After using the Kinkless Getting Things Done system to manage all of my to do items for months, I ultimately had to set it aside. I’m just not up to the task of maintaining the system anymore; not that it was particularly difficult, but it did, on occasion, ‘hiccup’ on me, and to do items and projects would fall out of sync with one another. I just don’t think I have the energy in life right now to troubleshoot things like that that just shouldn’t need troubleshooting.
(This is really the fault of the whole damn concept of synchronization, which, at this stage in the maturity of software, is unbelievably anemic. But that’s another discussion entirely.)
Instead, I’m turning to Mori, a simple note-keeper application from Jesse Grossjean’s Hog Bay Software. Mori is a descendant of Hog Bay Notebook that adds some nifty new features like robust Spotlight support and, er, some others that I don’t really use. Mostly, I turn to Mori because it does what Hog Bay Notebook did so very well: conveniently bundle together what are essentially RTF-based TextEdit files into a hierarchical file system. Put more simply, it takes a bunch of not particularly fancy text documents and allows you to edit and manage them in a single window. There’s no context lists, no project hierarchies, no synchronization or database — none of the things that kGTD does. It’s dead simple.
Reduction
Below: All I want is Mori. My new to do list manager is primitive and awesome.
At a stage in my life where I’ve come to accept that things will only get busier, dead simple is really attractive. Mori’s ‘no frills’ sensibility forces me to take a similar approach to managing my to do list. Here’s what I do: I write down things that I need to do as they occur to me, and then I cross them off when they’re done. The next day, I’ll create a new to do list and transfer my unfinished items over from the previous day. Crazy, right?
To be fair, I do make it slightly more complicated: I’ll type in to do items under simple headings like “Personal,” “Finances” or “Management.” But there’s no fixed taxonomy for these; if I decide tomorrow that I need a subhead for “To Be Completed After Lunch,” I can add that without fear of compromising some sort of master plan. Also, rather than actually crossing off items, I color the entire line a recessive gray — but that’s more out of my designer’s sense of preciousness than anything.
Not only is the whole system admittedly primitive, but it’s also highly satisfying. True, KGTD was satisfying, too; it’s always nice to cross things off a list, no matter what method you use to manage that list. But, in retrospect, I have to admit the lion’s share of the satisfaction was in getting the system up and running, in configuring OmniOutliner Pro and AppleScript and Quicksilver and what not… and then continually feeling proud of myself that I’d implemented such a nifty methodology for handling my tasks. Over time, that wore off. I think this is better.
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It’s quite ironic that KGTD’s bugginess ended up creating work in the form of troubleshooting.
thanks for this post. i’m about halfway through reading GTD and i am already worrying about how i’m going to implement this. i use a mac at home, and a PC at work, so i was initially thinking about a web-based solution. but i use a blackberry, so then i thought an e-mail only solution would be best. now i’m kind of thinking of just carrying a pen and pad everywhere to jot things down and forego all the techno mumbo-jumbo!
i will give mori a try and see how it goes.
thanks for this post. i’m about halfway through reading GTD and i am already worrying about how i’m going to implement this. i use a mac at home, and a PC at work, so i was initially thinking about a web-based solution. but i use a blackberry, so then i thought an e-mail only solution would be best. now i’m kind of thinking of just carrying a pen and pad everywhere to jot things down and forego all the techno mumbo-jumbo!
i will give mori a try and see how it goes.
I highly dislike KGTD. Personally I just use Stickies since it syncs nice with my Blackberry. If I needed the whole online/offline blah blah blah, I would use Backpack, with the Backpack widget and Growl. That’s a great little reminder/todo system.
Maybe the Omnigroup can simplify this.
“Maybe the Omnigroup can simplify this.”
They’re already on it: OmniFocus, personally I can’t wait as I also find kGTD to be too much of a hack. And while yes, “It’s quite ironic that KGTD’s bugginess ended up creating work in the form of troubleshooting.“, it’s not so surprising given how kGTD is implemented. An app built for the task is unquestionably going to do it better so long as it’s made by intelligent hands. Omni’s just the group to do it, I’d say.
Great post. I started using Mori this summer and absollutely love it. It is very simple as you said.
Thanks! That is exactly what I have been looking for. I have been using xPad at work, and I have really enjoyed it, but it hasnt worked well on my new iMac. Aparently the have stopped developing it.
Thanks! I that is just what I need to get the organization bug back on track.
Mori is great! I just began using it more (I’ve had it forever) and find it to be a great help for writing and brainstorming.
