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Personal task manager with graphic feedback
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Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Nov 17, 2009 at 08:45 PM
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.
Posted by Graham Rhind
Nov 18, 2009 at 05:55 AM
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?
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Nov 18, 2009 at 09:33 AM
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.
Posted by Hugh
Nov 18, 2009 at 09:43 AM
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.
Posted by Graham Rhind
Nov 18, 2009 at 10:23 AM
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 ....