Wow, I read every word in this thread and my eyes are bleeding. =P J/K
You know, I think it's interesting that
Ken asked what exactly do you need to be notified about and the responses that came afterword weren't to specific sans a couple of posts.
To me, I found posters wanted one of two things:
- An automatic notification system that alerts the user of pending or past due tasks.
- An task reminder for actions that require day/time specific content but arn't large enough events in themselves for their calendar.
To me the bigger question that the OP brought up was, "
Should any application automatically *ping* reminders to spur interaction between you and the application?"
My gut tells me, "No." I say this because all productivity systems (including GTD) warn against any kind of software that promises to help you create new habits. Creating new habits is up to the individual (w/ help from the community)
I do think the larger issue for the OP and others having trouble implementing GTD, is two things I suffer from: 1) Lack of motivation because my
lists (actions) repel me and 2) I need to complete the
weekly review.
Both issues David has spoken about outside of his book and I suggest you download his entire podcast feed (about 10 different shows) and perhaps give a listen to his audio cd covering the weekly review. It turned OmniFocus and GTD around for me.
However, I'm inclined to support those looking for a simple task notification system. I know for sure I wouldn't use it as all the examples provided in this thread (and others) present no challenge in my ability to remember them or complete them.
How so?
I haxxorz. In all seriousness I open my iPhone OmniFocus app every time I enter a new "context." I know what's most important or what needs to get done first because in my weekly review I move my most important projects to the top of each folder that holds them. This in turns puts the Next Action at the top of whatever context it is in.
So....to continue a long post and an even longer thread.
Is OmniFocus not a well oiled, organized and efficent collection of your project and action lists?
I say yes it is and therefore you must review your action list (and calendar) regularly...many times a day....which means alarms and notification become obsolete...which will reduce your stress but not my use of ellipses... /soapbox.