Journaler is part of a family of applications that have come out for the Mac that essentially do what the finder does -- only better. They allow you to flag, tag, and drag your files into their web-browser-like interface which provides for quick searching, viewing and grouping of your files. Others in the family include Yojimbo and DevonThink.

These are not GTD applications per se, but because they do what the Finder does better, they can be useful for grabbing and organizing your files in ways that align with the GTD method. So you can tag things and sort things in folders based on contexts (e.g. @Home, @Office, etc. / split your reading off from your other tasks, etc.) But they are not full GTD implementations.

Newcomers to GTD think that it merely consists of how they organize their information, and they love how the division of tasks by contexts creates greater focus for them. But there is way more to the getting things done method than just how that information gets organized. The temptation for GTD app designers is to try to "automate" as much of the process as possible -- to make it smart by tagging and using smart folders. But automating things -- especially on the front end -- is the enemy of GTD. GTD requires defining things -- every single thing -- on the front end. It needs to be brought to your attention, defined, and then put into your system that you review regularly. So no matter how smart these various applications get, they will never take away the necessity required by the method to define things rather than merely tag them. To merely tag is to treat one's system like a giant Someday-Maybe box -- but a smart one, no doubt, that allows for quick retreival. Convenient, and somewhat useful for doing GTD, but not quite the whole package.

That said, however, programs like DevonThink, Yojimbo, and Journaler do what they do well, and provided users take the time to define things and process them carefully on the front end, they can be very useful programs.

The key for evaluating any GTD application or approach is easy -- is it helping you get more done? or is it merely getting the stuff you need to get done more organized? Does it encourage you to work your lists or merely list your work? The more an application gets you into the *doing* of GTD the more you should gravitate toward it.