Task Management

[RainMaker]

Does anyone have a favorite task management software they use and like? I am looking for a simple "to do" list kind of format, but I would like the ability to share it with a team in different locations--so I would like it to have a server or online feature. I want to be able to assign tasks to members of my team in different locations. I would like to be able to see progress on the tasks assigned and ideally have them track their time for the tasks (one program I looked at gives you the ability to "work on task" and it keeps a running cumulative time. Then you "stop working on it" which turns the clock off.) I'm tired of scouring the internet. There are a million products but it takes time to look at each one to see how it works or if it has the features I am looking for.

[Logan]

I haven't reviewed it yet myself, and perhaps billing oriented and not what you are looking for but maybe SureTime would be a good solution for you.

There was recently an article here about it. If you do review please share your comments with us.

[RainMaker]

THANKS! I will take a look this afternoon and post on it.

[RainMaker]

It was very interesting...a little more comprehensive than I am looking for, but I've never seen anything quite like it. It provides an amazing amount of accountability for billing time for computer based work....clocking "logs" of computer activity tied to a timeclock.

I will stash that knowledge away for the future...I may revisit it someday. Thanks.

[rpoy]

Here are a couple that I have been using.

h t t p://ackertodo.sourceforge.net/site2/index.html
Its pretty small. We have it on the same server as our website and its running on a mysql database. Theres not a lot to it but it works great! It might be exactly what you are looking for. This is just a ToDo list. One of the cool things is that you can set up groups and assign a group to a task.

This one is a little more involved but its also pretty good from what Ive seen so far.
w w w.php-collab.org/blog/
we also have this one installed on our website server.

My partner and I live in different states from each other. So we need to make sure that we can communicate and manage our projects together. These tools have been working great! When we were developing our website the ToDo list was great because as we thought of things that needed to be done we would just put it down.

We just loaded the php-collab last night. So I cant tell just yet how good it is. But so far it looks like there is alot more than just a todo list.

We also set up an actual forum like this Small Business Ideas Forum for documenting everything that we are doing. If you are interested I can post that link too...

All of it is on-line so we can just access it through our browser any place any time!

Since we are just starting out and have no money, almost all the software we have been using is Open Source and free!! The quality is really quite amazing...

[RainMaker]

Thanks RPOY...that is VERY helpful. I currently downloaded a free trial of tasksolution.com's Checklist. I liked it for its simplicity--which I now realize is extremely important to me, but I wasn't that thrilled with their server stuff for sharing the list. It's only about $40, so I was about to purchase it. I think I'll take a look at what you are using first.

[RainMaker]

RPoy. I just took a look at the todo list....you are right on 2 counts: It is SIMPLE and it is exactly what I was looking for.

I'm still going to go with the Checklist simply because it has one unusual feature that I like: It gives you the ability to select a task and "work on task" which begins a time clock. When you are done working on it for the moment, you select "stop working on task" which turns the timeclock off. This feature is very useful to me in tracking cost estimates for certain tasks (or evaluating my estimates down the road, to see if they were too far off) and, also, to track time for someone I'm paying hourly.

This program is also very simple. I LOVE the simplicity of it. Some of those bulky programs remind me of people who carry around the 20 lb. organizer/day runner...I'm not knocking those people--it's just not me. I'm a jot it on a legal pad--kind of a gal.

[rpoy]

Yep I hear ya! Simple is a good thing!! I have a note pad, pen and highlighter right next to me as I type. As I get calls or think of stuff I jot it down on my note pad. Then I use a 3-hole punch and file it in my 3 ring binder. The hardest part is remembering to go back through my binder periodically.

[Cratima]

I'd take a look on www.oneorzero.com before taking a final decision on what to use.

There are a lot of good open source applications out there and OneOrZero is just one example.

[RainMaker]

Thanks! I'll check that one out!