Getting Things Done: Mobile vs. Desktop Tools

Kevin Purdy over at lifehacker.com writes that the right todo manager should be very quick. That is why he suggests using a text file as a to-do list.

Web Based is Always Slower?

Even if you have high-speed internet connection, working in the browser with a web app will always come short of well programmed desktop tool.

There sure is a point to this argument. However, it seems to me, that it is a lot about getting the user experience right. Even though your web app such as rememberthemilk (which I currently use) might be slower than a desktop application, the actual user flow might be done smarter and thus quicker. For example: I use the gmail widget of rememberthemilk, which let's me add todos on the fly in a very useful context, which is open all day long anyway: reading my emails.

What about Mobile?

Another thing Purdy is not happy with is the speed on mobile devices.

I have tried several tools for capturing my tasks and todos and come to love the note taking android app www.catch.com. It is free and the guys have put a lot of thought into the mobile interface.

It is actually so fast that I use it for every mental note these days: One click to open, input with tag-capabilities, one click to save. Done.

And reviewing your notes in the browser is almost as easy. Due to a very clean and reduced interface.

Simple Setup, Availability and Backups

Purdy suggest todo.txt as his tool of choice. It works as a pimped-up text file with dropbox synchronisation (for more details check out his post).

I actually very much understand the idea of availability and backups as a reason to use a text file:

• it is always available
• it will never be out of date
• you don't need support
• choosing a reliable, long-lasting todo manager application requires a lot of trust in the company that builds and runs it
• you decide on your backup strategy
• it is free

However, I see some disadvantages:

• setup is not faster: the whole idea behind web apps is to get rid of installation, syncing, back-ups and so forth
• web apps are accessible from any browser on any machine with internet access and mobile devices
• there is no possibility of interaction with co-workers, family or friends when working on your todo lists (assigning tasks, delegation, and so forth)
• no visualization: in a well designed application the design actually helps you get things done. Through colors, shapes, graphic elements. A text file is just plain text with maybe some special characters.

Wrapping it up: Do the Right Thing!

I am not saying that a text file cannot be a great tool to some extent.

It always depends on your needs, your work flow and in the end discipline to use the tool. However, if done right, a web app can be a great tool to manage your todos, actually get things done and thus make you more productive.

So, what works for you? What kind of tools do you use? Feel free to share your experiences!

Illustration: Bermuda Triangle of Productivity

If you want to get things done you should definitely try to avoid this area :)

[via ffffound.com]

Getting Things Done: Don't Forget to Ask What!

Review TodoTweet - Todo Management for Twitter: Fast and Social

If you are a high volume twitter user - todotweet might just be the right tool to manage your todos.

It will integrate easily into your daily routine.  Simply add the #todo hashtag to any of your tweets and todotweet imports this post as a task. Which you than check as done within the app.

All in all it has a very limited feature set. However the idea behind it is simple and compelling.

Feature Set: Concentrating on the flow

• twitter integration
• tasks and their properties
  • due now vs. someday
  • privat vs. public (published on twitter)
  • assigned (not clear, how this works)
• task overview
  • simple list
  • display by todo properties (private, due now, assignement, tags) and search box#

This is it - no more features needed. Todotweet definitely concentrates on a simple integration into twitter and a useful user flow for creating tasks.

If you are looking for team assignments, commenting, due dates, microblogging, email notifications and so forth probably bantam or mangotasks might be more suitable for you.

Feature rating: 2/5

Design and usability: No Tasks Editing

The overall design is aesthetically pleasing however lacks some core functionality such as editing the tasks or their properties.

Also the lack of a help or support section can be rather frustrating, when trying to figure out the functionality.

From a flow perspective though the tools definitely helps you stay on top of your todos because it uses a daily routine of yours to capture your tasks: twitter posts. Even though I doubt, that a lot of people want their followers seeing all the stuff they have to do, it is an interesting attempt to help people get things done. Also the fact that your tasks become social and you commit to them this way even more.

Due to the fact that there is almost no interaction within the application itself, there cannot be said much about perfermance and speed.

Design rating: 2/5

Price: Free for a Reason

Todotweet is free and due to the limited feature set I cannot imagine a whole lot of people spending significant money on such a tool.

Price: 4/5

Overall Impression: Potential for more

Integrating your todo management into daily routines such as tweeting is nice move. However, the overall lack of todo management features such as due dates, assignements, task editing do not make todotweet a real contender.

Overall rating: 2/5

Checkout the presentation video of todotweet for an overall impression of the todo manager:

Review: Mangotasks - Task Management for Teams

Intro to MangoTasks

MangoTasks is a web based social collaborative task manager that is target at teams of any size.

MangoTasks is a small but important part of Mangosprings larger business application and collaboration suite "MangoSuite". In this regard it is similar to complete web app suites such as Zoho or the 37signals apps around basecamp. MangoTasks can be used as stand-alone version as well.

While seems very similar to the bantam task management tool (which we are currently using for our todo management) - MangoTasks has some features that make it more interesting for any team that collaborates on tasks and projects. Especially if you combine it with some of MangoApps other features such as MangoProject.

