The Anti-Blog Blog: Everyday Engineering and Architecture

First off let's just say that all three of these packages were easy to install and include the ability to check for updates automatically. Removing them is pretty simple as well. So they all pass the fundamental test of at least following the Mac paradigm of installation, update and removal.

For the purposes of this review I took a simple project for an upcoming dive trip to use as an example. it's not the most complex project but I wanted to use something rather basic and generic.

iGTD

I've been using iGTD for a little while now and probably have the most experience with it of the 3 packages I'm reviewing. That said it's not perfect but was the best thing for keeping track of a plethora of tasks and to do's beyond what a Palm device (Treo 700p) and iCal can handle.

The screenshot below is that of the main iGTD window showing projects off to the left, tasks in the upper part of the main screen along with any notes, links, tags and contacts.

Main Tasks Section

Compared with the other programs, this shows a more complete picture of the task at hand. Specifically while OmniFocus or Things might show dates (or only Due Date in the case of Things), neither specifically addresses priority and effort as simply as iGTD does. The downside to this is you lose flexibility somewhat and granularity. Things does everything through tagging and due dates alone. OmniFocus allows start date, due date, duration (minutes / hours) but no specific "priority" but it has other features which will be covered in it's own review.

Setting the Priority for each task was simple -- just mouse over and click on the priority you want for that particular task. Easy. Setting the effort was a little more difficult until I got the hang of it. The Effort being a bar, I was expecting a drag-and-drop but it's also a mouse over and click. Not hard, just takes a while to get accustomed.

iGTD does allow for recurring tasks but does not do anything fancy. It allows recurring every X number of days, weeks or months -- no fancy patterns like every Monday here. If you want that, you'll have to enter that task in iCal or something else.

Notes Section

Notes can be added to each task but formatting / font choices are fixed here. You might be able to change them temporarily but once you save, exit and relaunch you'll get the default font / format back again. Any links you enter within the notes section are not active either -- that's what the Bottom Section is for.

Bottom Section - Meta Data

Adding links is simply a matter of cut-and-pasting or dragging and dropping from your browser. Tags are simply entered and if it's already there, it's auto-filled if not iGTD creates a new tag. Contacts field is integrated with auto-lookup and fill from Addressbook.

Overall this area of the program was pretty simple to use

Integration

iGTD offers quite a bit of opportunity for integration. First off it works with Quicksilver. I'm not a Quicksilver user but I know that it's a large community within the Mac world and know quite of few users myself.

Beyond integrating with Quicksilver, iGTD has the ability to integrate with Apple Mail and pick up new tasks. Unfortunately, this only works if you use Apple Mail. I've tried it and while it's a nice program, I used Thunderbird as my mail application. (It might be time to re-evaluate that but not right just yet)

One neat little piece of integration is iGTD can quickly dump a project or task to Stickies (if you're a stickies fan like I am -- though I am trying to get away from the buggers). Plus if use Apple's Dashboard much, there is a Widget available to add a task quickly to your Inbox too.

The latest revision offers the ability to use a .Mac account to keep your things sync'd across multiple Macs. Neat!

Lastly, iGTD can synchronize with iCal and Palm via iSync, allowing you to see things on the go with your iPod or mobile device. It's great that it's there but generally speaking I find the usefulness limited. Thinking I will only a portion of my projects and lists to my mobile device.

The iGTD website lists many more applications that iGTD integrates with but beyond the ones mentioned here including some of the basics like Safari, I don't use the others.

Final

iGTD has been around the longest of the three packages I am reviewing. In fact a new version iGTD 2 is in Alpha right now -- though it unfortunately only works on Leopard.

Documentation and community around iGTD is pretty good. The price can't be beat -- it's FREE! (Donations are accepted)

There is a iGTD Pro in the works as well. It looks to offer better synchronization across multiple Macs using a central server. Possibly some collaborative things as well. It will be overkill for me. iGTD Basic (what I am using now) will remain free according to the website.

You may have notice I skipped the left panel for "projects". Well in the interest of brevity, all three packages use the "projects" concept to organize tasks. Personally that's not an area where it makes or breaks software in this area for me -- so I am skipping over some things.