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

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

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

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

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.

Thanks Dan. I should have mentioned that I wanted to avoid Outlook plug ins, simply because I find Outlook such a badly designed task manager (and I've stopped using it as a calendar too - I'm back to my Filofax and haven't regretted it).

I have tried Taskline, though, and dislike it (if I remember correctly) because I found it too controlling. It tries to dictate when a task will be done by scheduling it into the calendar. I personally dislike this way of working - I want an overview of my tasks (very few of which have defined start or end times) but also want to be in total control over when I do something.

I know my way of working, and the work that I do, is not standard, which is why finding a suitable task manager has proved such an epic struggle ... :-)

Graham, what you are looking for is indeed something that I would like as well However, I am not sure how such a concept would operate, as you note that you want to know how much time tasks take "without trying to assign these tasks to times of the day".

The way I see it, some kind of assignment can be done, even temporarily; I may have dozens of tasks lying around that together may require 40 hours or more to complete; however, knowing this isn't very helpful. I would need to select a few priority tasks and somehow get an indication of how much time they require and see if they fit in the time available.

This is equivalent to dragging those tasks to a specific day, the way Agenda At Once ( http://www.agendaatonce.com/ ) does, even if I do not intend to keep them in that day. Could this be a possible solution?

I'm currently working on the IQ Calendar which will support something very close to what you want:

- You'll be able to assign a date and a duration to an event / task. No need to set a time
- It will show in the calendar (in the top section)
- The calendar header would show the total time scheduled per day
- Drag-drop can be used to rearrange items and/or schedule it (give it a time)
- Visually, the calendar is an Outlook lookalike
- Recurring events are supported

- Another option is to use a timeline type linear calendar with a loading chart, as shown here:

http://www.sqlnotes.net/Portals/0/GanttWorkload1.gif

You could see all tasks and move them around to be roughly around 100% loading

HTH

Thanks Pierre Paul en Alexander.

I'm in the very luxurious position of defining my own project and tasks, my own workload and my own target dates. When I do have to complete a task with a defined due date, such as a conference presentation, I can simply postpone everything else until it's ready, and then go back to my own tasks.

What I do find, though, is that I don't have much idea about workload; or I plan something for a day I think is quiet but then find I've actually over-planned. Hence my wish for some sort of graphic solution.

I've tried Agenda at Once and at that time it had a bug in its recurring tasks, which has probably bee resolved in the meantime. But what that does require is that tasks are dragged to the calendar to be planned in - again, not my way of working.

What I like about Watership Planner is that it silently (and unobtrusively) fills the day with tasks as they are added, and silently shifts those in the time line as time progresses. I ignore any suggestions about the order that the tasks should be done (I define that, not any software I use), but what it does show at a glance is that I will finish work around 1 pm, for example, and so have lots of time for new ideas. If I have new ideas, a glance at the week overview tells me that Sunday has more planned than Monday, so I'll add it for Monday. Similar to some Outlook add ins, to be sure, but much less obtrusive. So I can see total time planned and time available (also as figures and graphically outside the calendar window), and retain control over what is done when.

BUT ... Watership Planner creates all recurring tasks at once instead of when the previous task is completed. This allows for effective future planning but it doesn't allow the inheritance of properties such as the notes or the context tags from one occurrence to the next, which is a real problem. The developer is working on a new version, but I've heard so many of these promises before from various suppliers that I prefer to work on the basis of what is available now than rely on what may be delivered one day ...

InfoQube continues to be an option, but it's rather complex for what I require - it would need to be used as a replacement for several programs. I'm sure it's absolutely capable of it, but I'm waiting for a completed manual so that I can get to a better understanding of what it can and can't do (forgive me PPL if that is already available and I've missed it ...).

I'm not sure if it satisfies all your requirements, Graham, but maybe take a look at Achieve Planner:

http://www.effexis.com/achieve/planner.htm

I don't use it, and haven't really looked at it in a while, but after reading your request, Achieve Planner, so maybe it's worth a look.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I don't use
it, and haven't really looked at it in a while, but after reading your request, Achieve
Planner, so maybe it's worth a look.

Steve Z.

That should read: "While I don't use it, and it has been a while since I tried it out, Achieve Planner popped into my head as I read your message, so it may be worth a look."

Steve Z.

Hi Graham,

I believe VueMinder Calendar Pro can do what you're looking for. The latest release has added the capability to view tasks and events based on calendar, category, priority, and location. The colors for these can be customized, and each item can be filtered. It's a very visual and flexible approach.

There's a blog article that describes this capability in more detail. You can read about it here:
http://www.vueminder.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=9&cntnt01origid=61&cntnt01returnid=61

I hope this matches what you're looking for.

Regards,
Dan C.

Thanks Steve and Dan.

Achieve Planner doesn't do it for me - it doesn't give me the type of feedback I'm looking for.

Vueminder also doesn't give me the graphic feedback, and this is because of the way the developers have distinguished between tasks and events. For events you can add start and end times/duration and it supports true recurrence. For tasks, strangely, you can't add a duration (so the tasks are just listed without giving any clue to timings, which is what I'm looking for), and true recurrence is NOT supported (only repeat every n days/weeks/months). To use Vueminder I would have to add tasks as events, meaning I'd have to plan start and end times for them - exactly what I want to avoid. It's a calendar with a half-hearted attempt to support task management.

But, as I said, thanks for the pointers - I appreciate it.

Graham

Graham,

I now have this kind of visual feedback working for the calendar:

http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/1198

Is this what you're looking for ?

Thanks Pierre Paul, I can see that would work for a lot of people, and any feedback from the software is always a plus. I’m actually looking for something more graphic which doesn’t rely on my own input.

