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A unified solution for note taking and task management
steeladept:
If you add a GOOD Calendaring App to this, I am there looking as well. The best I could find was Outlook, but I keep getting the Outlook database trashed for one thing or another. I don't have Exchange services available, so that removes what EVERYONE says should make it easy, and kills Android connections. Moreover, most other options either don't do all three or don't sync with mobile or both. I don't want a web based solution either. Give me a real app to access offline so I don't have to waste bandwidth looking up events, todo's etc., or just to create a new task, event, etc. Let me know if you find ANYTHING at all that works for you! :Thmbsup:
criss:
I was exactly looking for this.
With most of the task management solutions I have the problem that you cannot easily store enough project data within them (you bloat them somehow). With most of the note taking solutions I have problems to get the things done: no reminder, no metadata to get order in the many snippets.
The first kind of software I found that does both well was Taskmerlin www.taskmerlin.com (but I didn't like the used database: Microsoft Access Jet).
IMHO even better is Swift To-Do List www.dextronet.com/swift-to-do-list-software a very capable but very easy (natural) to use application. It seems not to have any bugs and has a very good databse backend (so you can get much data in it), very good export (your data is not locker) and with the new version also the option to put memos into the tree (like a 2pane notes outliner).
The notes I put in it in three ways:
- notes field of the task
- Memo in the task list tree
- attachment
At the moment they seem to beta test an online synchronisation and an web companion for phones: http://www.dextronet.com/blog/2011/06/looking-for-beta-testers-for-swift-to-do-list-sync/
urlwolf:
What I miss on swift todo and many others is a good 'rapid entry' box that I can call with a global shortcut. Only MLO does this, and not particularly well, I must say. But I learned it's crucial to separate collection and classification. Something that doesn't break my workflow is what I need...
kfitting:
Quick comment, more from the philosophical side... one of the reasons why todo-esque software struggles so much is because the software is trying to model a hugely complex "organism." Lists, charts, pictures, spreadsheets, timelines, etc are all awesome ways to present different types of data. Many programs strive to model these disparete methods of presenting data and some do well in areas. BUT, despite the huge number of note-taking, todo, etc software already out there people are always looking for something better.
Two thoughts on why this is the case:
1. Incredibly complex system to model
2. (Perhaps even more important) Everyone has their own way of doing things
Add to those two major principles: file format (proprietary vs not), OS choice, etc and you have a dizzying problem. Just like "productivity systems" Complete Information Management solutions need to match the person that uses them (very hard, especially with more than one user), contain large amounts of data, AND relate that data. I think this is why you have people preaching everything from simple text files to large all encompassing programs (which may as well be their own OS).
I'm not saying "dont try," and I'm not saying "my way is best." Just bringing something up that I've noticed over the years I've been searching for the same kind of tool... and failing... time and time again. I cant even model my own preferred way of doing things, let alone find a program that will do it for me! Some of them help in some small ways, but I have not found one program.
Paul Keith:
Quick comment, more from the philosophical side... one of the reasons why todo-esque software struggles so much is because the software is trying to model a hugely complex "organism." Lists, charts, pictures, spreadsheets, timelines, etc are all awesome ways to present different types of data. Many programs strive to model these disparete methods of presenting data and some do well in areas. BUT, despite the huge number of note-taking, todo, etc software already out there people are always looking for something better.
Two thoughts on why this is the case:
1. Incredibly complex system to model
2. (Perhaps even more important) Everyone has their own way of doing things
Add to those two major principles: file format (proprietary vs not), OS choice, etc and you have a dizzying problem. Just like "productivity systems" Complete Information Management solutions need to match the person that uses them (very hard, especially with more than one user), contain large amounts of data, AND relate that data. I think this is why you have people preaching everything from simple text files to large all encompassing programs (which may as well be their own OS).
I'm not saying "dont try," and I'm not saying "my way is best." Just bringing something up that I've noticed over the years I've been searching for the same kind of tool... and failing... time and time again. I cant even model my own preferred way of doing things, let alone find a program that will do it for me! Some of them help in some small ways, but I have not found one program.
-kfitting (September 14, 2011, 08:35 AM)
--- End quote ---
As someone who's trying to write up a "productivity system" (i.e. it's not a software program or a method designed for one software), I think you're going at it from the wrong philosophical perspective.
Not saying that I found the absolute correct reply but look at this topic for example.
The OP is not asking for some super program but is simply asking for a RTM/Onenote/Evernote hybrid that can also work with his gadget. He might even be satisfied with RTM + rich text editing w/ outline support.
