Things 3

Things 3 is expensive. You have to pay separately (and quite a bit) for the Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad apps. But they are one-time charges (I suppose until Things 4 is dropped and you want to upgrade). Things 3 includes syncing your Apple devices in iCloud. It appears that this is through a Things (developer) iCloud account, not your personal iCloud account. That’s great but I wonder if the Things business model accounts for “lifetime” syncing for users on the Things iCloud account based on one-time payments for the apps. In the end I think it’s worth the investment. There are a lot of great features. The to-dos can be organized in two tier groupings: 1) Areas, and then within that, 2) Projects. Free-form notes can be attached to each tier and the to-dos. Due dates, reminders, and start dates (if I remember correctly) can be assigned to the to-dos. Items on your Apple calendar can be added to the Things calendar so they show up on Things app today’s to-do (and future date’s) lists. Recurring tasks can be set to recur on successive calendar intervals or a on a set interval after a given task is marked completed. (Great for things like replacing your furnace filters.) Emails (for example from the Spark email client) can be added as Things to-dos, and a link to the actual email is included so you can read the email from the Things app. The emails are dropped into a Things Inbox and then moved into the appropriate Area/Project grouping. So far I haven’t found anything missing thing that I’d like or anything that doesn’t work in a way that I think is not OK.

Instead of boosting my productivity, my previous task management app had so many customization options that it actually ate away at my time. It became a procrastination tool. I could spend an hour entering dates, setting up filters, and customizing views only to realize at the end of that time that I hadn’t actually gotten anything done. In contrast, Things 3 is wonderfully simple and clarifying. It’s as powerful as my previous app, but it strips out all the distractions and the fussiness, leaving pure, easy-to-access essentials: tagging, scheduling & project organizing. The scheduling feature has been the real game changer for me. The app tracks due dates (if you have them) but—more importantly— you can also add a schedule date for each task. The interface makes it very easy to add, move, & view tasks in the schedule (while keeping due dates fixed). So you can plan your time (and easily rearrange that plan as needed). If you’re a GTD person, you can still use that methodology with Things 3 projects & tags. But I find that I do better by adding the accountability of a scheduled list of things that I want to get done on a particular day or in a particular week. Things 3 helps me organize and manage that schedule better than anything else I’ve found. And it gives me the powerhouse organization tool I need without sucking me down a rabbit hole of customization options.

I have tried numerous apps to try to stay on top of what I need to do, reoccurring tasks, upcoming events, and my accomplishments each day. I’ve used free apps, one-time fee apps, and subscription based apps. I end up either deleting them immediately, or I eventually stop using them due to how inefficient they are, or I end up with several apps to cover all my needs. I tried just using a regular physical journal, which I do recommend and I still use; but it doesn’t help me with reoccurring tasks or my incredibly long list of things I need to do for a specific category. An example would be, I have a special needs child who needs specialized schooling and assistance with every day tasks. Getting him the help he needs is covered by various government services but requires numerous steps on my part to get each need of his covered. It would require me to have a large desk planner to have something like this (which is basically a project but a one person, non paid project) planned out on a physical planner; but this app eliminates that necessity. I’m still new to this app, and I’m certain that I’m not using it to its extent, but as of now, it has been the best to-do app I’ve come across; paid or free! I have my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to delete some of my other apps and replace them with Things3!