Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with tasks

Ridiculous things to do at Christmas light displays

913 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:23:12 -0800

I'm organizing a Christmas light convoy tomorrow night. Basically a bunch of cars driving around town visiting the best lit up houses. I want to assign a ridiculous task to be performed at each house? Any ideas? We are all going to meet in a large parking lot, leave the excess cars behind, and everyone is going to follow my car to each house. I want to "assign" the task in the parking lot before we leave.

The tasks don't necessarily have to be Christmas related.

Ghost processes in Windows 7 x64?

frenetic — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:47:54 -0800

When I close some programs in Windows 7 (x64) their tasks still show up in the task manager. I've noticed in particular that when I run Google Chrome, Notepad++, Reaper, Sound Forge or Picasa Photo Viewer and close them, their processes hang around (sometimes still using CPU cycles) in the Windows Task Manager. I have to kill them manually to get rid of them.

In the case of the audio applications the processes can block newly opened apps from accessing the audio hardware.

I've searched around but can't find any mention of this issue. Is it just me? Anyone else notice this? Is there a solution?

Why no iPhone -> Outlook task sync?

Izzy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:14:27 -0800

Why no iPhone -> Outlook task sync? After two plus years there's still no elegant solution for users who want to sync Outlook tasks with their iPhone. There was some talk at one point of Apple releasing a native task app for the iPhone, but to date, this is vaporware. Task sync is a feature that is not deemed optional or a luxury on competing smartphone platforms--it's something that Blackberry users just take for granted. When I ask folks about this they either have no idea what I'm talking about or I get smug, unknowing responses like "just use the calendar!"

I've tried all of the various kludges that are available and they're so annoying (and also expose your personal data to uncertain security risks) that I just end up not using them. You mean to say I have to use the cloud to sync my local data? I do like my iPhone, but I've noticed that I'm just not as organized and as effective without having my tasks on my phone. I know that there are solutions for Exchange, but that's overkill for a single user who just wants to sync their tasks with their desktop.

Would someone please provide an explanation as to why Apple or a 3rd party developer cannot provide this seemingly modest bit of functionality? A functional spec would have to include at the very least a rudimentary iPhone task app that supports the core feature set of Outlook tasks, and also supports roundtrip task sync (desktop tasks sync to phone, phone tasks sync to desktop). Extra points for alerts on the phone (though Apple's prohibition on background tasks makes this a challenge).

Grouping Outlook tasks into projects

tommasz — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:45:32 -0800

I'm looking to replace Shadow Plan on my Treo with something more robust. All I'm really looking for is a way to group individual Tasks into projects. I have a somewhat unique situation that's always been a problem for me in the past. My work computer is a PC running XP and Outlook 2003. I have a Mac at home. My Treo essentially bridges the two and Shadow has clients for all three platforms so it was a good choice for this. But my Treo 700p is starting to sputter and I'm probably going to end up with a Blackberry (Verizon) before the end of the year. Shadow is not available for Blackberry but I've been thinking about replacing Shadow anyway because it tends to lose linkages between itself and the Tasks app on the Treo.

Since I'm mostly concerned about projects at work, it could be something that works only in Outlook 2003. I've tried Agendus, but it caused Outlook to crash constantly (the Palm app was okay). I've looked at Jello Desktop, but I'm not really doing GTD and it just didn't do what I wanted. Action Project Manager also caused Outlook problems and some of it didn't seem finished. I don't have MS Project so anything that requires it is out of the question.

So, is there anything out there that groups Tasks, or am I stuck with Shadow?

MS Project like to-do list

Muffy — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:09:43 -0800

todolist filter: I know there are dozens of questions here about to-do lists already, but, alas, none of them fit my requirements. I really like MS Project - it's hierarchical (tasks can nest), and can enforce due dates, but it's too heavy handed for what I need & old tasks don't disappear. I need something like MS Project, but simpler... Things I like about MS Project.

* You can easily add/edit task names without opening a new window - everything is editable in the cell a-la MS Excel.
* You can easily manage due dates without opening a new window - same as above.
* Tasks can be nested & the top nest becomes the "folder" that contains the sub-tasks & the interface for nesting is very simple.
* Nested tasks can be collapsed easily
* Tasks can have predecessors & don't really become 'to do' items until the predecessor is complete - this is a nice to have, but not necessary.
* You can assign people/resources to tasks - again a nice to have, but not necessary, I can just use (parens) to indicate in the title.
* I don't need GANTT charts, but they're a nice to have.

