ThingsToDo - Stay on Top of Task Management

 

 

ThingsToDo is pretty much exactly what it says it is; a to-do app for your Window Phone. Unlike many others, however, it is simple, intuitive and conforms beautifully to the Metro UI (copyrights be damned – I’m not Microsoft affiliated so I’m going to keep calling it that).

The developer describes their inspiration for this app in the GTD approach to productivity:

“We dreamed of a perfect GTD app for Windows Phone smartphones… which we are now bringing to you!”

When you open up the app, you’re presented with a number of locations where your ‘things’ (as the app describes them) can be placed; inbox, today, next, future and repeating. A single ‘add’ button at the bottom of the screen opens up the ‘Add thing’ screen which is very basic, allowing you to add a name, description, choose your due date and assign to a project and area if you wish. Things without a due date go in your inbox and things with a due date go in ‘next’ until their due date comes (when obviously they move into ‘today’).

 

The idea is that you dump your to-do’s in your inbox and can schedule them at a later time. When adding a to-do you can also give it a due date of ‘future’, which is handy for anything you’re not ready to schedule yet, but don’t want clogging up your inbox. Anyone who has looked into David Allen’s Getting-Things-Done approach to productivity will be familiar with this approach to task management.

 

The app’s live tile is fairly basic; it only allows a counter in the top right hand corner, and you can choose which of the above categories contribute to this (I have mine set to just ‘today’). Initially I felt that I’d like for the actual things themselves to show on the tile, but I’ve found the counter is enough of a prompt for me to enter the app (if there’s a number showing, it means I’m not finished for the day).

What really appeals to me about this app is the simple controls and genuine Metro UI used. You’re not presented with an unending list of fields to complete, just the basics, and that’s all you really need to add a to-do. To me the most important feature of a productivity app is that you don’t have to invest any time in maintaining it. I need my to-do app to be straight forward and easy to use; and ThingsToDo is exactly that. Pair that with handy features like repeating tasks (the app populates the ‘today’ category with any repeating tasks that fall due) and this app becomes a keeper.

ThingsToDo is available in the Marketplace for the price of $1.49 . There is a free trial available which limits the number of things you can add so the trial isn’t usable long term, but in my opinion it’s definitely worth the investment to purchase the app.

ThingsToDo Screenshots

ThingsToDo XAP Download

Click here or the logo of the app below.. you can even scan the barcode near the logo using bing vision and launch the app directly on your Windows Phone.