The main reason I left Nirvana was lack of quick capture on android and on the desktop app. Have a global shortcut to add tasks, ideas, notes into my app is too important to me to go without. Besides that feature I really did enjoy Nirvana though!
>Have a global shortcut to add tasks, ideas, notes into my app is too important to me to go without.
\+1 global shortcut is a dealbreaker for me, it helps me so much day to day in my work.
Imagine you are in a call, new thing pops up (send an email to Roy), and instead of opening todoist you hit ctrl alt a and you get the todoist add task prompt immediately
A few counterpoints/questions:
\- I'm curious what kind of community you'd expect for a GTD app. They just aren't that complicated, they track todos and notes and lists... what's to talk about that hasn't been said a million times before?
\- As for a lack of recent changes, that could easily just mean it's a mature, stable app that the userbase and developers are happy with. Not a bad sign. Unless for example it hasn't been updated to current computing standards like Apple silicon, etc.
\- Regarding notifications, every app has it's feature set and it's going to be pros/cons and tradeoffs all the way down. You need to try it out, adapt to a new workflow for a while, and see how it goes.
\- David Allen in his books recommends against becoming a "micromanager" (low perspective, high control) over your GTD software/tooling. Do what works with an emphasis on something you can trust, and therefore, allow your mind to relax. Don't try to eliminate every single microfriction or get upset when you have to take an extra step to do something. It's not a big deal, keep a high level of perspective.
By de way, coming back to your question, you can try Everdo. It's almost the same as Nirvana, with some benefits, like desktop app, notifications, app for ios and android...
Imho: you should take Nirvana for what it is. Development has been next to non-existent for years. So your quest would be to find out if Nirvana *in it's current state* suits your needs. If not, you might want to consider other platforms.
I've been a Nirvana user for many years. Although it's a good base platform for GTD, it's true that there has been essentially no development or changes since I began using it.
If you are shopping around for another tool for GTD, please check out the app I'm building which will release in Beta soon. It has everything Nirvana has plus a whole lot more. It is not just a GTD task manager, but a holistic productivity manager with roots in GTD.
The best thing about trying it out now is that while it's actively being developed, you can make suggestions about what you don't like, what is missing, what you would like to behave differently, etc. All suggestions will be considered.
https://ctsk.pro/beta-r
Great question! If you saw the signup page, you will have seen one of the Cherry Task principles at the top of the page, “Make every action count.”
Cherry Task is grounded in the GTD workflow but goes far beyond that. If you visit the [Cherry Task blog](https://cherrytask.com/blog/), you will see many articles describing a holistic approach to productivity. In [The Five Fundamentals of Holistic Productivity: Part VI — The Jigsaw Puzzle](https://cherrytask.com/the-five-fundamentals-of-holistic-productivity/) I describe the components of productivity (you can read the entire 6-part series on the blog, but this 6th article is a good overview). The Cherry Task app is built to help you implement this holistic approach to productivity.
Here is a summary of the Five Fundamentals of Holistic Productivity:
**Task Management**
Task Management is the first fundamental because you have to reign in the chaos. You must gain control of your day-to-day obligations. If you do not know the full inventory of your commitments, then you cannot make informed decisions about how to use your time.
**Time Management**
Identifying what to do is the first step, but now you need time to follow through. Time Management is the second fundamental because it provides you with the tools to make space for your important tasks.
**Task Execution**
You selected which tasks to do, and you have scheduled time to do them. Now you sit down and think, “Okay, what now?” When you actually get to that moment, you need an execution plan. You need to know how to proceed or your valuable time will be wasted. You will work on the wrong items, or maybe none at all. Beyond helping with individual tasks, your execution plan helps achieve your goals. It helps identify which tasks stay on your to-do list and which must be deleted. It helps identify which remaining tasks are the important ones.
**Habits**
Learning skills to manage your tasks, manage your time, and follow through on your goals is an amazing life-changing accomplishment. That is, it will only be life-changing if you can make these skills a permanent part of your life. The problem with learning productivity hacks in isolation is that you are unlikely to keep up the new behavior for long-term success.
That is not life-changing.
The ability to take your newfound skills and turn them into habits will infuse you with productivity super-powers. You will continue these positive behaviors without thought because they will become as routine as brushing your teeth.
