Team Solutions #3: Collaborative task management

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Nov 18, 2011 at 10:03 PM

I bring this over from the other forum http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/6

MadaboutDana wrote:
>I have to admit that I’ve yet to find the perfect task list manager! We use
>Wunderlist at work, because it’s free, cross-platform, and has a good web client
>(actually, despite the cross-platform clients available, most of us use the web
>client, which is fast and efficient).
[snip]
>As you
>will, by now, have gathered, for me a task list manager has to be shareable/multi-user
>- I have to laugh every time I see yet another complicated to-do app targeting
>individuals: there are thousands of them out there already, many of them very good,
>but very few of them are multi-user.

My own (current) choice for a shared task manager is Checkvist http://checkvist.com It is a ‘previous generation’ web app, but very straightforward, and can be operated via keyboard. I grew in love with it recently, when I had to brainstorm on a strapline with three other people, each one located in a different site. I created a shared outline and each one contributed their ideas concurrently while we were in teleconference via Skype. None of the others had used it before, but they have been using it ever since.

Wunderlist is a wonderful application and completely cross-platform, but the deal breaker for me is that it doesn’t allow subtasks. Another shared task manager which has received attention but also doesn’t provide subtasks is Asana http://asana.com/ , mentioned in its own thread here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3349/0/asana-is-out?free-collaborative-task-manager

GQueues http://www.gqueues.com/ is an excellent personal task manager, supporting unlimited levels of subtasks; its collaborative features are slowly advancing, but still need work; for example, while you can access a shared task list, the shared tasks do not appear in the same smart lists (e.g. Today) as your own.

Thymer http://www.thymer.com/ is another personal favourite, worth checking out. It has a beautiful and streamlined interface, with some powerful project management features, so its pricing will look rather high if you’re just looking for task management.