Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

[uuderzo]

Hi all...

I'm looking (with no luck until now) for a really simple task planning tool with the following features:

• Single timeline (i hate gantt complexity)
• Single resource.
• Being able to define tasks (description, notes, color, duration in days and hours)
• Tasks will "stack" or "append" to each other (i need only sequential tasks)
• By setting the starting date of the sequence, all tasks will compute start/end date, considering weekends and holidays
• By reordering tasks (drag'n drop) all date recalculation will refresh automatically
• A timeline graphical representation

My search is driven by the need to get some tool that will fast allow me to recompute due date of my tasks with near-to-zero-effort. I don't need to plan a complex project. There are many other complex project planner used by other people, i need only a fast tool for a single resource planning (me)

Anyone knows something like that?

Thank you! Umberto

[Ath]

This is probably too much, but would openproj be usable?

[uuderzo]

Thank you Ath for your feedback.

Too bad OpenProj (like, GanttProject, MSProject and so on) falls under the cathegory of what i feel "too-much-complicated-to-be-useful".

I mean... all those are good tools, but are they really useful to plan a single resource time allocation? I feel they are useful only for project planners that need to fit each resource in its time slot.

I found myself wasting lots of time to set up a scheduling with those tools and, due to the intrinsic complexity and rigidity of the tool, the schedule always had a really short life before being out of sync (in my work i need often to re-schedule and those tools are too much "static" for this kind of use).

So I decided to stop looking for gantt tools and trying to find a one where each time slot is on a single, sequential, timeline.

I't more effective for my needs.

Thank you anyway! Umberto

[joiwind]

uuderzo : this might do some of the things you are looking for, though it may be too simple...

[elvisbrown]

Task Coach

I've used this for a number of years, simple, portable and free

http://www.taskcoach.org/

[uuderzo]

@joywind: I suppose this tool is not designed for planning, but for reporting. Too bad it doesn't match my needs. Moreover, i see that tasks can live on the same row, but they cannot touch one another, when you try this the task you are working on jumps on another parallel timeline. This doesn't fullfill my need of "stacking" tasks. This is not vital anyway. The mosto noticeable missing feature is the auto recomputation.

@elvisbrown: This is a really complex tool. Nothing against it, it looks complete and full of juice but it's not possible to decide the order of tasks. Yes you can, but only by tewaking the priority field. And there is not recomputation of dates by rearranging tasks.

Both tools work "upside down" respect of my needs. I mean: both need a "start date" and a "end date". To refactor i need to accomodate the start date and end date of all tasks (by dragn' drop or other means, but all of them need to be arranged manually).

On the countrary, i'm looking for something based on "the length" instead of a couple of dates. I know how much effort a task will need from me, but i don't know when i'm available for that effort. And i accomodate manually the order of my task list until i see a good result for start/end dates.

I seen there is a "budget" field in TaskCoach, but it looks somewhat separated from the core part of the planning.

Again, thank you for your hints. Umberto

[nwclark]

Umberto:
What time planning horizon are you speaking off.  Days, Weeks or Months?  Are your tasks normally less than a day or several days?

[uuderzo]

Hi Nwclark.

My usual time frame is a few months (max 6)
My tasks vary between few hours (usually i don't plan them) to a couple weeks.

My customer assigns me tasks in random order and, on a time-to-market basis gives me some priorities. This usually is the starting point of all the chaos. Then a stream of priority changes comes (this is what i'm calling "good organization") then i must answer to questions style "what if you bring this task before that one?".

You may feel al that silly but... er... that's it. * Sigh *

This is the reason i'm looking something based on duration and floating start date, not on a static begin/end date. Sure weekends and holidays should be kept in consideration during the start/end date "projection".

Umberto

[EXtes]

Hello

Have a look at ToDoList from http://www.abstractspoon.com/
Only "timeline graphical representation" isn't available as far as I can see.

EXtes

[urlwolf]

Try this, simplicity itself:
http://thetimelineproj.sourceforge.net/

[uuderzo]

Try this, simplicity itself:
http://thetimelineproj.sourceforge.net/

-urlwolf (June 19, 2011, 12:08 PM)

I had a look at it. Looks like a tool to describe an historical timeline. Too bad nothing for time projection. I fear this tool is a little too simple

Anyway, thank you for your hint!

[kfitting]

If you do check todolist, make sure to have a look at the gantt chart plugin and calendar plugin.