Best GTD for Researchers

What GTD actually asks of you

Get every commitment out of your head and into one trusted inbox, then decide the very next physical action for each.

Lists are organized by the verb — call, draft, review — never by topic. The non-negotiable part is the review: without it the lists rot into noise within two weeks.

How researchers put it to work

1. 1

   A reading inbox with one-line claims

   Every paper enters with its central claim written in your words, attached to the citation. A library of claims is searchable; a folder of PDFs is a to-read list that never gets read.

2. 2

   Claims linked against claims

   New findings get linked to what they support and what they contradict — including your own earlier conclusions. The literature review writes itself as you read, not six months later in a panic.

3. 3

   Retrieval at writing time

   When drafting, the chain is pullable: the claim, the paper, your note on it, the caveat you recorded. Citations stop being a scavenger hunt through browser history.

The capture habit, the linking, and the retrieval are the parts tentus automates — gtd without the daily upkeep.

Other methods worth trying