The perfect GTD tool, isn't

Time and again, I see the same question coming up on GTD-oriented lists - people have hundreds of actions, or a few projects are exceptionally complex. Their current tool either doesn't support that, or they have squished the project into whatever they're using.

I think this is the problem - there are two jobs that you want the system to do:

1) Represent your problem accurately.
2) Show you what you need to do, when you need to do it.

The first requirement means that some people would like to indicate which projects are dependent on other projects. Other people would like to have projects and sub-projects 6 levels deep. Others have many linked documents, team members, many old projects they want to show the history for. The list really, really does go on.

The second requirement is the action bit - you need to waste as little time as possible, be as effective as possible. Here, you don't want to dig around looking through many projects and folders and documents. You want to get the next job, do it, move on, change contexts, check list, choose action, do it.

Big difference.

Now, lets look at the tools that David Allen uses. (Note that these are the ones I've picked up - he might have others, but I'm pretty sure the principle will apply.)
a) A Palm.
b) MS Word (for Outlining)
c) MindManager

I'm pretty sure that the Palm is perfect for requirement 2. Fast, simple, gets him to his data really well. He hasn't changed that tool in years. This is the guy who created GTD and he's using a set of simple lists.

And for him, MS Word and MindManager are the easiest, most free-flowing apps to structure his thoughts and plans. The Palm isn't able to represent every action and project in his business, and MS Word just isn't slick enough to use as his "runway" application.

So the take-home for me is that the perfect application for GTD isn't one application, it's two (or three). It's also not important to focus on the application and force your data into it, it's important to focus on what you need to do, and use an application that fits your style for that task.
So I'd suggest that you think a bit about what you're using the tools for - mapping a complex problem, or doing your daily work, or sharing information within a team - and you find the best tools for each of those jobs. If they're the same, great. But don't "need" them to be.

A real benefit to doing that is that you break the dependency on one application. You can choose the absolute best app for managing projects for one job, and the absolute best tool for zooming through your actions and showing you what is in a given context. Change either - and the decision doesn't affect the other application.

Next, I'd suggest you set some time aside once a week to pull the information from your big, complex MS Project file and put it into your runway tool. Use this time to think, sift and aim correctly, because when it's time to fire you want to have done all of the planning and thinking. Now just action, without navigating reams of trees and maps.

Where does Tudumo play? On the action side. You can put a lot of your data into it, but it's not trying to compete with MS Project. And trying to would dilute what Tudumo does best.