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Best PIM for project management?
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Posted by Leib Moscovitz
Apr 22, 2012 at 04:43 AM
You might want to try Achieve Planner (http://www.effexis.com). The initial learning curve is a bit steep - it took me about a day to master all features of the program which I needed for my own work - but afterwards I found that it helped me get a handle on my activities better than any other program I have used (and there is hardly a PIM I haven’t tried).
At the same time, even if you find something like Achieve Planner the best way to handle project management, it is not necessarily the answer to all of your PIM needs. For example, I continue to use Ultra Recall (very extensively!) for my information management needs, which I find are quite a different ballgame.
Posted by JBfrom
Apr 22, 2012 at 06:22 AM
Steep learning curve, tried them all, best in class - you have my attention, sir.
Would you mind explaining what specificially Achieve Planner does so well?
Posted by JBfrom
Apr 22, 2012 at 06:33 AM
SOLD! Achieve Planner is IN! Google Calendar is OUT!
I was already doing calendar planning based on Cal Newport’s book. This is the missing software for it.
Thank’ee kindly.
First CT and now AP. What rich software times we live in! Is there nothing left undone?
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 22, 2012 at 08:04 AM
Dr Andus, I will second LM7’s support for Achieve Planner, even though I do not use it myself (the reason being that nowadays I work with teams, so I need collaborative tools; see http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3328).
There are plenty of tutorials to get you through the required steps. Roger, the developer, practices what he preaches and offers productivity courses as well http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/get-focused-multimedia-course/ though you won’t need these to work with the Planner. If you do like the program, make sure to enter your email at its Bits du Jour page http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/achieve-planner-productivity-suite/ You may be lucky and save a good deal if the discount appears within your trial period.
As a broader reference, I would say that a PPM (Personal Project Management tool) essentially needs to have the following:
- Ability to break down work into structured individual tasks; any outliner can do this
- Ability to set date / time information for each task and show this on a timeline and/or calendar (possibly via syncing with Outlook or Google Calendar)
- Support for follow-up of the individual tasks, i.e. setting completion either as Done/Pending or percentage (I personally have never managed to do the latter)
Achieve Planner does all of the above. InfoQube too (and much more, but the learning curve is significant) as well as other tools mentioned here in the past, like Watership Planner.
I will also second LM7’s comment that the project’s information management is something different and better suited for PIMs like UltraRecall or MyInfo.
Last but not least, as one acquires more tools, it is good to find ways to simplify the actual workflow; I have found Leo Babauta’s books and blog http://zenhabits.net/books/ helpful in that respect.
Posted by Derek Cater
Apr 22, 2012 at 02:19 PM
You could try Mindsystems Amode.
This allows you to create lines in a tree structure with an infinite (I think) number of levels of indent. All items can have notes or charts (flow or mind maps) attached, and can link to any other item within a given project. An infinite (I think) number of projects can be set up within a “solution” file. Any item can be viewed on a calendar or on a Gantt chart, if you put a tick in the relevant box. You can assign resources to any item, and you can apply a whole host of relationships/constraints: finish to start, start to start, finish-to-finish etc.
I have found Amode to be very easy to comprehend and to use. It has a lot of power if you need it, but is an intuitive and easy-to-use outliner if you don’t. It does not require the kind of up-front intellectual investment that, say, InfoQube does. Its scheduling capabilities are much slighter than MS Project’s, but it is correspondingly easier to use.
Regards
Derek Cater