Nirvana review.
I have been playing with the beta and wrote a review, if anyone is interested. http://pakos.me/2010/08/13/nirvana-my-review-of-a-slick-looking-new...
Let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Jamie
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2 Posted by Karl Jolly on 14 Aug, 2010 09:49 AM
Fair review with all the good stuff highlighted. Possibly a little harsh on some of the known bugs that are being fixed i.e. tags
FWIW I think the Next & Today implementation works really well for me. Next is every single task I have to do (i.e. not in a project) and Today allows me to prioritise things i need to focus on today. I'm not strict about it being today...more like this week.
I also actually quite like the fact that completed items stay there until manually removed. It lets me feel good about what I have achieved and when I feel like it they are quickly wiped away.
You are correct thought it is beautiful. That's what keeps me in the beta with an unfinished (and vital to me) mobile arrangement.
3 Posted by Proximo on 14 Aug, 2010 12:15 PM
@Jamie,
Fair review but here is some feedback.
Starred Task & Today list
When you star a task and it moves to "Today List". You mention that it does not move to Next. If you are processing your inbox, the actionable task should be moved to the Next List. You don't star them during processing, but simply figure out where it should go.
During your weekly review is where you scan your Next List and decide what you want to focus on Today. You pick the star and it populates in the Today list. This does not mean the task is due on that day, but simply that you decided it's one of the task you will work on for that day.
Today is simply a short focus list of Next Actions that you are going to work on Today. Not necessarily complete them today but work on them.
Inbox
You state that moving items from the inbox to scheduled is great.
"This solves the problem in Nozbe where you have an individual task you need to accomplish, but want to move it out of your inbox, and don’t want to assign it to a project."
This is a flaw in Nozbe's implementation of GTD. The Inbox is designed to store your new thoughts and ideas until you are ready to process them. Once you process them, they should ALL move to the correct list.
In Nozbe the Inbox is a Project which is flat out wrong. The inbox is not a permanent storage container.
In Nirvana, the items in your inbox are collection of things, thoughts, ideas, etc. When you process your inbox to Zero, every task should have a home and it's not a requirement for it to be inside a Project. Single actionable task go in the Next List and by definition they are all Next Actions. Task that require multiple steps become projects and the first task that needs to be completed in that project becomes the Next Action. All task in a project are actionable or they would not be there.
This is GTD 101 which Nozbe gets completely wrong. There is no Next Actions list in Nozbe, only projects.
Tags/Context
Nirvana uses tags as context just like Things. You mention just like Twitter but since Things by Cultured Code is considered a great GTD applications on the Mac. I figured it would have been a better comparison.
I agree with you on the tag/context improvements but wanted to point out something you said.
"If I am at the phone ready to call someone, I want easy access to the @phone context. Not to hunt around throughout my various projects, and inbox to see all the people I need to call."
You mention that you don't want to hunt around your inbox. Again, this is where Nozbe is implementing GTD incorrectly. The Inbox should not be a permanent bucket where you search for task to do. The inbox is to be processed during your weekly review. Once the task is in the correct list, you can choose to work on it based on your Time, Energy and Context.
Just wanted to point out the major flaw in Nozbe and I believe it's one of the worst GTD implementation out there.
Mobile App
I agree with you here but wanted to point out that the tags are available when you are in a list. Having them in the home page is a great idea.
As a final comment, look at the "What's Next" list to get an idea of what is coming. Most of the things you did not like are in the works, but your review was fair in mentioning where Nirvana falls short.
Great feedback and remember to make your own suggestions to improve Nirvana. Unlike many other services, the Nirvana Team listens to it's users.
What's Next
http://help.nirvanahq.com/faqs/site-updates/whats-next
4 Posted by jamie on 14 Aug, 2010 04:19 PM
Thanks Proximo. I was referencing the Next Actions in Nozbe. I don't use the Next Actions as a place to put all my actionable items. I go through my projects and decide on the Next Action to do on them and label it Next Action. I think Nozbe gets that right.
You said "This is GTD 101 which Nozbe gets completely wrong. There is no Next Actions list in Nozbe, only projects." They do have a Next Actions list that only populates the most important actions I should have my attention focused on(I believe GTD says to implement it that way). Yes, they do merge my today actions into it as well, but they also have a calendar mode that lists actions due today if you want to sort that way. Overall though, my understanding of Next Actions is to only put items on this list that are immediately next in a project or need my immediate attention. Not everything listed out that I am doing on all projects...
My comments on sorting by context and looking in my Inbox is the way I work sometimes. I do sort through my Inbox weekly and move items out of it(in Nozbe too). But I may have put a few @phone tags/contexts in there that I haven't added to a project or schedule yet(weekly reviews seem a long time apart...). I like that Nirvana does allow me to sort by context in my Inbox, and it does if I use the tag cloud. I guess I wasn't too clear that it was there, but not too fleshed out yet. There are plenty of times that I put an item in my Inbox to call someone, e-mail someone, etc...that I haven't sorted yet.
In my job, I may decide that today I want to hammer out 20 calls to clients. They are all in different projects, and some haven't been sorted yet out of my inbox. Overall though, I agree that the Inbox is not a permanent place you look for tasks to do. It isn't in Nozbe either...I made a single actions project to move those items to as most of the time I sort my tasks by calendar date, Next Actions, or context. In the end, I like the Inbox in Nirvana, and it works very well to get stuff out of.
I am looking forward to using Nirvana, but need the mobile app to work better, and either Next to work the way I think it should, or use Today as my Next. I just hate seeing Today being used for stuff that isn't due Today. Maybe just a shift in my thinking is needed. haha.
5 Posted by Proximo on 16 Aug, 2010 01:48 AM
@Jamie,
You have a lot of good point and I completely agree with you on the context picking as a global filter across all your list.
As for Next Actions, I just wanted to mention that Next Actions are not just found in Projects. Every task that is actionable but does not require multiple steps is a Next Action and this is what I find missing in Nozbe.
You have single Next Actions that are not related to projects and then you have Project related Next Actions. They should all be listed in the Next List because this is where you look to decide on what to do next.
Nirvana is improving in many areas you mentioned needed some tweaks, so it's great to hear feedback from anyone who uses other GTD applications.
Thanks again.
David McLaughlin closed this discussion on 09 Feb, 2011 08:29 PM.