Task Masters

Since its launch over a decade ago, the to-do app Things has amassed a devoted fan base—especially among productivity mavens who appreciate the myriad ways it lets them slice and dice their tasks with an elegant, uncluttered interface.

It’s common for productivity apps to start on iOS and migrate their way over to Mac. But Things—one of the very first task managers on the iOS App Store—began as a desktop project.

The team began developing Things for Mac in 2006 and had a beta by 2008. Then came the announcement of the iOS App Store. “We had to make the difficult decision to pause development of the Mac app so we could get our iOS app ready to launch simultaneously with the App Store,” says Werner Jainek, CEO and founder of developer Cultured Code.

It was probably a blessing in disguise. The success of Things for iOS allowed Cultured Code to finish the Mac version, and the iOS app undoubtedly made Things for Mac better. Both the desktop and mobile apps went on to earn an Apple Design Award.

Now over 15 years old, Things was born from an indisputable observation: “Everyone has projects!” says Jainek. At the time, most to-do apps were simple list makers that couldn’t handle complex, multistep endeavors. “Our goal was to create a user interface that correctly models the true nature of personal task management.”

Things took a then-unique approach, inspired in part by David Allen’s productivity bible, Getting Things Done. “The first step in developing Things was acknowledging the different nature of to-dos,” says Jainek. “A calendar holds appointments that have to happen at a certain time. A to-do is something you might start on a given day but is still relevant the next day, or the week after.”

Although common today, a decade ago that distinction was pretty radical.

From the start, the Cultured Code team has prioritized restraint. That’s reflected to this day in the company’s minimalist approach to new features. “For a product that’s supposed to make you more productive, it’s crucial that it has an unrivaled simplicity,” says Jainek.

Cultured Code continues to approach updates with caution.

“We get tons of requests from our users, but we’re very, very careful in thinking them through, making sure they wouldn’t complicate the app too much,” says Jainek. Whereas most app updates tout big new features, updates to Things focus on “making the concepts that we’ve had in the app even simpler.”

Which is why, over 15 years and countless versions later, the future of Things looks brighter than ever.

Things 3

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