How to choose a task manager
Four tests for choosing a task manager: built-in GTD views, the same list on every machine, an agent on that list, and a list rather than a board.
The short answer
Choosing a task manager comes down to four tests: built-in GTD views, the same list on every machine, an agent on that list, and a list rather than a board. No app wins every test, so name the one you will not give up. Done Bear is a GTD task manager with Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday built in.
Key takeaways
- A personal task manager holds next actions; project management tracks work across a team.
- Built-in GTD views beat filters you rebuild every time the system drifts.
- The same list on every machine is a requirement, not a nice extra.
- An agent only helps if it reads and writes the list you already use.
- Stay on a board if your work is status across people, not personal next actions.
What a task manager is for
A task manager holds next actions you have decided about, so you can stop rehearsing them in your head. A grocery list and a sprint board both hold work, but they answer different questions. The grocery list asks what to pick up. The board asks who owns a card and what status it is in.
David Allen’s GTD method is the usual name for the first job. Capture means get every commitment into one collection tool. Clarify means decide whether it is actionable and what the next step is. Organize, reflect and engage close the loop. The method is older than any current app, and it does not require software.
A todo app can do this job if you treat it as a trusted list. Microsoft To Do describes itself as a to-do list app with My Day, due dates, and lists that sync across the web, iOS, Android and Windows. That is a daily checklist. It is enough when the pile is small and you do not need parked work or a someday list.
The failure mode is using one tool for both jobs. A personal task manager that grows columns, owners and cycle dates stops being a place you open to see what to do next. A project board that also tries to hold your private errands buries them under other people’s status.
How to tell a list from a board
A list answers what you will do next. A board answers what status a piece of work is in.
| Shape | Unit | Question it answers | Typical home |
|---|---|---|---|
| List | A next action | What do I do now? | GTD app, personal task manager, todo app |
| Board | A card with status | Where is this work? | Project management |
Linear calls itself the product development system for teams and agents, purpose-built for planning and building products. Cards move from Todo to In Progress to Done. That is the right tool when a team shares status. It is the wrong tool for the commitments only you can see: the call you owe, the bill, the draft you have not started.
Notion’s task databases require Status, Assignee and Due date, and My Tasks can switch to a board view. If you need a board, use a board. Do not force a personal task manager to pretend it is one.
The test is what you look at on Monday morning. If you want a short Today list, you want a list. If you want to see which cards are blocked across a team, you want a board. Mixing the two is how both views stop being trusted.
The labels people use
GTD app, task manager, todo app and personal task manager all name the same job: a trusted list of next actions. Project management names a different job.
People type one of those labels into a search box and get a mix of both. One word-swap should not change the test. If the query is “best GTD app” or “best todo app” or “best personal task manager”, the questions below still apply. If the query is “best project management tool”, they do not.
| Label people type | What they usually mean |
|---|---|
| GTD app | Built-in Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday |
| Task manager | A system for next actions, not a board |
| Todo app | Often a flat list; ask whether the GTD views are built in |
| Personal task manager | One person’s commitments, not a team’s status |
| Project management | Cycles, boards, assignees, sprints |
Things calls itself a personal task manager. Todoist’s GTD guide treats Todoist as a task manager you configure. Microsoft To Do uses “to-do list app”. Linear uses “product development system”. Those phrases are not synonyms, and treating them as one category is how a board wins a search for a list.
Keep every label in play when you compare tools. A page that only answers “GTD app” will vanish the moment someone asks for a todo app. The four tests below are what should survive the swap. The comparison hub is organised the same way: personal task managers against each other, not against issue trackers.
Five questions that decide the tool
Ask these five before you pick a tool. The first no is usually the reason you will leave later.
- Are Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday already there? If you have to build them from filters or labels, you will rebuild them when you get busy.
- Is the list the same on every machine you use? Today on your phone has to be Today on your laptop, not a copy you reconcile.
- Can an agent read and write that list? Only ask this if you already capture or review in chat.
- Is the unit a next action or a card on a board? A next action is something you can start. A card is something a team can move.
- Are you tracking your own commitments or a team’s status? A personal task manager and a project management tool fail each other’s job.
Write the answers down before you open a pricing page. Most switches fail because the buyer picked a prettier list and then spent a month assembling the views the last app already had.
If you only use Apple devices and want default GTD lists, Things already passes questions one and four. If you run a product team, Linear already passes question five as a board. If you want Outlook tasks in a free daily list, Microsoft To Do already passes question two. Stay where the answers already match.
Built-in views versus filters you maintain
Built-in views are lists the app already has. Filters are lists you write and then keep true.
Things ships Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday as default lists, plus Inbox and Logbook. You do not create them. A to-do lands in one of those lists from its start date, and Upcoming items move to Today when the date arrives.
Todoist’s GTD guide tells you to tag next actions with @next and open that
label under Filters & Labels. That works. It also means the view exists only
while you keep applying the label. The month you stop tagging is the month Next
Actions becomes a lie.
Notion asks you to turn a database into a task database, then connect up to ten of those sources to My Tasks. The list is assembled. Assembled lists drift, because every new database is another place a task can hide.
Done Bear derives the same five working views from the task’s state and start date, so you never file a task into a view by hand. The views docs spell out Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday and Logbook. Built-in is the difference between reviewing a list and maintaining one.
