Review: Ghost Action version 1.1

Ghost Action, from ghostparksoftware.com, is one of the newcomers in the GTD Arena, and claims its space among the “thin layer” GTD applications, or, as Merlin Mann will call them: “lean and mean”. I was planning to write about the recently launched 1.0 version, mainly because I am always interested in GTD software, but the fact that the software author is giving away free license to bloggers, was, I have to admit, an incentive. As you will see, that didn’t made me bypass some issues that the application have. The surprise was when I started it today and a little pop-up announced me that there is already a 1.1 version available. Nice, we started on the right foot with that, I said…

Without further ado, I will start writing abut it, and I will use the same review mechanism as in my first review, about Thinking Rock.

GTD compliance: 3

Well, that’s it. The GTD compliance of this stops at the level of: Contexts, Projects and Actions. This is how the main screen looks like.

Pretty simlpe, yeah? Simple is good, less is more, I know, but I want something… well, more . Especially in the collecting process. Right now you have to input anything into the opened application, no remote – meaning Quicksilver – integration yet. Also, the project management is still spartan, without nested projects, or recurring tasks. Speaking of GTD compliance, a separate functionality, for Someday / Maybe and Reference items, would be expectable, although by tweaking the Contexts you can achieve something almost similar.

Usability: 4

This is where Ghost Action really hits big. Everything cand be done in only one easy screen with a button bar of only three items. Adding a due date to an action is as easy as clicking on lower right corner calendar. Also, you can have notes (two-way syncable, too, we’ll talk about that later), and priorities, from 1 to 9. Simple and powerful.

And as if this wouldn’t be enough you can order any of the columns ascending or descending by clicking on the column header. And you can see only due tasks/actions, ony tasks to do, or both. Nifty.

Printing is simple, yet effective. All the contexts are printed on one page, and I assume if the list become bigger than one page, it would be continued on another one, for the same context, although I haven’t tested that.

But the real difference is made by Ghost Action in the syncing zone. It can sync seamlessly with your iCal (and the author claims it can sync with your iCal even if it’s not started, by using Sync Services).

Not only it will take all your contexts and make separate calendars from them, but it will carry on even the notes and priorities. So, for each context, one separate calendar in iCal.

Even more, you can input data directly into iCal, and then assign a project to it by enclosing it in the square brackets, like this: new to do item [project name]. Guess what, at the next sync, it will magically pop-up under your project next actions in Ghost Action. Well, that’s really powerful.

One other really nice thing is that you can mark your tasks done in either application, the next sync will actually level it on both. Reeeeealy nice! So, one big 4 for usability, the biggest strength of Ghost Action so far.

User Interface: 4

Well, not quite, the user interface is also a big plus for Ghost Action. It litteraly makes you focus on what you have to do, not on the application itself, reminding you that GTD is a process, not your tool. You have something in Ghost Action, then using the application almost makes you doing it, by lowering the distraction factor… The problem is that I would like to be able input more, and from different corners of my daily activity, and with a more sharper project management functionality… Otherwise, it’s doing very nice on this one…

Speed: 4.5

I would gave it a plain 5, but not testing it with a full blown data package – meaning all my stuff created when I last emptyied my RAM – makes me a little cautious here. It can be 5, though, I’m not sure. The bottom line is that being Cocoa, and simple, Ghost Action is really fast!

Value for money: 3.5

The application costs 19.95 bucks, and giving it a 3.5 at the value for money section might seem a little harsh from my part, but it isn’t. The market already has at least one free application, which is Thinking Rock, which do have more functionalities and a more polished GTD approach. (note: it seems that Thinking Rock will not be free anymore). It’s really hard to tell if it will hit the market, but at 19.95 is still a reasonable choice. If the price would stay at the same level, but with several add-ons, like a Quicksilver plugin, advanced project management, then yeah, it could be a gem..

Pluses:

• syncing is a gem, really
• ease of use, also

Minuses:

• poor collecting mechanism
• poor project management capabilities

Well, that’s it for Ghost Action, here is the result:

GTD compliance: 3
Usability: 4
User interface: 4
Speed: 4.5
Value for money: 3.5
———————–
Rough average: 3.9

Ghost Action scores pretty well, if we are taking into account that Thinking Rock has obtained 4.125 using the same review mechanism. But, as I said in the first review, there is much more to be discovered beyond a rough average. And I kindly invite you to do this…

Feel free to share your opinions on the Ghost Action as well as on this review, by commenting on this blog.

In the meantime, for those of you out there into mind maping, you can download the mind map used for this blog post: Ghost Action Blog Post (947). And remember, we are on a contest here, so polish up your maps…

Technorati Tags: GTD, Ghost Action, GTD software, MAC OS, revivew

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