Tasks and GTD/"The Secret Weapon"

[cyberry 35]

I'm very excited about Tasks being available; downloaded it today for my laptop and desktop. Looks nice!

First pressing question is how to use Tasks with GTD. The main missing feature is not being able to label tasks 1 to 6 in terms of urgency (now, next, soon, later, someday, waiting for someone else's response).

I guess flagging a task could be the equivalent of 1. A way-in-the-future due date could be the equivalent of "someday". Not sure what to do with the rest (other than forgetting about them and trying to go with the Tasks workflow).

Thoughts welcomed!

[agsteele 3,059]

I suspect that the new tasks will require a very different method of working. Those with developed GTD approaches are likely to want to stick with what they have. At least until it is clear how to work with the Evernote API to achieve the things you wish with external applications.

As we all gain experience with the new tasks I hope we'll share how we are using this option.

[PinkElephant 8,799]

I agree - we should use the current „public trial“ to ask for the missing functions that would help us to go for EN as GTD control center in addition to be 2nd brain.

Using 2 tools is always adding complexity and manual coordination effort - this is why I completely skipped the old reminders for Things 3. But separating the universal inbox from control isn’t good, either.

My ideas are

more flags (10-15) to switch between GTD categories - flags usable as a filter

task tagging to assign projects or people

Recurring dates, recurring „xx time after last completed“

Watch App to run specified lists like Now, waiting and errands down without the full app

[cyberry 35]

An idea comes to me - the staggering of due dates could work well for GTD purposes.

The due date window for Tasks has shortcut buttons for today, tomorrow, next Monday and in a week. Those time periods will work well for some users, less well for others (not me). Would be interesting if the shortcut buttons could be customizable for different time periods. For me, "today", "end of this week", "end of next week" and "one month from now" would be more useful. 

[darioangelo 26]

I would be keen to understand how to implement a smooth GTD methodology using Tasks. 

To optimise my workflow,  I have been using Things 3 - I worked hard to create an intra EN GTD system, and tried all the various setups. In the end  I found myself spending too much time on the system itself rather than the system delivering me Task Managment support.

I use Taskclone; to connect my EN notes to actions in Things 3.

For emails, within my Outlook Email client with EN add-in, I can tag a note  and it goes straight to EN with a link to Things 3; alternatively, in Sparkmail which integrates directly to EN and Things 3 it’s a simple swipe action. 

[DTLow 5,744]

6 hours ago, agsteele said:

Those with week developed GTD approaches are likely to want to stick with what they have.

Personally, I will continue to use individual task notes, and customized saved searches

I see the "label" deficiency as a serious issue; with only support for a single Flag attribute   
Individual notes allows for the use of custom tags

There's also no search support for the Tasks feature; so no custom saved searches
   
The addition of a task due date was interesting.  
Currently I use the Reminder feature which also stores completion status/date   
I also use undated reminders to identify active next actions

[PinkElephant 8,799]

Tasks are new - I don’t expect what we have now to be the final task setup.

For me to make me think about switching from Things 3 to EN, there are some features missing, already discussed in many threads in the forum since Tasks launched.

Among then are

• Recurring Tasks
• Tagging of Tasks
• Adding  content to tasks, especially URLs / links

[darioangelo 26]

@PinkElephant I entirely agree with you.
 

At least EN is recognising the needs of the EN community and moving in the right direction.

The most widely respected task management apps are well known-EN  should look to calibrate against these.

Then we will have a game changer.

[DTLow 5,744]

12 minutes ago, darioangelo said:

The most widely respected task management apps are well known-EN  should look to calibrate against these.

A dedicated task management app will always deliver aa better feature-set   
I think Evernote's strength is delivering generic storage/organization features that serve a variety of uses    
- for example tags that can be used to label task status

[darioangelo 26]

4 minutes ago, DTLow said:

A dedicated task management app will always deliver aa better feature-set   
I think Evernote's strength is delivering generic storage/organization features that serve a variety of uses    
- for example tags that can be used to label task status

The question then is why would EN bother to create Tasks? Why not encourage and facilitate a tighter integration with the likes of Omnifocus, Todist and Things ? 

[PinkElephant 8,799]

Personally I use Things 3 for GTD. EN links open legacy, shared links open a note in the browser. The interaction with v10 is not as smooth as it used to be.

