{"id":716,"date":"2013-02-23T21:33:06","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T13:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssedro.com\/blog\/?p=716"},"modified":"2013-03-27T10:21:42","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T02:21:42","slug":"goldilocks-and-the-task-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssedro.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/23\/goldilocks-and-the-task-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"Goldilocks and the Task Management Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"

It feels like I have been searching for a great task manager forever. The longer I look and test products, the more I feel like Goldilocks…<\/p>\n

“This one’s too flat.”<\/p>\n

“That one’s too complicated.”<\/p>\n

“That one’s too difficult to view.”<\/p>\n

…and so on.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot_2_23_13_2_39_PM\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in my Palm III days I used LifeBalance<\/a>\u00a0by Llamagraphics. I loved it. \u00a0It was the first task manager I had ever used that included context. \u00a0I’d be out running errands and it would show me that if I was going to Target I should remember to pick up the dry cleaning that was only two blocks away. \u00a0It also helped my align my tasks with my values and it had a llama for its icon. What’s not to like?<\/p>\n

I kept with it until I moved to Singapore. I had a Mac at home, a Windows XP machine on my desk, and an old Palm something in my pocket. \u00a0Let’s just say that back in 2006 that combo didn’t work. \u00a0Those three platforms did not share data nicely.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot_2_23_13_2_42_PM\"<\/a>From there I tried a few things and ended up with \u00a0Toodledo.com<\/a>. I really like its feature set. \u00a0It is highly configureable so I could get it to work the way that worked best for me. \u00a0In my new job, I found I needed sub-task that to keep organized. \u00a0By go for the pro subscription I was able to get that feature for a reasonable annual fee.<\/p>\n

When an iphone finally entered my life, I discovered that quite a few todo apps for the phone could sync with\u00a0\"Screenshot_2_23_13_2_44_PM\"<\/a>Toodledo.com. \u00a0I settled on 2Do<\/a>\u00a0because it was well-designed and attractive.\u00a0That combination worked quite well.<\/p>\n

Eventually, that system started to break down. I realized the problem was email. \u00a0When I was a classroom teacher, most of my tasks came from me. \u00a0I was writing units, reviewing units, scoring assignments, etc. \u00a0When I became a tech coordinator (and now a tech coach), suddenly the majority of my tasks originated in my inbox. \u00a0My Toodledo system broke down because I had to copy everything into my task management system. \u00a0I needed a system which streamlined that workflow.<\/p>\n

\"evernote\"<\/a>I was really excited to read about The Secret Weapon<\/a>. It was a system that made use of the strengths of Evernote<\/a> to tame my inbox tasks. \u00a0It played well with GTD. It was flexible and powerful. \u00a0It synced between web, desktop and phone. It made use of apps I was already using.<\/p>\n

It took me an entire afternoon to get all setup and move my task lists, but I immediately knew it was a good system. \u00a0I could email directly from my inbox into Evernote. I could assign tags for context and priority in the subject of the email letter as I forwarded it. \u00a0It was easy to sort and search. \u00a0Things were getting done. \u00a0Life was good.<\/p>\n

Then Evernote rolled out a major update. \u00a0For overall usability it was a brilliant update. For my task management system it was not so good. \u00a0On my phone, the new views made my tasks more difficult to view. More importantly, the labels, which are essential in this system, were buried multiple click away. \u00a0Around the same time, Gmail changed its message creation interface. \u00a0As with Evernote, it is a big improvement for most things, but changing the subject line was more cumbersome and that is a key step in the system I was using. Not too surprisingly, my system started to fall apart not long after the update.<\/p>\n

This weekend I started poking around. \u00a0I still needed a task manager in a major way. \u00a0Keeping my tasks in my head is a recipe for failure. As I started my search, I revisited Toodledo.com. \u00a0It is a great system. \u00a0However, nowhere on its site do I see mention of being able to email tasks into the system. \u00a0I know that in my current tech coach job, I must have that.<\/p>\n

I did a search for task management apps with email. \u00a0Most of the hits allowed you to email tasks out of the app but not in. \u00a0I also want something that syncs in the cloud an<\/p>\n

And so, my search begins again. \u00a0For this search, these are my criteria.<\/p>\n

Basic Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n