2 Nice Free KANBAN Apps (many uses incl. for planning writing)

Can be used for many uses like project, schedules etc but I mainly use Kanban for planning big writing projects, like a big corkboard with index cards. Like old Hollywood studio writers shacks had.

KANRI:
Macos / Windows / Linux:

https://www.kanriapp.com/download/

https://github.com/kanriapp/kanri
https://github.com/kanriapp/kanri/releases


KARAVAN:
Mac/iPhone

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/karavan-project-management/id6754577196

Very nice!

In return, a markdown app that also supports full-scale spreadsheets plus Notion-like databases, in rapid development by Italian developer Luca Rossi (famous for the Refactoring newsletter): Tolaria (tolaria.md)

Love the look of Karavan – first impression is very positive!

Liking Tolaria screenshots, will have to play with tonight, thanks.
Yes, link I gave was iPhone screenshots of karavan, this is macos store screenshots:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/karavan-project-management/id6754577196?platform=mac

Being mainly a Linux el-duderino, I consider Microsoft's apps & windows malware, so I make or import graphic excel templates into Libreoffice calc often for various uses including massive kanbans use on large curved monitors. Plenty MS Word or excel templates for MSoffice online & most import fine into Libreoffice.

Even a plain spreadsheet on a big monitor works great as a whiteboard or corkboard on Linux or Macos.

Well said – hence my love of Numbers! But I too am trying to ditch not just Microsoft but also Apple. It's proving quite difficult, but I am making progress... the user-friendliness quotient is the major issue, I find. Improving, but still.

Even a plain spreadsheet on a big monitor works great as a whiteboard or corkboard on Linux or Macos.

It's a few apps that are currently keeping me in Apple systems. Devonthink, Mellel, and I like Curio. The Numbers model of an infinite canvas with tables and text boxes is very nice.

Life would completely go on if I migrated back to Linux, I just don't want to lose a few key apps.

MadaboutDana wrote:

Well said – hence my love of Numbers! But I too am trying to ditch not just Microsoft but also Apple. It's proving quite difficult, but I am making progress... the user-friendliness quotient is the major issue, I find. Improving, but still.

>Even a plain spreadsheet on a big monitor works great as a whiteboard or corkboard on Linux or Macos.

Keep the Macs buddy, you'll need them for ai tools. I know more about ai than Altman or musk, and not as much as karpathy when it comes to llm. Bt when it comes to much more important agi/SGI , I know more than him too & even taught my professors! One of my research areas was ai. Install Zorin (Linux distro) on an old laptop, Linux needs less hardware power. It's like windows, even runs it's apps. Or better yet install Debian. But Macs are a must as most desktop ai tools are now made for Macs then windows/Linux.

How do you structure your Kanban boards for use in writing projects ?

If ur asking me, depends if it's tech, or business or creative. If it's big, spreadsheet cells, random then clusters, then branches & subbranches. Small? Simplemind on phone then laptop, it auto outlines into sub/branches. Before that color note app, in fact most written as simple text notes. After all above, into obsidian with plugins. Then article/book/script writing/ide app.

I also use methods I learnt for paper outlining & developed them much further. But generally I don't use many tools. It's all visual in the mind then jotted notes ready for execution, mostly.

Once a student showed me books about various linear & nonlinear forms used in great literature & classic films (flashbacks, montages, streams of consciousness, non linear orders, many more) & asked some questions about some. Then finally asked how do you determine which of these many classic forms to pick to write your project? I said you don't. First u learn everything as a master does, before breaking the rules. Then when the sensei has an idea for a project & has prepared for it, he or she goes to their toolshed & the tools magically come to mind & hand for each project & stage of it. These are just tools. But first is learning, then we go beyond & execute. If someone really loves a field TO DEATH, they learn everything & just use the staff & facilities at college or academic societies etc.

When academics & literary critics, from whatever theoretic school, write on complex forms & structures & formal methods & elements & verse & more that reside within a great work, do u think that great historic writer didn't notice them? That writer got into the zone & just wrote. The subconscious took care of those intricate strictures. Tools for each comes to mind if ready. Later they world marvel at those structures they had mostly subconsciously created while writing. Ofc they knew, better than anyone. They were not idiots.