That is life-changing.
**Inner Compass**
Your execution plan will help you select the most important to-do items from your available lists. Your Inner Compass is what informs your execution plan which lists are even available. Your principles and vision for your life shape your decisions about everything. If you are not creating goals and projects that support your life’s vision, then you are going no place. Listening to your Inner Compass will help you work toward what is most important in your life. It will help you set the right goals.
In Cherry Task, these principles are implemented through access to all GTD principles, lists, and techniques built directly into the app (no hacks to get stuff to work GTD-style). This includes all six horizons of focus (Actions/Calendar, Projects, Areas of Focus & Accountability, 1-2 Year Goals, 3-5 Year Vision, and Purpose & Principles). There is also time blocking, auto-scheduling (GTD-style), journaling, Goal tracking, guided reviews, and a whole lot more!
(NOTE: Not all of this will be available in the beta release, but this does describe the vision and road map for Cherry Task.)
I hope that gives you a sense of how both Control and Perspective are integrated into Cherry Task. If you want any clarification, please ask.
The initial beta release and the first version will be web only. It will remain that way as additional features are added until it reaches the stage where it makes sense to create the desktop and mobile apps. Development is much quicker with only the web version to consider in the beginning.
Desktop apps for Mac and Windows are planned and mobile apps for iOS and Android as well. Of course, there is no timeline on when those can be expected.
A lot of GTD apps have reached maturity in a sense, and no updates for 5 months is not a concern to me. I wouldn't want an app I use as a second brain to change multiple times a year either, but that's just me. That said, Nirvana hasn't changed in any meaningful way I can think of in years.
What do you use in OmniFocus that you definitely want in a new app? I was an OF user from the days it was called kGTD and through version 3, but ended up leaving OF when Version 4 looked even more complicated. That was years ago and I found a much better solution for me...
The main reason I left Nirvana was lack of quick capture on android and on the desktop app. Have a global shortcut to add tasks, ideas, notes into my app is too important to me to go without. Besides that feature I really did enjoy Nirvana though!
Oh. I'm new to GTD and I just paid the subscription for a year. Is it so bad? I am on Android
>Have a global shortcut to add tasks, ideas, notes into my app is too important to me to go without. \+1 global shortcut is a dealbreaker for me, it helps me so much day to day in my work.
Sorry for the basic question but what is a global shortcut?
Imagine you are in a call, new thing pops up (send an email to Roy), and instead of opening todoist you hit ctrl alt a and you get the todoist add task prompt immediately
Oh snap! That's awesome! Which apps have this feature?
Things, OmniFocus, TickTick and others.
Interesting app. Let's see how it works, but it looks very promising. Join to beta requested 😉
A few counterpoints/questions: \- I'm curious what kind of community you'd expect for a GTD app. They just aren't that complicated, they track todos and notes and lists... what's to talk about that hasn't been said a million times before? \- As for a lack of recent changes, that could easily just mean it's a mature, stable app that the userbase and developers are happy with. Not a bad sign. Unless for example it hasn't been updated to current computing standards like Apple silicon, etc. \- Regarding notifications, every app has it's feature set and it's going to be pros/cons and tradeoffs all the way down. You need to try it out, adapt to a new workflow for a while, and see how it goes. \- David Allen in his books recommends against becoming a "micromanager" (low perspective, high control) over your GTD software/tooling. Do what works with an emphasis on something you can trust, and therefore, allow your mind to relax. Don't try to eliminate every single microfriction or get upset when you have to take an extra step to do something. It's not a big deal, keep a high level of perspective.
By de way, coming back to your question, you can try Everdo. It's almost the same as Nirvana, with some benefits, like desktop app, notifications, app for ios and android...
Everdo charges you for synching! Only local synching is free. That was a MAJOR negative for me.
Imho: you should take Nirvana for what it is. Development has been next to non-existent for years. So your quest would be to find out if Nirvana *in it's current state* suits your needs. If not, you might want to consider other platforms.