Personally I would appreciate to have a choice. Since EN has the far better collection tools, it is better suited to work as a global inbox to collect all new stuff - which speaks for using it as GTD hub.

When doing so, Tasks are an excellent extension.

[darioangelo 26]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Personally I use Things 3 for GTD. EN links open legacy, shared links open a note in the browser. The interaction with v10 is not as smooth as it used to be.

Personally I would appreciate to have a choice. Since EN has the far better collection tools, it is better suited to work as a global inbox to collect all new stuff - which speaks for using it as GTD hub.

When doing so, Tasks are an excellent extension.

Exactly my view - same goes with pdf editing and handwriting - EN's efforts in these areas seems to be  token at best - business card scanning is now best dealt by Cardhop by flexibits - EN should focus on doing fewer things better than anyone else and partner with market leaders to enhance the workflow experience. 

[cyberry 35]

13 hours ago, DTLow said:

Personally, I will continue to use individual task notes, and customized saved searches

I see the "label" deficiency as a serious issue; with only support for a single Flag attribute   
Individual notes allows for the use of custom tags

There's also no search support for the Tasks feature; so no custom saved searches
   

Re the "single flag attribute" that was my initial take as well. But in working with Tasks the past few days, I realized that since my GTD tagging was setting priorities primarily on when items needed to be done, the due date option essentially accomplishes the same thing. In fact, it might avoid a problem I had with my GTD simulation in Evernote - I would tag something as, say, a #3-Soon, but if I didn't get to the task for a few weeks, it might become a #2-Next and then a #1-Now with the passage of time - but I often wouldn't have time to re-review the notes and change the tags. Being encouraged to select a specific due date for each task also means that the task priority goes up over time, at least when the list is viewed sorted by due date. 

If with this system I can actually keep track of my tasks better and do them in a more efficient manner, I won't miss the lack of tagging. Presumably if I need more context or info re a task, I could include it in a note that I could tag. So the tagging option is always available. If would imagine Tasks will be searchable at some point soon (shouldn't be too hard to program), but I may not miss that possibility either.

As with all things Evernote, "your mileage may vary".

 

[matthieudesroches 4]

I think the solution would be to give us the possibility to customize the "due date" buttons...

That would be the best way to configure GTD in Evernote.

"Today = rename Now", "Tomorrow = rename Next", etc... 

[TonyLim 50]

On 6/4/2021 at 9:39 AM, cyberry said:

I'm very excited about Tasks being available; downloaded it today for my laptop and desktop. Looks nice!

First pressing question is how to use Tasks with GTD. The main missing feature is not being able to label tasks 1 to 6 in terms of urgency (now, next, soon, later, someday, waiting for someone else's response).

I guess flagging a task could be the equivalent of 1. A way-in-the-future due date could be the equivalent of "someday". Not sure what to do with the rest (other than forgetting about them and trying to go with the Tasks workflow).

Thoughts welcomed!

I keep all the TSW flag/tag. I only move 1-Now to task.

So, the capture part remains the same.  The process part also the same, you decide the items goes to (1-Now, 2-Next, 3-Soon, etc).  

Daily review will move 1-Now to task.  Also review the 2-Next if they need to be moved to 1-Now.  Will also look at 6-Waiting daily or use notes reminder to remind if need to check with the person you are waiting.

So, to complete my task, i used to look at 1-Now, now I look at task.

Weekly review will look at the 3-Soon, 4-Later, 5-Someday.

The task features now is not enough to move TSW flag all to task.  So a mix of both works well for me.  Will adjust/adapt as the new features of task are roll out.

[darioangelo 26]

I am a massive EN fanboy and advocate, and confess that I have also tried adapting a GTD orientated task management system within my EN ecosystem. 

There are superior tools which integrate with EN such as Things 3 that are tactile and enable quick entry. 

For power users and for those with complexity around task deliverables you cannot beat; Todist, Omnifocus or Things 3. At least for now - I look forward to the further development of EN Tasks and the day when I can streamline my apps. 

[tim.bushell 0]

Currently adding "#" to the titles of notes... so now with tasks not needing to be a whole note, P1, 2 and 3 would be enough for me. As GTD wise anything lower than 4 is just sometime maybe.

[AlbertR 707]

... citing @PinkElephant and adding my need...

• Recurring Tasks
• Tagging of Tasks
• Adding  content to tasks, especially URLs / links
• Showing Tasks in a List View with congruent possibilities (configure, sort, modify, ...)