Tag Archives: things

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 4th January 2009

Christmas is all over with, the decorations came down today and here we are at the first weekly post of the New Year. I hope you all had a great time and I hope you are all ready for the year ahead.

I am sat in a hotel in Basingstoke, UK with only a 2G connection as the hotel has no WiFi. One day all hotels in the UK will have WiFi as standard without charging us ÂŁ15 for a days usage and ripping us off. Anyway, rant over.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to 7 Reasons Why I Love OmniFocus, a great post from GearFire.net, a new blog for me. I am still loving OmniFocus but I must admit that I am tempted to try out Things this week when it is launched fully if not just to reaffirm why I love OmniFocus.
  • My second link is a link to a Things, the main rival of OmniFocus and the polished Apple Mac GTD App which finally goes live at MacWorld on the 6th Jan. I am going to install this and give it a real run for its money and follow it up with a subjective review. I cannot see my swapping from OmniFocus but who knows..
  • My third link is a link to GTD-IQ. This is something that is mentioned in the first chapter of the new David Allen book, Making it All Work. GTD-IQ is a a website with a set of simple questions to test your GTD-IQ. Worth a look at to see where you are with your GTD-IQ
  • My fourth link is a link an article outlining the 11 qualities of a successful manager. This is a blog post from Ajay Matharu. I am sometimes appalled by the management skills found in some large organizations. If you are a manager, see how many of these qualities you think you portray in your style of management.
  • My fifth and last link for this week is a link to a GTD Summary from the 20something finance blog. Again, another good read and great to see people getting real benefit out of Getting Things Done. I like how the author has broken the book down into simple sections. I have always been meaning to do something similar and this has sparked an idea so watch this space.

Ordering a sandwich and then calling it a night. You would not believe how slow my Internet connection is, hoping it is better tomorrow. Let’s hope I have enough juice to publish this post…

What is your Best iPhone Productivity App for 2008?

The 2008 Best App Ever awards started yesterday and run through to the 6th of January.

Starting December 31st, 2008 we’ll take the 5 top nominations in each category and add 5 nominations from our list of iPhone bloggers, developers, and general web-celebrities for each category to come up with 10 nominated apps for each category. In addition, the 10 apps that get the most votes across all categories will compete for the title of Best App Ever. Please come back and vote for your favorite app in each category.

You have the chance to vote for your best ever iPhone apps of 2008. There is a category for the best ever Productivity Enhancer Application for 2008. The choices are:

  • Things
  • reQall
  • eWallet
  • OmniFocus
  • Grocery iQ
  • Evernote
  • Remember The Milk
  • Todo
  • LDA People
  • Smart Dialler

I have voted already, and those who read this blog will know the iPhone app that I chose, although there was a close second place as well.

Also, check out the category of Best Productivity Killer and see how many of these you have installed on your iPhone 🙂 I have one of these installed, the Facebook app.

What was your favorite iPhone productivity app of 2008?

Top 10 Free iPhone Productivity Apps

iPhone GTDLast week I blogged about the new Using your iPhone to Get Things Done micro site that Apple had just released.

I also released the list of the Top 10 Paid iPhone Productivity Apps according to downloads from the iTunes App Store.

As well as the list of the Top 10 Paid iPhone Productivity Apps, there was also the list of the Top 10 Free iPhone Productivity Applications.

These applications are the ones that are listed as Productivity Applications in the iTunes store. The ranking is based upon the number of times that they are downloaded from the iTunes store.

So, here are the list of the Top 10 Free Productivity Applications for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

I am glad to see Evernote on this list. Evernote is an application that I use all the time and really do find helps me with my capturing of notes, especially voice and photo notes.

I do not use any of the others, just going to check some of them out now to see what they are like. The iPhone really has been a hit for me as far as Productivity and their are some amazing apps coming out for it.

Do you have a story to tell about any of these Apps? Do you have other Free iPhone Productivity Apps that you use? I would love to hear so please comment.

Thanks,

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 30th November 2008

I had as great weeks vacation at Centerparcs with my family. I now feel energized and ready to get back to it.

