tingdo

Getting Things Done: a practical summary

GTD is a productivity method created by David Allen. The core idea: get everything out of your head and into a system you trust. Here is how it works.

The five steps: a getting things done summary

GTD is built on five steps. You do them in order, and you repeat them regularly.

1

Capture

Write down everything that has your attention. Tasks, ideas, reminders, commitments. Get it all out of your head and into one place: your inbox. The only rule is: capture it now, decide what to do with it later.

In tingdo: Capture happens through a single input field. Type + and a title, hit enter. That is it. The task lands in your inbox. You can add project, context, and deadline inline, but none of it is required.

2

Clarify

Go through your inbox one item at a time. For each item, ask: is this actionable? If yes, decide the very next physical action. If no, delete it, file it as reference, or put it on a someday/maybe list. The goal is to turn vague stuff into clear next steps.

In tingdo: You process your inbox by assigning a status to each item: next action, waiting for, scheduled, someday/maybe, or reference. Reference items stay in the system as notes but do not appear on your action lists.

3

Organize

Put each clarified item where it belongs. Next actions go on your next actions list, grouped by context: things you can do at your computer, things that require a phone call, errands to run. Multi-step outcomes become projects. Items with a hard deadline get a date. Everything else is organized by context, not by urgency.

In tingdo: tingdo organizes next actions by context, exactly as GTD prescribes. There are no priority levels. In GTD, priority emerges from context, energy, and time available, not from a number or color code. tingdo follows this principle: if you are at your computer, you see your @computer tasks. The decision about what to do next is yours, not the app's.

4

Reflect

Once a week, do a weekly review. Go through all your projects and make sure each one has a clear next action. Check your someday/maybe list. Clear your inbox completely. The weekly review is what keeps the system trustworthy. Without it, you stop trusting your lists and go back to keeping things in your head.

In tingdo: The weekly review is a guided, step-by-step process. The app walks you through each phase: clear your inbox, review every active project, check waiting-for items, revisit someday/maybe. You cannot skip ahead. One thing at a time.

5

Engage

Now you work. Look at your next actions list, filtered by where you are and what tools you have. Pick something and do it. No guilt about what you are not doing, because your system has everything. You already decided during clarify and organize. Now you just execute.

In tingdo: The home screen is your next actions list, grouped by context. There is no 'today' view, no calendar, and no overdue counter. You open the app and see what you can do, right now, where you are.

The GTD decision flowchart

When something lands in your inbox, this is the thinking process. One question at a time, until the item has a clear home.

New item in inbox DECISION Is it actionable? no Trash · Reference Someday / maybe yes DECISION Will it take under 2 minutes? yes Do it now no DECISION Is it a multi-step outcome? yes Create a project, then define the next action no DECISION Are you the right person? no Delegate it (waiting for) yes DECISION Does it need a specific date? yes Schedule it no ADD TO Next actions with a context

In tingdo: This is what happens when you process your inbox. Each item gets a status — next action, waiting for, scheduled, someday/maybe, or reference — and optionally a project and context. The flowchart is the thinking; the status is the result.

Key concepts

Inbox

Where everything lands first. Unprocessed, unsorted, uncategorized. The inbox is a temporary holding area, not a to-do list. The goal is to empty it regularly.

In tingdo: Every new task starts in the inbox unless you assign it a status during capture. The weekly review begins with clearing the inbox to zero.

Next actions

The single next physical step you can take to move something forward. Not 'plan the event' but 'call the venue and ask about availability'. Concrete, doable, no ambiguity.

In tingdo: Next actions are the core of the app. The home screen shows only tasks with status 'next', grouped by context. Every project must have at least one next action, or it is flagged as stalled.

Projects

Anything that requires more than one action step to complete. 'Fix the kitchen faucet' might be a single action. 'Renovate the kitchen' is a project with many next actions.

In tingdo: Projects can be nested (subprojects), but tasks are always flat within a project. If a task needs subtasks, that is a signal to create a subproject instead. This keeps things simple and avoids hidden complexity.

Contexts

Tags that describe where or with what you can do a task. Examples: @computer, @phone, @errands, @home. When you sit down at your computer, you filter by @computer and see everything you can do right now.

In tingdo: Contexts are first-class citizens. You can filter your next actions by context with one tap, or type # in the search bar to jump to any context view.

Someday/maybe

A parking lot for things you might want to do but are not committed to yet. Ideas, aspirations, things that are not actionable right now. You review this list weekly and decide if anything is ready to become active.

In tingdo: Both tasks and projects can have someday/maybe status. They stay out of your daily workflow and only surface during the weekly review.

Weekly review

The habit that holds the whole system together. Once a week, you review every project, process your inbox to zero, check your waiting-for items, and look at your someday/maybe list. It takes 30-60 minutes and keeps your system reliable.

In tingdo: The weekly review is guided. The app presents each step in sequence and does not let you skip ahead. Healthy projects get a quick confirmation. Stalled projects require a decision before you can move on.

Reference material

Non-actionable information you want to keep: meeting notes, account numbers, instructions, useful links. In GTD, reference material is filed separately from action lists so it does not clutter your workflow.

In tingdo: Reference items live inside projects alongside tasks, but they are visually distinct and hidden from your action lists. You can create a reference note with * in the search bar, just like creating a task with +.

Recurring tasks

GTD handles recurring commitments through the weekly review: you notice a recurring task is due and create a new next action for it. Some digital GTD tools add automatic recurring tasks as a convenience feature.

In tingdo: tingdo does not have recurring tasks. This is a deliberate choice. Automatic recurring tasks tend to pile up unreviewed and create the same guilt that due-date-driven apps produce. Instead, the weekly review is where you notice what needs doing again and create a fresh next action for it.

Why GTD works

Most productivity systems tell you to prioritize harder. GTD takes a different approach: it removes the mental load of remembering and deciding. When everything is captured, clarified, and organized, your mind is free to focus on the task at hand. David Allen calls this 'mind like water': a state where you respond to what comes at you with appropriate force, then return to calm.

Take it with you

A one-page getting things done cheat sheet with the five steps and the decision flowchart. Print it, pin it to your wall, or keep it on your desktop.

Download cheat sheet (PDF)

A GTD app that follows the method

tingdo is built around these five steps. Your inbox, next actions, projects, contexts, and weekly review are all first-class features. Where tingdo deviates from GTD conventions, it does so deliberately: no priority levels because GTD does not need them, no recurring tasks because they undermine the weekly review, no calendar view because next actions are organized by context, not by time. The result is a calmer, simpler tool that trusts the methodology.

See the full overview of tingdo as a GTD task manager — how each feature maps to the five steps.

#errands

  • Buy oat milk
  • Return package at post office
  • Pick up prescription

#computer

  • Draft project proposal for Q2
  • Cancel that subscription you forgot about
  • Reply to Marco's email
Try tingdo

Want to go deeper?

The definitive resource is David Allen's book 'Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity'. This page is a summary of the core ideas. The book goes much deeper into implementation, advanced workflows, and the philosophy behind the method.