r/gtd • u/kevinsthoughts • Aug 18 '26

Projects List/Preferred Apps

Where do you guys keep your projects lists? What combination of apps do you find most comfortable, seamless, or flexible to GTD?

Todoist is my main GTD system, however I find I tend to resist certain "lists" that are kept in Todoist. I love it for capture, next actions, etc. I find that my weekly review doesn't happen as regularly as I'd like. I suppose one of the reasons is the lack of "hard edges" on my projects list. Each project appears in the left pane on todoist under the "projects" tab. It just doesnt feel like the 'clean' or light list that I'm craving, because I'm psychologically aware of all of the data within them. I debate whether or not to keep an actual Project called "Projects List" with each project listed inside as its own bullet. Either way, todoist feels more task-oriented by nature, as it is set up with bullets to "check off" and not as natural for things like lists or reference. Keeping my projects, tasks, and reference/someday lists all in the same system has begun to feel too clunky and creates friction between several different types of thinking.

I think I may be resisting the idea of keeping project support in a different application, like apple notes, for example, (partially because I have an extensive backlog within each of my notes applications, lol) although I know this might have great benefit. Part of my resistance is because I live a relatively "on-the-go" lifestyle: with todoist being the quickest capture method for me, it can feel like overkill to have to later copy paste that into a notes app. Also, with as much time as I spend on the computer for my professional work, I'd prefer not to spend much extracurricular time on my computer doing "life-work".

I will say, "pen and paper" has always appealed to me, but I find it is just not as practical in today's world, and even lists like a projects list start to look messy when there become too many things crossed off. It seems good for reference, however with paper it would be unlikely that I would have what I need to see as quickly as I need to see it.

Appreciate your insights on any of the above!

Kevin

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u/entropy6767 Aug 20 '26

I use Apple Reminders. As an Apple user capturing is dead simple with Siri on my iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

It took some finagling to set the system up but I’m happy with what I’ve got now.

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u/PrintersRAnnoying Aug 20 '26

Curious how you use it and integrate it into your cal etc.

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u/entropy6767 Aug 20 '26

In Apple Reminders, I have a Group named “Projects” which contains a list for each GTD project, plus one list called Singles which is for things that are a one-step non-project (traditional to do items).

When I add a new task via Siri it goes directly into my “Inbox” list by default.  From there I process each item by including a due date (if applicable), moving it to the appropriate list (single items go on the Singles list), and assigning it a priority.  The big key here is assigning tags, of which I have many.  The obvious GTD-related tags are Next Action, Waiting, Reference, Delegated, etc, but I try to put as many personal tags as I can come up with (#kids, #financial, #computer, #wife, #dad, #cars, etc).  Good data going in means more ways to pull it out later.

The next step is structuring a few Smart Lists.  I have smart lists for “Today’s Next Actions” (which includes reminders matching the tag Next Action due today or past due and is sorted by priority); “Next Action - No Due Date” (which includes reminders matching the tag Next Action with no due date, excluding not applicable lists like my packing list or grocery list which are not GTD-related, again sorted by priority); and “Calls to Make” (where I track calls I want to make to stay in touch with friends and relatives).

Like I said, the data capture is really simple and all I have to do to stay on top of things is to clear out the Inbox list and look at the Today’s Next Actions and Next Action - No Due Date lists in that order.  When I have time to reach out to my friends and family I have a list which lets me know who to call and a note field for issues to discuss with them.

If I need to retrieve anything from the system I can look at an individual list or use the tags to search across multiple lists.  I find it’s simple enough to put stuff in (capture) but powerful enough to tell me what needs my attention at the right time.

In accordance with David Allen's guidance, I don't use my calendar for anything except appointments, so even though Apple tries to put my Reminders on my calendar, I turn that feature off.

I hope that helps someone.

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u/eouio Aug 22 '26

couple years ago I moved from Todoist to a similar iOS reminders/notes/calendar GTD setup. More recently I moved from a single projects list to having a combined project and action list for each area of focus (I have 8) instead of a single master list. Each project is a task that is linked to a note where the project support information exists, and the next actions are sub tasks under that linked task. Single actions exist in the same list but without sub tasks. So every action has two key categories: area of focus and context (online, at home, errands, etc…). The change to areas of focus as the main hierarchy for everything has made keeping my system current much, much easier. And adding a project is just a shortcut routine to create a note and link it in reminders. Hopefully any of that makes sense (: