I am feeling a bit like Charlie Brown wanting to kick the football every time I start exploring new task managers. I have been using Asana for some time, and find that it offers many useful features, but I am now starting to find the cluttered and somewhat awkward UI to be a bit of a barrier to working with my information. I was hoping to redouble my efforts to more fully incorporating it in my daily routine, but every time I look at my list of tasks, it just looks like a overwhelming mess. I suppose that I could spend more time trying to customize the views, but nothing seems to leap out at me as the most effective way to look at my tasks. I suspect that this is as much of a sign of the number of tasks I want to track, but I am still willing to see if there may be a better fit for me.

I had initially considered Todoist in 2013, but decided against it at the time. I am reconsidering it again, but my old account is at the basic level, not their premium which has many of the features that I would require. I can open up another trial account, but before doing so I thought I would see what recent experiences people have had with Todoist, especially if you have also tried Asana or Toodledo as these were the two programs that I was previously using. Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

--Ken

I have Todoist; I used to hold a licence for the premium version but no longer do so.

Pros:

- in its standard form it's as cheap as it could be (and its premium subscription is not hugely expensive)
- its UI is clear, simple and easy to use, especially on iOS (and especially when compared with the garish UIs of certain of its rivals)
- its system, including syncing, is reliable and in David-Allen terms, capable of being "trusted"
- it's available on numerous platforms
- its alert-notification system is simple and useful
- its premium version allows you to "game" your task management, if you're so inclined
- for me therefore it would be a real competitor on the Mac for Omnifocus, except for one thing...

Big "con" for me:

-Todoist lacks start-dates. If your tasks, like mine, span several hours or, often, days, you need a task manager that will alert you to start a task in time to meet its "due" deadline. Todoist lacks this simple-but-essential (for me) feature, despite frequent user requests (although to be fair it offers work-arounds).

Hugh wrote:

I have Todoist; I used to hold a licence for the premium version but no
longer do so.

Pros:

- in its standard form it's as cheap as it could be (and its premium
subscription is not hugely expensive)
- its UI is clear, simple and easy to use, especially on iOS (and
especially when compared with the garish UIs of certain of its rivals)
- its system, including syncing, is reliable and in David-Allen terms,
capable of being "trusted"
- it's available on numerous platforms
- its alert-notification system is simple and useful
- its premium version allows you to "game" your task management, if
you're so inclined
- for me therefore it would be a real competitor on the Mac for
Omnifocus, except for one thing...

Big "con" for me:

-Todoist lacks start-dates. If your tasks, like mine, span several hours
or, often, days, you need a task manager that will alert you to start a
task in time to meet its "due" deadline. Todoist lacks this
simple-but-essential (for me) feature, despite frequent user requests
(although to be fair it offers work-arounds).

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for the reply. Your summary was helpful, as I was a bit concerned about data reliability after reading some posts in their support forum. I suspect that it may have been a one-off experience, but hearing about somebody losing a large amount of data is always a bit alarming. The lack of a start date is not an issue for the kind of work that I do, so that should not be an issue for me. I like their web interface as it is a bit cleaner than Asana's. I could forgive Asana if it was just an item or two, but their displaying of tags (project and custom) and subtasks is a real mess IMHO. It is frustrating when I look at a list of tasks and cannot easily tell which project they belong to, and if I am looking at a task or subtask. It is as if the UI was an afterthought, and it is having a major impact on my ability to find and manage my tasks. I am not completely giving up on Asana, and I suspect that Todoist will have its issues, but as much as habit is important to keeping on top of my work, I need a UI that does not hinder me. I found their Premium trial offer from when I initially opened my test account several years ago, and it worked. so, I will now have 30 days to see if Todoist is any better than Asana for meeting my needs. And the quest continues!

--Ken

I use Todoist, not Premium. Quite reliable as it relates to syncing between devices. Never lost any information.

Hi Ken,

Glad to be of help - and very keen not to mislead you. I've not had data-loss issues with Todoist - but it's true to say that I'm not a current user. However, I did use it for a couple of years on and off with no problems of that kind. (I've never used Asana, and I don't think I've used Toodledo, although I have tried nearly every other Mac-accessible Todoist-competitor around, and I do believe, taking into consideration all its features and its price(!), Todoist is amongst the best.

H

I am trying out Todoist as well as trying to see if I can create a better view in Asana by using their search and filtering options as opposed to their recommended views. I think that is the best way to evaluate each option as I am right in the middle of a number of projects, and any full scale switch could be quite a time vampire.

Thanks,

--Ken

P.S. I received brief messages yesterday and today when logging in to Todoist that connections could not be made with their server. I am not sure what the issue is, but I would have been happier not having that message. Curious to see if it continues to appear during my evaluation.

I've just started a trial use of IQTell.* This is very preliminary, but so far I'm impressed with the way you can integrate all your e-mail with Evernote and task/project management. They have several tutorial videos on YouTube, worth checking out.