Things I don't like about MS Project (for this use).

* You can't simply 'checkbox' select a task as complete.
* Tasks don't disappear when they're completed, so it's not a good way to track day-to-day tasks.
* You can't easily sort tasks by due date & priority or hide the tree.

Task Coach gets about 80% of the way there, but the interface is a dealbreaker for me. I've also tried Swift To Do Lite, which is in some ways even better, but the inability to nest (though there is a sort of tree structure in the left pane), and the inability to see all tasks related to a project regardless of subfolder is an issue. Web Based (not preferred, but acceptable) TaDalist lacks due dates. Tasks Jr. is very good and I used it for a while & may go back to it, but being web (and non AJAX) it each task addition is a new screen, but there were some other issues I had with it that I didn't like (but don't right now remember).

Is there anything out there that does what I want? Free is better, but I'll pay for something that checks all the boxes.

Can the iPhone be productive without a Web connection?

costas — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:53:50 -0800

I am thinking of switching to the iPhone cult (long-time Nokia user) but I am very concerned about whether the iPhones/iTunes combo can support my day-to-day workflow, which is mostly Outlook-based. My company uses GMail/GApps, but I prefer to use them via Outlook 2007 on Windows. From Googling, I see that contacts and calendar can be sync'ed via iTunes, but all the solutions I've found around Tasks (which I use heavily) leave me puzzled: is there a solution that will let me sync Outlook tasks to the iPhone without the need for both the PC and the phone to be online (quite often in my case, esp. when I am travelling abroad)? Is there an iTunes plugin/hack that will let iTunes do that syncing? (commercial apps are not a problem).

And a related question: is there any hack/app that will let iTunes and the iPhone sync w/o USB and w/o a Web connection (i.e. Bluetooth or local WiFi)? Basically, I'd like a version of Nokia's PC Suite for the iPhone (which is very buggy, but works very well 80% of the time)

How can I easily backup Outlook?

mr_silver — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:56:38 -0800

Is there an easier and less manual way to export your calendar, contacts, tasks and notes in Outlook? Every month, I perform the following:

1. Create a folder with the current date
2. Export Outlook's calendar to a PST within that folder.
3. Export Outlook's contacts to a PST within that folder.
4. Export Outlook's tasks to a PST within that folder.
5. Export Outlook's notes to a PST within that folder.
6. Zip up the folder.
7. Upload it to a backup side and another computer.

The exporting of the data from Outlook to a file is easily the most time consuming part. Especially since it takes 10 clicks per task to get it into a PST file. As such, I can't help wondering if I'm doing it the most efficiently.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can speed up the exporting of this data?

(I don't want to purchase or use a backup service as I have my own storage area and feel more comfortable with something under my control. Nor would I like to backup to an alternative proprietary file format.)

Gmail, Exchange, Outlook, oh my! Please help sort this through.

zooropa — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:05:07 -0800

Gmail, Outlook, and Sync oh my! How do I sort through this? Last week, I left my job. I got to keep my smartphone (Samsung on Verizon Wireless running Windows Mobile 6). At my job, I had used the phone to sync with our Exchange Server for WORK, and logged into Gmail using the Web browser for PERSONAL.

Unfortunately, I was not able to save and backup my contacts and calendar before leaving. So all that's gone. Trust me, it's a bummer.

So I'm trying to re-create my setup and achieve productivity nirvana (or nerdvana). Here are the goals I'm trying to accomplish:

-- I would like to keep my Gmail account since I've used it for years and everyone knows me on it.

-- I want to remain flexible enough so that I can still sync to future employer's Exchange Server.

---------------------

Here is how it all breaks down:

MAIL:
-- Phone: Using Gmail (via IMAP)
-- Desktop: Using Outlook 2007 (via IMAP). I detest Gmail's interface (please, no flames). It's dogslow, but it works. Molto bene!

CALENDAR:
-- Phone: ????
-- Desktop: Using Outlook 2007.
How do I get my Calendar on Outlook 2007 to sync with the phone? Should I use a third-party app like Oggsync or syncmycal?

CONTACTS:
-- Phone: ???
-- Desktop: Using Outlook 2007.
Same deal. How do I get them all in sync? Google has Contacts, but I hear they don't sync all that well.

