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Card-based productivity software
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Posted by Daly de Gagne
Feb 1, 2016 at 10:55 PM
Ken, I so agree with you re app and other software web sites. Many are a waste of space, and prime examples of bad design
Daly
Ken wrote:
Hi Andy,
>
>Thanks for asking. I tried Trello, find it very well designed, and can
>see cases where it can be very useful. but, I manage a number of
>projects at once, and need to see and prioritize tasks for a number of
>projects and that is where Trello falls down IMHO. Context is critical
>for my workflow, and tagging/filtering is essential as I have a large
>number of tasks in a number of states at any given time. I know that my
>daily workflow is not the target market for these types of products, but
>I still feel it is important for folks to remember that not all projects
>look like the examples that are shown on the short introductory videos
>at software web sites. Speaking of which, when your new product is
>ready for release, please do not just give us a video of cartoon
>characters or beautiful actors making their way through their day. A
>demonstration of how your products works is useful, and I find it really
>frustrating when I go to a company’s website and only see a lifestyle
>displayed with large scrolling photos and large font statements.
>Products screenshots are useful and can answer a lot of questions very
>quickly and easily.
>
>Good luck,
>
>—Ken
>
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Feb 1, 2016 at 11:00 PM
I use NoteZilla because it’s so much more than a sticky notes program.
I once used ndxCards, and thought it had a great future. Unfortunately it has not been developed for several years. I liked its approach, and would hope it can be developed again.
Daly
Wojciech wrote:
Hi Andy,
>I am big fan of card-based approach, however after a couple of attempts
>with some digital solutions (first of all, NoteZilla and ndxCards)
>several years ago, I came back to paper… I’ll be happy if you convince
>me that your software could make my life more productive, so I’ll be
>watching development of Hyper Plan with great interest :)
>What I expect from digital approach is in fact rather simple (maybe even
>naive): (1) I would like to be able to work with the piles of my cards
>as they were physical ones but more quickly and flexible; (2) to be able
>to easily mail, share, export to other applications, and print them; (3)
>to have special ‘pickers’ (plugins) that make possible easy import of
>data from other applications to a card (something like ‘Send to Hyper
>Plan’ option for web browsers, text editors, mail programs etc.).
>All the best,
>Wojciech
Posted by Andy Brice
Feb 1, 2016 at 11:07 PM
@Hugh
I agree that it is pretty much impossible to have one system to cover everything and be usable. I put short term/transitory stuff on scraps of paper, longer term stuff in Hyper Plan and appointments in Google calendar.
Web based software is very much in the ascendant. But I still use a lot of desktop software and I think it still has a lot of advantages. I wrote about that here:
http://successfulsoftware.net/2013/10/28/is-desktop-software-dead/
Creating commercial software for iPhone/iPad is problematic for lots of reasons, including:
-low prices
-no direct connection with your customer
-lots of hoops to jump through
-lack of visibility in app stores
-different UI requirements (small screen+touch)
That’s why I haven’t produced a iPhone/iPad version of Hyper Plan (yet).
Card-based software seems to work best when you have tens or maybe a few hundred cards. The approach doesn’t seem to scale well to thousands of cards. I am considering adding hierarchy (cards within cards) into Hyper Plan to handle bigger plans. I still haven’t made a decision on that.
Omnifocus and Scrivner seem to be well regarded, I should have another look at them.
Some people have asked for more date specific features in Hyper Plan, but I am still deciding how far I want to go with that. I’m not interested in producing yet another weekly/monthly planner.
Hyper Plan gives card and tabular views of the same data. I have some ideas about other views. But there is a limit to how many types of views you can accommodate of a single data set.
>In any case, I do own a license for Hyper Plan, which in general terms I
>like, and I’m about to start on a project for which it may be suited…
I’m working hard on v2.0. So if you run into any issues with the current version, please let me know.
Posted by Andy Brice
Feb 1, 2016 at 11:16 PM
@Wojciech
Trying to match the ease of use and intuitiveness of physical post-it notes is certainly a challenge. But I think software really comes into its own where:
-you have lots of cards (no limitations on space)
-you need to put more than just a few words on a card
-you want to slice and dice them in different ways
-you want to access the information long term
>to have special ‘pickers’ (plugins) that make possible easy import of
>data from other applications to a card (something like ‘Send to Hyper
>Plan’ option for web browsers, text editors, mail programs etc.).
You can already drag web pages or documents onto a card to create a link to that page/document. But perhaps there are things I could do to make that easier.
Posted by Andy Brice
Feb 1, 2016 at 11:23 PM
@Daly de Gagne
>I use NoteZilla because it’s so much more than a sticky notes program.
>
>I once used ndxCards, and thought it had a great future. Unfortunately
>it has not been developed for several years. I liked its approach, and
>would hope it can be developed again.
So are you using card based software for a similar reminder function to sticking post-it notes on your fridge/computer? Or are you using it for more than that?