Productivity Tools
I mentioned Tracks the other day in a blog entry and got a bunch of interest in what Tracks is and how to use it.
Tracks is a tool that you can use to keep track (haha get it) of your todo items. It is best used with a system like GTD or something. I found it more useful than Remember the Milk because it was specifically tailored for GTD and I found it a “bonus” that I could run it on my own server as opposed to dependant on a web service. Tracks is also the simplest tool I’ve found with powerful features that rock, it’s really great.
I had two problems with Tracks. First off is that I get a bunch of tasks (implied or otherwise) via mail, so I wanted something more tied into email (I had a friend hack up a script that monitored an email box and add that to Tracks via it’s api but that never really worked out), the second was that I don’t know jack about RoR, and I found keeping my tracks install up to date time consuming and annoying. (Sidenote: How are people managing RoR apps in the real world anyway? Is every component of the entire platform expected to be pulled from git every single day or something? Yeesh.)
So I started moving my personal stuff to GTDinbox, which is a firefox extension that supercharges gmail labels. The key piece is that it’s integrated with my email more, which is where most of my tasks come from anyway.
I still use both Tracks and GTDINbox and wanted to know what people are using for their personal productivity tools. Also, if anyone knows a service that offers hosted Tracks (So I don’t have to maintain an install myself) I would appreciate it. (I am finding these days that I would rather not host my own stuff and I don’t really care about “privacy concerns” anyway)
Both projects accept donations, so if it saves you a bunch of time make sure to visit the tip jar.
Other tools I’ve used:
- Hiveminder – neat, but too complex.
- MonkeyGTD – also neat, but too complicated.
I just use Evolution. I installed Tasque, and I really like that it integrates with e-d-s, but I have Evo open all the time anyway. Also, yay, as of Intrepid, the Clock Applet uses the right colors for Tasks and Memos (matches inside of Evo).
Hey Jorge,
You should check out two of my productivity ventures if you are really into it. Black Belt Productivity[1] is my productivity blog (Heavy GTD, but that is changing in 2009) and then Work.Life. Creativity[2] is a forum/blog that me and some friends started for some great productivity conversations.
[1] http://blog.blackbeltproductivity.net/
[2] http://forum.worklifecreativity.net/
I <3 Remember the Milk – simple, great website and I KNOW YOU HAVE AN IPHONE! Good app on the phone too…
I use Hiveminder, when I remember. Generally I just keep things in my head or primarily use the contents of my inbox as my todo list.
Hi Jorge,
After I tried several gtd tools I’m now very happy with the org-mode in emacs. This is – of course – only adequate if you are into coding/using emacs.
http://orgmode.org/ make sure you look at the tutorials http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/index.php
I use Tracks as well, and also use Google Calendar. There are some services that host Tracks (http://tracks.tra.in/login is one). I used to use Evolution and Jpilot (http://decafbad.net/gtd) but have since decided to use Tracks for the day-to-day. My advice is to find something and stick with it as much as you can stand. Too often one can get stuck in the “but this tool does…” trap of productivity pr0n. If you can honestly say that a tool isn’t working for you, then it’s time to change, but it’s all too easy to spend your time entering new information into a new tool (lord knows I did it with LifeBalance and hundreds of other productivity gems on the Palm).
Best of luck, no matter what you decide to use.
ethan@home:~$ install tracks
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Couldn’t find package tracks
Erm.
Where’s the .deb?
I’m not a big fan of systems. I’ve found the best way to ensure you’re getting things done is to add tasks to your calendar. I mean, if you can take the few seconds to determine that email A needs to be in the @home context, you can schedule it for a time you’re gonna be at home.
I dunno…it works for me. The only thing it presumes is that you have full time access to your calendar. Since I previously carried a treo, and currently carry a g1, this has never been a problem. Gmail has a ‘add task’ option that makes adding emails as tasks easy.
dan
Jorge, I know you’ve been looking at productivity systems for a while now… I checked out Tracks after you suggested it, but it didn’t stack up when compared to RTM. The key thing for me with RTM is the keyboard shortcuts and how intuitive it is to enter due dates.
Check out the list of keyboard shortcuts: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/answers/basics/keyboard.rtm
pretty awesome. It’s like using vim.
Not only that, but when I enter a due date, I can enter (d) [for the date] and then just enter, “next friday at 3:00pm”, and it will convert that text entry to the proper format. I don’t need to know what next friday’s date is – it figures it out for me.
I don’t closely adhere to any GTD style of task management, but there are some pages out there that describe how to use RTM with GTD. Best of luck to you.