Todoist and Huddle: This Week's Work Management Tools

I have tried seventeen dozen apps to help manage work: maybe more. I have recently bumped into two apps that some some interesting features.

Todoist

The first, Todoist, I am actually using as my primary work management tool these days. At first glance, the app (at www.todoist.com), looks like just another todo list manager with the usual Remember The Milk features.

But, the integration with Firefox and Gmail make it a standout.

There is a Firefox hack that takes a bookmark to todoist.com, and opens it as a sidebar:

You can select various projects to work with, or -- using the 'controller' -- you can select today's tasks, overdue tasks, or all sorts of combinations. Likewise, Todoist supports tags, so you can pull all tasks tagged '@hot' for example.

There is a 'Delegate to Todoist' bookmarklet that integrates with Gmail in a great way:

Once I hit the bookmarklet, while looking at a piece of mail in Gmail, Todoist creates a task in the project of my choice, allowing me to link to the email, tag it, add more info to the title, whatever. Later on, when I take care of the task, I can bring the email back with just a click, and reply to it, or reread it for critical information.

I find that I have moved away from using the Gmail 'labels' (really are tags) to organized mail since adopting Todoist. The tags are really only relevant for the lifetime of some project or activity -- like a trip to London, for example -- but in Gmail I often never get around to cleaning them up. In Todoist, however, the addition of notifications and the time dimension means that I clear things up as a matter of course. And when the trip to London is over, I delete the project and the links to associated emails. Of course, the best would be an actually integration with Gmail's tags, and Gmail itself. This is an obvious candidate for Google acquisition and could be the bridge that shows the obvious points of integration between Gmail and Google Calendar. Todoist could be the missing task manager for Gcal, and demonstrates that email needs integrated reminders.

One missing side of Todoist is the social: there is no sharing of Todoist tasks. I can't assign a task to another party, so this makes it a totally solitary tool. This is an area that the Todoist folks need to focus on.

Huddle

Huddle is a social media-based project management tool, one that lines up against Basecamp and Goplan. A user creates projects into which you can place files, posts (they call them 'whiteboards' for all the wrong reasons), tasks (but not events like meetings or milestones?), and other users. A slenderized Basecamp, basically.

Personally, I generally only use Basecamp for the posts, tasks, and file sharing. I find the 'writeboards' too rudimentary and the snags in the mark-up language annoying. So Huddle is a convenient (and free) replacement for me (at least until something revolutionary comes along. Hint. Hint.)

Here's the blog post interface:

Here's the task creation interface:

Note that Huddle does not support automatic SMS or email notifications of tasks, but manual email notification is supported, and a generalized RSS feed is supported for each project. And the RSS is *not* secure, which makes it more attractive to me: I have found Basecamp's secure RSS a real pain in the neck. But then, I am relatively unconcerned about security, in general.

Here's the file upload interface:

I really like the built-in document review notion, since 99% when you upload a file you want various people to look it over. But the notion of putting files into 'drawers' is too retro for my tastes, and only serves to remind me there is no notion of tags in the app. What I would want (and expect) is tags across the board: for files, posts, and tasks. Then I could select everything tagged 'conceptual design' or 'finance' within a project.

I also found it strange that I could attach a document to a task but not to a post. Why not?

Huddle also incorporates an across-the-board comments model, where comments can be attached to tasks, posts, and files. Strangely, though, the comments do not show up in the project dashboard or the RSS feed, which is dumb, and should be fixed.

So, I intend to wean myself away from Basecamp as quickly as is practical, since Huddle is minimal, cleanly designed, and free. And I have hopes that when I make product requests there is some likelihood they could find their way into a new version.

Final Thoughts

I would like to see these apps integrated, honestly. The Gmail integration of Todoist makes it almost seem like Google has finally implemented task management, which is likely at some point, anyway. How should Huddle integrate with that? There will obviously need to be some sort of sync between Google Tasks and other apps that create and publish tasks. I hope that Huddle and Todoist contact each other to get that working, right away!

Comments

[Greg Willows]

You probably should have a look at Wrike http://www.wrike.com/. It's a project management tool that you can use for organizing your personal to-dos and for collaboration. I like the GTD method, and Wrike's a nice addition to it. You say, you want an integrated app, and Wrike is integrated with email. I personally find it very convenient.

[Stowe Boyd]

Greg -

I reviewed Wrike last year: http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/2006/12/wrike.html. The level of integration is nothing like what Todoist offers.

[Ran Barton]

Hello-

As an avid user of Remember The Milk, I wanted to offer two quick suggestions:

RTM has a GMail extension, too - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5339

Also, RTM can be run in the sidebar via their very powerful Google gadget. I do this everyday - it's great.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/2222/

I mention this because RTM's clean, fast interface and its dedicated developers make it, in my opinion, the most powerful, versatile, and flexible online task manger out there.

