[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: Things for iPhone here

[leicaman]

Nice to have a competitor to OmniFocus. I'm gonig to stick with that for now, but I'll watch to see how this develops for the Mac too. The education price for Omnifocus for OminOutliner Pro users though it way better. So it would be tough to beat.

[dreyfus]

I agree with most statements in the review. OmniFocus tries to be too much, is more confusing than helpful and the total price tag of desktop and iPhone application is really a far stretch for a glorified outliner, especially since syncing is not working reliably. Things is nice and lean, and does not require more attention than the tasks at hand.
There is little merit in trying to agree on the right amount of simplicity... in real world business use I found Things to be too simple after all (I only use it for private matters now). The lack of priority indicators killed it for me. In addition the tag and area metadata is only available on the desktop - they are completely absent on the iPhone, and while syncing does work fine (for 1 computer and 1 iPhone only!), it does not maintain the sequence of items. This is confusing and destroys the only clumsy potential work-around for the lack of priorities. No matter how you sort things - it will not stick.
A last negative is that there has been little, if any, progress on the iPhone application in the last months. Besides very rare forum postings and the eventual Twit, the developers do not provide a road map either. Committing to a 60 USD investment based on non-communication is not too obvious.
Anyhow, for my business tasks I happily moved to Remember the Milk (online service and free iPhone client)... It is a bit more complex than Things, but can be tamed nicely by limiting the amount of fields used. It does lack the one-stop moving of tasks from "unscheduled" to "today" or "next" though. It is more a classical to do list than GTD. The service is 25 bucks p.a. but it solves the syncing issue nicely - have tasks displayed everywhere (Google mail, Dashboard, Firefox, Safari, iCal, Blackberry, iPhone) and always neatly in sync.
One addition to the article: Those interested in Things should subscribe to the newsletter at their Web site. Subscribers will be entitled to 10 USD off the regular price of the desktop app once it ships (est. Macworld '09).

[fmavolio]

Am I a fool for thinking that since iCal supports tasks that Apple should provide a To Do list that syncs with the Mac? $49 for the Mac version?? For a To Do manager? Yikes.

[dreyfus]

@fmavolio
Not a fool at all. It is even worse - we have to do items in iCal and Mail, Mail does also have notes, and in addition there is the calendar server in OS X Server. So far Apple is not giving iPhone users any access to any of this data at all.
But then - applying logic to Apple's ways is maybe not the right approach. After all the MobileMe Web calendar cannot even connect to subscribed calendars (which are also Web based) - they may (for quite big money) provide the only calendar solution in the world that cannot display holidays or birthdays without quirky work arounds. There is no logic here.
As Apple is not blocking third party to do and notes applications from the AppStore for "duplicated functionality", this might be an indication that nothing is coming; it might not mean nothing as well.

[doshea]

Things is on the only GTD app that I know of that gets Contexts "right." That is, they are defined through tags on the action, which permit both time, location, and ratings contexts to be sorted against. Quite liberating.

[BillPetro]

I too have vacillated between Remember The Milk and Things.

Things:

Pros: simple, easy "Today" features, outlining with sub-tasks turn "things to do" into a Project.

Cons: sync only when at home, missing features on iPhone, leans too heavily on Tags.

RTM:

Pros: much more granular, context support, integrated into Gmail (big winner) via plugins, can share with family members

Cons: no sub-tasks for Projects. This has been a show-stopper for me.

[gs3369]

"Am I a fool for thinking that since iCal supports tasks that Apple should provide a To Do list that syncs with the Mac? $49 for the Mac version?? For a To Do manager? Yikes."
No, you're not, but you're a fool if you think that would be equivalent to or a replacement for Things.
And 49 bucks for a todo manager that helps you get things done is a bargain. That's going to see 4 movies. Or a dinner at a decent restaurant. I'm continually amazed how people can use an application every single day but can't believe they have to pay for it.

[dreyfus]

@BillPetro:
I was having concerns about the lack of sub-tasks in RTM as well (even considered moving to Toodledo for that, but could not cope with the ugly Web interface and lack of contexts/locations - also, there is no iPhone application for Toodledo that supports sub-tasks either). Then I discovered that I can easily create as many lists in RTM as needed, so instead of a "root" task with sub-tasks, I just create a dedicated list for these projects and it does nearly the same thing. Certainly I would favour true sub-task support, but it was not a show stopper for me.

[Axl]

I gotto write in my todo list to check out all the various todo lists on the web. That way I can ditch all the paper ones I have lying around on my desk. Then, maybe I'll remember to add the things I need to get done to my new todo list. Top of my new todo list: read todo list (like, very day!) I'll feel really good about myself if I can achieve any of this. The only thing to do then will be the useless things I always fill my todo lists with that I know deep down I will never do. See, the problem for me is that todo lists are aspirational. I don't list the bare minimum I think I may possibly get done - I list things as I'd LIKE THEM TO BE DONE. So now I have lists of complicated convoluted processes that makes me feel like a loser because I'll never get any of them done.

[mvivas]

Am I missing something? I can't get sub-categories to work in Things for my iPhone. For example, I am getting a certification and need to take on some education courses. I created a project called Certification, then added categories, one of them being "get 25 credit hours", and 3 others. After that I create a list of education courses that I need to take and check off as I take them. Problem is, I can't create it under the "get 25 credit hours. Wen I create the courses, it goes as a task under the project, not under the category.

Other than that, Things is elegant and a very good application. A bit short of being great.

[dreyfus]

mvivas said:

Am I missing something? I can't get sub-categories to work in Things for my iPhone. For example, I am getting a certification and need to take on some education courses. I created a project called Certification, then added categories, one of them being "get 25 credit hours", and 3 others. After that I create a list of education courses that I need to take and check off as I take them. Problem is, I can't create it under the "get 25 credit hours. Wen I create the courses, it goes as a task under the project, not under the category.

I am not aware of a solution (other than project management apps or plain outliners) that fully support multi-level lists. Projects in Things cannot contain other projects. Even those services (like Toodledo) supporting sub-tasks are normally limited to one level of sub-tasks... I do use "Outliner" on the iPhone for multi-level checklists - unfortunately this is another app to look at.

[luckylou7]

Yes, it is weird that we don't have access to iCal To-Do's or Mail Notes on iPhone.
I'd also like to know why there's no iPhone access to Entourage Tasks or Notes either, regardless of Exchange integration (which everyone already is asking for). You'd think Microsoft could tack one of those together easily, and it would promote Office 2008 nicely. Heck, why not adapt their My Day app for iPhone? Perfect integration opportunity.

[sterlingz]

I tested both Things and OmniFocus back in August when I was planning my wedding. I ended up going with Things just because it was more straightforward and because the iPhone syncing was better implemented at that time. Now that I'm trying to use a task manager for work, however, I find Things to be too limiting. The inability to next projects within folders is a dealbreaker for me. Now that OmniFocus has updated to version 1.5, I decided to download and try it again (they will allow you a new 15 day trial). I find OmniFocus to be far superior. Yes, the interface is somewhat complex, but if you spend an hour figuring it out it becomes intuitive. It may not be as pretty as Things, but the organizational capacity is much more powerful. And now that they have syncing figured out - and they let you do it several different ways WiFi or Mobile Me - I think it is a great solution. It is more expensive $100 for Mac + iPhone vs. $60 for Things ($50 with the discount), but in my view worth it for the added power. I trust the company more as well. While Cultured Code seem to be nice folks, I agree with the earlier poster who lamented the lack of a roadmap. I have no idea how Things will evolve, and if it will address users' concerns.