Feature Set: Small but Effective?

• tasks and their properties
• assign to co-worker
• due date: today, tomorrow, sometime soon, specific date
• visibility: team, project members (if MangoProjects is part of your suite), specific people
• assign to project
• activity stream (microblog)
• tasks, status updates (similar to twitter), etc. are shown in a dashboard and can be commented on
• you can create a task from a status updates
• task overview
• sorted by pending, completed and "assigned by me"
• team chat
• you can start chatting with coworkers directly within the MangoSuite - the design is very similar to the current facebook chat
• email notification
• you can have your daily tasks emailed to you

Lack of Task Management Flow

Overall the feature set is compact and not bloated. However it seems, similar to bantam, that there has been little thought put into how tasks and task management really works. At least from our perspective.

A major focus lies on the social aspect - microblogging, commenting, assigning tasks. However there is no real flow to either solve tasks or manage tasks. You cannot create subtasks, assign a task to several people, tag a task, set it's importance. When showing the tasks in a list - sorting functions are very limited. This way you always see a overwhelming list of tasks. This way you are not likely to create and in the end complete tasks.

Feature Rating: 3/5

Design and Usability: Solid but slow

The overall design is solid and presentable. Due to a lot of features and cross-features it is a little more bloated than your average todo or task manager would be. Items on the page could be better wheighed and pro- or demoted. This would certainly give the interface a clearer flow and make it more usable.

Slow Response Time: Not Desktop-App Like

One definite drawback is the slow response time. Most interactions either happen on a new page (reload) or as pop-up which both costs the user quite some time. Current Ajax technologies should enable you to control everything on one page without any time-consuming reloads. This way the web app would seem to respond more like a real desktop application.

Design Rating: 2/5

Pricing: Targeted for Business

If you plan on using MangoApps as a standalone you have invest $9.95 for 3 users up to $100 for 40 users per month. If you want to use the whole MangoSuite you pay between $49.95 for 3 and $500 for 40 users per month.

For either private or even business use this seems to be a little to much, considering the feature set and design being somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Price Rating: 2/5

There is no free plan. However you get a 30 day trial for which you still have to enter your credit card details, which I found quite annoying.

Overall Impression: Social is Good but Not Enough

Even though the whole idea between social collaboration is really interesting and even productive, it is not enough to make a tool useful. If you are looking for a tool that helps you get things done, MangoApps will probably not help you that much.

The application is more of a paper solution put to the web and social features added.

Overall Rating: 2/5

 

If you are interested in the complete MangoSuite here is 7 Minute video walk-through:

Review: Bantam – Todo Management

Bantam is a CRM multi-feature-application, which we use primarily for task management. We were looking for a todo-management-tool. We started using bantam, because it is fairly simple, we have the possibility to add tasks for someone else in our team, and can also see who has what tasks – and which are overdue :). As a nice addition we also use the dashboard to post work-related status-updates.

Feature Set

• tasks with:
  • project link
    
  • type
    
  • due date
    
  • assign to person
    
  • hidden / public
• tasks overview with different view points
  
• team messages
  
• dashboard
  
• contact manager
  
• deals
  
• projects
  
• files

For me, the major drawback is the superfluous stuff. I just want the task-management. I do not need “Messages” – for that I use email. I do not need “Contacts” – for that I would use the contact-manager of my email-client. Furthermore I do not see the need for “Deals”, “Projects” and “Files” in our company.
There is no possibility to add subtasks to tasks. The calendar can be integrated into the personal Google-calendar, which is nice.
The pricing can be found here – it ranges from $19 per month for a single user to $140 per month for unlimited users.
Feature Rating: 3/5

Design and Usability

The design can be confusing at times. But once accustomed, it is as simple. The buttons and what they stand for is not intuitive.
A negative aspect of bantam is that it is slow when switching between webpages or after making a drop-down-list selection.
I also found it in the beginning partly non-intuitive to create a new task with the properties I liked the task to have.
Design Rating: 2/5

Review: Toodledo - Lots of Features - Little Design

Toodledo is a poorly designed task organizer that comes equiped with a couple of interesting features such as scheduler and statistics.

Feature Set

• create a task
• folder
• due date
• repeat
• priority
• note 
• context 
• location 
• display and sort tasks in a list
• longtime goals 

In the Pro Version (15$ per year) or Pro Plus (30$ per year) of toodledo you have access to following additional features:

• scheduler (toodledo tells you what you should work on)
• task sharing with collaborators
• file upload
• statistics of tasks
• notebook for reference material
• history 

Overall the impression is, that toodledo attempts to do a lot of things and does not focus on one user scenario or user flow.

Feature Rating:  2/5
 
Design and Usability

The overall design is very crowded and poorly layouted. A lot of colors, shapes and links are visible without being prioritized in any way. I felt annoyed pretty fast and would not use toodledo on a daily basis. 
The performance was acceptable even though the page reloads inbetween different features had me waiting for a while. 

Design Rating: 1/5 

Overall Impression

Toodledo sure does have a wide range of features most of which are only available in the Pro or Pro Plus version. The design is rather annoying and does not help to get things done.

Overall Rating: 1/5