iGTD 1.4

Kinkless paved the way, but the times are changing. A slew of GTD (Getting Things Done) applications are now available for the Mac. Perhaps the most well-known of the new breed, iGTD is the creation of Polish programmer Bartek Bargiel. He offers iGTD as donationware, but don’t let that fool you. This is a very capable application, and Bartek seems to put a lot of effort into ongoing development and support.

If you’re already familiar with Kinkless, the transition to iGTD won’t be difficult. The same basic GTD concepts of Projects and Contexts drive iGTD, but the smooth, integrated feel of iGTD makes the process of getting things done easier.

Capabilities

iGTD is built around a familiar three-pane interface. At the left pane you see projects. The top right pane displays tasks. The bottom right pane shows task notes, a calendar that reveals start and end dates for tasks, and a selector for making a task repeat at chosen intervals.

Along the top of the application window, iGTD’s sort buttons give you the ability to view tasks by context (the settings in which the tasks are ordered), project, inbox (for tasks that haven’t yet been given context or a project), or by whether they have yet to be accomplished, or have already been accomplished. You can also use the Process/review button for your daily or weekly filtering.

The Sync button, as you might expect, syncs your tasks to iCal. The iGTD app creates categories in iCal for your iGTD contexts. So your “On Campus” context in iGTD becomes a category called “@On Campus” in iCal. One nice touch: You can choose which categories to sync, and can set when you want iGTD and iCal to sync.

This level of fine control and configurability is perhaps iGTD’s biggest strength. Contact names added to tasks tie in to Address Book, so if you have a contact in Address Book, iGTD creates an automatic link to the contact info. Tasks are not only prioritized, but can also be given effort ratings. You can sort tasks by either of those values, or by start date, due date, name, project, or context. You can even add tag metadata to a task, so you can search by tag if you like.

iGTD includes a Quicksilver plugin, which is extremely helpful for quick task entry. It also integrates via F-keys with an exhaustive list of apps, including Journler, Mori, MailTags, Yojimbo, and others. This means you can select an object in one of these apps and instantly drop it into your iGTD inbox with the press of a function key.

Tradeoffs

The interface is extremely important for an app such as this, which gets used day in and day out. An interface element that might be a minor annoyance in a disk utility can be a real nonstarter in a GTD application. iGTD uses a lot of color. Green, black, white, and copious amounts of yellow appear on the button bar, while red, orange, yellow, green, black, and gray are used in the project and task panes. Blue gets a nod in the calendar. While careful use of color to represent status can be quite helpful, I find it a bit overwhelming in iGTD’s three pane arrangement.

Earlier I mentioned the Process/review button. The periodic review of tasks is an important component of the GTD philosophy, but I’m still not very comfortable with iGTD’s implementation. I can’t quite get used to toggling through left/right and up/down arrows in order to adjust a task’s contexts and projects. I find myself adjusting dates more often than contexts or tasks, which is not supported by the Process/review action. I find myself reviewing tasks manually, which is not terribly burdensome. However, it would be nice to have a better built-in system.

Printouts are a shortcoming for iGTD. Tasks can be printed out in simple text, HTML, or CVS (for Microsoft Excel). Although the HTML option is adequate, it feels like a workaround. A more robust printing capability would be welcome.

The Bottom Line

I have been using iGTD for the past few weeks, and to me it feels like a Swiss Army Knife for GTD. It packs many capabilities into one tool, and you can rely on it day in and day out. I can hands-down recommend it as a replacement for Kinkless.

OmniGroup is hard at work on OmniFocus, and from what I’ve seen it is going to another well-crafted OmniGroup app. Doubtless I or someone else will write a comparison review when OmniFocus ships. In the mean time, iGTD is on the scene and Bargiel continues to improve it. He is also working on a Pro version, which will ostensibly provide more capabilities and will not be donationware.