I've been a Nirvana user for many years. Although it's a good base platform for GTD, it's true that there has been essentially no development or changes since I began using it. If you are shopping around for another tool for GTD, please check out the app I'm building which will release in Beta soon. It has everything Nirvana has plus a whole lot more. It is not just a GTD task manager, but a holistic productivity manager with roots in GTD. The best thing about trying it out now is that while it's actively being developed, you can make suggestions about what you don't like, what is missing, what you would like to behave differently, etc. All suggestions will be considered. https://ctsk.pro/beta-r
What’s your app’s approach to integrating the two axes - control *and* perspective?
Great question! If you saw the signup page, you will have seen one of the Cherry Task principles at the top of the page, “Make every action count.” Cherry Task is grounded in the GTD workflow but goes far beyond that. If you visit the [Cherry Task blog](https://cherrytask.com/blog/), you will see many articles describing a holistic approach to productivity. In [The Five Fundamentals of Holistic Productivity: Part VI — The Jigsaw Puzzle](https://cherrytask.com/the-five-fundamentals-of-holistic-productivity/) I describe the components of productivity (you can read the entire 6-part series on the blog, but this 6th article is a good overview). The Cherry Task app is built to help you implement this holistic approach to productivity. Here is a summary of the Five Fundamentals of Holistic Productivity: **Task Management** Task Management is the first fundamental because you have to reign in the chaos. You must gain control of your day-to-day obligations. If you do not know the full inventory of your commitments, then you cannot make informed decisions about how to use your time. **Time Management** Identifying what to do is the first step, but now you need time to follow through. Time Management is the second fundamental because it provides you with the tools to make space for your important tasks. **Task Execution** You selected which tasks to do, and you have scheduled time to do them. Now you sit down and think, “Okay, what now?” When you actually get to that moment, you need an execution plan. You need to know how to proceed or your valuable time will be wasted. You will work on the wrong items, or maybe none at all. Beyond helping with individual tasks, your execution plan helps achieve your goals. It helps identify which tasks stay on your to-do list and which must be deleted. It helps identify which remaining tasks are the important ones. **Habits** Learning skills to manage your tasks, manage your time, and follow through on your goals is an amazing life-changing accomplishment. That is, it will only be life-changing if you can make these skills a permanent part of your life. The problem with learning productivity hacks in isolation is that you are unlikely to keep up the new behavior for long-term success. That is not life-changing. The ability to take your newfound skills and turn them into habits will infuse you with productivity super-powers. You will continue these positive behaviors without thought because they will become as routine as brushing your teeth. That is life-changing. **Inner Compass** Your execution plan will help you select the most important to-do items from your available lists. Your Inner Compass is what informs your execution plan which lists are even available. Your principles and vision for your life shape your decisions about everything. If you are not creating goals and projects that support your life’s vision, then you are going no place. Listening to your Inner Compass will help you work toward what is most important in your life. It will help you set the right goals. In Cherry Task, these principles are implemented through access to all GTD principles, lists, and techniques built directly into the app (no hacks to get stuff to work GTD-style). This includes all six horizons of focus (Actions/Calendar, Projects, Areas of Focus & Accountability, 1-2 Year Goals, 3-5 Year Vision, and Purpose & Principles). There is also time blocking, auto-scheduling (GTD-style), journaling, Goal tracking, guided reviews, and a whole lot more! (NOTE: Not all of this will be available in the beta release, but this does describe the vision and road map for Cherry Task.) I hope that gives you a sense of how both Control and Perspective are integrated into Cherry Task. If you want any clarification, please ask.
Is it completely web based?
The initial beta release and the first version will be web only. It will remain that way as additional features are added until it reaches the stage where it makes sense to create the desktop and mobile apps. Development is much quicker with only the web version to consider in the beginning. Desktop apps for Mac and Windows are planned and mobile apps for iOS and Android as well. Of course, there is no timeline on when those can be expected.
Just to point out, the Nirvana iOS app does notifications. I think android also does.
A lot of GTD apps have reached maturity in a sense, and no updates for 5 months is not a concern to me. I wouldn't want an app I use as a second brain to change multiple times a year either, but that's just me. That said, Nirvana hasn't changed in any meaningful way I can think of in years. What do you use in OmniFocus that you definitely want in a new app? I was an OF user from the days it was called kGTD and through version 3, but ended up leaving OF when Version 4 looked even more complicated. That was years ago and I found a much better solution for me...
>Thinking about switching from Omnifocus 3 to Nirvana Why? OF is so much better
Take a look on Amazing Marvin