I have been checking out a lot of different task management apps to start the new year. I'm not even really sure I want to switch, but I just get this feeling there is a better option out there. (I mostly use Dynalist right now.)

So I'd just like to throw this question out there and see if there is anything approaching a clear favorite among this group. The field is completely open to however you want to interpret this. I just want to know what app you turn to most often to management your task list/projects.

Thanks in advance!

Steve Z.

It would help if you first stated the platform you work on - Windows? Mac? iOS? Android? Chromebook? - and what you want to use it for.

Hyper Plan, of course. I wrote the task management app that I wanted to use. ;0)

--

Andy Brice
https://www.hyperplan.com

Good question. I returned to OmniFocus mid-year 2018. Probably the 5th time I've gone thru the abandon-OmniFocus / readopt-OmniFocus cycle. I don't particularly like it -- Omni Group overburdens its apps with all sorts of cruft and they are not pleasant to use -- but probably for the same reason I find it to be very flexible.

The one thing in a task app that I need the most -- and use the most -- is quick capture. I want to be able to get ideas or to-dos into the inbox fast so I can deal with them later. OF is very good at that. My favorite task app, however, is DropTask -- which was multi-platform long before OF was -- but lacks in an adequate capture mechanism. If DropTask had the capture features that OF has, I would once again abandon OF.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

The field is
completely open to however you want to interpret this. I just want to
know what app you turn to most often to management your task
list/projects.

Sorry, Andy, without iOS or Android, Hyper Plan is an island. I never committed to it for that reason.

Andy Brice wrote:

Hyper Plan, of course. I wrote the task management app that I wanted to

I am always interested to learn how people manage their task lists and productivity planning. I’m invested in the Apple ecosystem and have settled on Things from Cultued Code for several reasons. First, itt syncs flawlessly across devices. Second, its well-thought out aesthetics and ease of input. I also like that it lnks into my calendar, providing a unified task and schedule dashboard. It also supports repeating tasks like a boss with superior options for intervals and things like “repeat on completion”. There is another app I like called 2Do which shares many of the same strengths and is, arguably, more powerful with a robust search and tagging system, but was perhaps a bit too complex for me.

One problem that I have, however, is the need for long-term storage of projects and completion dates. I am a bench scientist and need to record this information, as well, and this is something that Things fails at. I have been testing Curio as an environment to plan experiments, projects, etc to use its project planning and due date assignment. These dates sync to Reminders which can, in turn, sync to Things.

I’d be interested to hear how others archive their task lists for future reference.

I work on Windows, Mac and iOS, but the inquiry is meant to be broad and not restricted to any platform. I just want to know what people here are using for managing their tasks. I am just curious... although there likely will be insights revealed that will be helpful to me (and others I hope).

satis wrote:

It would help if you first stated the platform you work on - Windows?
Mac? iOS? Android? Chromebook? - and what you want to use it for.

It's a combination of Google Keep and WorkFlowy for me. Google Keep is a recent adoption, as discussed here:

https://www.outlinersoftware.com/messages/viewm/33769

I have bounced all over among Things, OmniFocus, and ToDoist, and usually stay in ToDoist longer than the others. What I am trying now is Bullet Journal (analog) because it just seems like too much of a bother to go to a full-fledged task manager for tasks. I think where I will eventually end up is in Notetaker, with one outline being my task list. If Notetaker is always open on my Mac, it is less of an ordeal to check into.

Which Notetaker? Aquaminds? Google?

Jeffery Smith wrote:

I think where I will
eventually end up is in Notetaker, with one outline being my task list.
If Notetaker is always open on my Mac, it is less of an ordeal to check
into.

I have been through most of the apps listed in this thread. I am currently using Skedpal. I like the fact that it itnegrates with my calendar, and automatically finds open time to schedule (and reschedule and reschedule again, unfortunately) my tasks

I've been using my todo.xls for years. It's located in my Dropbox and can opened using Planmaker, Excel, Numbers et.al. from Windows, Mac OS, iOS.

I think I've been through every ToDo app available on Mac/iOS .... The ones I used the longest were ( in chronological order) Omnifocus, 2DO, Todoist, and now Droptask is my current tool for the last 4 months or so.
I've been watching Sorted 3 for iOS very closely, but still waiting for the Mac desktop version before giving it a thorough trial.

I must be an outsider.

EMACS orgmode for the last few years, prior to that it was Ecco Pro followed by Time and Chaos on Windows.