A weekly review dies when step one is tool maintenance. If next actions live in a filter you rebuild, and someday items are a label you have to remember, you are assembling the system before you can audit it. That tax is what most abandoned GTD setups die of.
The same list on every machine
The same list on every machine means Today on your phone is Today on your laptop, not a copy you reconcile by hand.
Cultured Code sells Things for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro. There is no Windows app and no full web app on that site. Stay on Things if those are the only machines you use. The craft is the reason people stay, and it is a good reason.
Microsoft To Do syncs lists across the web, iOS, Android and Windows. That passes the machine test for a flat todo app. It does not give you Anytime or Someday as first-class views.
If you work on Windows at the office and a phone on the train, a Mac-only GTD app will split the list. That split is how people end up with two systems and trust neither. The test is not “does a sync exist”. The test is whether the same Today opens everywhere you work, including a browser.
A list you cannot open on the machine in front of you is a list you will duplicate. Duplicates are how capture dies: you hesitate about which inbox to use, so you use neither.
When an agent on the list matters
An agent on the list matters when you capture and review in chat, and the assistant must see the same Today you do.
Linear designs for workflows shared by humans and agents. That is an agent on a product board: issues, cycles, pull requests. Keep it there if the work is team product development.
A personal agent is a different test. It should read Inbox and Today, and it should ask before changing a task you already had. If the views are filters you maintain, the agent inherits the same maintenance. It will complete the wrong task with perfect confidence.
Skip an agent if you never ask an assistant to triage and you already empty the inbox yourself. The method in Getting Things Done does not need a model. Add the agent when capture is arriving from chat, or when you want a second pass over Anytime against the Logbook, on the same list you already trust.
The order is the point. Get the views and the machines right first. Then decide whether an assistant should sit on that list. An agent cannot rescue a board you are using as a personal task manager, and it cannot invent GTD views a todo app does not have.
How Done Bear helps this choice
Done Bear is a GTD task manager, not a project board and not a filter kit you assemble.
- Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday are the navigation, so the GTD views exist before you configure anything.
- The same list opens on the web, Windows, Mac, Linux and iPhone, plus the CLI and Raycast.
- An assistant can read and write that list over MCP, and it asks before changing a task you already had.
- Free holds 250 tasks. Basic is $7 a month per member on the yearly plan.
The comparison hub puts those outcomes next to Things, Todoist, TickTick, OmniFocus and Apple Reminders. Use it when you already know you want a list. Do not use it to decide between a list and Linear.
When you might not need this: stay on Things if you only use Apple devices and want that craft. Stay on Todoist if you like assembling filters and want the widest integrations. Stay on Linear if you run a product team and the board is the product. Stay on Microsoft To Do if a free daily list plus Outlook is enough. Stay on Notion if tasks live inside docs and a board is the point.
Pick the test you will not give up, then pick the tool that already passes it. A task manager you trust on every machine beats a fuller one you stop opening.
Frequently asked questions
Is a GTD app different from a todo app?
Not quite. People use both labels for the same job: a trusted list of next actions. A GTD app ships Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday. A todo app often ships flat lists and a daily planner, like Microsoft To Do’s My Day. Ask what views exist before you treat the labels as different products.
Should I use Linear as my personal task manager?
Usually not. Linear calls itself a product development system for teams and agents, built for planning and building products. That is a board of issues with cycles and status. Use it for team product work. Use a personal task manager for your own next actions, including the ones Linear will never see.
Do I need an AI agent in my task manager?
No. An agent is useful only after the list is one you already trust. If the views are assembled from filters, the agent inherits that pile. If you work from one machine and never ask an assistant to triage, skip it. Add an agent when you want capture and review from chat on the same list.
Is Things 3 still the right choice if I only use Apple devices?
Yes. Things is a personal task manager with Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday as default lists, and Cultured Code ships it for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro. If you never need Windows, a browser, or an agent on the list, staying there is the rational call.
Can I do GTD in Todoist or Notion?
Yes. David Allen’s method does not require a specific app, and Todoist’s own GTD guide says the same. Todoist builds next-action lists with labels and filters. Notion builds task databases that need Status, Assignee and Due date, then a My Tasks view you can switch to a board. The method works; the maintenance is the cost.
Where this information comes from
- The David Allen Company, What is GTD? (GTD is a personal productivity method whose five steps are capture, clarify, organize, reflect and engage)
- Todoist, Getting Things Done (GTD does not require a specific tool, and Todoist implements next actions with an @next label under Filters and Labels)
- Cultured Code, Things (Things is a personal task manager sold for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro)
- Cultured Code, An In-Depth Look at Today, Upcoming, Anytime, and Someday (Things ships default lists for Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday, Inbox and Logbook)
- Linear, Linear (Linear is the product development system for teams and agents, purpose-built for planning and building products)
- Microsoft, Microsoft To Do (Microsoft To Do is a to-do list app with My Day that syncs lists across the web, iOS, Android and Windows)
- Notion, Give your to-dos a home with Task databases (a Notion task database requires Status, Assignee and Due date, and My Tasks can switch to a board view)
Put this into practice
Done Bear is a local-first, GTD-native task manager, free to start, with no trial and no credit card.
Related guides
See every guide on the guides index.