And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for - today, I unveil the GTD app that has most recently stolen my heart:
First, let’s review my requirements. I wanted the following things from my GTD system:
- a nice look
- easy (for me) to install
- ability to search
- no limits (or at least, reasonable limits)
- view next actions by context
- ability to use a due date
- ability to use a deferred start date
These were my deal breakers. When I was testing other software, anything that didn’t failed one of these tests went into the recycle bin. Other things that I really really wanted were:
- the price had to be reasonable
- I wanted to be able to capture (very) quickly, with as few mouse moves as possible
- view completed next actions
- view staleness - how old next actions were
- ability to associate next actions with projects
- portability
Other bells and whistles included:
- ability to add (clickable) links
- printing
- synchronization with palm
- reminders/alarms
- recurring next actions
- calendar
- timing tasks
- reports
The Solution
The solution I found natively handles all but one of my deal breakers, and I can fudge the last one. It’s also got many of the “really really wants”, and a couple of bells and whistles.
Drumroll Please….
The online GTD solution that I’ve chosen is…
…GTDTracks. Tracks itself is a “web-based application to help you implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology.” Tracks is a Ruby on Rails application, and if you want, you can download it and run it on your own web server. However, if you’re not interested in that kind of geeky goodness (remember my “easy to install” requirement above), there are a couple of online implementations of Tracks, that are much more suitable for the average non-geek.
To recap: The solution is actually Tracks, built with Ruby on Rails. It’s full of Ajaxy beautiful goodness, and is basically a fancy database back end that is free. However, getting it running on your own web server may not be for everyone, so there are front-ends, which basically do all the implementing and hosting heavy lifting for you, giving you a nice portal into a really nice application.
Tracks Front Ends
The front end I’m using is GTDTracks. It offers me a Tracks installation that I can access online, from any computer. I pay a monthly fee ($1.49/month) for this privilege. In return, I don’t have to worry about figuring anything out - it’s all taken care of for me.
Another front end that I found was tracks.tra.in. It offers a similar service to GTDTracks, but with one key difference - tracks.tra.in doesn’t offer a deferred start date. (Yes, it seems strange, since both of them are using the Tracks implementation; but I can’t argue with reality.) So basically, I’m paying $1.49/month for the ability to use the deferred start date. But, it’s that important to me. I think that GTDTracks has a slightly nicer look too, but that’s just me.
Finally, I did find a third Tracks front end, called Personal Tracks. This one doesn’t have a deferred start date, and to be honest, the look was so bad (although free) that I just couldn’t deal with it.
Comparison
Here’s my comparison between the three Tracks front ends.
As you can see, I didn’t even bother checking out the extra bits for tracks.tra.in or Personal Tracks. That’s because the deferred start date is that important to me.
But What About Search?
True, none of the front ends offer search. I have no idea why search is so hard to find in online applications - we’re talking digital here people! But, I did find a way to fudge the search…
Because I can see all of my current next actions on one page (if I so choose), I can make use of the Find feature in my browser to search for a particular next action. It turns out that I don’t use the search all that often anyway - the layout of the application is so good that it’s just as easy for me to get to the right context or project, and skim the list. But, I can search, in a way, when I need to.
Next?
I don’t want to make this post too too long. Next time, I’ll discuss what I really like about Tracks and GTDTracks, including some screenshots.