Getting Things Done with New iPhone App 2Do

2Do-New-iPhone-App-GTD.jpg

Most of you have probably heard of the book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. GTD, as it’s become known, is the latest, greatest way to be more productive in less time.

I’ve personally read the book, and used its techniques to great effect while producing TV shows like Beauty and the Geek and Scream Queens.

Actually Getting Things Done

While you can implement David’s system using only pen and paper, I’m a geek. I live on my computer and iPhone. They form my “trusted system”–the place I know all my ToDo’s live.

There’s plenty of desktop software out there to help you “Get Things Done.”

I’ve tried them all. Every single one. If it exists, I’ve tested it out. There’s only one I love: a program called The Hit List.

One Huge Problem: No iPhone App

Yes, shoot me now. Some of the other apps out there have corresponding iPhone software. The Hit List, not yet. I was contemplating leaving The Hit List for one of the other GTD apps on the market, when, today, something magical happened…

2Do from Guided Ways was Released

2Do-A-Stunning-ToDo-List-GTD-iPhone-App.jpgIt’s amazing. Having tried 5 or 6 other to-do apps on the iPhone, this one blows them all away.

Gorgeous user interface, terrific animations, easy to navigate…all the features I’ve always wanted.

Using the app, it feels like the good people at Guided Ways asked themselves,

  • What will make the user happy?
  • What will make the app easy to work with?
  • What will make it FUN to use?
  • Then, they went and built that app.

    2Do has the Best iPhone to iCal Sync of Any Stand-Alone iPhone App. Period.

    I know this, because I’ve been frustrated with all the rest of them.

    Because it syncs with iCal (or the software we use, BusyCal) via a free download called Mac Sync Helper, this stand-alone iPhone app becomes infinitely useful.

    In our case, since The Hit List can sync with iCal, and iCal syncs with 2Do, I now have a GTD system that works on both my laptop and my iPhone. Hooray!

    Video Demo Coming Soon

    iuse2do-tall.pngI’m putting together a little video post demonstrating the workflow. Be sure to follow us on twitter or to subscribe to our feed so you don’t miss it.

    In the mean time, if you want to take a peak at 2Do, this link will take you there (Note: launches iTunes.)

    Get Things Done with 2Do

    We start shooting season 2 of VH1’s Scream Queens in about 5 weeks. To keep me sane, I started using 2Do, today.

    Update As per the question in the comment section below, this was in no way a “paid advertisement.” We do occasionally link to a product we’re over-the-moon about, but not for the extra 47 cents we may make here or there. The small cash generated from our links will eventually go toward product give-aways or other blog-expanding costs. Sorry for any confusion. We purchased 2DO and use it everyday.

Please follow us on Twitter! @jokeandbiagio

To get all the latest tales, tips, tricks, and tutorials about producing in Hollywood, be sure to subscribe to JokeAndBiagio.com!

This post may contain affiliate links. Why? Learn more about our blog's affiliate links here.

Enjoy this post? Please help us spread the word about Hands-On-Producing:

  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • MySpace
  • Sphinn
  • LinkedIn
  • Technorati
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • FriendFeed
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Biagio

Biagio married way out of his league when he bamboozled Joke into saying "I do." Together he and his wife produce television, film, webisodes, and anything else that requires no sleep and a touch of crazy. Find Biagio on Twitter: @jokeandbiagio

22 responses to “Getting Things Done with New iPhone App 2Do”

  1. Andrew Mayne
    Very cool. I’ve been looking for GTD apps for the iPhone.
  2. Brian
    I’m starting to feel like my use of a Blackberry is seriously hindering my life.
  3. dssstrkl
    “Just wait until it comes to Verizon. Should be soon.”

    Yeah, I seriously doubt that. http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/17/verizons-anti-iphone-gets-its-first-commercial-droid-does/

  4. Simon
    Does it really sync?

    I say that as I can get my tasks from THL to 2Do via iCal, and it gives me a way to carry the days important tasks with me, but syncing back to THL is not reliable. Changes don’t ‘always’ sync back, adding a new item will not go back to THL, though it does to iCal, unless I don’t set alarms etc. and leave it in my ‘Inbox Calendar’. This is not ideal.

    I’ve been here before with Appgio’s ToDo, and suffered data loss with it. I’m not sure where the problem lies, whether it is on the iPhone end, iCal, or THL itself.

    The sad thing is that out of all the major GTD apps I like the THL desktop best of all, but the lack of a reliable iPhone sync is going to kill it for me. I’ll either return to Things, or use a convoluted hybrid of THL and Things until the iPhone app is available. I’ve already moved my work tasks out of my home desktop, they are all in Toodledo as I have no need, or desire, to be completing them from my home desktop, and keeping them out of iCal was an advantage.

    It has been getting to the point where finding and testing a usable GTD app has been taking more time than doing the tasks themselves!