Let me try to explain using screen dumps from Watership Planner (http://www.watership-planner.com which is the closest to my ideal I’ve yet found.

I can add tasks to WP and, like most task managers, it piles them up for me in this way:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp1.png

For each item I can see how much time it will take, and the bar along the top tells me how much time I’ve planned in and how much is free. That would be enough for most people.

What I like about WP is that it also pops those tasks into a calendar (where I can, if I wish, also add my appointments), thus giving me a clear indication of how much I’ve planned, without me having to drag those tasks there:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp2.png

As this is dynamic (it moves and rearranges itself as time passes and tasks get completed), I always have a very easy way of seeing how full the day is without having to look at any figures.

When I start a task I may turn on a timer, which gives me numeric (and graphic) feedback of how much time I’ve taken and how much is still planned, or I can minimise that so that I only see a small bar which counts time taken – useful.

Similarly, if I look at the week view:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp3.png

it shows the tasks piled up, but looking at the calendar view:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp4.png

I can immediately see that Tuesday is going to be a problem, so I should arrange a new task preferably for Sunday, which is clearer.

If one is careful about turning on the timers one can later get an overview of how the day actually went in terms of timings, and make adjustments accordingly:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp5.png

I like WP and have a license – so why am I checking for other possible solutions? Because:

1. it’s not bug-free
2. the interface is not flexible – one can’t, for example, hide completed tasks
3. one can’t have more than one timer running at the same time (obviously designed by men for men ;-) )
4. Context cannot be added to recurring tasks
5. recurring tasks are always created all at once without the option of a task being recreated after the previous one is completed (as Zoot can)

So I remain curious whether there is anything similar out there that I’ve missed.

Thanks.

Hi Graham,

I really like your approach. The only thing I would add is the ability to sync with MS Outlook as I'm using it at work, and most of my hard-landscape is already in it...

Cheers /jerome

Jerome G wrote:

The only thing I would add is the ability to
sync with MS Outlook as I'm using it at work, and most of my hard-landscape is already in
it...

Ah, yes, indeed, Watership Planner cannot sync with anything else (and no import or export (except for printing) possibilities either) ....

Have you seen LifeBalance? I bit different, does sync to the Palm for portable use (or a Netbook/laptop)

http://www.llamagraphics.com/LB/index.php

From website:
Life gets really busy. Every day there are conflicting demands on your time from work, family, and half a dozen other sources.

How do you achieve a lifestyle that works for you?

Life Balance™ is personal coaching software that helps you to decide what to work on, so that you can put your effort into the goals, projects and tasks that really matter to you.


I have been using for a few years and find it does take a bit of tweaking to get things like you wish. Online forum has many tips to help.

Thanks Arnold. I've tried LifeBalance before, and tried it again now, but I find the interface very counter intuitive, and it doesn't give the type of graphic feedback I'm looking for. Also, it doesn't properly support recurring tasks - it only supports repeats every n days/week/months, so no support for repeats every 3rd Tuesday in November, for example.

Graham Rhind wrote:

I can add tasks to WP and, like most task managers,
it piles them up for me in this
way:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp1.png

For each item I can see how much
time it will take, and the bar along the top tells me how much time I’ve planned in
and how much is free.

I can now see what you mean, but frankly, from your description I expected something even more visual, i.e. for each task to have a block whose length quantifies the task duration, then stacking the blocks together to show the full time needed for the tasks.

I admit you got me dreaming for something like that, but Watership Planner is surely not what I had in mind.

That said, I quite like InfoQube's approach and, as a user, I would like to suggest the above idea (multiple length task blocks) to PPL.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I can now see what you mean,
but frankly, from your description I expected something even more visual, i.e. for
each task to have a block whose length quantifies the task duration, then stacking the
blocks together to show the full time needed for the tasks.

Alexander, that's indeed what I'm looking for and what Watership Planner does - see http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp2.png - or maybe now I'm misunderstanding you?

Graham Rhind wrote:

Alexander, that's indeed what
I'm looking for and what Watership Planner does - see
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/450542/wp2.png - or maybe now I'm misunderstanding
you?

What I would like is for the 'task time blocks' to be seen outside the actual day planner. In the day planner I would originally only keep the fixed time appointments, nothing more. This way, at a glance I could see which tasks could fit in a day's unallocated time.

I am almost similarly privileged as yourself to be able to organise most of my time with no outside influence (I often only have 1-3 appointments per week) but I nevertheless try to optimally plan at least the major tasks throughout the week.

Taskline (http://www.taskline.com/default.asp plus Outlook? I'm not sure about the notes requirement (presumably Outlook would satisfy this) or whether Taskline's recurrence feature will meet your needs. It's a while since I used either application, and both have gone through significant upgrades since then.

Ah, thanks Alexander. This is where our working methods differ - I never try (or want to have to) define times for tasks myself in a program. I tend to work on tasks according to how I feel (unless there is a definite deadline), so any feedback a program can give as to total number of hours planned, with the least input from me, is ideal. That's why I don't want programs where I have to drag tasks around, or make timing adjustments myself.

Hugh: Timeline - it's a possible, though I dislike using Outlook for task management (just the layout of the program gets me down), but the Timeline product video suggests that the user must do an awful lot of work him/herself to use it. It doesn't move tasks around automatically if they are not done, nor shift them back in time as time during the day progresses, and it requires two mouseclicks (rather than the optimal zero clicks) just for Taskline to arrange the tasks in the calendar! I might give it a try though - thanks.

For the time being, the bugs in Watership Planner (in the reccurrence system) have proved too much of an irritant, so it's back to Zoot until something better comes along ....