ForumsGetting Things Done®Toodledo vs. ThinkingRock
Toodledo vs. ThinkingRock
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matosyan |
Hello, I used to use ThinkingRock for about a year, and many other on PC fixed apps. After I bought my iPhone, I wanted to become more online, so I started using Gmail for all my accounts, Google Calendar as the only calendar.
I have been using Toodledo for 3 days, but I have not find the way how to make Toodledo to be a strong GTD tool as ThinkingRock is. Did you use ThinkingRock and now you converted to Toodledo? I would be grateful for any complex advice. My method at Toodledo: Setup: Folders - I use them as Topics for my roles and interest areas (Health, Entertainment, Self education, Family, Friends, Home, Finance) Context - I use it as it is, so it means Where (Work, Shop, Laisure time) Collect: Task without status. Process: I process things regularly, I go to Status, and choose No Status Reference: Change status to Reference Someday maybe: Change status to Someday maybe Trash Project: Change status to Planning, change priority to -1, so it does not appear in other lists, than I add subtask. Next Action: Change status to Next Action, put due date Do ASAP: Change status to Action, no due date Delegated: Change status to Delegated and add due date as reminder Someday maybe: Change status to Someday maybe and add due date as reminder if needed. Problems: 1. Missing simple way how to have "desktop" where I can see Scheduled, Do Asap, Delegated, Projects- I tried Search, but there is no filtering possibilities for search result, it is logical for search :) So I am not able to filter by context, what is very important for me. And besides, I did not find Search tab in toodledo.com/slim as I am using it at iphone. 2. Sequencing in Project (I found topic here, not so convenient for me, task should be inactive till the task before is done) Result: I am probably going back to ThinkingRock :/ So I will not be so online as I wanted. This message was edited Sep 08, 2008. |
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J-Mac |
Hi matosyan.
Don't know if you'll be back to read this, but I did use TR throughout its beta period. Thinking Rock is a nice, well-thought out, extremely detailed GTD-oriented task management application. However it is definitely not for users who wish to manage their tasks in a somewhat less restrictive manner. By restrictive I mean that some users strive to adhere to every precept stated by David Allen in his GTD book. Precisely and completely. Almost like they'll receive compliance violations if they stray a bit. However not all people who want to organize and/or manage their tasks want to adhere to as rigid a format as that. Some just want a very simple list of To Do's with the ability to sort, filter, prioritize, etc. Of course that's the opposite extreme. Most fall somewhere between those two descriptions. Thinking Rock required a lot of detailed input in order to make it work as your To Do list. I personally don't need that level of detail. In fact anyone who does desire to manage their tasks with less detail has some problems using Thinking Rock. Which is why I feel that Toodledo is great for the multitude of users wanting to manage tasks. There are a whole host of levels of detail that are available to organize and manage tasks. You can keep it very simple, or use all the available features and make it more of what each user wants to see individually. While Thinking Rock is definitely - IMO - the better pure GTD program, Toodledo offers a more customizable way to manage tasks that can satisfy a larger contingent of users. Of course that's just my personal opinion. Jim |
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Jeremy |
For the record,
I agree completely with Jim. I did pretty much the same thing that Jim did. I used thinking rock for a while and found it to be "rigid", although it was definitely a complete download, categorize, and prioritize process. Toodledo takes a little more discipline, but the accessibility and flexibility of the system make it a better choice. Add that to the features like email import and all the other things that we enjoy about Toodledo. Jeremy |
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matosyan |
Thank you for your replies, I found Toodledo as a good tool to manage task, but as I wrote, I miss basics from GTD, I will be great if more pure GTD possibilities are integrated in a future.
As you said in your post, Toodledo is made to be personalized for need of almost everyone, TR is not so open, so for not bothering other people with strict model, it will be cool to have some new options to turn on, so somone, like me, could make Toodledo more strict according to TR for example. We will see in the future, I am big fun of online apps, but failed this days to convert to be fully online, because of missing futures not only in Toodledo, Gmail etc. ... So I am back on TR, Outlook, MindManager, Office 2007 and My laptop. Ivan Matosyan |
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ericflores |
I can say that I basically learned GTD by using Thinking Rock (after reading the book, but it takes practice too). Those of use that are not well organized, that have too many ToDos and need focus, benefit for the structure that GTD and Thinking Rock provides.
