Hi Folks,
This post is for any of you who have ever asked, “What’s the best software tool with which to do GTD?”
I’m still buzzing myself from the recent global GTD Summit in Amsterdam. So many people from around the world; so much positive, supportive energy from everyone to anyone engaged. Wow. Quite a unique experience for me, and from what I’ve heard from all involved.
One topic I wanted to address at the Summit was: “Where is the GTD app?” in terms of a software tool that really “did it” for me.
It hasn’t happened yet.
Ultimate GTD app
At the Summit I briefly shared a vision of the “ultimate GTD app” which consists of 19 pages of hand-drawn drafts of the screens I would want to use. I just said to myself, “Can I click F1 on my computer and get to a clear head?” I spent two days creating those screens. This was in 1994.
Since I drew these, we’ve invested in two serious attempts at producing a software product that would do it (or at least come close). Both ended in a “not yet” conclusion, after tremendous research in the tech and analysis of the market (one in the mid-1990s and the last in the mid-2010s.) Our partners in these enterprises were the best and brightest you could possibly gather to explore this. But the technology required to make some simple GTD practices happen, and the lack of awareness in the marketplace for such a tool, put a kibosh on both endeavors.
Download the screens I would want to use
So I promised our hundreds of people at the GTD Summit that I would make those screens available to the public. This was originally legally protected IP; but I decided to just make it “open source” now in case any of you out there could make it happen.
Here they are, below. Or download the PDF.
My CTO and great friend for many years, Eric Mack, came the closest to giving us something that built in some of the best practices. And he’s recently written about his experience and what it takes to build the ultimate GTD app.
He knows the methodology, in spades, and what has worked and not worked in trying to digitalize it. It required configuring the Lotus (IBM) Notes app we still use in our company, with some great features and abilities. (That’s still what I use to manage my action lists). Eric has said he’d be open to connect with any of you who want to know more about how this best-practice model can be digitalized. He’s at [email protected].
All the best, to all of you.
—David Allen
This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
I really appreciate David Allen sharing this – I hope someone designs a tool for this. For me as a person with extensive software design experience and currently self learning and implementing GTD, these notes are a source of immense learning in implementing GTD using a combination of paper/pen and the digital tools I use. Thanks once again.
Zenkit est vraiment excellent pour ca.
De loin le meilleur que j’ai testé (sur des dizaines de logiciels testé).
https://zenkit.com
Another tool that should be tested is Seatable (https://seatable.io). It has probably only been around since 2020, but has developed enormously so far. I’ve been using it since day 1.
There was a GTD plug in app that worked with Outlook that I used in the early 2000s. I believe David had something to do with it’s development. It was wonderful. Now I still use Outlook but set it up with the users guide recommendations. It works fine but is not integrated like the plug in was. Did anyone else use this tool? For the life of me, I can’t recall the name of the company that developed it.
Hi Bart, the Outlook Add-In was developed and sold by NetCentrics. It was a great product. They stopped selling and supporting the software in summer 2015.
why didn’t Netcentrics and David Allen release the software to the public domain (open source it). The community would’ve been able to keep the software alive, adapt to new Outlook changes and add new ideas…
Hi Peter, that would have been up to NetCentrics. You could ask them if they considered that. I’m not sure if there is still anyone with the company who was involved with the Outlook Add-In, but there is contact information in the footer of their website. https://netcentrics.com/
I used it and loved it. I just resurrected an old laptop and only YESTERDAY, I deleted that outlook add-on or I would probably be able to tell you the name.
“All the best, to all of you.”
For you too. Thank you so much!
Dear all,
I liked the PDF file, it’s a good source of inspiration. The strength of the GTD method is that it can be adapted to all environments. Therefore, finding software that meets such a wide range of different needs seems to be an impossible task. Finally, you must be able to use the GTD method with a blank notebook, pencil and telephone. I wish you all the best.
Best regards
Olivier
Dear all,
I was able to (copy) build the setup as indicated in the drawings of David Allen at the GTD summit and I do think it comes close to the concept of David Allen. It is working on iPhone, iPad and iMac (the first two with Shortcuts and the latter with Keyboard Maestro).