TASKS
-- Phone: ???
-- Desktop: Using Outlook 2007.
How do I get the Tasks on Outlook 2007 to sync with the phone? Should I use a third-party like Remember the Milk?

This seems like an awful lot of overkill.

So I just went and signed up for a domain and a Hosted Exchange account. My first thought was that I figured I could just use the hosted exchange account for Tasks, Contacts, and Calendar, and use Gmail for Email. I'm starting to get second thoughts, though. Who pays $8-10/month just for Tasks, Contacts, and Calendar? This seems overkill, too.

All I want to do is be able to keep my Gmail for email, but also use Outlook 2007 on my desktop. That's the key. I want to be able to continue to use Outlook 2007 for Tasks, Contacts, and Calendar.

If anyone could help out on this, I would be immensely grateful.

cheers,
Michael

Task management without the cloud

devnull — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:41:48 -0800

Oh no not another task management question! I'm looking for a web-based task manager that lets me sub-divide tasks. I'd like to manage my day better. I read The Zen of Todoist, and I like their web app. The Windows-only ToDoList app looks good too, but I'm on Windows and Linux. Something java based like jtodolist would almost do, but the interface needs lots of work.

I'd like something similar to all of these, something that lets me sub-divide a task into lots of smaller tasks.

I can't use something in the cloud because of confidentiality reasons.
Ideally an app that lets me sync between Linux and Windows computers, or a web based app.

TaskFreak! looks promising but doesn't support sub tasks.

If it supports keyboard shortcuts a-la-gmail or vim, that would probably swing it for me.

Any ideas?

Outlook task help

faunafrailty — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:02:07 -0800

OutlookFilter: Is there a way to assign a task in Outlook where I receive the reminder as well as the assignee? My co-worker and I are trying to set up a production calendar for the web site we work on. We want to keep it to Outlook and not use an outside system (like Google Calendar). We just want to send quick reminders (1-2 lines) to ourselves to do things on recurring set dates (annually, every three months, twice a year, etc.).

I thought using Outlook tasks would be the way to go, but as far as I can tell, it will not send me (the task assigner) an e-mail reminder of the due date; it will only send the reminder to the assignee (my co-worker) and then let me know when he's completed the task. That isn't important to us--we just want to be reminded and have the recurrence function so we don't have to enter tasks repeatedly.

I'm about to just use the calendar function instead. Any other suggestions?

Running to stand still - resource management in IT

ajp — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:57:46 -0800

Scheduling and work-request software for an IT team. Imagine a team of 6 programmers, within a large organisation. The organisation raises a variety of work-types for the programmers:

Project tasks
Project bugs
Work-requests (up to 10 days' work)
Bugs within live software
Other support tasks

These work-types are raised in a variety of ways:

Bug report within tracking software
Project bug within separate tracking software
Tasks in project plans
Change requests (any change to a test or production system)
Email
Phone call
In person

Already this is messy. It seems to be almost ungovernable for anyone trying to manage resource. Certain procedural changes need to be enforced (i.e. "don't phone direct, raise a bug with the Help Desk") but one major problem is keeping the workload of the programmers up-to-date, so people can request programming resource.

MS Project is too heavy for this. Each programmer may get through one to five or so tasks per day. A spreadsheet is okay, but cumbersome, and requires one person to keep it up to date. (Unless someone has a nifty template to share).

Ideally, software that could help this situation would:

(a) Present a graphical illustration of the available resource -- i.e. a list of who is working on what. Preferably with red/amber/green colours and that sort of stuff.
(b) Have a web-based GUI.
(c) Allow people with relevant permissions to request resource (although not named individuals) and provide details on work required.
(d) Provide some simple workflow, allowing certain individuals to accept or reject work requests.
(d) Do nothing else -- email, forums, calendars, blah blah blah, totally not needed. Maybe it could generate fancy reports, that might be nice.

I'm sure something like this exists, but I haven't found it yet.

Thanks for any suggestions.

How do I only run a task on one startup a day?

edbyford — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:48:49 -0800

I need to schedule a task to run only on the first startup of each day. Hi all, I'm running Windows XP and open source, light-weight solutions are preferred.

Thanks!

Web remote control

mphuie — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:51:43 -0800

Best web server/language for running remote tasks? I have some console scripts/executables that I'd like to be able to run on my home machine via a web site. What is the best method to do so?

