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That makes me dependant on two apps to do one thing
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what do you do with five things due at the same time? That is doing to be one wild calendar. All those tasks with a calendar entry… Wow. Good luck with managing that calendar.
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calendars have start times and finishing times. Tasks don’t. Is the app going to create a bunch of five minute tasks?
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Please don’t take me wrong but you seem to be very focused on yourself and your own needs.
This is how I manage my tasks and calendar:
According to GTD methodology, I do my next tasks as soon as possible. Depending on available time, energy and context. I have Nirvana and Everdo app opened all the time at work. I start my day from quick look at my next action list. I also check my calendar every morning.
Even when I plan some tasks to be done tomorrow and so on I don’t want them in my calendar. I don’t want them there unless it is crucial to do on that date.
None of my “normal” next action tasks are on my calendar. My calendar is the most important tool that I have. I put there only tasks and events that have to be done at a particular time. If it is not done at that time then it is invalid and I can get rid of it.
My calendar keeps only must-do task, not optional tasks. It is funny how a small number of tasks are real 100% commitment for a particular day.
For me, it is impossible to have two tasks at the same time in my calendar. At the same day, yes but it is not a problem. It is rather normal.
I DON’T USE MY CALENDAR AS REMINDER TOOL.
I manage my work stream not conversely.
I also use time blocking method to protect my most productive time during the day. I put into my calendar an event which is 3-4 hours long. It is put at my most productive time and it protects me from any kind of meetings and other things. It’s my time for my deep work.
I use my calendar for this because I want my colleagues to know that I am busy at a particular time.
What is very important, I don’t plan particular tasks but I block my time for deep work. Whatever it is.
Of course, your approach isn’t bad but it is not something universal. Each of us has different duties and jobs. We have to adapt our workflow in a way that the best suits us.
I think you shouldn’t force your approach so heavily.
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Just curious why you are using Nirvana and Everdo at the same time?
Aren’t they basically the same app?
Nirvana is my major trusted system and I love it. It works great for me. I used Nozbe since 2013 and after 6 years switched to Nirvana. Nirvana is very stable and mature product but its development is very slow. It’s not a real minus for me but such situation always provokes thought about abandoned product. Even if it’s not true when it comes to Nirvana. I found Everdo by chance and started to delve into it because of its similarities to Nirvana. Now both apps are pretty equal but Everdo’s roadmap is outstanding for me. It could be the best option on the market. And now go to the point:) I have particular group of projects which are very sensitive and I really struggled with managing them along with my typical everyday projects. Even if I managed them in different areas in Nirvana I felt like in stuffy room. So I decided to give a try and move them to Everdo. I am very happy with this division.
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I totaly agree with joshuarobison! This is a must have for this app!
Sometimes you must do something at or around a specific time, or at least you want to be reminded at that time, that you should maybe start with that. If you ignore that message, that’s also ok, and it still stays in Next. I do not want to use my calendar for useless things, like: “give the plants water at home, on monday evening”
I just want to get a reminder, like “yo, you should give your plants water now”… and i do not really want that in my “Next” all day, cause i want to give them water in the evening when i get home.
Now i see it on my Focus/Next list or whatever, but i don’t get reminded of, and since it at the end of the day, i might be tired and am to lazy to open my Everdo app and check what the … i should be doing this evening.
If i just get a friendly reminder, “Give water to plants” it’s all solved.
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Hi guys! Honestly, GTD is everything but buzz you for something. GTD is about reviewing your lists everytime you are going to get stuff done. Buzz, beep… is just the opposite of GTD.
I definitely agree, but for a lot of people, including myself, reminders are a great addition to the GTD method. Overusing them obviously takes away from the method, but for some tasks having a reminder helps, especially for things which can’t be accomplished until a certain time.
For instance, if I need to make a call, but only after lunch, I don’t want the task cluttering up my Next Actions list all morning. In some apps, I move it to a separate list, but then that does run the risk of me forgetting about it all together. Also, sometimes I’m busy and away from my computer, and I forget about the task since I don’t have the Next Actions list pulled up all the time. Alas, my memory isn’t the best.
I think a really cool option would be to extend the ‘schedule task’ feature to have an optional time and notification option as well. For most tasks, they just need the current functionality, but for some things which can only be done at a certain time, you could enter said time, and optionally enable a notification checkbox which then will send a notification to your phone when the task becomes active.
If that is too out-of-scope, I see calendar integration as a fine alternative. It does require switching apps when wanting to set up task times, but having that option is absolutely better than nothing in my eyes. If the devs do decide to go this route, it would be really neat if a task’s estimated time would become its length.
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If you don’t need timed notifications, just use a pad of paper. You don’t need an app for gtd.
The power of bringing gtd into the world of software is that now when you arrive home, INSTEAD of remembering, “oh! I’m home now. I should look at my @home list.” ; your phone can ping you at the time you’ve set for @home activities and tell you specifically what is on that list.
