IQTell Was Unique
Now it is gone
Recently IQTell announced that it would be shutting down. Reading the forums gives a good indication that the users are not happy about this. In fact, many are downright panicked! What was it about IQTell that created such a passionate user base? What was it that set IQTell apart from their competition?
To start, IQTell had a decent implementation of Getting ThingsDone®. For hardcore GTD® users, this was imperative. It is tough to get things done when you have to always fight against your system. IQTell, like every application available, did not cover every aspect of GTD® but its implementation was fluid, functional and covered most of the GTD® basics nicely.
Another advantage was the ubiquity of the service. Web application and mobile applications all effortlessly synchronized. It made using IQTell simple regardless of your context.
IQTell was masterful with the degree to which it could be customized. It was so easy to create a dashboard that was individualized. The user could see the information that they wanted in a configuration that they found helpful. Most apps force a particular UI on the user, and IQTell gave the power to customize views back to the user.
Perhaps the most spectacular and unique offering of IQTell was the integration of email. This feature is often frowned upon by many GTD® experts, but for many IQTell users, this was the best reason to use IQTell. Combining your email inbox in one application with your task manager inbox, converting emails directly into actions, and the seamless integrations making that possible were the primary reasons that many IQTell users decided to invest so much of their trust into that system. (Calendar and Evernote integrations were also efficient and well executed.)
But was IQTell perfect?
Of course not! Many GTD® features were still missing. Perhaps it was the missing features that caused the need for so much user customization. If the implementation of GTD® was more holistic, then the user may not have felt compelled to customize the interface and application behavior so much.
Integration of email, calendars, and Evernote was fantastic, but was it enough? If integrating multiple aspects of your productivity workflow into a single application worked for these functions, why stop there? What other applications in your productivity suite did you still have to maintain separately?
There were many reasons to love IQTell, and we are sad to see it go. It is hard to find a good alternative, especially if you relied on email integration. If you are a panicked and disappointed IQTell user, please share your story. Tell us what features you will miss most, what features were missing all along, and how you used the email integration.
There is a worthy IQTell alternative, and it is currently being formulated. With your input, together we can shape it into an even better version of IQTell. If you have a few minutes, fill out a short survey here to have your voice heard and to stay informed on our progress. We will read every single response!
https://goo.gl/forms/hU9XUnBqAvHbod092
Thank you!
Ken Fleisher
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Evernote is a registered trademark of Evernote Corp.
This survey is not affiliated with, approved, or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company, which is the creator of the Getting Things Done® system for personal productivity. GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.
For more information on the David Allen Company’s products, visit their website at http://gettingthingsdone.com.
