David Allen Reveals the Five “I’s” of GTD Applications
September 9th, 2008 Oliver StarrCategories | Best Practices | David Allen | Direct From David | Events | Implementation | Interviews
During the GTD Application Panel discussion at the recent Office 2.0 Conference David Allen revealed to a rapt audience his recent revelations about software applications designed to support the implementation of an individual’s GTD system. Summed up eloquently as the Five “I’s” they are as follows:
Interception: the software must support the process of capturing ideas as they occur to you. A premium is placed upon the speed, ease and context appropriateness of this process.
Interpretation: David says that interpretation relies more upon executive function than any other aspect of the five eyes. What he looks for is an answer to the following question: Can the tool help me to make a decision or keep it in my face until I have made a decision about i?
Integration: David considers this area to be were the software (or the person using the software) needs to determine what the next action is. For example, is it a phone call, some other action - this can also be seen as list management
Investigation: According to David the software should help you quickly locate those things that are critical to performing a particular task at any given moment. For example, I have a call with Micheal and I have five things that I need to talk to him about. The software should make those five things immediately available.
Implementation: This is where the rubber meets the road in a next action.
One of David’s comments about software is that so much software fails because it forces the user to think too much on the front end about what they need to do with something. He stressed ease of use, flexibility, and context appropriateness. He also mentioned the difference between input and interception. (interception is the actual capture of a thought whereas input is the process of taking some already captured information and placing it into a particular trusted system).
So, based upon the above, what applications are you using and how well do they meet David’s “Five I’s”? Please let us know in the comments.
If you’d like to see the full video, go here: David at Office 2.0
After endless yak-shaving sessions with nearly every software solution for GTD, Things.app was my application of choice. In retrospect it met the Five-I’s requirements handily.
I think what sets Things.app apart is how it doesn’t have strong opinions about how it should be used. Its virtue of inherent flexibility exposed my vice of compulsive process refinement.
That said, I’ve happily switched to paper. The baked-in friction to process-tweaking in a paper system allows me to spend more time getting things done.
After trying many web-based GTD apps and stand-alone Mac GTD apps over the past year, I’ve settled on using Remember the Milk.
While it is not explicitly a GTD application, its excellent user interface and powerful tagging and smartlist features make it the ideal GTD system.
It especially excels where David says so much software fails—you can very quickly add tasks without first having to think about what project they belong to or what context they require or what list they belong on. Those things can all be easily specified or changed later using tags, and lists can be populated via those tags (by using smartlists).
I also use reQall to add tasks to RTM via a phone call (I used Jott before, and like it a hair better, but they just started charging for their service).
You’ll find lots of discussion on using GTD in RTM in the RTM forums.
I use http://www.nozbe.com
The best I used, till now.
I’m just getting started with GTD. Have decided to use toodledo for my software./
For managing my lists I’ve been using Tudumo - http://www.tudumo.com and feel that it meets the five I’s fairly well…and it’s simple enough that I don’t end up fiddling with it and tweaking it — I just use it, and it’s become pretty much transparent.
Great Post! This is exactly what everyone that is working on any kind of GTD application needs to hear.
I know I’m taking notes.
My favorite:
Smart To-Do List
http://www.smarttodolist.com
Good conceptual breakdown of what is defining a great GTD application. To me Microsofts Onenote is still the best: http://www.line-of-reasoning.com/recommended-products/tagging-in-onenote-enables-seamless-maintenance-of-todo-lists/
Things all the way here too.
I use my favourite http://www.Gtdagenda.com
After trying just about every solution, I use Things. The lack of structure threw me initially and I moved toward Omnifocus. After trying both apps’ iPhone versions, I decided to give Things another try. The interface is much more appealing and the flexibility of tags gives it unlimited power.
I am always on the go and use this GTD app for BlackBerry called Viira
http://www.kartamobile.com
I find that various web apps score poorly in the Interception category - what if a task idea occurs to me when I am away from the computer?
That’s why I like using my BlackBerry for GTD and Viira works great for that because if something crosses my mind I can write it down quickly, on the spot.
And I can review my next actions by project, context and day practically anywhere.