Review of Things: Task Manager & GTD for Mac

Review of Things: Task Manager & GTD for Mac
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Things Task Manager for Mac

The last application that I tried is the one I have stuck with: Things. Things is in my opinion the best of the GTD applications and task managers. It is very easy to use even if you have never learned the GTD way. Things has a great user interface and is very easy to learn.

Basics

Things works on OSX 10.4 and 10.5 Just released today was version 0.9.5. The pre-alpha versions of things are free, however the developer plans on selling the application for $49.00 once they release version 1. If you sign up on the developer’s web site you can qualify for a $10.00 discount once the alpa is released. Another nice bit about Things is that you can download an iPhone app from the App store to keep all your tasks with you. The mobile version works on both the iPhone and the iPod touch. It cost $10.00 and has almost all of the same functionality as the desktop version. Things mobile syncs over wifi, though that can be a little difficult at times.

Setup & Ease of Use

Things took me about 10 minutes to set up it is very intuitive and easy to get started with. When the areas are blank and without your information in it, there is writing to help guide you to what goes where. Things just makes sense the way it is laid out and where items go. There is a good how-to video on the developer’s web site but it is so easy to learn that you may not even need it. Things is designed for the “rest of us” who need a task manager but don’t need a heavy duty GTD application. Things is also strong enough to handle the heavy work load if you have the need for a more professional application.

Things looks different then the other GTD apps and it is very well thought out and designed. There is a system-wide quick entry feature that is not only stylish but easy to use. Things uses Tagging to help organize tasks and once you have several in place you can search based on a tag such as “high” or a user created tag.

Things will sync with iCal and the iPhone application does a pretty good job once you are able to connect to the iPhone via wifi. I have not used the iCal sync function but it looks straight forward.

Highlights

The Things smart tagging system is the killer feature here. While all the apps feature some form of tagging, Things made it a breeze.

Over all the GTD apps, Things was my favorite application for task management and I still use it today. I also use things for my iPhone which helps keep me synchronized. Things is clean and so easy to use and keep updated. I refer to it several times a day.

Conclusion

There are other Mac GTD applications out there but Inbox, Omni Focus, iGTD, and Things are four of the most popular ones. I may be checking out another one soon called iProcrastinate, a free application that I have heard a lot about. iProcrastinate also has a free iPhone application. There is also TaskPaper, Evernote, Task2Gather, and a few more. Each has good and bad points. Try them out and let us know what you think.

What application do you use for task management? Leave a comment.

This post is part of the series: Mac Task Managers and Getting Things Done Applications

Learn about Task Managers and some of the popular Getting Things Done applications.

  1. Task Managers and Getting Things Done Part 1 - Midnight Beep Inbox
  2. Task Managers and Getting Things Done Part 2 - Omni Focus
  3. Task Managers and Getting Things Done Part 3 - iGTD
  4. Review of Things: Task Manager for Mac