From a programming perspective that's not a conundrum of wanting something better. It's a conundrum based on the problematic dilemma that many "apps" may just be "apps" rather than full blown software w/ an extended problem that many apps are buggy or have only one design. For example, RemembertheMilk/Toodledo are almost near copies from a casual user perspective. As an analogy, Chrome/Firefox maybe even more different in features and feel than those two.
Yet this huge number of todos that you mention barely even scratch the entire feature list of both of these services. Only RTM currently mimics RTM fully. Only Toodledo currently mimics Toodledo fully.
On a separate note, most people looking for a super program are not looking for a super program. If they were, they would be willing to defy all manner of convenience and make an entire scientific career out of experimenting and drilling down the best apps. They don't. Some would have a mega-test file but that's the rare power user. The primary reason is because 99% of the people out there may be saying they want a super "1" program but in reality they are looking to settle themselves on something closer to an ordinary reliable hybrid storage program or an ordinary hybrid Word processor + spreadsheet + presentation + outliner program or an ordinary application with a personalized search engine.
From this perspective, there's really not a huge list of software out there offering even ordinary capabilities. I can count how many decent clippers there are for example and most people would just use Evernote. Some would cite Surfulator. The rest? You get some names that get far eventually like Springpad and other popular services like Clipmarks slowly die out from buzz comments but there's not a "hundred and one" clones you can cite for basic clippers.
Add the fact that one the biggest myth is that "Just like "productivity systems" Complete Information Management solutions need to match the person that uses them" (well it's not verbatim the biggest myth because I'm quoting your words) then you're talking about a situation much more layered than what you are portraying even if you're just simplifying why the search for a more powerful program goes on and on.
Go back right now and look at all the software that are out there. How many productivity systems have married with the concept of software features in such a widespread manner that you can say it's mainstream as far as software choices are concerned? I can only mention one productivity system that got this far: GTD. Yes, there are those rare "Do It Tomorrow" programs or some pomodoro timers but 99% of the time, only GTD has such a wide spread demand among software.
...so think about it. If neither productivity systems are often linked with software, then how can you say there's a real similarity there? You can only rely on the perceived obviousness of people needing a tool that matches their needs. A statement that can literally apply to anything. It doesn't really hint to the issue being people wanting their complex human needs to be packaged all into one software. It simply means that people have different tastes, more so now that we've come to expect programs to sync to multiple devices and mini operating system-like software.
But taste is neither the ultimate goal of productivity systems nor of CIM software. At least that's not how the advertising convinces consumers to acquire and use such concepts describe it as, be it systems or software. Productivity is supposed to be the goal. Some would say P = time management, others would equate it for a demand for a notetaker that doesn't interrupt their flow, others have found and settled in on a CIM except they discovered a new gadget that doesn't support their favored CIM.
To bring this all around to bullet point answers though, here are the key things my post is trying to say:
*Todo-esque software does not struggle because of complex models.
*People are not always out there looking for something better (this doesn't mean they aren't thinking that way but they are not approaching and doing their search that way)
*Many programs don't strive to model these disparate methods of presenting data. If anything the predecessors of these programs are the ones that etched and embed this idea that these are how data should be presented as being productive for you, the end-user.
*Most everyone don't have an individual enough way of doing things. This doesn't mean we aren't individuals but when someone is looking to apply GTD for example. They can say they are trying to apply the system in their own way all they want but really we're all demanding a sort of herd behaviour that states that what we want is an app with this squiggly rules that make us feel like we're using an app that supports GTD or an app that supports to-do lists or an app that supports reminding us via our preferred reminders.
*Most preachers are not preaching inconsistently. Most people preach because they want to feel like they are using a luxury service that is actually utilized by many people especially utilized in such a way where people use it because you or people like you "reminded" them enough times. (This doesn't apply to help threads like this but things like voting for the best apps are often that way.)
*The reason you can't model your way of doing things may not be because your life is complex. The reason is that self-help have over-simplified and lowered our own expectations of what model means. Look at the average model, 99% of the time, that model existed because someone spent their lifetime creating that model. How many authors of productivity systems or software developers can say they spend their entire lifetime creating a model without bs? Especially software developers who 99% of the time create clones not entire systems. Especially authors who sell over-simplified sets of ideas they call systems in order to better sell to the ADD crowd.
P.S. I apologize for the tl;dr post. Honestly I shouldn't have replied as I don't have any success stories/credible references to back up my own reply but lately I've been scouring the archives of productivity reddit and saw this plus I'm recently catching up on the Penn and Teller Bullshit episodes and I just recently watched the season 1 episode about self-help and kfitting's post just scratched an itch.
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