Steve Z.

*A search of this site shows that it had a brief mention earlier when one of the developers tried to entice beta testers.

I find Todoist irritatingly inconsistent across platforms (especially with regard to folding).

After much reflection/reanalysis of my now large collection of task management apps, I have to say my votes would go to 2Do (although I'm not sure if it's available for Windows; it runs on Mac, iOS and Android for sure).

But what I'm starting to prefer over all else is a task management setup based on extensive (ideally rich-text) notes, hence my current use of Ulysses, even though it's far from perfect. Hence also my interest in Synology's Note Station.

I can certainly see the attraction of IQtell! Thanks for the tip.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I've just started a trial use of IQTell.* This is very preliminary, but
so far I'm impressed with the way you can integrate all your e-mail with
Evernote and task/project management. They have several tutorial videos
on YouTube, worth checking out.

Steve Z.

*A search of this site shows that it had a brief mention earlier when
one of the developers tried to entice beta testers.

Lucy Van Pelt with a football you are, Steve! :) I have never heard of IQTell, but am interested in checking it out when I have a few moments.

I guess what frustrates me is when you write to a company with specific concerns or suggestions, and you get a response back telling you that they will be forwarded for consideration. I know that most companies cannot spend time explaining or discussing the decisions behind their product's UI, but it seems like a free pass is given to them when they provide that type of answer. I have learned to evaluate a product exactly as I see it, because most improvements that are desired never seem to make it to the light of day. Perhaps my inner geek is coming to the surface, but I would really like to hear why UIs are designed as they are. And more importantly, I would like to know what the developers know about UI, or are relying on "canned templates" to guide them to their final product. (rant over)

--Ken

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I've just started a trial use of IQTell.* This is very preliminary, but
so far I'm impressed with the way you can integrate all your e-mail with
Evernote and task/project management. They have several tutorial videos
on YouTube, worth checking out.

Steve,

I looked at a few of their tutorials last night, and the program certainly seems a step beyond many of the current crop of task mangers when it comes to tracking more than just the task, its attachments, and any notes. I do not have time at present to give it a decent trial, but hope to do so sometime in the near future. But, I would be interested in hearing your assessment when you have spent some time with the program.

I like that they allow you to combine documents, notes, tasks, mail and possibly more within a project. However, I do not like that their Android app reviews had a number that were critical of the program's development, support and identified bugs. I am mostly focused on using this on the desktop, but a badly supported app is not usually a good sign.

--Ken

Ken,

I'm just getting started with IQTell too. The way it allows you to combine various types of information in one project (including Evernote notes) is what attracts me too. They also allow you to use the service for free for two full months, I think. That's a generous trial period.

Steve Z.

For years I have been using OmniFocus on OS X, iOS and now on the Watch. I've periodically stopped using it and intensely tried other applications. Recently I spent a month with Todoist. If I were starting out on task management I think I would settle on Todoist. After my month trial, I was pleased with the simplicity of the interfact, it's ubiquity across devices and the web, and its apparent flexibility. (My month included the month of free Premium as a trial, so I examined all features.)

At the end of the trial, I went back to OmniFocus because of cussed laziness. I have a very large and deep history of information in OF and I can't think of investing the time to convert. (I did that once a couple of years ago when I converted everything to Things then grew frustrated with it.)

Hey Ken,

if you want to participate in building the UI for the task management tool, install Yanado and contact support (I will contact you anyway).

Disclaimer: I'm CEO of Yanado and I'm not promoting our tool here just asking for feedback from people that want to give one.

Cheers!
Ivan

I recently switched from Things which I had been using since it first came out to Todoist. The lack of start times was a big problem, but I've managed to work around that. The key elements which make todoist work for me are as follows:

- cross-platform collaboration. I found I was using one app for my personal tasks and another for collaboration. This violates what I consider to be the key rule of GTD: only have one inbox. Todoist has excellent collaboration and the other user need not have a premium account for it to work,
- nice integration with gmail. Again, one inbox. I no longer keep messages in my gmail inbox, I just send them to todoist. On the iPhone I use cloudmagic.
- sub tasks. Things was too flat for me and todoist allows me more flexibility.

Although I have some frustrations with todoist, I don't regret my move.

PS: an interesting app to look at is moo.do, it still doesn't work for me, but I think it is an interesting approach.

Ivan M. wrote:

Hey Ken,

if you want to participate in building the UI for the task management
tool, install Yanado and contact support (I will contact you anyway).

Disclaimer: I'm CEO of Yanado and I'm not promoting our tool here just
asking for feedback from people that want to give one.

Cheers!
Ivan

Thank you for the offer, Ivan. Unfortunately, I am not looking for a task manager embedded into GMail at this time, so I would not be able to provide any useful comments.

--Ken