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Current Todoist Users?
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Posted by Ken
May 26, 2015 at 07:33 PM
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
Posted by Hugh
May 27, 2015 at 08:57 AM
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).
Posted by Ken
May 27, 2015 at 03:14 PM
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
Posted by Marcos D.
May 27, 2015 at 05:28 PM
I use Todoist, not Premium. Quite reliable as it relates to syncing between devices. Never lost any information.
Posted by Hugh
May 27, 2015 at 05:40 PM
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