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Personal task manager with graphic feedback
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Posted by Graham Rhind
Nov 7, 2009 at 02:24 PM
I’m looking for a personal task manager that gives a graphical feedback of time planned and time available after planning in tasks.
I currently use Zoot for personal task management, and it has all I require except a way of seeing how much of the day is planned. I could have 20 tasks in Zoot and not know if all these tasks will take 20 minutes to complete or 8 hours. Except by adding a column with planned minutes and then laborously adding them up, I don’t see a way to change this. So I’m looking for a planner that tells me at a glance that (for example) 4 hours are currently planned for the (uncompleted) tasks (without trying to assign these tasks to times of the day, as many Outlook plug ins try to do).
The closest I’ve found have been Watership Planner (http://www.watership-planner.com/) and MSD Tasks (http://www.msdsoft.com/eng/products/agenda/info.htm). Apart from lacking ease of use, the former has some issues (such as stating that 7.5 hours are available when it is already 5 pm) and the latter is far too much for what I need.
Does anybody know of something that might suit? For clarity, it also must:
1) Be PC (Windows) based - not online
2) Allow the attachment of notes for each task
3) Have proper support for recurring tasks (that is, every 3rd day; or every 2nd Thursday of every 4 months for the next 5 years); and tasks should recreate themselves only after being completed.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!
Graham
Posted by Ken
Nov 7, 2009 at 04:08 PM
Graham,
I do not know if it will fully meet your needs, but you might want to try Toodledo. Here is a referral link: http://www.toodledo.com/index.php?ref=td499c5e309be2e . While basic service is free, their annual cost for a Pro subscription is very reasonable. I have been using their service this year and find it quite useful, especially the sync with their iPhone/iPod Touch native client. Also, the program works well with G-Mail with respect to notifications. And, the author and forum moderator are quite responsive to their customers. Its worth a look.
—Ken
Posted by Lawrence Osborn
Nov 7, 2009 at 06:15 PM
I used Above and Beyond (http://www.1soft.com/) for many years. However, when they stopped updating it I changed to TimeTo (http://www.davidberman.com/software/timeto.php), which conveniently uses the same file format as Above and Beyond. I find its automatic allocation of tasks based on deadline and priority very useful. Be warned that the software is rather buggy and sometimes it just starts crashing for no apparent reason (fortunately it does background saves every minute or so)
Yours
Lawrence
Posted by Graham Rhind
Nov 9, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Thanks to those who responded on this topic - I wasn’t hopeful.
Toodledo is online, so falls at the first hurdle; and TimeTo I’ve tried before - it’s really buggy, as was said, and it doesn’t allow automatic re-creation of tasks upon completion.
So, looks like the wait continues. If only I could persuade the creators of Scial Consistency to add features to their existing offering or get the developer of Watership Planner to iron out its problems ...
Graham
Posted by dan7000
Nov 9, 2009 at 07:25 PM
I use Taskline (taskline.com)
It’s an Outlook plugin, so you have to use outlook. Other than that, it competes with TimeTo and Above and Beyond, but without the bugs or quirkyness. Here is my work flow:
1. create outlook tasks.
2. each task has a new “taskline” tab that allows me to set anticipated duration, “finish by date” or “start on date” constraints, project name, and even prerequisite tasks.
3. click Taskline Scheduler.
Result: my tasks are copied into a new Outline calendar, scheduled appropriately based on the constraints and durations I have set. I can easily tell if I can finish everything I have promised to finish in the next week, or if I need to call someone and tell them I’ll be late on something.
Another nice thing about working in Outlook is that Taskline schedules around my Outlook calendar appointments. I can also set different work schedules and break times for each day.
Recurring tasks are supported and are scheduled along with the others. I have a recurring tasks called “emerging task placeholder” that reserves extra time during the week for tasks I didn’t anticipate.