Task managers - what should they be able to do?

Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 31, 2008 at 03:40 PM

Graham, I like the web-based program given with my signature.

I am also using Central Desktop http://www.centraldesktop.com , also a web-based program, to see how it goes.

Part of this is crimping on my part because I prefer to do a lot of this stuff on paper.

For example, I have a wonderful Circa notebook from Levenger in Boston that has plastic sheets with 96 pockets for conventionally sized index cards to be inserted vertically. Levenger has its own take on the index card—lined on both sides, vertically. I love this system because nothing gets lost in it, and it is helpful to me as a pre-planning step, plus keeping notes temporarily from journals or books. http://www.levenger.com/

Daly
Try This Great Web-Based GTD Site:
http://www.nozbe.com/a-A3F240E3

Discuss and learn about David Allen’s Getting Things Done:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Getting_Things_Done/

Graham Rhind wrote:
>With the release of another personal task manager (a term I personally prefer over
>“to-do list” or otherwise), I thought it might be useful to take a look at what these
>task managers should be able to do. The number of programs I’ve looked at for task
>management must be approaching three figures, and I still haven’t found one I would
>happily use. Many task managers start off with great plans but a good many never reach
>maturity (and I could name names), so I think we need to look at what the software
>currently does rather than the plans the developer has for it.
> >I don’t think my needs
>are particularly individual to me - I’m an empiricist and try to let the nature of tasks
>themselves define what the software should be able to do. Many claim to support
>Getting Things Done principles though, having ploughed through that book, I can
>contest that many don’t. Many aim for usability but confuse it with lack of
>sophistication - a program can be powerful and also simple to use. Also, for me, the
>software can be embedded in PIM software or be standalone - as long as it fulfils basic
>requirements.
> >To my mind personal task management should fulfil these
>criteria:
> >Critical:
> >- Full support for recurrence (which universe do
>developers live in where tasks don’t recur?); automatic recreation of a recurring
>task upon completion/deletion
>- Date and time due
>- Alarms and snoozing
>-
>(Definable) priority indications
>- (Definable) categorisation/tagging
>-
>(Definable) status indication (waiting, complete, pending etc.)
>- Full featured
>notes editor (RTF/HTML, tables and graphics enabled)
> >Important:
> >- Unlimited
>sub-tasking (i.e. a tree-like structure)
>- (Definable) colour coding (font and
>background)
>- Import/Export/Synchronisation (with Outlook, Palm etc.)
>-
>User-defined views by any aspect (dates, tags, categories, text etc.)
>- Undo
>- Easy
>entry of tasks into the program using drag and drop and/or key combination
> >Nice to
>have
> >- (Definable) icons per task
>- Date started/date ended
>- Time planned for
>task/time actually taken
>- Reporting
> >I did find one personal task manager that did
>almost all of this but had a problem with database corruption. I am therefore
>currently having to use a blend of Outlook, Zoot and Sciral Consistency.
> >What does
>everybody think? Will the grail be obtained? Is there a program out there I’ve missed?
>What other features have I forgotten?
> >Graham
>