Anti-Venom Apps

Getting Things Done is a personal task management system created by David Allen.  It is especially helpful for quickly managing incoming information and deciding what to do right now.

Getting things Done is also one the many task management systems that you can use with Infinity List.  To get started download the GTD template here.  You’ll find further instructions on importing Infinity List files here.

The main lists that make up the GTD system are as follows:

• Inbox
• Projects
• Contexts
• Reference

Let’s talk about how each of these work.

Inbox

The inbox is where you put all your ideas and things to do as you think of them.  The idea is that if you record everything in a safe place you’ll never need to have the same thought twice, leaving your mind free to think of more creative things.  This only works if you’re committed to reviewing your inbox regularly.

Generally I follow the rule that as long as it’s not going to distract me from my current task, if it’s going to take me longer to enter the task into Infinity List than to just do it, then I’ll just do it right then.  This stops my list from becoming bogged up with tiny 5 second tasks.  Allen also suggests when processing your inbox to use a similar rule (ok, I stole my rule from here) - if a task is going to take less than 2 minutes, then do it straight away.

Projects

This is where you store all your tasks grouped by project.  You might want to also have a miscellaneous group for random little tasks that don’t belong to any particular project.  One of the main thing GTD encourages you to focus on is ‘what is the next action’.  There’s no point having a whole bunch of projects but with no idea what the first thing you need to do to move towards completing the project is.  Even if your first task is Research What Needs To Be Done, at least then you know what you need to do.  It’s too easy to end up with a whole lot of projects going nowhere otherwise.

Contexts

Contexts are the places, peoples and things you need to complete a task.  Some people also suggest adding groups like energy level and time length available.  Add custom fields to the list items in your Projects list and Inbox to specify their contexts.  

You can then create Contexts lists with custom rules to dynamically load the tasks with that Context field.

Reference

Some things aren’t things you need to do but might still be ideas or information you want to keep for later.  These things need to be stored in a reference system so you can find them when that later arrives.

The best reference system is a simple one.  In GTD, David Allen recommends filing things alphabetically with the idea that you should only ever need to look in a few places to find what you’re looking for.  Of course, in Infinity List you can set up whatever filing system suits you.

Tickler File

Another really useful concept introduced in GTD is that of a Tickler File.  This is something (in whatever form) that reminds you to look at something at a particular time.  This is different from a calendar event - ideally your calendar should only include things that have to happen at a particular time or on a particular day.

Tickler files are for the times when you think ‘I don’t want to look at this now but I’d like to recosider it in 2 weeks’.  In Infinity List we can add a ‘tickle’ field to items to specify the date we want to be ‘tickled’.  

We then create a Tickle list with a rule that shows all the ‘tickle’ items for the day (or whatever time period you choose.

Today List

I use a Today list similar to what is described here.  Sometimes, if I have a lot on and a deadline approaching for example, I will create lists for other time frames just to be sure I’m going to get everything done in time.  I like being able to change how far ahead I plan, and to what granularity.

I select the option to make my Today List a checklist that doesn’t display checked items.  This way I can check off things as I complete them but at the end of the day make checked items visible again to check over what I’ve completed.

Time Estimates

I set the display value for all my task items to my estimate of how long it will take to complete in hours.  I keep my estimates very conservative because I figure there’s no harm finishing things earlier than planned and getting more done but there can be a big problem if you finish things later than planned.  Note I also follow a Getting Things Done type rule that if something is going to take longer to add to my list than to just do it, then I just do it.

I then set the value of my Today list to the sum of all unchecked items.  That way I can quickly view how long I think it’s going to take me to finish what I’ve planned for the day.  Having a total of how many hours of stuff I’ve planned for the day has made a big difference to me.  Previously I used to plan to do far too much every day and yet somehow always be surprised when at the end of the day I still had so much left to do.  Now I know how many estimated hours I can do every day so my planning is much more accurate (although of course estimates are never perfect - that’s why they’re called estimates!).

Icon Badge

I select the Today list to add it’s count to the icon badge.  That way between the Today list value and the icon badge I know both how many tasks I have left to complete and the length of time it’s (probably) going to take to complete them.

Task Pool

This is where I put all my projects and all the things I would ever like to do ever.  When I first enter projects or tasks I try to keep them broad and unspecific.  Then as I am getting closer to actually doing the project/task I add sublists with more detail.  I like being able to add more and more detail as I go.  I also set the display value for tasks in the Task Pool to their hour estimate.  For tasks that aren’t yet well defined I keep the estimates huge and super-conservative.

Usually I move the list for the project I am focusing on to the top level.  This is because I’m accessing this list all the time so I want it to be as accessible as possible.  Also, seeing the list every time I open Infinity List helps to remind me what my current focus is.  At the moment, for example, I have a list called ‘Bug List’ in the top level which is where I add any bugs I find in Infinity List.  At the moment this list is empty (!) and it makes me happy to see it empty.  But if I do find a bug I want to be able to record it as quickly as possible so I remember all the details.

Ideas

This is where I generally keep random lists that aren’t exactly tasks or possibly are just too abstract to put them into the task pool just yet.  Some things I have in there at the moment are lists of my songs, random iPhone app ideas, a list of things I’d like to buy if I had a gajillion dollars and some notes about a work colleague for when their annual review comes up.

Inbox

Having an inbox is anther Getting Things Done concept.  It would be easy to create an Inbox list in Infinity List and use that to quickly input tasks and ideas to be sorted later.  I purposely don’t let myself do this.  The problem I’ve had with Inboxes like this in the past is that when you’re busy the task of Inbox sorting is easy to put off and of course the longer you put it off it becomes more and more of a task in itself.  I put all my random thoughts and tasks to be sorted at the top level.  This is ugly but because it’s ugly and I see it every time I open Infinity List, I’m more likely to sort it out instead of putting it off.

