Black Belt Productivity

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Today, in the BBP Reviews Corner, I will be looking at Vitalist.

Vitalist is an online list manager that subscribes to the GTD methodology.

But, Michael…they all do, what makes Vitalist different?

I am glad that you asked. Vitalist is different than many other applications in this space right now. I think that it is one of the best implementation that is available right now. It is not perfect, but it is jam packed with features with (at least) 4 more on the way.

Vitalist uses an Inbox, Actions list, Projects list and even Ticklers to help you get things done. Once you register for the server (yes, there is a free component as well as a low cost subscription…more on that later), you are greeted with a Settings page to set up some basic info. After you save those settings you are whisked away to your Dashboard that will show you an overview of what you have to get done.

But, first, let’s setup Vitalist.

Click on the Contexts in the menu and away you go. Click on the New Context link at the top of your list and you are ready to start entering. [NOTE: No need to add the '@' to your contest...Vitalist does that for you.] Your contexts will be listed down the left side of the screen, and you will be able to use that to sort and filter your display based on context. If you use the Edit Context link that is in that left side listing, you will be able to enter your contexts quite rapidly. Type in your Context name, hit Enter, hit Tab, type in the next Context name…SIMPLE!

Next, you can add some Projects that you have laying around in your head. The great thing is that Project creation is exactly like Context creation. Type > Enter > Tab >Type…rinse and repeat. I prepend my Project with a [P] or [W] to separate personal and work projects.

Now to the meat of Vitalist. Let’s add some  Actions. There are two holding areas for your Actions to go to. You can add them into your Inbox, which is just a temporary collection point for your system, or you can add them into one of your new Contexts. I don’t use the Inbox much. One nice feature is that you can setup your Vitalist to accept email into your system. The emails come in and live in your Inbox until you move them somewhere else.

You type in your Action and then use pulldowns for selecting Context and Project (which is not required). Vitalist also lets you keep up with Waiting Fors through another pulldown. Each of these three pulldowns have a link next to them so that you can add a new Context, Project or Waiting For on the same page while adding your Action. Next you select your Due Date and then a Reminder Date (based on the Due Date) and then, if necessary, a Repeat scenario for recurring Actions.

Now that you are all setup, you can start taking advantage of the Dashboard. It will keep you up-to-date with your Ticklers (filed under the Someday menu item), Overdue Items (that are past your Due Date) and your Upcoming Items (as you defined by Due Date when you added the action). On the menu, you can look at your Action in three views: by Context, by Project, and by Waiting Fors. Currently there is no way to denote the NEXT Action in Vitalist, but they are hard at work on it, and it will make it appearance in the next version of Vitalist, and I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting it. There are, in fact, 4 additions coming to the next version of Vitalist and you can read about them on their company blog. Once nice feature is that when you are looking at your Actions by any of the filters mentioned above, you can drag them into any order that you want them to be in.

Your Ticklers, as previously mentioned, live in the Someday list. This was a bit confusing to me at first. Now I use it like a little online Calendar. I put doctor’s appointments, haircuts, meetings, etc on there. Now on the day that they are set to tickle me, they magically appear on the Dashboard so that I will not miss them.

There are two more items on the menu that I have never even tried to use. There is a Reference and an Archive link on the menu. The Reference item lets you make notes and assign them to Projects. The Archive section is just a search front for any completed thing that has been in your system…hence the name Archive. Seems that it may be a nice feature, but not one that you would use everyday.

Now, I mentioned before, that there is a paid subscription available for Vitalist. For as little as $5/month, you will get no ads (not a big deal for me since I use AdBlock Plus on my Firefox), SSL Encyption, File Attachments, Collaborative abilities with other Vitalist users and a full fledged Calendar (that is coming soon). I have not seen the need for me to go to the paid version. The stocked full free version comes with a Mobile Edition, RSS & iCal for every single list in the system, Recurring Actions, and Email & SMS Reminders for your Actions.

That’s it! Vitalist is a simple to use and powerful list manager, and has become my tool of choice for my list management. I have not gotten everything into Vitalist yet, but that will be remedied over time. I am really looking forward to the new additions that are coming soon to Vitalist.

- Michael