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Sort of a poll: What is your favorite task manager/to do app?
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Posted by Adrian
Jan 11, 2019 at 01:43 AM
GoalEnforcer Hyperfocus: visual, neat and effective.
Available for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS (and soon web based version).
http://www.goalenforcer.com/
Posted by Hugh
Jan 11, 2019 at 09:50 AM
Paul Korm wrote:
Pagico - one way, read only from the calendar side via iCloud (I think).
>
>DropTask - two way, read and write from the calendar side via Google
>Calendar.
>Curio - one way, read only from the calendar size via iCloud—syncs
>reminders and events on separate calendars.
>
>Hugh wrote:
>One type of task manager that I think nobody has mentioned is the type
>>that not only lists your tasks but also schedules them in the working
>>day. When I used Windows, there were several available (the name “Above
>>and Beyond” rings a bell), but I have seen none for the Mac. Do they
>>still exist?
Many thanks, Paul. I’ll certainly look at DropTask, with which I’m not familiar.
As I recall, the Windows apps that I remember (and I’m pleased to hear that Above and Beyond still exists) used some kind of simple algorithm involving priorities, duration and, probably, imminence to decide for the user when in the day tasks should be scheduled. I can imagine that some users might not have liked this, but the philosophy did seem to comply with David Allen’s GTD “mind like water”.
From personal experience, I don’t think that Pagico or Curio have gone that far.
Posted by Paul Korm
Jan 11, 2019 at 02:46 PM
An application to choose the time a task should be scheduled? Sounds interesting—I cannot think of a task manager that suggests a time for scheduling the task + actually schedules it.
A couple other apps come to mind to add to the list I posted above:
GoodTask—a task manager built on top of the macOS Reminders and Calendar apps—cross platform
Agenda—more of a note taker than a task manager but calendar events can be created from the note—the integration is only partial
Hugh wrote:
>As I recall, the Windows apps that I remember (and I’m pleased to hear
>that Above and Beyond still exists) used some kind of simple algorithm
>involving priorities, duration and, probably, imminence to decide for
>the user when in the day tasks should be scheduled. I can imagine that
>some users might not have liked this, but the philosophy did seem to
>comply with David Allen’s GTD “mind like water”.
Posted by Lucas
Jan 11, 2019 at 04:01 PM
Hugh wrote:
One type of task manager that I think nobody has mentioned is the type
>that not only lists your tasks but also schedules them in the working
>day. When I used Windows, there were several available (the name “Above
>and Beyond” rings a bell), but I have seen none for the Mac. Do they
>still exist?
I confess that I have searched somewhat obsessively for such software over the last 10 years, and I have tried just about everything. There are indeed some options available, although I find all of them lacking. I will highlight a few options on various platforms:
Windows (old software): In addition to Above & Beyond, there was TimeTo and Watership Planner.
Mac (old software): SmartDay did this, but never became sufficiently polished and was abandoned.
Project Management software: Obviously overkill, but I have used full-blown project management software for this purpose. Any software that includes “resource leveling” can be configured to automatically schedule tasks according to priority, deadlines, availability, etc. I have used Microsoft Project. On the mac, OmniPlan and Merlin Project do the trick. On the web, LiquidPlanner also does this.
Recent software:
—Focuster has already been mentioned here. It’s relatively simnple, and it lacks prioritization, but it’s automatic scheduling works well.
—JXCirrus Planner tries to be a full-blown, extremely powerful automatic task scheduling solution (including being able to give tasks a numeric priority), and it works on Windows, Mac, and iPhone. I recommend looking at it, but there do tend to be major bugs, and it isn’t exactly elegant. If the bugs get worked out, it would be my first choice.
—SkedPal is much more polished and is also cross-platform (including mobile). It’s an excellent option, with a highly sophisticated approach to blocking time for different sorts of tasks. My only issues are the lack of numeric priority and the approach it takes to automatically scheduling short-duration tasks ahead of longer, higher-priority tasks, but for many people these aren’t problems.
DIY approaches:
—Another powerful solution I have found is Tinderbox, which I have configured to be a capable task manager, including with automatic priority-based scheduling, but I have stopped using it for that purpose because of the inability to sync tasks with my iPhone. I am sure InfoQube could also be used.
—Excel can be configured to do this, but there are severe limitations.
As far as which task manager I currently use: Last year I switched to index cards, which I loved, but eventually there were too many issues with transporting cards and losing cards, so I switched back to electronic. But I have grown to appreciate the card metaphor, and I’ve been trying various Kanban options. Currently, I’m using Zenkit, which is quite powerful but also a bit buggy. I’m still on the lookout for better automatic scheduling options that can sync with iPhone.
Posted by Lucas
Jan 11, 2019 at 04:06 PM
Edit: Should be “JXCirrus Diary”