I am now working for a couple of weeks with this setup and I am very satisfied with the project because it brought me back “to the roots” and made my system and daily work process much more simple. One of the general ideas of a GTD system is to keep it simple but somewhere I lost this concept. However the view and use is simple, setting it up is more complex.
You can find a document here: https://bertkruisdijk.wordpress.com/2019/07/24/david-allens-killer-gtd-app-system-brought-into-practice/
Enjoy reading.
Bert
I’ve been using OmniFocus from The Omni Group for several years to do GTD and it’s been working very well for me. They have a cool overview video about how GTD works in the context of OmniFocus here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZp0eHCOEJs It’s only on iOS and Mac, but they just released a reduced functionality web-based version to give people access on other platforms. I imagine that the web version will improve over time. I hope the people here have looked into it.
Anyway, thanks for giving the world GTD, my life has changed because of it. I’m probably about 4 times as productive as I was before and I have more peace now. It’s awesome.
I have just been experimenting with “The Brain” 10 and I think it will work out great as the tool for my project management.
The depth of structure and data referencing is dynamite so far.
Labels for each type like “Action Items, ” “Deferred”, and so-on. Can link to calendars, URLs, custom notes, etc.
“I’m still buzzing myself from the recent global GTD Summit in Amsterdam.” I’m from Belgium, just a drive away from Amsterdam. I’m just getting my head arround all the principles but I would have loved to attend. Is there another GTD summit planned in Amsterdam in the near future?
Hi Bart, thanks for asking. We don’t have plans for another GTD Summit at this time. You could check with our partner in your area to see if they have any events coming up.
https://www.meereffect.nl/
[email protected]
Thank you for the tip John! I think I’ll attend the GTD implementation workshop next month.
I read GTD about 15 years ago and was very inspired by the book and studied it and incorporated the ideas into my own systems. I recently caught David Allen on the art of manliness which was fascinating and inspired me to take a look at the website. The pdf of the GTD GUI are great! I think these days user inter faces are a bit different in how we do stuff, eg how you use your iPad or windows pc. From my own experience I think I’m doing most of that GUI using OneNote and outlook as they integrate closely together. I think you can go a long way with calendar, outlook reminders on emails to follow up, outlook due dates / start dates on onenote actions (creates at outlook task), onenote work/home landing pages with shortcuts to projects or themed projects etc. Onenote has all the flexibility of whatever paper based system you want to implement with a lot more in terms of search, tags, reminders, ties to outlook. I tend to use outlook inbox as my inbox for post it’s or whatever, I often email myself some random thought. Onenote is also perfect for organising your reference system. I have 1000s of pages in onenote on everything I’ve looked at both at home and for work. My passion karate has a huge reference section, but GTD project wise it’s very focused and most of the time I feel my head is clear like I’m mid kata! I think if you wanted you could show how to implement the GTD system in onenote/outlook mostly with some care as the pages are free form so you need to create the form / template rather than the originally envisaged form orientated interface. I don’t really see the point creating a custom app as most of the core functionality required already exists. I waited 20 years for onenote to come out! There are other good alternatives. Many thanks to David Allen for his excellent book. I also like how to live on 24 hours a day in the productivity genre.
I am using Pocket Informant for GTD. It works well.
http://www.pocketinformant.com
Hi,
I have the impression that the “ultimate productivity app” is a combination of a tablet/computer and paper. There are some recent large E-ink display tablets that I think could actually “get this done”.
I think the first to look at is the Onyx Boox Max 3: https://www.boox.com/boox-max3/
Others are the reMarkable and Sony DPT, but they have custom software and it would be more difficult to have a custom app for them, plus they are just a lot more limited in functionality. The Max 3 runs Android which makes it a lot easier, plus it just supports a lot of document formats out of the box.
I’m recommending Onyx contact you over this, hopefully they will as their tablet is very paper-like for reading, and not to bad for writing on with their stylus.
So far, battery life is great, though I’ve only had mine for a few days.
I’m going to see what I can combine to organise my life better. Thanks Dave for all your work and all you share. Its such a big surprise how people can life better lives if they are in their own driver seat.
