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Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

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41–50 of 81 posts

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#42
post #29
post #17

I've been working on a similar project, but I've been moving away from the tree structure lately because I found it too rigid. I don't think all my ideas fit into a tree.

It's a top-down approach. The question is, can your ideas be subdivided into small(er) tasks?

What if my ideas are smaller parts of different things (i.e. a cycle, which can not be in a tree)?

Maybe I'm thinking about it the wrong way.

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#43
post #27

I keep trying new tools when they come out, but find myself always snapping back to Notational Velocity. Workflowy reminds me of OmniOutliner, they share a very similar, hierarchical approach. Sadly they also share similar problems; a GUI that's too slow for my fingers and too complex for my little brain. The GUI-complexity stems from the enforced hierarchy. Indenting stuff seems nice at first, and makes it look tidy…

I also use Notational Velocity on the Mac. I sync with the iPad/iPhone app SimpleNote. The great thing is that sync'ing is automatic in each app. Now all of my ideas and notes are always on whatever device I have at hand. I tried EverNote for a while but it got in the way for quickly updating existing notes, IMHO.

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#44
post #28
post #9

I was in the same boat with regards to TODOs, and I asked myself, given how well steeped we are in technology nowadays - surely this is a solved problem? Turns out, it is. emacs' org-mode does pretty much the exact same thing WorkFlowy does, only it's tied into all the other niceties of emacs (and to admit that is saying something, I was a vim user). Plus, thanks to Dropbox, and MobileOrg for iPhones and Android, you…

I like the idea of this, but there's not an Android version of MobileOrg at the moment - so I'll hold off trying it for a while.

There's https://github.com/matburt/mobileorg-android/wiki/, which is fairly decent. It's still very rough around the edges, and nowhere near the quality of the iPhone MobileOrg, but it's a decent enough start - sticking the orgs in Dropbox keeps everything in sync :).

But yeah, I basically came to the same conclusion (there wasn't a usable solution), and switched to Astrid on the Android tied to Producteev (as it had a plugin for that off the bat) - I put immediate things to remember into there, and most of my notes and other organisational stuff stays in org-mode. When the Android MobileOrg improves, I'll probably use that full time.

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#46
post #35
post #27

I keep trying new tools when they come out, but find myself always snapping back to Notational Velocity. Workflowy reminds me of OmniOutliner, they share a very similar, hierarchical approach. Sadly they also share similar problems; a GUI that's too slow for my fingers and too complex for my little brain. The GUI-complexity stems from the enforced hierarchy. Indenting stuff seems nice at first, and makes it look tidy…

I have used Notational Velocity, I like it, but I absolutely love Taskpaper. I have used almost every single task-manager you could possible think of, but taskpaper for mac is the only one I found to be no-nonsense and intuitive. Mac only. if you haven't tried it yet, you should try it. You will love it. http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper

TodoPaper is the Windows equivalent: http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#47
post #28
post #9

I was in the same boat with regards to TODOs, and I asked myself, given how well steeped we are in technology nowadays - surely this is a solved problem? Turns out, it is. emacs' org-mode does pretty much the exact same thing WorkFlowy does, only it's tied into all the other niceties of emacs (and to admit that is saying something, I was a vim user). Plus, thanks to Dropbox, and MobileOrg for iPhones and Android, you…

I like the idea of this, but there's not an Android version of MobileOrg at the moment - so I'll hold off trying it for a while.

There is, but I don't know how to use it. http://www.appbrain.com/app/mobileorg/com.matburt.mobileorg

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#48
post #25

I have been using Workflowy for about 2 weeks now and have a 2 week history of things I have done, didn't get completed and meeting notes. I love that I can keep all of this in one place without worrying too much about formatting.

I like the look of it (and the intuitive way it functions) - but (even though my fear maybe irrational) I'm slightly worried about becoming dependent on a tool that might not be around in the future. EDIT: actually, with an export function - there's not so much to lose.

Yeah, I echo this worry. I wish I could pay for this.

Not sure if investors are going to be interested in this given the fairly narrow focus of the feature set and potential market. That being said, I think these are the things that make the service so great. Adding much in the way of features in order to increase potential market could ruin its awesomeness.

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#49
post #27

I keep trying new tools when they come out, but find myself always snapping back to Notational Velocity. Workflowy reminds me of OmniOutliner, they share a very similar, hierarchical approach. Sadly they also share similar problems; a GUI that's too slow for my fingers and too complex for my little brain. The GUI-complexity stems from the enforced hierarchy. Indenting stuff seems nice at first, and makes it look tidy…

Project Hedgehog (http://projecthedgehog.com) was designed to address many of these complaints. The UI is almost completely keyboard-driven and fast, and stripped down to bare bones. It's a desktop app that runs on OS X and Windows. It has fast search dialog accessible with one keystroke.

Like OmniOutliner/Workflowy, though, it also is hierarchy-oriented, which I think is most natural for ordered tasks. It has a slight learning curve and the UI is very utilitarian, but it has drastically reduced the amount of stuff I have to keep in my head as I'm working.

Re: Workflowy is to TODO as git is to svn

#50
post #11

I switched my homepage to Workflowy when I saw it first here on HN and it has been a great boost to my productivity since. Maybe nothing specific to Workflowy itself, but just the fact of having a todo list as homepage.

I did the same, and it's proven very useful so far. I also started to use it as my journal.
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