Anyway, I’ve found I’m in a very similar situation in regards to kGTD and GTD in general. My experience with GTD kind of went like this:
* Was totally disorganized and did not manage my time well
* Began employing GTD methodologies.
* Began using “tools” like kGTD
* Realized as I got more organized that I needed the tools less
* Realized some of the more feature rich tools were taking their own time to manage
* Scaled back “using tools”, kept the general GTD principles, went simple (I still use OmniOutliner, but with less frills.)
* Am now more productive overall, dispite the fact that I’ve got more on my plate than I’ve ever had.
I still love and recommend kGTD, I’ve just realized for my own workflow it was a bit too much. The beauty of GTD is that you can mold it to your own workflow. You can make it work for you and your “tools.”
Hmm.. well I suppose any system is better than my tried and true, ‘scribble something on back of 7-11 receipt, then lose’ method.
Hi, have you checked out Midnight Inbox?
It’s still in beta (v0.96) but it looks pretty good, I think I’ll use it regularly once it on final release.
I noticed in the Mori forums that there is work on a mGTD plugin to mori which you can download and take a peek at. At first glance it seems ok but I have not played with it extensively.
Have you heard of or tried voo2do?
I’ve been using it for about half a year now and like it a lot. It’s a web-based, ajax-implemented, fast, lightweight todo list that is modeled after Joel Spolsky’s Painless Software Scheduling method.
I find that having something on the web solves pretty much all the synchronization issues for me, since I’m never too far away from internet access. It might be worth taking a look at 🙂
Doesn’t it seem like this could all be integrated into apple mail quite easily? It seems like it’s pretty much the same interface, with editable text files instead of emails.
Hi All,
What do you all think about Mori and Backpack (http://www.backpackit.com)
Would you rather choose an online tools like Backpack, or something installed like Mori?
Hi All,
What do you all think about Mori and Backpack (http://www.backpackit.com)
Would you rather choose an online tools like Backpack, or something installed like Mori?
I have just started using this and it looks like a perfect application for what I need. Great find!
Dan Dean beat me to it:
“Doesn’t it seem like this could all be integrated into apple mail quite easily?”
I don’t understand this endless quest for the perfect note-taking app when any decent email client can meet what Khoi suggests his requirements are:
“Put more simply, it takes a bunch of not particularly fancy text documents and allows you to edit and manage them in a single window.”
With IMAP folders, your notes are available from any web mail client, stay in sync across computers, and are still searchable with Spotlight.
Why keep your to-do lists in a ghetto, when you already have an Inbox that you check anyway? The infrastructure is already there for sorting, storing, and processing emails.
Re: Matt F and IMAP folders…
This could be a good solution for someone that gets all their to-dos at a single email address. I get mine from work and personal. We use Exchange at work and I’ve never been able to get Mail configured correctly.
I also get to-dos from offline and non-email online sources. The different sources of to-dos means I need a system that is separate from email.
I ditched kGTD for the same reasons – you can’t have a ‘trusted system’ that occassionally goes awry. And I also moved to Mori, where I reimplemented a GTD system using Mori’s very powerful custom categories and smart folders. So don’t underestimate what can be done with the software. It has good scripting support as well.
Many of the comments here seem to be a criticism of GTD rather than the Kinkless implementation. Which is fine, but if you come to kGTD without having understood and committed to the system then it will inevitably seem overwhelming. That’s not Kinkless’s fault.
I thought I’d be excited about the approaching Omnifocus, but I’m not. Mori does everything I need, and it’s extensible.
I think a fair number of the comments here are missing the point of the article… it’s not really about “what’s the most efficient way i can be productive,” or, “which productivity system is right for ME?” so much as it is suggesting that productivity systems shouldn’t really have to be thought of as systems. They should just be a way of living. Part of the problem with GTD is it’s “upradeable” appeal – that a system can always be made better, and that people are improving it all the time.
A good system should provide you with what you need to know, when you need to know it, and nothing else.
A good system should allow you to input information and forget about it – and that’s it.
People tend not to have a problem with the elements of the system, but in getting in the habit of using one single system consistently. To that extent, the simpler, the better.
I have started using Mori for my GTD needs, and I have recently started using the mGTD plugin, which seems to work very well. I have gradually moved todos from iCal to Mori, restricting the use of iCal reminders and entries to what really has to be done at a certain time a certain day, thus reinforcing the habit of actually looking at my next action folders in Mori. Worth a try.
I wish there was _some_ tool for linux + GTD.
You’d think there’d be tons of freeware apps, especially for Linux, but no – there are none that make the cut. Evolution craps out on me whenever it feels like it. *Sigh*