The right (todo) app for me ✍️
I have a long standing relationship with changing apps. Whenever a new one pops up, I give it try and afterwards might make the switch, spending hours in the migration and tweaking.
However, in many cases, I did not remain with these apps, and went back to the original one. The grass is not always greener. I moved from Obsidian to Logseq, back to Obsidian. While I liked my time with Logseq, it didn't offer everything I needed. Luckily, both platforms work with markdown, making the transition not as painful.
In a similar way, I've had the same with Things as my todo-manager. I've been using it since version 2 (or before?). Things is a beautiful and minimal app. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like many others, but it does work well what it's designed for. And in a beautiful way.
But as with time, I tried other apps. Like Todoist, TickTick, Superlist,... I migrated and went for a subscription with TickTick for a year, as it offered all the features of Things, and more. However, as the subscription ran out, I started doubting my usage, and after long deliberation, I moved back to Things. One being that I already paid for Things, while others are subscriptions (for what I need). And that Things has a much better experience.
Using Things felt like home again, but in using it, I wasn't honest with myself.
Task creation is slower compared to others, and Things is not available on Windows, where I spend all my working time.
While I found workarounds for task creation, I always had to manage everything of my personal tasks via my phone. 1
And that's where I realize now that I complicated things for myself.
Having only my phone to manage and follow up, slows me down and even puts me at risk of not completing, or even forgetting things.
Recently, a 2-month Pro preview of Todoist was shared with me, and as it upgraded since I last tried it, I gave it another go.
I'm only a few days into my trial, but I can already see how wrong I was, holding on to Things. I can be anywhere now, with any device, and add or follow-up on tasks. I'm more aware of what I need to do. And with it's many integrations, I can even see my tasks in my fantastical calendar.
The story is not about my usage or switch to Todoist, but to be honest about the apps I use frequently.
If similar apps are available on platforms where I spend most of my (working) time, I should consider those, instead of adding and keeping friction in my current workflows.
Even if those apps look beautiful and are recommended by everyone...
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All my work tasks are kept and managed in Tana, so everything in Things was to keep my life organized.↩