Slightly related to other discussions going on. I’m impressed how far the software has developed since I started using it. Even though I read through all the posts here, I feel like I’m missing a lot. Some stuff like right-clicking on a tag is not intuitive to me. I’m sure the UX will get improved in the long run.
Short term, I’d appreciate it if you, Andrei, could post a guide and/or a video on how you use the software. How do you utilize Areas and Contexts effectively? Which keyboard shortcuts do you typically use? Do you prefix tags with “@” or “.”? Do you use colors? How does a work day look like? When and how do you review? It’s not that I don’t know (my) answers to that question or that you have to explain from scratch what GTD is. I don’t necessarily want to copy your system either. I just feel like besides obvious small features, you might have a vision and you have your daily experience which defines how Everdo is behaving right now.
Naturally, there’s a big trade off. Guides get out of date and they take quite some time. Of course, I still want the software to be improved. What do you think?
The way I see it, there are two issues at play here.
Discovering features of Everdo
Learning the good GTD practices
When it comes to (1), I think there needs to be a complete reference manual to the app. At this point Everdo Help / User Manual / Documentation does an OK job of highlighting some of the features. I believe some of the features you mentioned are in there. The link to this manual is in the help section of the app. The problem is that it’s not a complete manual. Once the functionality across platforms stabilizes, it will be redesigned, updated and linked everywhere.
Once you know the features, I think it should be sufficient to just follow your methodology of choice, such as GTD. I don’t think I have any special insight here. I just try to follow GTD the best I can. There might be a section in the manual on implementing GTD. I guess that might help.
When it comes to the format of the manual, I would much prefer text over video for many reasons.
There is. There’s a ton of development to get done, which well benefit every single user. And creating a high-quality manual (let alone video tutorials) is a big time drain, especially when the software is changing.
Regarding (2), I wanna make you rethink a bit. Not because I think you’re totally off but I think it’s not as straightforward as you claim. The reason I opened up this topic was because of threads like Expanding the number of Actions types? - #19 by manu . You have a tendency of not adding new features which I appreciate. I prefer software with a clear focus that is straightforward about what it does and what it doesn’t do.
I think, as a software developer just like you, we are perhaps a bit blind when it comes to how differently people work. It’s not your fault, it’s just a human flaw. As you said, all the building blocks are in the manual. But when I, and I assume other people given the existence of the forum besides bug reports, implement my system in Everdo, sometimes there’s sufficient friction. High enough friction to keep me engaging here with you. Not because I enjoy this but it’s frustrating me enough for me to write here even though I dislike writing. I didn’t open this topic to annoy you either, obviously.
My feeling is that either the software or my way of working has to give. I feel like you’re giving conflicting advice when you say in the other topic that people should maybe change their way of working yet in this topic you don’t show inclination to show how you use the software.
Please don’t underestimate how much the software is based on your own habits.
Everdo is grounded in GTD methodology. This methodology is based on particular workflow. For people who know GTD from practical point of view is pretty obvious how to use Everdo. Of course there are some tricks which aren’t visible at the first glance. If you want to implement GTD with software like Todois, OmniFocus or Nozbe then you need advice because they try to be more universal and none of them is dedicated to GTD. Everdo isn’t ambiguous like many other softwares are. The approach to deliver app which is as simple as possible but not simpler needs courage because we live in the world where every company try to implement as many rings and whistles as possible. Unfortunately it’s counterproductive. That’s why I admire softwares like Nirvana or Everdo and developers who are behind them. As a conclusion If you want to feel comfortable with Everdo you have to feel comfortable with GTD
Fair enough. I wasn’t looking for a tutorial that is about “how to get started with GTD and Everdo”. Still, there’s this big assumption of yours in there that if one does GTD properly then Everdo and Nirvana will be a perfect fit. Not saying you’re wrong, but that’s a big assumption.
In my post I was describing that little things threw me off and given the posts in this forum I felt that maybe Andrei implements GTD differently in his life. After all, you called GTD a methodology yourself, not a system. The former means for me a set of guidelines and principles which are inherently not specific rules and hence are open to small variations.
I do think there’s a place in the future manual for questions similar to the ones you suggested. And I appreciate that you did list them. That will help.
Since GTD, as described in the book, is not focused on using apps, it makes sense that there might be additional tips and workflows that make sense when using dedicated software.
This is why I think to be constructive about it we need to frame the issues in terms of “how to implement GTD more efficiently with Everdo” as opposed to how I personally use the app. Otherwise it’s just my habits against everybody else’s.
This is probably not addressed to me, but I think we shouldn’t draw any conclusions at all based on the use of “methodology” vs “a system”. These are very much interchangeable when used to imply a set of rules/methods.