In spite of that, I moved to Toodledo because of the iPhone application. I love entering the tasks in the desktop and reviewing them several times per day in the iPhone. I just do not use Topics now. I'm using Folders as the projects, but once you have many projects I cannot see them without selecting the More button. I also find it difficult having to switch different views to see my Next Actions* vs. Scheduled views. BTW, I use the Star to flag my Next Actions. Using the Status drop down list is too slow. I know, status provides more flexibility but I need to simplify my life. I started the Pro test demo today to tray the SubTasks, and find them not too effective yet. In Thinking Rock you have a Project View to organize your tasks (Nested) and a Tasks view to Do your tasks (not nested). I still need to test how to mimic this in Toodledo. |
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dmporter31 |
Sounds like I'm in the same boat. Thinking Rock looks like a wonderful app but, now that I'm on a iPhone, I MUST have a mobile, connected "all-in-one-place" device. WirelessRex's application worked great when I had a Crackberry but now that I've moved elsewhere for the mobile device, Toodledo and the associated iPhone app looks like it's my best & most effective option at this point.
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calvin.qin |
Hi matosyan
As you wrote, TR is more professional than this app. I suggest that you maybe try to use the app called "todo" from Appigo. It was more closed to the GTD and it is sync with "toodledo.com". By the way if you need do project, "Things" is suggested. It is sync with Mac destop. Thanks. |
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Proximo |
All of you have very good points and I was also a TR user. After reading David Allen's book, I started to search for a software or service that can make GTD work.
I am a technology type person and prefer Digital over paper any day. This is why I was looking for something that I can run on my PC or an on-line service. After installing many applications and using many on-line services, I narrowed things down to two options. TR was my favorite for a desktop app. and Toodledo was my favorite for an on-line service. At this point, I had to make a decision. Do I want to be restricted to the desktop or have the freedom of on-line. I decided that I needed something that would allow GTD to work in all areas of my life from anywhere I may be. This is why I picked Toodledo. With Toodledo I can take my GTD System with me. I can text from my phone to add task or retrieve task. I can forward an email as a task into Toodledo. I can open Toodledo from anywhere I have internet access. I don't have my iPhone yet, but I will be getting one soon and purchase the Toodledo app. TR was great but not flexible enough and it was very strict in structure. Toodledo allows me to implement GTD the way I want it to work. With allot of detail or not. The first time I used Toodledo I did not think it was good enough, but then I came back and took the time to actually enter many task and start to customize it. This is when I fell in love with it and realized it was perfect for GTD. I loved Toodledo so much that I purchased a Pro Account, just to support the Toodledo Team. This is when I realized that the Pro Account gave me options that changed the way I use Toodledo for GTD and I tweaked everything once more. Now I have a solid GTD system that is tailored to the way I want to work, not the way a software app. forces me to use it. When I have time, I will share how I implemented GTD with Toodledo and would love to see what others have done. -Proximo |
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Carsten Kring |
@Proximo
I would love to read how you have implemented GTD with Toodledo. regards, Carsten |
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Proximo |
Posted by Carsten Kring:
@Proximo I would love to read how you have implemented GTD with Toodledo. regards, Carsten Carsten Kring, Here is my break down. I am hoping Toodledo will fix or implement some things that are missing with Projects and Sub-task, but this is what I do for now. Folders are Areas of Focus. Such as Work and Home. When I am in a folder, I only want to see task related to my focus. At work, I only care about work related task. Some people use Context in order to separate areas of focus and they use folders for interest. I don't agree because context should be the resource required to complete the task such as @Phone, @Email. Using this method, they can only filter task by area of focus, but not what is needed in order to complete the task. Let's move on. In my areas of Focus (Folders) I list my task and fill out all the information needed. Many of these don't need to be explained since they are very basic such as priority. When I do my weekly review, I select the task that I wish to tackle that week. Here is how I use Status. Next Action = The task I am currently working or and usually the Highest Priority. Action = Task that need to be done ASAP and will be worked that week, but are not the task I am currently working on. Planning = Task that need to get done, but are not currently active but will be planned in the near future. Maybe my next weekly review I will toggle some of these to Active. Waiting = A task that I am waiting on a response from someone in order to move forward. Many times they start off as Active and then I toggle them to Wait when I need someone else to give me feedback or do something. Many times I toggle back to Active once I got what I needed from the person and I can now take the task further. I don't use any of the other Status at this point. These 4 do everything I need for my work environment. Projects: Ok, This can be a very long topic, but I will just say this. I am a Pro Subscriber and use Sub-task to manage my projects. A Task with several sub-task is actually a project. The main task get's a project name and the sub-task are the steps I need to take to complete the project. Tags: I use Tags on all the task that belong to a project. So if a Project is called "Buy Home", I would use a tag called "Buy Home" for all the sub-task. The reason for this is due to the way Toodledo handles sub-task. When they are nested, they are useless. I use sub-task flattened and this shows all my Project task in the same view as regular task. The tag helps me separate them out. That is the basics for my GTD control. I use Custom Search to create nice printable list based on several filters. I have one custom search that shows all my task in the Work Folder that are either Active or Next Action, but not completed. I have other post dealing with GTD in the GTD section of the forums. If you have any specific question, please let me know. |
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