I have tried using Apache/PHP and trying exec(), shell_exec(), system(), running perl scripts and exe's, but keep running into small quirks, ie. not grabbing script output, not running at all, hanging, etc.

I'd also like some interaction between the scripts and the web pages, ie. form variables as parameters.

Is there a recommended way to do this? This is on a windows system. I am using XAMPP but am open to using any software/language.

I hate cooking. I need to love it.

WCityMike — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:58:02 -0800

I hate cooking. I hate cooking. I really, really, really hate cooking. I need to learn how to love it. I mean, I even get annoyed when I have to slap something frozen on a cookie sheet, and I even very often don't make toast, for God's sake, despite liking it. (No problem with shoving a frozen meal in the microwave, however.)

All that having been said, this massive aversion is a real problem that I want to complete turn around 180 degrees — both for the cachet of it (so few guys cook) and for the simple health of it (eating self-cooked food is going to be much healthier than a near-perpetual diet of delivery, frozen meals, junk food, and fast food.

As best as I can figure this out in my head, I'm essentially asking for two categories of responses here: practical and behavioral.

On one hand, I'm looking for practical tips (both any procedural tips or "kitchen hints" you might have, as well as very-quick-prep healthy recipes) as to how to make cooking (i) extremely low-impact, timewise; (ii) fast and efficient; and (iii) actually fun and not incredibly boring — keeping in mind the level of aversion described above.

On the other hand, I'm looking for behavioral tips. (I wouldn't be surprised if this angle of the question has been asked before in other Ask Mefis with other things people detest but have to do — but I wasn't sure how to frame the search in order to dig them up.) If you hate to do something, but it's necessary that you not only overcome the hate but transmute it to enthusiasm, what steps do you take?

I find cooking an extremely annoying obstacle to doing other things that I want to do, and I find that I'm incredibly bored while I do it and that something deep within me just frames the whole thing as a immensely boring, massive waste of time. How do I change that gut emotional response? I need to start to actually like this stuff.

Thanks, guys.

Entourage tasks print in the wrong order.

4ster — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:44:01 -0800

Why does Entourage (2004) print my tasks in a different order than they show up on the screen? I am trying to print my Entourage tasks sorted by category. On the screen, this is easy, as I just click the categories column head and it is done. Yet no matter how things look on the screen, they print in some random order. What am I doing wrong?

Bonus points if you can show me how to export (copy/paste/whatever) task into a text editor.

To Do application with task-specific reminder options?

thatgirl — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:05:15 -0800

Is there a To Do/task list application that offers reminder options per task? There are a lot of To Do applications out there, and I've poked around in a few of them. (Remember The Milk, Zoho Planner, Todoist, Backpack, Vitalist -- which is my favorite so far-- etc.) Most of them offer to send you reminders for your tasks, and most of them allow you to choose to receive these reminders by email, text message, or both. However, I haven't yet found one that allows me to choose a reminder method PER TASK. If you set it to email you your reminders, you have no choice but to get ALL of your reminders by email.

I generally prefer to receive my reminders by email, since I don't have a PDA and don't want to pay for text messages all the time or have to buy a bundle package. So I always set my option to email. But! Sometimes, there are certain tasks that I would like to be reminded of by text message instead of or in addition to email. For example, "Charge cell phone." Or, when I know I won't be at my computer that night, "Call so-and-so".

So does anyone know of a (web) To Do/task list application that offers task-specific reminder options?

Need Mac ToDo!

Gideon — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:11:45 -0800

I need a better todo/tasks management system. I'm on a mac, and iCal isn't getting the job done... I've been using Outlook 2007 for a while, and really enjoy its approach to tasks - but Office for Mac is not particularly reliable and so it is not really an option. Here's what I need:

Tasks I can view by date (not all in a row by date, but just, say "Feb 3rd") and an ability to sync with iCal so I can sync it with my windows mobile device. Ideally, I can use the software with Quicksilver as well.

GTD support would be fine, but I prefer it not be forced. Thanks!

i can't brain this month, i have too much dumb.

divabat — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:38:32 -0800

Why am I so scatterbrained? How can I get my brain back? I moved to another country about a month ago for university, and I've noticed just how scatterbrained I've become. It's completely out of character for me. I don't get what's going on.

