Isn’t graduating fun? No, not from school, though that had its moments.
In this particular case I’m about ready to graduate from the standard todo list and venture into a Mac and iPhone app that can take on a little more work.
Todo lists are a dime a dozen and sometimes even less expensive than that. This week I’m trying out a full-fledged task manager in Things. It sits between a todo list or reminder app, and the more massively complex project management apps.
Things does todo’s and reminders, of course, but the most impressive feature is the curve. Not the learning curve. The usability curve.
Things starts out elegant and simple. Treat a todo item as a task.
The sidebar displays every task in the inbox, tasks to focus on, both scheduled and up next. And projects. Therein lies the beauty.
A task is really nothing more than a todo item, but Things gives you alerts and reminders, and scheduling options you won’t find in less endowed apps.
Tasks can be combined into more complex projects without having to learn much more. That’s the usability curve. There’s a daily review of what needs to get done now. A quick popup entry field for new tasks (also called Todo so you won’t be scared of the terminology).
And, of course, Things syncs up nicely with the iPhone version so your tasks and projects can be updated on-the-fly without being around your Mac. If there’s a real negative to Things it’s how simple it looks at first glance relative to the price tag.