Task Management software - Mac + work (Windows) laptop

[tribpot]

After a very productive thread earlier in the year about budgeting software, I'm back in Geeky stuff to talk about task management.

I use Evernote on my Macbook, iPhone and my work laptop (Windows machine) and I find it fantastic for ensuring I have my current information to hand where I need it - and be able to add to my notes from whatever device is closest to hand.

Like many Evernote users, though, I want it to have task management features (recurring tasks, proper date management) that the developers are adamant they will not put in. There are a number of different ways that people have managed to lash up an integration between Evernote on another task app. I've been looking at a few.

1. [Not really considered yet] Some people make use of tags within Evernote itself to create date-specific notes, presumably by tagging each one with a date formatted like '2012-06-30' so that they'll then sort correctly. Seems very clunky if (like me) you're constantly rescheduling stuff as you fail to get anything done on the right day.

1. Remember the Milk. I already have an RTM account and there are many features of RTM that can't be beaten. Such as the ability to specify due dates in natural language like 'on Friday' or 'in two weeks'. RTM also allows you to create tasks via email (which Evernote also supports) pre-assigned to tags, dates, priorities, etc. As you can email out of Evernote, you can create a task from a note this way. It's amazingly flexible, integrates with Google calendar etc - but I just don't like the RTM web interface. There are a number of client applications which have been written, but I don't like any of them either :( This is really frustrating because, to match the Evernote functionality I need a server-based application so I can see the same thing on my Macbook, iPhone and work laptop.

As it has a browser front-end natively, I could obviously access that on all three, but I like the 'feel' of an actual application, I'm not sure why. The free RTM iPhone app appears to allow only one sync per day, which is so limited as to be called a demo version in my view. No reason why it should be free when the whole service is, but I would rather have a free, time-limited demo of the full iPhone app than that.

Don't know - very torn about Remember the Milk. It is a fantastic service but I just don't like the front-end.

1. Things - this is a Mac-specific, very expensive app. It is GORGEOUS to look at, although doesn't have the fantastic natural language way with setting due dates like RTM. You can run multiple projects, assign things very easily to 'Today' and 'Next' to keep things under control, and like most 'Getting Things Done'-based apps, it has the concept of an Inbox to dump all tasks for sorting, and a 'Someday' folder for stuff you want to keep on the books but where setting a due date would be an exercise in just moving things from one month to another. It doesn't seem to allow you to assign recurring tasks to projects, which is a bit odd, but I think it sees projects as a set of tasks which are done (once?) in order to complete the project .

It has no email interface in or out, and no web front-end to allow it to be used on a Windows machine in a browser. There is an iPhone app but it is another fiver on top of the 35 for the app.

I am still trialling this one, so let's see what the fortnight brings! I think if I didn't have to integrate a Windows machine I would think more seriously about this one.

1. Toodledo - just found this one on the Evernote forums, it looks good - it also has task import, which seems to be relatively rare! You can 'seed' RTM by emailing a list to it, but there's no way of getting an existing task list into Things, for example. However, I was quite surprised to discover I'd set up a Toodledo account last year! Which doesn't bode well. It was just after I went back to work after a prolonged absence, but I have no idea why I didn't keep using it.

There is a very reasonably-priced iPhone app ($2.99) but I see that nested tasks are reserved to Premium customers; the Pro account is less than a tenner a year, and the Pro Plus less than 20.

I actually do like the interface even though it's browser-based, but I've already had one frustrating moment waiting for the wireless connection to kick back in. I can't shake the feeling that I want a desktop app (there are a number of reasonably-priced third party options, like Appigo To-Do and TaskUnifier, which runs on both Mac and Windows). Toodledo does have an email interface though, both to send and retrieve information, which I like. It also seems to support some natural language due dates, such as 'on Thursday'.

1. Finally - Nozbe, which seems to be a preferred partner for Evernote. Not cheap - c. 75 quid a year for a subscription. 60 day trial, though, so worth a try once I've eliminated a few things from items 1-4. It has a free version with a small (but probably adequate) number of projects, however.

So those are my thoughts for tonight! Btw, one very frustrating thing has been writing this post in Evernote, knowing I would have to go in and laboriously add all the hyperlinks once I was in the MN front end.

Office 365?

Office 365 looks like a full virtual office solution, flatpack - have I got that right? I'm just looking for personal task management, although I take your point that a cheap Office 365 plan would certainly be cheaper than Nozbe.

It's a full office package, but AFAICT you don't have to buy the whole thing. I was thinking perhaps Outlook or Sharepoint? And the beauty of a virtual solution is that it isn't O/S dependent, so it'll run on anything that'll run a web browser - Apple, PC, Android, doesn't matter.

Hilariously, I hadn't thought of Sharepoint. We use the older version (2007?) at work and it really ain't all that. Every time you complain about it though someone say 'oh it's all better in Sharepoint 2010' but we appear to be in no danger of having this installed That said, I am by the standards of my team, which is meant to use Sharepoint for all collaborative working, a complete zealot in that I actually store documents in it and even actually manage actions within it.

It would literally never occur to me to do so in my personal life :) That said, I will think about this more carefully, esp as I am doing a presentation to the team about how to use our productivity tools at all more effectively.

I have now come across the Secret Weapon website which has some videos which begin to explain how people are making use of Evernote as the task manager itself, my option 1 in my OP. You essentially group notes into 'Now', 'Next', 'Soon' etc - and what I didn't realise (as it's extremely odd) is that you can reset the 'Create Date' field to a date in the future if you want to use it for time-based tasks.

Recurring tasks are still problematic but I think you could use Toodledo or Google to email you which would create a new note (excluding more obvious scripting solutions).

Sharepoint is the perfect example of a tool which is very powerful but is not actually usable.

Have you looked at project management tools like Basecamp or (my favourite) TeamworkPM?

I am a recent convert to Evernote but am not syncing it with anything at the moment. Google turned up GTDagenda (as in Getting Things Done) which says it talks to Evernote, but I haven't looked at it.

Thanks MrA - another few interesting ideas there. I think for actual projects at work, I will have no choice but to continue to soldier on with dear old Sharepoint - bear in mind, some of the people I work with will routinely print 200 pages of documents for a meeting. Something I find quite shocking, to be honest but their use of tech is at a very, very low stage. (They all have laptops they could take into meetings, to look at the documents that way if required).