Love, Learn, master form, practice, get into the zone, JUST WRITE. Everything else is secondary.

Some people use my https://www.hyperplan.com app for writing. Rather than traditional Kanban (a list of lists of cards) it is a 2D array of cards, automatically laid out from the card data. And you can set colours, symbols etc by other card properties. Plus you can change which properties you are visualizing by in a few clicks. It's not free, but it is currently 25% off at https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com Full disclosure: It is not currently being actively developed, but it is quite mature.

Would be nice if development resumed on hyperplan after so Long, was the jewel in crown & would help other projects started afterwards get more traction & attention too

Hyper Plan is in a super-competitive market. The market for native Mac/Windows software is also shrinking. And vibe-coded competition is not helping. I hoped that I could do something different enough to stand out. But ultimately I wasn't able to make enough sales to justify putting in a lot more effort on continued development. I have instead focussed my energies on PerfectTablePlan and Easy Data Transform.

It is a pity, because I love Hyper Plan, enjoyed developing it and use it pretty much every day. However, Hyper Plan is functional and stable and I am still supporting users. I have lots of ideas of how to improve Hyper Plan. Maybe I will do some more development one day, but without any real expectation of any commercial return. I haven't decided.

I occasionally use it as I'd made lovely templates for it. As I said years ago, the only thing that stopped it becoming huge was the promised ability that never materialized: free floating feature of any card, without other cards moving around, as an available mode. Essence & raison d'être of the genre.

Commercial success is always one more feature away. ;0)

A mode to place cards freely was high on the wishlist for v3. But I have made it policy never to promise future features.

Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread.

Ah, there's no hijacking of threads in this forum – things end up far, far away from where they started! ;-)

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", and the answers is: 42

To me, hyperplan can work as a multi value todo list. It’s also my bill-paying dashboard. It’s shocking how many companies - Travelers Insurance, looking at you- have unreliable billing. Hyperplan cards turn yellow and red as expected invoicing approaches. When I pay a bill, the shift date function carries it forward. Nothing works better.

A reusable skill that turns Hermes into a multi-agent orchestrator. This skill, & post, is for anyone here who is already using Hermes.

https://github.com/TheGMPTeam/hermes-agent-swarm

Nous REFs:
https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/kanban-tutorial
https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/kanban

washere wrote:

MadaboutDana wrote:
Keep the Macs buddy, you'll need them for ai tools.

That's the exact reason to ditch Apple. Local LLMs will wear out local hardware at a phenomenal rate. Also, the likelihood that Apple won't allow you to delete or opt out of semantic databases brings in massive risks to your data.

Hm, I've found competent local AI doesn't necessarily overburden local hardware, especially the Chinese models. The American approach does lead us all to believe that without ridiculous amounts of compute power, you're damned to some kind of AI-free hell (or heaven, according to some of us!). But a large part of that is propaganda based on the usual "let's build a bigger bomb" logic that appears to have driven American commercialism ever since the late 19th century. Models like Qwen3 are remarkably good, and require remarkably little overhead (comparatively speaking!)

But I agree: I'm not convinced that sticking with Apple is necessary. All the Big Tech bros appear to be moving in the direction of mass-commodification – of their users, not just their products, turning us all into cogs in their more or less well-designed machines (ads in Windows, for goodness' sake – and more recently in Apple Maps! As for Facebook, I'm just glad I never subscribed as I watch my wife's feed interrupted by advertising literally every 2 minutes).

So three cheers for people like Framework, Murena, System76 and e/OS/, all seeking to liberate us from the constraints imposed by tech regimes! Oh, and the many refurbishers out there producing nice recycled laptops for installing open-source software on...

All the Big Tech bros appear to be moving in the direction of mass-commodification – of their users, not just their products, turning us all into cogs in their more or less well-designed machines

Yes. Windows gets ever more intrusive.

I also resent the fact that Microsoft makes me pay again and again for Windows, Office etc. Products that don't seem to have improved in any meaningful way (for me anyway) in 20 years.