- Allows the fast import of lists of tasks.
- Provides me with a daily agenda each morning via email.
- Can be accessed from anywhere, an online solution, no software.
- Will accept voice entries from Jott.com with date/time recognition.
- Would create task list to send to clients with only their tasks from a mixed calendar.
- Allow the email of completed tasks to client as well.
- Maintain task and appointments in the same calendar.
- Send SMS text message reminders to my cell phone, as well as email reminders.
- Communicate well with my Gmail account.
I'm going to list below some of the systems I've tried and the main reason I'm not using them now. You must know to begin with that I want one thing above all ... simplicity and very little time in managing the system. I don't consider the time to input and maintain the task system as productive. The requirement for simplicity is why some very good systems didn't make my cut, only because they can't interpret a Jott.com voice task with a date and time. Entry by voice from my cell phone on the run is critical. After I tell you why I didn't use these systems, I'll tell you the trade-offs required to use the Google Calendar, and why I use it specifically.
Here are the systems I tried and decided not to use:
- Remember the Milk - I really like this free system, and it met almost all of the needs except easy import of a list of closing transaction tasks with due dates. You can't do it.
- Toodledo - Great import and does everything except the Jott requirement. Will take a voice task and enter it, but not place it on the calendar with due date and time.
- I Want Sandy - I really like this email-based system, and it actually does everything on the list. However, it required just a bit too much time overhead to maintain, so lost out on simplicity.
- MS Outlook - Though I've written about how to use it for Transaction Management, I hate it (an article worth of reasons). And mainly, it isn't on the web and accessible from any computer.
- Various databases online - There is a lot of online database power in several solutions I tried. None really communicated as well with Gmail as I liked, and they weren't as simple as I wanted, some not talking to Jott.com at all.
In the cases of the first three, Remember the Milk, Toodledo and I Want Sandy, I really tried hard. I would leave each, try the other and come back again. I set up and tried each at least three different times. If it weren't for the Jott requirement, I would be using the paid version of Toodledo, as it would display my agenda alongside my gmail, which even Gcal will not do easily.
So, I've ended up right back where I started, with Google Calendar handling my tasks, even though it is really designed to be a calendar, working with meetings and appointments. Here are the bullet points about how I use it and what I have for trade-offs:
- I import tasks as CSV files from my tasking spreadsheets easily. I place a time of 8 am with all un-timed tasks, as it won't take them without a time and date.
- It does everything on the list, and takes voice appointments easily and accurately from Jott.com on my cell phone.
- By importing with a transaction name, like Smith to Jones, as the Description field, it groups tasks into nice report lists with a search.
- Since it doesn't do tasking, it doesn't have a "completed" field or check mark box. I have a calendar called "Completed Tasks." To complete one, I just pull it up and move it with a click to the Completed Tasks calendar. This gives me the required report by transaction as well as moving it off my regular calendar.
- Gmail does a pretty good job of recognizing appointment information in emails, giving you an option to add it to your calendar easily right from the email screen.
I'll be doing another article for you on the mechanics of the spreadsheet import, including task sheets I use for you to download. As soon as it is done, I'll link to it off this article.
