Your top 3 tools?

Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 9, 2013 at 09:30 PM

Chris Murtland wrote:
1, Workflowy - It took me a while to warm up to this one, but with the
>addition of an iPad and iPhone, being able to outline anywhere, at all
>times, sold me on it. It has weaknesses (can’t multiple select items,
>for instance), but overall it reminds of BrainStorm or Ecco. It’s
>technically not a desktop app, but it does have offline access, and I
>find its speed to be equal or better to most desktop apps.

Chris - thanks for mentioning Workflowy. I was intrigued by it when it first came out but as a browser-only app it didn’t fit into my system. However, with offline iPad and iPod Touch app access and sync with server, it becomes an entirely different proposition.

I’ve been having trouble finding a satisfactory to-do list system for PC+iOS, as the traditional hierarchical lists (ToodleDo, WunderList, Apple’s Reminders) just get cluttered too quickly and become increasingly less usable. I always end up using several at the same time, and none properly.

But just playing with the Workflowy iPod/iPad apps for a few minutes today, I started to get a sense that maybe Workflowy could really be the solution to my problems. By being able to zoom in (hoist) at any level and being able to tag items like #URGENT etc., the disadvantages of hierarchical organisation disappear.

And it seems to be very flexible for designing a custom-made productivity system. I’m getting a similar feeling to when I finally grasped how a desktop wiki works. And Workflowy does have something of a wiki about it. Zooming (hoisting) is accomplished by clicking on a link, so it does work like a kind of a wiki.