Get Things Done With nActionr

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nactionr.com' target='_blank'>http://www.nactionr.com</a><br /><br /></div><i>" nActionr allows you to regain control of your life effortlessly using a simple, intuitive system based around contexts, projects, and tasks. Using the power and portability of your Pocket PC, nActionr is with you — every time you need it — helping you to decide what to do next."</i><br /><br />If you're a fan of the popular productivity methodology known as "Getting Things Done", then you may be interested in this implementation for Pocket PC. While others have been released in the past, there is always room for improvement in any PPC Program category - so perhaps it's worth checking out!

[npenny]

After discovering nActionr through this post, I have given the app a good run-through this afternoon. This app is very close to what I have been looking for. I have tried several GTD apps on my MacBook, but a laptop is just too cumbersome to use for quick-fire task/project creation which can and does happen anywhere at any time. Laptops are hard to balance on the back of urinal. As such, I have been wanting a true GTD-centric app for my Windows Mobile phone, which is always on my hip.

There currently is a slight bug when using my Cingular 8525 (HTC TyTN) in landscape mode (when the QWERTY keyboard is slid out) as the window does not adjust to the new aspect ratio. I fired off an email to jabsystems (nActionr's developer) describing the problem and got a personal reply within ten minutes stating an intent to fix.

There is a lot to appreciate about this app, but I especially like the separate input applet for quick, enter-and-forget, input and the subsequent inbox processing implementation that I can do later when I'm not in the thick of the daily grind. I have been using Pocket Informant and its somewhat similar "Create Task" shortcut, but I have to give the speed advantage to nActionr hands down. This is true when just firing off a single task, but it gets better: I can create a whole list of tasks at once and tap 'Process'. Then, the applet returns a confirmation that X# of tasks have been entered into nActionr's Inbox and I can go on about my day.

All-in-all, for a v1.0 this is a well designed GTD app. I'm on day 1 of a 30-day trial, but if the landscape bug gets fixed, I'm fairly confident this one will be a keeper.

[Bacco]

npenny...I currently use the GTD Outlook add-in and like it. I've been using Pocketbreeze to deal with the sorting of my tasks on my PPC. When I do create tasks on my PPC (also a TyTN by the way) I still need to categorize them using the GTD add-in when I get back to my laptop. If I categorize them using the PPC category filed, it doesn't carry all the way through to the add-in and projects. It's not so bad, but it is an added step.

The other advantage for me for using Outlook is that the Add-in allows two licenses so I have it installed on my home PC as well. That way my laptop, home PC and PPC all have the same info update for me to use.

I have a question for you...does nActionr use the same database as Outlook for syncing or does it use its own database and not sync at all with Outlook?

Thanks.

[JonathanBallinger]

Hello, I am the developer of nActionr.

Firstly, thanks for the mention both to Pocket PC Thoughts and npenny. The landscape (and square aspect) bug is almost fixed.

As to Bacco's question, no it doesn't use the same database as Outlook for synching but it is on my list of things to investigate. You are the second person to request that feature so far so it would seem to be a popular one. Interoptability is important to me and is something I will be exploring along the way to future versions.

Obviously if there are any feature omissions that are causing people to not use nActionr I would like to know. It'd be bad business not to want to know :p.

[Bacco]

Thanks Jonathan. I'd love to help you test something when it's ready.

The GTD Outlook add-in works wonderfully on a regular PC, and since all of my projects and associated next actions are already there, setting up an new system wouldn't make much sense.

Please keep me in mind when you have something ready for testing.

[mm]

Could I import a .csv dump from another database and then clean up the fields(columns) to an .xml and rename it and then use it in nActionr?

Or do you have a clean import function?

I don't want to reenter all my task items into another database.

mm

[JonathanBallinger]

Could I import a .csv dump from another database and then clean up the fields(columns) to an .xml and rename it and then use it in nActionr?

Or do you have a clean import function?

I don't want to reenter all my task items into another database.

mm

Yes you can. There is no in-app or utility to do it as of yet but it wouldn't take much to write something to convert a csv into a valid xml that nActionr could use.

[ikesler]

I would love it if it used the same database as Poutlook as well... that way the tasks can still sync over, or you could even still use PocketInfomant but use this app for your GTD tasks. That would be a deal maker for me.

[rlieving]

I looked over your tutorial and was impressed by the implementation.

But the price was a little steep, I thought. It seems like users can achieve much of the nActionr functionality with a few of the free web services (I use Remember the Milk), with better desktop functionality. With the number of tasks I manage, typing them into my PPC (even with the 'giant' PPC 6700 keyboard) to be way too tedious.

Even as a frequent flier, I find that the emailed tasks/Google Gears/pen and paper functionality (using Remember the Milk) is enough to get me by 100% of the time.

RE: Requests for Outlook functionality. That is definitely one way to go, but it limits your audience. Another way to go might be a web sync. That would give you a competitive advantage over other services that don't offer a client running on the phone.

[ikesler]

RE: Requests for Outlook functionality. That is definitely one way to go, but it limits your audience. Another way to go might be a web sync. That would give you a competitive advantage over other services that don't offer a client running on the phone.

True, I use an exchange server so being away from the desk and connected is no issue, but for others it could be. Good Point.
Maybe an option for one or the other.

[dmd1272]

Hello, I'm a blackberry user and I host a GTD Blog for Blackberry but I'm always on the look up for the best Gtd application in a mobile platform and I came upon nActionr thru an RSS feed, I saw the tutorial and it seems like an amazing application but I didn't see any mention of how projects are delegated to Someday Maybe and I'm wondering if someone can chime in and explain this to me.

thanks in advance,

Jorge Ledesma at http://blackberrygtd.com/ :lol:

[JonathanBallinger]

Hi Jorge, I replied to your post at the forum ( https://jabsystems.fogbugz.com/default.asp?nactionr-support.1.16 ) but the upshot of it is I have a @Future context (it could be @Someday/Maybe) and when I want a task to be on it, I create it on that context. I then go into View Details and set the Start Date to a date I agree to review the task on.

With "Show only valid tasks?" checked in the options, this task will not appear to me until I either uncheck the option, or the date of review occurs. Then I can review it, and either promote it to a task by moving it to a different context, or reassigning a start date at whenever I next agree to review it.

[JonathanBallinger]

Version 1.1 has gone up for general availability. As many of the downloaders have come from Pocket PC Thoughts, I thought it only fair to inform you that an update has occurred. It solves some issues that were reported and also improves the application in general.