Hi Steve,

You might want to check out Findings, which is available for both macOS and iOS. Dunno if it matches your particular scientific discipline, but it's a very nicely designed app.

Cheers!
Bill

steve-rogers wrote:

I am always interested to learn how people manage their task lists and
productivity planning. I’m invested in the Apple ecosystem and
have settled on Things from Cultued Code for several reasons. First, itt
syncs flawlessly across devices. Second, its well-thought out aesthetics
and ease of input. I also like that it lnks into my calendar, providing
a unified task and schedule dashboard. It also supports repeating tasks
like a boss with superior options for intervals and things like
“repeat on completion”. There is another app I like called
2Do which shares many of the same strengths and is, arguably, more
powerful with a robust search and tagging system, but was perhaps a bit
too complex for me.

One problem that I have, however, is the need for long-term storage of
projects and completion dates. I am a bench scientist and need to record
this information, as well, and this is something that Things fails at. I
have been testing Curio as an environment to plan experiments, projects,
etc to use its project planning and due date assignment. These dates
sync to Reminders which can, in turn, sync to Things.

I’d be interested to hear how others archive their task lists for
future reference.

I keep different types of lists in Google Keep and Anylist (both free, though I pay the $8/yr premium for Anylist so I can sync the iOS app and access the Mac app and the web. My to-do manager currently is the premium version of Todoist ($3/month) which syncs both ways to my calendar. Todoist has previewed new features coming out this year, including Kanban board view (which some app/services, like Zenkit, already have). Personally, I'd prefer a calendar view (a la TickTick) and better UI and better handling of subtasks, which they're supposedly (slowly) working on.

System works pretty well for me, but I keep my to-dos pretty stripped down for santy's sake - no priority levels or filters like 'waiting_for' or 'assigned_by'

I'm using a combination of Omnifocus and bullet journaling (see the first two sections of this page for more my method: http://www.becktench.com/workflow/#time ). It's working pretty well, but I sure would love a feature like Skedpal in OF. I'd also love for task managers to see the benefit in having notes (items w/no tasks) listed alongside tasks in a project list, a nice feature of bullet journaling. For example, a project "Prepare for Monday's Committee Meeting" might have the following items:

- Meeting is from 10-12 in basement (note)
• Send David paperwork (task)
• Draft statement for review during meeting (task)
- Would be nice to discuss if extensive review is too much for now (note)
• Create agenda for meeting and send out to committee (task)
- Don't forget to set a target date during the meeting (note)

Both could be archived, but only the tasks would be expected to be checked off.

Beck,

I agree completely. Notes and tasks should be separate but equal, and be able to be associated. For instance, the minutes of a meeting will probably generate several tasks... those tasks should be their own items, but related back to the minutes note. A phone conversation with someone might generate multiple todos. You want to record the conversation in a note, but you also want to create tasks that individually need to be acted upon.

Some task managers have notes which can hold tasks (i.e. Agenda). Most have notes associated with tasks, but the notes in these cases are treated as meta data for the task, not as separate entities.

NoteSuite had this ability to the best extent I've seen, but it is now defunct. I think Pagico might be able to do this, but I have had difficulty unraveling its mysteries. And Noteplan can sort of do this, too, but the tasks are embedded in daily notes and are not really treated as individual entities.

Steve Z.

Beck wrote:

I'm using a combination of Omnifocus and bullet journaling (see the
first two sections of this page for more my method:
http://www.becktench.com/workflow/#time ). It's working pretty well, but
I sure would love a feature like Skedpal in OF. I'd also love for task
managers to see the benefit in having notes (items w/no tasks) listed
alongside tasks in a project list, a nice feature of bullet journaling.
For example, a project "Prepare for Monday's Committee Meeting" might
have the following items:

- Meeting is from 10-12 in basement (note)
• Send David paperwork (task)
• Draft statement for review during meeting (task)
- Would be nice to discuss if extensive review is too much for now
(note)
• Create agenda for meeting and send out to committee (task)
- Don't forget to set a target date during the meeting (note)

Both could be archived, but only the tasks would be expected to be
checked off.

I was using Things 3.

I am now settled on TickTick because:
a) has better scheduling (planning) capabilities
b) is universal (has android app)

Like Steve, I totally agree - notes are primordial (as the French say). OF does have fairly good note-taking facilities, but keeping a separate archive of notes alongside tasks is something nobody does desperately well (NotePlan makes a valiant attempt, but isn't structured enough for my taste). The relatively new Agenda also makes a good attempt, but isn't quite flexible enough. And more to the point, doesn't do archiving (which I also regard as a sine qua non). However, it's an intriguing app and I'm keeping a close eye.

