next Action. I would like to be able to automatically assign the next todo in a project to Next Action as soon as I complete the current Next Action.  This way I can stay in the Next Action page and just keep cruzing instead of having to then go over to the Projects page, set my next action, and then head back to the Next Action page.

Difficult to separate various tags in page lists. When looking at my list of things to do today, it would be great to easily see what I’m waiting for, what’s a @work task, etc. Having colored lines for specific tags would help this workflow.

So there you go.. first impressions after using the tool for one day.  I’ll keep on it for the week and then see how it goes with my weekly review at the end of the week.  Thoughts?  Suggestions? Opinions?  Send ‘em my way!