  5. Guided Ways
    To Simon: If changes from 2Do are syncing back to iCal, then it’s THL. We too experienced data loss with Appigo a few months ago and decided then to develop our own To Do app. You shouldn’t really ever experience data loss with 2Do as we do (recommended) incremental syncs rather than Full Syncs (which is what causes data loss). Only in the most bizarre conditions would you ever experience any kind of loss so perform an iCal backup and give it a go.

    You should contact THL and ask them how they’re syning with iCal. If 2Do’s changes aren’t making their way from iCal to THL, they need to look into this. Our job ends when 2Do is able to sync back to iCal.

  6. Maria
    Thank you – you’ve solved one of my big problems – syncing and keeping track of everything in one place. So now I know BusyCal, THL and 2Do.

    I felt like Simon, who said – “It has been getting to the point where finding and testing a usable GTD app has been taking more time than doing the tasks themselves!”

  7. appfreak
    I have been using The Hit List and I don’t encounter any of Simon’s problems (lucky me). It’s nice that Guided Ways have been working on that. There are so many applications out there (iPhone and Desktop) that use different standards and make you have different lists in different apps.

    At least I’m giving it a go with 2Do on the iPhone (that I mini-reviewed as well) with The Hit List and it is working well. The only tedious part of the workflow: THL syncs Apple ToDo and iCal and then 2Do syncs separately. I hope Apple allows more integration with Mail and iCal so it’s easier for devs to produce apps that compliment each other and actually help you getting things done!

  8. Guided Ways
    Biagio,

    Based on your comment above regarding contexts and alphabetic sort, v1.1 is coming out with a number of improvements (allowing you to focus on specified tasks, customize badges, manual and alphabetic sort etc). More interesting is how it will recognize @ labels in To Do titles. If Title Sort is preferred for a specific calendar, it will automatically ‘group’ related contexts under a single index. So all your ‘@call blah’ would list under @call

    Moreover you will be able to attach contacts/actions (call, sms, visit, location etc) to To Dos.

    Hopefully future updates will bring more improvements. Many thanks!

  9. Marlyse Comte
    This solution really works great (I use the same setup, THL, BusySync and 2Do) – and I’ve also been frustrated with every other solution.

    If there would be a way to strip out the *** LISTNAME + @context + /tag *** addition that THL puts into the task line (or put it at the end of the line), I’d even be able to READ my tasks on 2Do without having to open the todo.

    Next to that I really a digging 2Do, it’s really FUN to use.

  10. Andy
    I really appreciate this info, as I bought a license for THL through MacHeist last year. I just got an iPhone, and didn’t want to have to shell out for Things just to get an iPhone GTD solution. So I look forward to trying out 2Do with THL.

    However, your post reads more like an ad than a review, and your links to the 2Do apps seem to be paid affiliate links, but you don’t disclose that in your text. So for me, this post ends up feeling more like a paid advertisement for the app than an independent review.

    I’m not accusing you of anything, and you may in fact just be an enthusiastic user hoping to get a tiny kickback if people buy the after reading your post. But when I see affiliate links, and the author doesn’t say something like: “note: I get a referral fee when you purchase the app through this link” it makes it hard for me to trust the review as unbiased.

    So I’m wondering if you’d be willing to clarify this?

  11. Andy
    Thanks for the clarification — I appreciate the openness
    of your response. I’m still figuring out how I want to do GTD but I’ll def. consider this for the iPhone side of things.
  12. Hayden
    Yo, how do you FORCE The Hit List to Sync with BusyCal?

    To get 2Do to sync with BusyCal, I just press a button.

    But to get The Hit List to sync with BusyCal… well I can’t find a button.

    Is there anyway to do this?

  13. Bob
    Biagio,
    Like you, I stumbled on the 2Do and THL combo by accident. The two seem like such an ideal combination – not just from a functionality point of view but also design (I’m a designer so that matters to me). I tried Things but was quickly disappointed with the lack of nesting and the utterly boring/uninspired interface design.

    The one problem I’ve been having with the 2Do/THL/iCal combo is the duplicates issue. The first sync works fine but subsequent syncs see the 2Do items acquired from the previous THL sync as new items and duplicates them. The duplicates appear in both iCal and the THL In Box. So far, I’ve managed by simply deleting the duplicates after syncs but it’s a pain.

    If I’m understanding your post, however, you’re saying this is not a problem at all with BusyCal?

    Also, I’m trying to understand if the use of @-context tags rather than /-tags is a personal preference for you or a necessity for BusyCal to sync correctly? I prefer /-tags to selectively choose the items from a larger @-context project that I want to include on my iPhone.

    Thanks!

    BTW, I left a message in the 2Do “suggestions” forum requesting that they consider a collaboration with Andy Kim at THL! Seems like it could be a win-win marriage for all.

  14. HamWeg (RMW & SEH)

Leave a Reply