There are many Getting-Things-Done (GTD) apps for the Mac. Some, like Midnight Inbox and iGTD are just too complicated for everyday use and require too much planning for GTD-beginners. Others, like Actiontastic are very multi-functional, but most of us just want something that simply works. This is where Things steps in and it’s my favorite.
‘Things’ is essentially a straight-to-the-point task manager. You won’t need to compile all of your information, emails, images, PDFs, etc in preparation for this application. Basically, all you need to do is: recall your To-Do’s and start entering them in. Like most GTD apps, new entries automatically go into the Inbox. After you’ve emptied your brain of your daily, weekly and monthly chores, you may begin start to sort them out according to priority, and this is where Things shines.
Priority of your To-Do’s are divided by its due date, which makes it much simpler than color-coding tasks or assigning importance from 1-10. If your task needs to be completed today, just click and drag it into ‘Today’s Focus’. Tasks which you need to complete after the more important ones are done go into ‘Next Focus’. And tasks which you might want to do, but are just too lazy, go into the ‘Someday’.
For every To-Do, you can assign tags, notes and due dates (which I think is just all you need to get something done). Once a task is done, just add a check to its box, and by the next day, it will automatically be transfered to ‘Completed’.Another feature of ‘Things’ is the ability to organize tasks by Projects.
A Project is a group of tasks required to produce a result. So inputs like:
may be collectively added into a ‘Writing a Journal’ Project.
Besides Projects, there is a broader collection of tasks called ‘Areas’. Let me explain. Let’s say after writing a journal, I’d like to publish it. So, the Project ‘Writing a Journal’ and the task ‘Go to the printers’ may be added to an Area called ‘My Autobiography’. This category is generally for larger, long-term accomplishments.
Currently, ‘Things’ is available as a free preview until Spring 2008. You may download it from CulturedCode’s website. And oh, it’s Mac only.
(By) Jackson Chung is a full-time med student attempting to perform a juggling act with relationship, studies and his future.
Filed Under: Mac
Tags: Mac, notes, productivity, task manager, to-do
[...] Get Things done on a Mac with Things…‘Things’ is essentially a straight-to-the-point task manager. You won’t need to compile all of your information, emails, images, PDFs, etc in preparation for this application. Basically, all you need to do is: recall your To-Do’s and start entering them in. Like most GTD apps, new entries automatically go into the Inbox. After you’ve emptied your brain of your daily, weekly and monthly chores, you may begin start to sort them out according to priority, and this is where Things shines. (via makeuseof) [...]
Hey, I just noticed that this is the first MUO post for Mac users only. Finally
Thanks. Loved it.
I’m glad you liked it!
Yes, we’ve decided to start branching out a bit. Jackson is going to start covering Mac applications and we are also exploring the possibility of covering other things such as Linux. But it’s still early days and we are not sure yet how we are going to go about it. But when we decide, you’ll be the first to know about it!
[...] Please welcome three new writers to the Make Use Of team - Anthony, Jackson and Mackenzie. While Anthony will be joining the rest of us and focus on web-based apps, Jackson and Mackenzie will start off MakeUseOf Mac and Linux sections, respectively. Obviously there’s more to computers and the web than just plain old Windows and so we’ve figured it would be best to expand a little and offer our readers a bit more choice in their reading. Actually, Jackson already reviewed couple of Mac apps, a unversal “my status” manager MoodBlast and a GTD program known as Things. [...]
I’ve recently learned of GTD and have written about my experiences as a switcher from Covey to Allen at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com I’ll have to check out this application, although I’ve recently adopted another that lets me take my GTD wherever I go, on my desktop at home or work, and even on my iPhone. J.
For implementing GTD you might try out this web-based application:
Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.
As with the last update, now Gtdagenda has full Someday/Maybe functionality, you can easily move your tasks and projects between “Active”, “Someday/Maybe” and “Archive”. This will clear your mind, and will boost your productivity.
Hope you like it.
Hi! Do you know if there’s any Windows equivalent to this Things app? Thanks!