I keep losing my bags. Normally I'm really careful with my things, but these days I don't even notice something's gone until I start looking for it and realize "oh, it's not where I thought it was". Right now I'm trying to look for a bag I lost yesterday! I can't imagine where else it may have been; retracing my steps takes me nowhere and i distinctly remember bringing the bag back home.

I also have trouble remembering appointments. Usually I have a good memory when it comes to this. Now I don't even remember it unless someone reminds me. Typing/writing it up somewhere helps, but not much (sometimes I'd forget to write it up!). I'm even having trouble keeping track of what day it is today.

I'm forgetting simple tasks (like buying something I need or getting money off the ATM or whatever) and schoolwork is getting lethargic. It's hard to even READ the material, and it's not even something very jargonny. I usually have very good comprehension skills...

What's going on? Is the big move and transition affecting my brainpower? How can I get my brainpower and energy back? And how do I stop being so scatterbrained?

(I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I used to be treated for panic disorder & depression but I stopped meds about 2 years ago. I have been suspected of having ADHD (by docs) but I've never been officially tested and there wasn't a pressing need to get medicated.)

Do you know any tricks/tips in Outlook to make project management more effecient?

ValveAnnex — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 10:13:11 -0800

I'm using MS Outlook at work as a Project Manager in Technology (I don't have a choice on that). Are there some good tricks you've come across to manage communications, status of tasks, categories, or just some way of keeping track of the bazillion pieces that actually works? Bonus if your work involves the large software company on the east side (Microsoft). I know about all these cool productivity sites (43 Folders (and it's excellent wiki), 52 Projects, LifeHacker, Ta Da Lists, To Done) and all that ilk (Slacker Manager, etc.)

But I'm looking specifically for a way to tame the Outlook beast. I can't afford to lose a detail in a message buried deep down from last week. I don't have time to organize the messages continually. I need a way to act upon receipt. I also know you can drag an email message to your tasks, creating a task.

Do you realize how much time gets spent in Outlook poking around from function to function? It's taking up half my day!

I even have a WindowsMobile SmartPhone to carry around and sync with.

I'm hoping someone out there has a trick using rules, catetgories, message options, things like that, specifically to corral the many shards of details.

Project Management Software

frufry — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 11:06:50 -0800

Our small web development company is looking into project management software. I've been looking around, but can't seem to find something that really suits our needs. After doing a ask.mefi search I found that someone else had already posted almost exactly the same question, and in the answers a few people had suggested Basecamp.
I'd already been looking into basecamp, and it's pretty good, but just doesn't quite do all that we want.

So, here are some of the features we're looking for:
Extended features on tasks such as due date, percentage completed, and a priority rating of at least 0 - 10.
Multi-project and -client support (of course).
Multi-user support for assigning things to one or more different people.
Task and message categorization via tagging or labeling or whatever you want to call it, so things can be applied to a variety of categories.
A To-do page that uses several of the properties like priority and due date to determine what needs the most attention.

I'm increasingly getting the feeling that we're going to end up having to build this ourselves, but I'd really like to avoid that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Restoring calendar functionality in Outlook 2003 (updraged from 2000)?

FlamingBore — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 12:42:40 -0800

My office just upgraded all of us to Outlook 2003 and I've lost functionality that I found very helpful. In Outlook 2000 I was able to display both a portion of my Calendar as well my Tasks in the main view of my mailboxes. I've gone through numerous options to find this functionality, but no luck. Any suggestions for restoring said functionality?

OS X tools for task management?

tomharpel — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 23:26:24 -0800

iCal is all right for keeping track of events and appointments but stinks for tracking tasks. Any cool OS X tools for task management?

Keeping a daily task list on a Windows computer?

gd779 — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 20:42:53 -0800

Keeping a daily task list on my Windows computer: is it possible? I don't need anything fancy, just a piece of software or a hack that lets me mark tasks as complete when I'm done with them, that brings yesterday's uncompleted tasks forward to today, and that doesn't bother me with tomorrow's tasks before tomorrow. Can anyone suggest a way to accomplish this? I've found nTodo, but it doesn't run on windows. I've been using Franklin Covey for Outlook v. 1.4 for years, but it's long discontinued and now I've lost the disks.

This sounds like such a simple thing to me, but extensive searching on Google hasn't turned up a thing. I'd appreciate any help that anyone could give me.