I used my Moleskine and iPhone to their full ability whilst away, making a lot of notes and collecting every thought I had to ensure all my Open Loops were closed.

I had to do quite a catch up when I got back as I did not have 3G access on my Mac but I did on my iPhone.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to the latest December 08 issue of the Online Costco Connections Magazine. The reason for the link is that there is a great GTD Interview with David Allen on Pages 22 to 25.
  • My second link is from Baron.vc is it is a link about Really Getting Things Done with Remember The Milk iPhone App. Remember The Milk is a cool web and iPhone application and the blog post shows you how the author uses them both to Get Things Done.
  • My third link is a link to a video on how to create a GTD Notebook. The link to the video is from heathervescent.com although the link is to Rob Thompsons Blog
  • My fourth link is a link to a post about leaving Things, and moving to OmniFocus. I have not really given Things a proper try yet, as I am too firmly routed to OmniFocus and reading this post makes me glad that it seems my decision is the correct one.
  • My fifth and last link for this week is a link to the iBoughtaMac.com blog about To Do Lists Made Simple. The post focuses on Things as the application of choice. Good contrast to the last link.

I am trying to get one more post in tonight, a post covering the Top 10 Most Downloaded Free Productivity iPhone Apps.

Wishing you all a great week and I am glad to be back.

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 23rd November 2008

This week I am linking to five blogs that I have never linked to before. Some of these are established and some are total newbies to Productivity Blogging. Great to see new blogs appearing all the time.

If you have a new blog and have some great posts, be sure to let me know and I will gladly link to your great content in my weekly link roundup.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to a UK based site dedicated to managing your time. This is a great little site with some great resources. Pretty basic information and the site is Adsense heavy but sill a nice little site. It does appear to be a “Made for Adsense” type of site at first glance but the content does check out to be unique.
  • My second link is a link to the GTD tag from the Blue Knight Blog. The main reason for the inclusion of this blog is the information to be found on Pocket Informant. I used to use Pocket Informant on my Windows PDA and loved it. Nice to see it is still going and people are using it in their GTD and Productivity methodologies.
  • My third link is a link to a Scotch Box Hipster PDA (hPDA). A bit of fun and some good information from this new GTD Blogger.
  • My fourth link is a link to the first Google Android GTD Application Review from the Getting Things Done Blogspot Blog. Now, I have never seen an Android phone but looking at the user interface, I do not think the iPhone has much to worry about!
  • My fifth and last link for this week is a link to a neat little post about taking notes and using MarkUp. Another new blogger that I have never linked to and a blog which does seem to have good resoruces on it.

I am going away tomorrow for a midweek break to Centerparcs in Nottingham. Looking forward to a nice break with the family before the chaos of Christmas sets in.

May not be many posts this week, 3G coverage dependent.

Top 10 Paid iPhone Productivity Apps

iPhone GTDI blogged earlier today about the new Using your iPhone to Get Things Done micro site that Apple had just released.

One of the items on the micro site is a list of the Top 10 Paid iPhone Productivity Applications.

I am presuming this is based upon data from Apple and download information over a time period. However it is worked out, this is great data from Apple as you can see what other people are downloading in order to use their iPhone and iPod Touch as a productivity device.

So, below is the list from Apple along with links to Productivity Apps in the iTunes store.

The big shock for me is that my favorite GTD app on the iPhone, Omnifocus, is not on the list!. Maybe the cost of OmniFocus puts people off, and also the fact that you do really need the Mac App as well in order for it to work to the full effect.

The only real GTD or Task based item on the list is Things, which comes in at number 8!. Maybe

The category within iTunes for Productivity is quite big and covers a lot of areas. It is however interesting to see which applications are selling the best from Apples point of view.

What do you think? Are you surprised by this list of the top 10 Productivity Apps?

Review of the Nozbe GTD and Productivity Application

NozbeNozbe is a great tool for both strict Getting Things Done adherents and those looking only to provide some better structure for their work and life.

The website and program are both well developed and feature a solid spin on David Allen’s teachings as a way to increase overall productivity while lowering your stress.

