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Remember the Milk Gets a Total Overhaul
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Posted by Luhmann
Feb 6, 2016 at 03:47 AM
Remember the Milk Gets a Total Overhaul with New Apps, New Design, and New Features
http://lifehacker.com/remember-the-milk-gets-a-total-overhaul-with-new-apps-1757330773
Most of the features require an annual subscription. I don’t think I’ll use it, but I’m hoping that the fact that it has start dates will give Todoist the push it needs to implement the same.
Posted by Ken
Feb 7, 2016 at 06:32 AM
Luhmann wrote:
Remember the Milk Gets a Total Overhaul with New Apps, New Design, and
>New Features
>
>http://lifehacker.com/remember-the-milk-gets-a-total-overhaul-with-new-apps-1757330773
>
>Most of the features require an annual subscription. I don’t think I’ll
>use it, but I’m hoping that the fact that it has start dates will give
>Todoist the push it needs to implement the same.
I applaud them for trying to remain current, or revive themselves from “almost dead” (which is not the same as mostly dead according to Miracle Max). But, I just do not see what they are offering for the price they are asking. I realize that the days of $30/yr. for services are probably numbered, but you usually offer something special before you raise rates. I wish them well.
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 8, 2016 at 12:15 PM
Interesting. Well, the new version looks pretty cool. A kind of combo of all the best bits from e.g. Wunderlist, DoItIm, TickTick and various others.
It’s a huge improvement over the previous version of RTM - in particular the web interface (and offline web app) is a vast improvement; it now looks serious, and is easy to use, unlike the previous kitchen-table ghastliness. Also, it’s harmonised with the mobile apps so they all look the same.
RTM’s big strengths have always been: good note-taking ability (no, no rich-text support, but good support for URLs, and you can make multiple separate notes, which helps structure projects if you need to.
The new subtasks support (only available in the Pro version) is also a major forward step; not dissimilar to Wunderlist, but each subtask is a separate task in itself (similar to ToDo Cloud by Appigo).
Another excellent feature (which the cumbersome OmniFocus could benefit from) is the selection of task fields: you can fix the default fields you want in each task in the overall Settings, but also add extra fields (such as start dates) to individual tasks on an ad-hoc basis. This is an excellent approach, streamlining general task management without foregoing the really powerful functions we all need sometimes (e.g. start dates!)
No, this is a complete reinvention of RTM, and instantly brings it into line with all the other major task managers (2Do, Things, OmniFocus etc.) (like the latter, it also has labels/categories/tags, depending on what you like to call them). I think the subscription price is very reasonable. Please note that the basic (free) version still has a lot of features - the main limitations are (a) no subtasks, (b) limited sharing (with two other people), and (c) no offline web app (RTM has a separate desktop app now, but it’s essentially an encapsulated web app, like TickTick’s. Fast and good-looking, however).
I think this is great - I’ve always loved RTM’s mobile apps, but grieved over the seriously dreadful web app. Now that’s all changed! It’s a serious contender, and I’m actually evaluating it for teamwork; it’s that good (so far! I’ll let you know if I find something seriously awful).
The only thing that’s still, well, “idiosyncratic”, is the way you can’t directly “tick” task checkboxes. They essentially serve to select tasks, not to complete them; you actually tick/check the checkboxes by selecting a menu bar option. But that’s always been a feature, and you soon get used to it.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by Ken
Feb 8, 2016 at 07:21 PM
Hi Bill,
Well, your comments inspired me to have a look at the new UI. On first glance it looks nice, and seems easy to navigate (something I wish Toodledo would seriously consider). It may be worth the price (although that is a person decision), but it does seem that they aimed towards the top of the pack among their competition, but this may be the new price point for these apps. I do like the notes feature as it is clean and easy to read. Asana’s notes get caught up in their never ending stream of reporting any and every action, and it is quite hard to just read the comments. I am not sure that I will upgrade, but I might use it for a few special projects where I need to keep notes.
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 10, 2016 at 09:47 AM
Having shelled out GBP 27 or so for the Pro version, I continue to be impressed by RTM, although it does have a couple of weaknesses.
First, subtasks are very cool. They are infinitely hierarchisable (if that’s a word); i.e. you can have subtasks of subtasks of subtasks. Not that I’m saying that’s necessarily a good way to organise yourself, but what I like about this is that each subtask has all the same features as a main task (i.e. notes, settings, alarms etc.). This means you can organise very large projects relatively easily, something that most task managers don’t handle well. It contrasts with apps like Wunderlist (and others), where subtasks are basically just a checklist (i.e. useless). I don’t know many/any task managers that offer multiple layers of subtasks (actually, I lie: OmniFocus does, but is so convoluted that I’ve really gone off it. Oh, and so does Todoist, but again, makes too much of a meal of very basic things, like entering notes).
The lack of rich-text support is a pity. But you can add multiple notes to each task (including subtasks). What could be improved is the sorting of notes: currently there’s no way of changing the default “by date modified” order; drag-and-drop sorting would be good.
Note that with a Pro account, you can sort tasks (as opposed to notes) in a wide variety of ways (including drag-and-drop, if you prefer); there are also advanced sort options.
Currently there’s no calendar subscription feature. One of the very powerful features of TickTick (one of the closest equivalents to RTM in terms of model, albeit without subtasks) is its calendar support (as well as its fast sync and sharing).
RTM syncs pretty fast, in my experience; the occasional hesitation is no worse than many others.
RTM does have one minor bug: sometimes subtasks don’t immediately appear in the list, even though they’re clearly there (sensibly, each parent task shows the number of subtasks, so you can see they’re being totted up). This is a bit disconcerting, but the desktop client has a refresh option in the View menu, so clearly the developers are aware of this particular foible.
The search function is interesting. There’s a basic search that focuses solely on task names, but a drop-down box gives you access to advanced features, including search within notes and the ability to add multiple search criteria. This is quite nicely done, and certainly works well. The “Smart List” feature complements this admirably - you can create any number of lists with very specific criteria such as “tasks NOT due today or tomorrow”, “tasks with no due date” and so on.
Finally, with a Pro account, you can differentiate tags by colour. I find this a useful feature, myself. Simple example, I use a specific colour for all “client” tags, so I can see at a glance which tasks are related to projects for clients vs. internal admin (etc. etc.). Of course tasks/subtasks can be assigned multiple tags. Worth noting that subtasks aren’t automatically assigned their parent task’s tags. On the other hand, in Today/TomorrowThis Week views, the fact that they’re subtasks is clearly indicated by a helpful upward pointing arrow in the margin, and it’s very easy to move directly to the parent task from a subtask (some task managers make this much more complicated than it should be).
So: still a bit of development work to do, but a very promising start for this brand-new version of RTM. Raising an interesting tangential question: with task managers becoming really quite sophisticated information managers, why doesn’t some bright spark bring this functionality to outliners/knowledge management apps? I have been toying with the idea of using Todoist not as a task manager, but as an information manager/outliner, but I haven’t got around to playing with that yet.