However, I still feel like it could be better. The current breed of GTD apps have the basics down: you can organize your tasks into projects and subprojects as well as contexts, and you can view your tasks by either project or context. Which works just great. However, when it comes to assigning dates to projects and tasks, every app I've tried falls short. There is typically a very, very rudimentary "integration" with iCal which always seems to be added as an afterthought.
Which brings me to the topic of calendar apps. I like Google Calendars quite a bit. I love that I can get a daily agenda emailed to me automatically. But the integration with my GTD software just isn't there.
The real problem for me however is that scheduling and planning projects should really be done in the same application because they are essentially trying to solve the same set of very closely related problems which so far have yet to be tied together with the "integration" features of current GTD software. What real-world object are we trying to digitize? A daily planner and organizer, wherein one might keep both to-do lists as well as calendar pages with events and reminders.
I took a look at a solution called Scrybe which has a very nice video on YouTube showing off its features. After watching the video, I couldn't wait to try it. It seemed like somebody had finally combined scheduling and task tracking beneath a single umbrella, plus a nice looking clips and notes organizer. But when I finally got my invitation and tried it out, I was nothing but disappointed. The task lists are very much lacking, and the interface itself is pre-alpha buggy. Damn.
My ideal GTD solution
My ideal GTD solution would have all the following features:
- GTD-style task management - I should be able to group my tasks into projects, subprojects, and contexts and order them how I please.
- Scheduling - Some sort of scheduling system. Perhaps I schedule by context so that my tasks can be placed onto calendar dates automatically based on how much time they will take and how long I will be in the necessary context. Of course, the schedule can be altered on the fly because not every week is exactly the same. There should definitely be an editable and printable "Today's Agenda" view.
- Collaboration - I should be able to share projects with colleagues and delegate tasks. The process of inviting new contacts into a project and subsequent invitation acceptance should be very smooth. This means integration with my current lists of contacts, from multiple sources. Shared contexts would be cool too so that I could easily see when certain team members will be in the office and what tasks they have scheduled, but simply being able to send a task to a comrade's inbox would be sweet enough.
- Issue tracking - Okay, this is a little bit specific to software development, but not entirely. Integrating issue tracking with collaborative GTD-style task management on a collaborative level would be the ultimate productivity platform for software developers as well as many other types of collaborative projects in which the unexpected kink or insight occurs, whether via a member of the team or a customer.
- Open data - APIs and XML dump ensures not only that your data is yours to keep, but allows tight integration of the platform with other components, providing an open-endedness which allows the software to do more for people than the developer ever imagined it would.
Tell me a GTD platform offering these features in a single package would not be sweet. If my plate wasn't already full, I'd be building it right now.
Maybe someday.
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