Infinity List allows you to create whatever lists you want but you can still create the more traditional to-do list lists.  You can also make modifications to these traditional lists to extend them.  You can download a template containing all the lists in this article here.

For each of the following lists you also have the option of making them a checklist and having the list display the count value.

The Today List

You can easily create a list of things to do today that automatically updates from the items in your other lists.  The easiest way is to download the template here, but let me explain how the template works.

Create 2 rules as shown in the picture below.  The first rule will match any lists that have a field called ‘Date’ with a date value that is today’s date.  (0 days from today is today).   

The second rule will match any lists that have a field called ‘Date’ with a text value equal to the name of today.  For example, if today is monday then it will match against “Monday” or “mon”.  This rule is an ‘OR’ rule because we want list items that match the first rule OR match this second rule.  You can use this rule for items you want to appear in your Today list every monday (or tuesday or etc).

Similarly, the third rule matches against any items with a text field ‘Date’ with the value ‘today’.  This allows you to have items which will show up in your Today list every day, or alternatively for items you want to stay in the Today list until you complete them.

Tomorrow

A list for Tomorrow’s tasks can be made in exactly the same way as the Today list but with a few modifications.  In fact, once you understand the rule system you can easily make lists for any day (or week or month) in the future (or the past) that you want to keep track of.  Again, you can download the template for the Tomorrow list here.

The 2 rules for a Tomorrow list are the same as for the Today list except with a value of 1 instead of 0, because Tomorrow is 1 day away.

We don’t add a rule to match against a ‘Date’ field with a text value of ‘tomorrow’ because tomorrow never comes, so any item that matched against that rule would never get done!

Overdue

An overdue list is created using a rule where the ‘Date’ field is in less than X days.  You can think of overdue tasks being ones where you have less than no time to complete them.  If you want the icon badge to indicate the number of overdue tasks then select the option ‘Add Count To Badge’ for this list.  Download the template for an Overdue list here.

Due Soon

You can make lists that contain all tasks within a specified amount of time using the in less than X days and in more than X days rules.  Infinity List makes it easy to define the length of time you consider to be ‘due soon’ and to change this length of time on the fly if you like.  You can also create multiple lists for things that are due soon and things that are due soon-ish.  Download the template for a Due Soon list here. 

Like any other list in Infinity List you can add the count to the icon badge if you wish by selecting “Add Count To Icon Badge”.  Note that if you have this option selected on more than one list then the sum of the counts for these lists will be used.

Contexts

Contexts are a concept of Getting Things Done stye task management.  The basic idea is to group tasks by the things, locations or people that you need in order to get the task done.  In the example below I have created a rule to match ‘Context’ fields with the value ‘work’, but you could create as many contexts as you like to organise things.  If you want to assign a list item to multiple contexts then just add more than one ‘Context’ field to the list item.

Flagged

Sometimes it can be useful to create a list of flagged tasks.  You can do this using a rule similar to the one shown below.  Note that you can create as many flagged-style states as you like, for example you could have a ‘super-flagged’ state if you accidentally flag too many items, or maybe a ‘omg urgent’ state.  Create the states easily on the fly as it suits you.  Download the template for an Flagged list here. 

You can also choose to add the flagged list item count to the icon badge by selecting “Add Count To Badge”.

Basically?  I didn’t like any of the ones that I tried.

And the ones that were almost what I wanted were fairly expensive, and in the end, not really what I wanted either.  Most of the full-featured list apps are focused entirely on task management, which I’ll admit makes sense, most of the time that’s what you want a list app to do for you… except sometimes when you just want to make a list of things or ideas or places or people.  Not necessarily things to do, just a list of information.  I always felt guilty putting lists like this in a task management system… like I was clogging up the system with things unrelated to the Ultimate Goal of Productivity.  Another problem I had was the apps I tried really only allow you to manage tasks according to their methodology.  Maybe you can deviate a little bit from the path but if you wander off that way it’s not long before you find yourself using features in bizarre ways for things they were never designed for, just to manage things the way you want.

So I designed Infinity List with freedom and flexibility in mind.  I wanted to make a list app that could change as my tasks changed, change as I changed.  Actually, I’ll be honest with you, initially I started with a completely different scheme in mind.  I set out to make the Most Amazing Task Organizer Ever In The Entire History Of The World.  But partway into the project I started changing my mind about what I wanted and it started feeling like all the other list apps I’d tried.  So then I tried a different tack - Simplicity and Flexibility - and since then I’ve been using this app every day to make lists of all types and keep my tasks on track.

I’ve tried to keep all the features as generic as possible, so that you can use them in the way that suits you.  It’s still possible to do most of the things you can do with more traditional task management app lists but you can make whatever changes you want and change things as you go along.  The features I add in the future will also have this approach and I also the have the goal that new features should add to the experience but never get in the way of using old features the way you always have.  That’s another problem a lot of list apps have.  They get so over-bloated with features that creating a quick and simple list is no longer quick and simple.

With new features in mind though - there’s a few extra things I’m planning to add in Infinity List 2.0 which I’m already working on but I’d love to hear other people’s suggestions about what they think would be helpful.  There’s a bunch of ways you can pass your feedback to me, the easiest of which are probably to either visit antivenomapps.com/suggest or send me an email at antivenomapps@gmail.com.

And please follow the blog (through tumblr/twitter/facebook/rss - whatever suits you!) I’ll be sharing a bunch of tips about how to use Infinity List as well as general rants and discussions on productivity and iPhone app development.