What I'd really like to see is a triple-pane outliner: something that could do outlines in two panes (not unlike Todoist), but with notes displayed in a third. And could manage the notes separately, of course. I currently dodge between TickTick and Things; I love TickTick's notes facility (although I'd prefer rich text), but Things is quicker and easier to use for immediate task reprioritisation (I tend to build up huge lists in TickTick). I wish Things offered a separate notes view, but it doesn't.

That's an interesting idea, though. An app that combined notes and tasks without making one totally dependent on the other, but allowed structured references etc. There are a couple of apps that allow such a mixture on the Mac App Store; the only one that looks more or less capable is Informant.

Beck wrote:

I'm using a combination of Omnifocus and bullet journaling (see the
first two sections of this page for more my method:
http://www.becktench.com/workflow/#time ). It's working pretty well, but
I sure would love a feature like Skedpal in OF. I'd also love for task
managers to see the benefit in having notes (items w/no tasks) listed
alongside tasks in a project list, a nice feature of bullet journaling.
For example, a project "Prepare for Monday's Committee Meeting" might
have the following items:

- Meeting is from 10-12 in basement (note)
• Send David paperwork (task)
• Draft statement for review during meeting (task)
- Would be nice to discuss if extensive review is too much for now
(note)
• Create agenda for meeting and send out to committee (task)
- Don't forget to set a target date during the meeting (note)

Both could be archived, but only the tasks would be expected to be
checked off.

Thanks, Bill. I own Findings and have played around with it a bit, but not really committed to using it for long enough to tell if it will work for me. Findings does have some very nice features and that team writes quality software. It's a good suggestion and I will give it an earnest try soon.
Steve

Funny you should ask as I have been feeling that my current line-up has been getting a bit stale. I am not sure why I grow old of apps (and their weaknesses) as I used Ecco for over 15 years and loved almost every minute of it, but times change and that is the environment in which I live and work these days. My current line-up is MLO at work on my PC and Todoist for personal tasks on the web and my android phone. I also use Remember the Milk and Trello for a few specific uses.

I would like to spend some time learning IQ and Hyperplan as I find them to be interesting tools that are well supported by their authors, but am having difficulty finding extra time to devote to them right now. One program that I would reconsider if they could clean up a handful of UI gaffs is Asana. I do not suspect they will as the issues have been around for years now, and they have shown no interest in listening to their customer base. Also, I would be especially grateful if MLO had a UI upgrade. It is quite powerful and actually does most of what I need. But any time I need to change something require hours of reading and experimentation. Redbooth and Wrike were alternate candidates that I considered, but neither made it as a replacement.

Good luck in your search,

--Ken

Google "Keep"
(G calendar, G sheet, gmail, G drive, G Docs, GSuite, etc),

Or

Microsoft "To-do"
(OneDrive, excel & word & office online, outlook-calendar, etc),

that is the question. The dark sides, the First Order vs the old Empire. Is Dropbox the resistance or the next order, is resistance futile? Who knows.

I'm going to flog DropTask again in this respect. (DT doesn't get the love it deserves LOL). DT is more of an integration than a single app. The app and website (same thing) integrate various task views, sync with Evernote, and sync with Google calendar -- not to mention export to iMindMap (optional). So notes created and maintained in Evernote can when given a particular tag be picked up by DropTask, when they can be associated with tasks, and if the task is scheduled with start and/or due dates, the task is picked up by the associated Google calendar. (And because OmniFocus can display the calendar events in the Forecast perspective, there is a second-level integration going on there.)

For me, this sort of intentional integration using the APIs of several good apps is a lot more robust than a single-app task manager or task manager + note taker, etc.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Some task managers have notes which can hold tasks (i.e. Agenda). Most
have notes associated with tasks, but the notes in these cases are
treated as meta data for the task, not as separate entities.

Aquaminds 4.0 (beta). It seems to be in the last stages of beta testing, and it performs without a hitch. I don't t know about how it differs from 3.0 because betas usually have no help screens (so I still use the 3.0 documentation). The interface looks the same so far, though some sort of tweak in December seemed to give it a somewhat cleaner overall look.


Paul Korm wrote:

Which Notetaker? Aquaminds? Google?

Jeffery Smith wrote:
I think where I will
>eventually end up is in Notetaker, with one outline being my task list.
>If Notetaker is always open on my Mac, it is less of an ordeal to check
>into.