GTD on an iPod Touch or iPhone

David Gerlits on 1/23/08 wrote something to the effect of:

>Has anyone been successful in implementing GTD on either of these devices.

Well, in the absense of a true native GTD app on the iPhone, I came up with a hack for Mail that
works surprisingly well. I wrote about it here:

  http://www.macopinion.com/index.php/site/more/where_has_marc_been_part_4/

This was before Apple came out with their "To Do" system in Leopard and the underlying concept is
somewhat similar, though I still prefer (and use) my method.

Basically, my goal was to have my GTD tasks available to me wherever I am: on various Macs, on my
iPhone, etc. So I created a special IMAP email account that is used only for my GTD lists. Then I
created my lists as simple Draft emails. (I use Drafts so that the lists are still editable.)

Each list is a "context" (Home, Computer, Errands, etc.). The lists are subdivided into different
categories. Like my Errands list has a "Groceries" area where I add grocery items as I think of
them, as well as "Costco" and "Trader Joes" (for less frequent trips to Costco and Trader Joes), and
other stores (pharmacy, office supplies, etc.). It's totally annoying to make a trip to Home Depot
and forgetting to pick up something you knew you needed but didn't remember until you got home!

I'm sure once the iPhone/Touch SDK is released we'll have some native GTD apps and I may switch to a
different system, but I really like my system -- I love being able to access it from any computer or
anywhere via my iPhone. Any replacement system for me must have that same feature.

-- Marc

______________________________________________________________________
      Marc Zeedar * Publisher * REALbasic Developer Magazine
                    <http://www.rbdeveloper.com/>

I tried a bunch of the web-based to do lists, including Vitalist and Remember the Milk, but I think Toodledo is the best combination of GTDness and attractive iPhone and web interfaces. RTM requires a $25/yr "pro" membership for its iPhone interface, which just seems nuts to me.

With Toodledo, I use "Folders" to represent projects, and the service has a built in "Context" property. There are also tags, which I have not played with much, and which are not accessible through the iPhone interface. Toodledo lets you add items via e-mail (which is probably the quickest way to do it on an iPhone on EDGE) and will e-mail you a "Hot List" of your most important items for times when you are off the grid. E-mail support has been super-responsive. Toodledo also offers a "pro" version for $15/yr, which gets you enhanced tracking and collaboration features and a secure connection via SSL.

One downside is that Toodledo does not give you enough control from the iPhone interface. You can't create new folders or contexts, for instance. However, you can use the "regular" interface in Mobile Safari like any other web page.

A good (though, obviously, heavily slanted) comparison of features is at:

<http://www.toodledo.com/info/compare.php>

One thing that none of the services implement is the ability to put an item in more than one context or project. I might have a task that I could accomplish at home or at the office, on the phone or via e-mail, at the grocery store or at Costco, etc. I might have a task that would benefit two related projects. A lot of GTDers seem religious about the one-ness of these relationships, and most of the time that works for me, too, but not always. I wish someone would build this in. The alternative is making two copies of the same task and making sure to check them off as done at the same time, or making a special joint project or context (e.g., PhoneOrMail), neither of which is terribly elegant.

Jonathan