What about GTD?

If you're wondering what GTD is, look here.

Anyway, back to the question (which I'm glad you asked.)

I've always been interested in improving my efficiency and performance at work (and elsewhere), so when I saw David Allen's "Ready For Anything", it looked interesting so I bought it. Wow! That book changed my life - even before I read the flagship book. As soon as I finished it, I immediately ordered "Getting Things Done" and devoured it too.

Like most people starting out with GTD, I got an immediate boost in productivity and an immediate decrease in my daily stress level. Also, like most GTD newbies, I got pretty hung up on finding a task manager that would be the perfect fit.

It doesn't exist. There is no perfect fit. Many have tried. None have succeeded.

The thing is, many people are looking for an application that will do GTD for them. There are several applications out there that try to be the be all and end all of GTD programs. Many are very good programs. None worked for me.

The thing is, I don't want a program that will do GTD for me. I thought I did, but what I really wanted was a trusty tool - not a program that would hold my hand. The programs that I tried that try to walk users through the whole GTD process just don't do it for me. They don't do "my" GTD.

One of the first things you learn when you start poking around the Internet and reading about GTD is that NO ONE does it exactly the same as anyone else.

I wanted an application that would quickly blend into the background of my day-to-day operations. Merlin Mann of 43folders.com, I think, has it right. He mentions that he doesn't want a Swiss army knife for GTD, but rather a collection of ultra-sharp paring knives.

With Power To-Do List, we're shooting for bad-ass paring knife status.

Power To-Do List supports Contexts, has a brain dump (mind sweep) feature, has a Next Actions view, and gives you lots of other ways to view your tasks. It doesn't synch with any handhelds (yet), but it will print your tasks in just about any way you can imagine.

As the product matures, we'll incorporate other features that further support the GTD methodology. Like our other products, we'll add features that our users tell us they want. What we won't do, though, is force anyone into our idea of GTD.

In time, I'll add some articles to the site about how I use Power To-Do List with GTD. I'll also relay stories about how our users do the same.

For example, I have a project called "Daily Review" in my Power To-Do List. It's kind of a mini weekly review that I do each morning. Each day, I check off the tasks in my daily review as I do them. The last task is "Uncheck all tasks and reset reminder for tomorrow."

Happy paring.

Bret Reece
Owner and Head Geek
Five O'clock Software