

In time, I might become profficient enough at GTD to be able to use mGTD or MoriGTD. So while there are some features I’d like to see added for more sophisticated capabilities, for GTD noobs like myself (still) and those who just want to work and not manage yet another system, TaskPaper should be the first stop to GTD (and priority) mastery! I’d like to see true tags supported, perhaps using Chris Messina’s “#” tag delimiter. I would prefer some other delimiter such as “x”, or a checkmark to signify completion, just for continuity. (You can also mark it completed by clicking on the open circle in the left margin or the menu item “Project > Mark as Done”, but that requires lifting your hands from the keyboard to use the mouse. The UI signifies task completion by changing the text style to strike-through, but the only way to mark the task as completed textually is by adding the context or the keyboard shortcut cmd-D. There are definitely some features I’d like to see added, though: I also have a better understanding of how GTD works, even more so after I sat through the mGTD screencast put up by Jeff, which in turn helped me make better use of TP and GTD. I now understand what the Hog Bay Notebook users have been clamoring for! And TaskPaper handles that beautifully (and elegantly). The point is to spend more time doing your activities than actually organizing what they are. It’s nonetheless powerful, letting you filter to a specific project or context. TP’s interface is very sparse, which means less clutter and distractions. TP refers to them as tags, and uses the normal GTD syntax (I guess) to refer to them. They aren’t necessarily part of the same project, but just things which are done at the same place (e.g., the same type of activity and so on. Avoiding special columns and a form interface, TP instead uses the following special text characters to signify meaning: “:” for projects, “-” for tasks, “” to nest tasks within other tasks (which are themselves nested within a project), any non-reserved character for notes, and for the interesting context.Ĭontexts are GTD’s way of giving you a way of lumping similar activities together. Nor does it complicate your ability to add extra info about the task (its metadata). (But you have to expect that from a GTD noob and a programmer.) The beauty is that by using a very simple text editor/outliner interface, TP doesn’t complicate the ability to change your organization of tasks and projects. You’ll be productive very quickly, but I also got my list complicated very quickly by adding sub-sub-headings to my project. It just uses an outline-like interface, and I emphasize that point. So with that interface in mind I set out to discover just how it was earning such wonderful reviews.īut TP isn’t exactly an outliner. Let’s face it, any device with less than five buttons on it leaves me scratching my head. Now I have to admit, being both a GTD noob and a programmer, TaskPaper’s interface threw me at first. So the next time I needed to jot down a task reminder, instead of using Mori, I opened up TaskPaper and gave it a try. Jesse prodded me a couple times to try it, and even provided me with a license. So unless your notes are one-liners used only to manage your activities, you’ll still need to grab a copy of Mori.īut the real reason not to be concerned is TaskPaper is an awesome app in its own right. But TaskPaper only manages tasks, not notes like Mori does. So when Jesse introduced his own GTD app, TaskPaper, as a simpler way to getting things done with “paper-like simplicity” I was of course concerned that it would cannibalize Mori sales.
Taskpaper notebooks how to#
(I did at least listen to Merlin Mann’s David Allen interviews when I was on the road.) And now that I’m developing (and using) Mori I’ve even installed the mGTD plugin, but that was more for testing purposes than actually knowing what GTD was about (or how to use it). Now, I’ve had the audiobook for GTD for years but I’ve never listened to it.
Taskpaper notebooks software#
There are plenty of GTD software packages for those who prefer computer-based systems to paper, including two versions for Mori: Jeff Fisher’s mGTD plugin and Jim Harrison’s MoriGTD scripted system. Gettings Things Done (GTD) is a recent one with a lot of buzz and adopters. There are plenty of Time Management systems out there. But asking for more time to do things has to strike someone as having too many things to do, and being grown up enough to abandon or postpone those things for which there isn’t time. Everyone gets the same amount every day that is, if we’re getting the whole day. It doesn’t matter how much we complain about time, we’re not being realistic or honest about our use of it.