The site initially appears pretty cluttered but once you’ve navigated yourself into signing-up and getting into the heart of the system, Nozbe offers one of the best online GTD options currently available.

Everything is visually based to a degree not found in many competitors and this goes a long way toward maintaining functionality.

The only drawback to the entire approach is that it takes a little while to truly figure out the program and start really using it to its full potential.

While Nozbe has a lot of the bells and whistles often lacking in GTD sites or software, this positive trait is often something of a double-edged sword navigation wise.

Nozbe

Nozbe has a lot of great features worth taking advantage of however and, as mentioned above, it hosts some uses that other GTD-centered apps and sites lack.

Users can input their projects, to-do lists, next actions or group tasks as is to be expected but Nozbe also offers a little bit more than the usual fare.

Simple touches like the ability to share files among a group have a lot of potential for making the system far more viable than the more self-sufficient options out there.

Nozbe allows file attachment to tasks and projects as well which is extremely handy for organizing the clutter which can be associated with different work into one place. Images, text documents or little scraps of information (like Notepad files) can all be grouped into one place, an invaluable feature to be sure.
Nozbe
Mobile options are also fantastic to see present here. Nozbe hosts support for iPhones, regular cell phones and a variety of browsers (for both Windows and Mac operating systems).

This attention to compatibility and ease of use is a great implementation of David Allen’s recommendation for portable, PDA-like organizing and Nozbe users should be able to get a lot of mileage from it.

The platform is a bit visually scattered compared to other GTD applications as mentioned before but anyone impressed enough by the huge amount of things done right at Nozbe should be able to get over this and take the time to find their way around.

In terms of a general criticism this should be made clear, although it also shouldn’t be taken as an entirely negative report on Nozbe considering how much it does right.

Perhaps the most enticing aspect of the platform is the innovation that the Nozbe team brings to their system. Although there are better options out there, none of them quite have the scope of vision presented in Nozbe’s mobility, sharing and file attachment details.

These alone make figuring out the sometimes muddy interface worth the time and effort in the end.
Nozbe
It’s difficult to recommend Nozbe for everyone considering how many other fantastic options are out there that succeed in aspects focused on in its overall service.

When you log in go the Nozbe system, there are a collection of videos showing you how to start using Nozbe right through to some advanced uses of Nozbe.

Just the same it is one of the more unique GTD applications currently available and its visual approach coupled with the mobility options makes Nozbe a system at least worth checking out.

For some, the site may be too much trouble to have any real, lasting worth but for others, Nozbe could be exactly what they’re looking for.

I am an affiliate for Nozbe, so by you signing up, you do earn me a small referral fee.

Nonetheless, it is worth signing up to a free account and seeing how you get on.

Do I use Nozbe?, No I don’t. OmniFocus is the GTD app for me because my profile does not really fit a web app.

Did you enjoy this review? What are your thoughts about Nozbe? I would love you to comment so we can start a discussion.

Things – GTD System Reviewed at LifeHacker

I mentioned Things, the new Mac GTD application in a previous post.

I have just read a pretty good review of the Alpha release of Things over at LifeHacker.com

I have briefly toyed with Things, but I am spending a lot of my GTD research time right now still with OmniFocus, which I must admit I am loving and the daily updates are bringing new features to the party all the time.

It is a fantastic time to be a Mac owner, and into Getting Things Done. I cannot wait to fully review all these new GTD applications.

Things – New Mac Getting Things Done Application

Things
I have just been having a good look at a new GTD application to hit the scene. It is called Things, and comes from CulturedCode.com.
 
I have not yet had chance to play with it although I have signed up to their newsletter so hopefully I will get on the Alpha/Beta program to test it out.
 
Must admit that it does "look" nice.  I am still Alpha testing OmniFocus and I have migrated most of my projects and next actions away from iGTD to OmniFocus now. Must admit that I am loving OmniFocus. They just seem to have thought of so many keystroke saving usability functions that it makes using it a dream. I must admit that Things seems to "look" nicer than OmniFocus, but when I review them both I will report back on the findings.