Otherwise, just use paper.
This is also why I suggested that we have timed notifications for @contexts . I wouldn’t have moved on from Everdo of there were some kind of timed reminder feature. I don’t want to have to copy my tasks that need a reminder, into another app and then manage the same task in two different apps when there are free apps out there that can do both . This is the key reason I’ve moved on from Everdo.
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Context reminders could be a real game changer.
If everdo would be self aware of its context (as far as possible)
Even a simple solution like associating a context to one or more devices would be of great help.
Like when you open everdo on your work notebook everdo should suggest something like “hey looks like you are at work, would you like to take a look at your relevant lists/context(s)?”
Following parameters could be associated with contexts/tags
- current device that is used for everdo
- Time / repeating like each Friday morning “hey looks like the weekend is coming, take a look at @gardening and short trips”
- location based either GPS or WiFi, even connected bt devices
That’s the virtual bag in front of the door, you stumble upon every morning, just to be reminded to take it with you.
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On the one hand I understand your point of view but on the other I have hundreds of tasks and still don’t want my to-do app to think instead of me. Of course typical reminders set to particular date and time would be useful but that is enough in my opinion. Nothing fancy;)
In my case I can’t see any better tool to keep my “must do at certain date and time” tasks than my calendar is.
IMHO the to-do app in no way would think for you. It would support your thinking and your decision workflow even better,
David Allen said when he told the story of the bag in front of the door, let your smarter “you” the night before, support your not-so-smart “you” the next morning .
When you setup the context reminders, you still do the thinking for your not so smart future-self,
Of course a partial solution for this can be build with a calendar or other reminder apps and I do it this way anyway, but setting up reminders in another app is extra work and needs extra maintenance and can not offer the one touch access to the needed list.
I’d really love to have this part automated.
Of course it’s more important to form the habit of looking at the right contexts at the right time, but that is something I really struggle with.
I know this nothing we will see soon but we can dream.
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I think you misunderstood my point, maybe because I hijacked this topic for my use case.
I do not talk about specific tasks that have to happen on a specific time and date.
When I say context-reminders I really mean that. Something that reminds you in a somewhat intelligent way to look at specific contexts when it makes sense to do so.
That’s way I quoted only that part from @joshuarobison in the first place.
This has nothing to do with the GTDish hard landscape like the calendar.
In fact I do not care so much about notifications for scheduled tasks, because I rarely really need them and put those tasks onto my calendar.
And this is a part that I prefer to handle on my own. Just personal preferences.
The same 
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I don’t want to discuss with you, but simply, you are not using GTD. IT’s simple. And you are only applying context to a place, but it could be a person, or a tool… the context is not a place, is a limitation. “You just need this to do the next action”.
And i think, maybe your phone is not, but you are smart enough to know when you are home (I do!), you just need to check your @home next actions…
GTD is not an automation method is a method based on “thinking & deciding”.
HI
For me, adding a calendar is not an essential feature and the interesting roadmap is already long. This may weigh down the application and is unrelated to the GTD idea.
Maybe an export ics to the creation of a particular task requiring an event on any calendar?
I agree. Every mobile phone worth their sauce already has that. In iOS its a whole industry, Everdo doesn’t need to be everything and everything to everyone.
Its a pure GTD application to be used in the spirit of GTD as David Allen espouses.
There are plenty of apps to give notifications for folks to their heart content - Omnifocus and Things, and a bunch of other do that.
I agree. The app can’t do everything and anything. As it is right now its great, it needs a few more things but this convoluted method of notifications is not the right path for the app in my humble opinion.
What I think we need is a bit more integration with the native OS of iOS (for me personally), Android, Mac and Windows.
I can welcome this for time specific task ie. like you mention that call after lunch, that’s the hard landscape speaking in pure GTD terms so if Everdo pushes a tasks to a specific calendar (in my Mac you can have a bunch of calendars at once, I assume Windows does that the same but I’m sure other folks can chime in) Then that task will sound via the mobile phone, Apple Watch, or Mac.
But I would not want it AUTOMATICALLY, perhaps a checkbox would be great to push it out but I don’t think its need it for every single scheduled item.
I think this is quite a positive feature and hope it comes in the near future.
Then you have to manage the task in two different apps. Not only that but a calendar needs start time and end time, which is completely different from a task which is only an at point.
You realize there are free apps that already let you set reminders and times on your tasks, right?
I love when I’m riding my bike home from work with my earpiece my phone gives me a reminder, “sorry, this is your task. Buy eggs on your way home.”
On my way to work , before I even get there it says," today you need to meet with Sam."
When I open my next actions list I can see tasks for the day in order of due time. Easy to know what I need to do first, immediately.
It is the only feature that was needed. Lacking both, notifications and the ability to sort tasks by due time just cripples the usefulness and makes more work for the end user.