Fisher
When I first started to learn and use GTD, I used a Palm-pilot (model V if I remember correctly). It’s list-management and other features were so simple and worked wonderfully for GTD. I have tried many, many software and apps, but nothing comes close to being simple and easy to follow GTD methodology. The only addition was a tiny notepad I had in my back pocket.
Maybe someone can create a Palm-sw clone for android/ios?
Hi fellow GTDers,
as part of my long process to fully implement GTD in my life and being one of the guys that love to go paperless, I tried many software.
Finally I burned all the ships and since last year, using these notes I started to build the system on my own in Coda.
The experience was so life changing for me that I have started to write articles about that as many peoples wanted to know how I was able to create a GTD Mission Control on my own without coding experience.
Here you can find the link to my articles:
The first it’s about why I choose to build my own system and why I choosed Coda:
https://pasinigiacomo.medium.com/why-coda-can-change-your-gtd-game-forever-2cbc67020b20
The second it’s a complete tour around my Project Management List section.
https://pasinigiacomo.medium.com/how-to-build-your-taylor-made-gtd-project-management-software-in-coda-2363d0ec17db
I am also planning to write other articles on other sections like Capturing, Clarifying etc etc.
Currently I am still building and refining the Retrospective Section for the Weekly Review that it’s the most challenging part (as the Weekly Review it’s commonly where the most part of practicioners tend to fall off tracks.
These notes are a real gift to humankind, thank you David!
I’ve been on the hunt for a new GTD tool recently. I had a great run with GTD about 15 years ago, it changed my life. But after a few years I slipped. Now looking to tighten things up again!
I started using Bear note app for GTD but, because I also use it for blogging etc, I’ve realised I really want something dedicated that I can have open alongside other stuff – always showing relevant information. I don’t want to have to switch to a different note to see what’s going on.
Right now I’m trying Trello (only just started this experiment), mainly because I can have lists side-by-side, nicely at a glance. It feels ok I’ll report back once I’ve run with it for a bit. I also considered Notion but again, I use this for other things so I want something dedicated (I suspect Coda would be a similar story).
Out of interest, if anyone is interested in developing a GTD app I also run UX and mobile app development company in the UK (https://pocketworks.co.uk). This could be a fun challenge. I’m not sure if we could get funding, or part funding at least.
I’ve been looking through Davids PDF, it’s useful to see what he feels he needs. We should do some broader user research 🙂
David, did you envisage a mobile tool or just a desktop one when you sketched those notes? I saw a YouTube from 2019 I think, so they’re quite recent?
Hi Tobin,
David drew those screens in 1994. He shared them at the GTD Summit in 2019. He also did a public podcast about them in 2019.
Tobin – I would be interested in how you found Trello as a software for a GTD system. I am beginning with a non-profit and researching the best free software for us to use.
Best.
I found and used a great app called Zendone for several years. It followed the GTD methodology beautifully, had a professional and informative interface and integrated seamlessly with Evernote and Google Calendar. It was, for me, the ideal GTD app after years of searching and trying a multitude of services. Alas, and perhaps inevitably, it stopped operations last year. The hunt resumes.
There’s an app called Nozbe that was developed with GTD in mind. It’s not a free app, but I’ve found it to be completely worth its price. The developers are in Poland and the entire company is remote. Nozbe works for personal use, but they also have a teams-based collaborative development as well. There’s a web-based version, a version for PC, one for Mac, and for each of the mobile platforms. Synchronization across platforms does require internet, but lack of connectivity doesn’t prevent you from using the app locally. It does have calendar integration, you can bring in items from Evernote, and you can email an item (forward an email for action) and it will land in the Inbox for you to process.
I have my projects set up and numbered. Each project’s tasks get numbered with the project number, and the next action gets a calendar date. Nozbe’s calendar shows me what’s coming up and it also has google calendar integration, so the tasks show up on my google calendar on my computer and on my phone and other mobiles.
I had tried a few other methods, and I had gotten Evernote set up to sort of work for me using GTD, but Nozbe was actually developed around the GTD methodology, and I gladly pay the $70/year it costs.
At this time, maybe Notion or Coda is the best note taking/project mananagement app for GTD method
Prove me wrong!