[Ran Barton]

Hello-

As an avid user of Remember The Milk, I wanted to offer two quick suggestions:

RTM has a GMail extension, too - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5339

Also, RTM can be run in the sidebar via their very powerful Google gadget. I do this everyday - it's great.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/help/2222/

I mention this because RTM's clean, fast interface and its dedicated developers make it, in my opinion, the most powerful, versatile, and flexible online task manger out there.

[Greg Willows]

Stowe, not everybody uses Gmail. Does Todoist integrate with other email applications? Wrike does. I use it everywhere and can check a project updates even from my BlackBerry. I've read your review, looks pretty tough. But it was almost a year ago, Wrike guys have done a lot and the tool is now very efficient. I signed up only in May and I don’t know how it was in the beginning, but Wrike is full-fledged now. And besides, you can share all your tasks in Wrike. I have a small business and my whole team is working in Wrike. If I want to get an overview of my whole project work I use timeline, which is very handy. This tool doesn't need "integration" with Huddle or any other tools. So probably you should take a look at it once again?

[Alexandra Samuel]

Stowe, you make a compelling case for ToDoist over RTM, though I have been pretty happy with RTM -- except for the basic nightmare of having tasks split between RTM and Basecamp. I just blogged how we're using Basecamp (http://www.socialsignal.com/basecamp-workflow), despite the fundamental problem that we have with Basecamp's lack of task due dates or task annotation.

What I'm curious to hear -- and a little reluctant to take on the hard way, i.e. by personally testing yet another project management tool -- is whether your Todoist plus Huddle approach would offer any major improvement in task management integration, compared to our Basecamp plus RTM solution. It sounds like you are still in the same pickle of needing to keep tasks in two places. Does the non-secure RSS setup at Huddle let you export your tasks in some more usable form (e.g. the kludgy approach of placing them on an iGoogle homepage, next to an RTM widget, so you can at least lay eyes on all your tasks in one place)? Or would you, given the overhead of switching a team to a new tool, wait for some more revolutionary, hint hint, solution?

[AbuAbdAllah]

Your idea that Google should acquire Todoist.com would probably please the creator of Todoist, too. They could probably acquire him along with it.

In the meantime, I started a Google Group for Todoist.com users. The group fills the gap left by the understandable decision of the developers to give support only to paid users. But it also permits easy sharing of power-user tips, feature requests, bug reports, kudos, and more. Check it out and please spread the word: http://groups.google.com/group/todoists

[Ed Parry]

Hi

I came across your blog while doing general research into these type of tools and bookmarked it as worth returning to. Many thanks for the info.

As part of my New Year's resolution in Jan I had tried several tools, including the usual suspects like basecamp but have now given up looking for a solution.

The problem is that after spending half a day getting familiar, then at least a few valuable days running a project on them, I'd realise there were irredeemable problems. For example BC's lack of dates to task.

My take on the reasons for their shortcomings is that many of these tools are designed by developers. These are clever people but their experience probably comes from a relatively narrow requirement - ie software development. And this is why their tools lack either the versatility or simplicity required for other types of organising.

Over the past couple of months I've been designing my own tool based on my experience managing a wide variety of projects / people over 20 years, on and offline. Yes I took your hint ;-)

At least I will have something for my own purposes. But I am also going the whole hog by making it a contender to rival the other tools. So I am including a few extra features I wouldn't use myself too much

One is document collaboration. Unlike the other major areas I don't have much experience of these.

BC's "writeboard" seemed OK to me with the simple use I gave it (of doing a project proposal, w a couple of other people, for a charity project to a major grant giver).

Here's a question:

RE Huddle you say " they call them 'whiteboards' for all the wrong reasons "

and re BC: "I find the 'writeboards' too rudimentary and the snags in the mark-up language annoying"

Could you elaborate ?

Basically I'd greatly apprecaite any comments on what you would want to see in your ideal doc / editing / sharing tool.

I am tempted to simply iframe google docs within the tool - assuming that's OK w Google. Does anyone see any flaws with googledocs?

Many thanks for your attention

best wishes

ed

[Ed Parry]

Hi

I came across your blog while doing general research into these type of tools and bookmarked it as worth returning to. Many thanks for the info.

As part of my New Year's resolution in Jan I had tried several tools, including the usual suspects like basecamp but have now given up looking for a solution.

The problem is that after spending half a day getting familiar, then at least a few valuable days running a project on them, I'd realise there were irredeemable problems. For example BC's lack of dates to task.

My take on the reasons for their shortcomings is that many of these tools are designed by developers. These are clever people but their experience probably comes from a relatively narrow requirement - ie software development. And this is why their tools lack either the versatility or simplicity required for other types of organising.

Over the past couple of months I've been designing my own tool based on my experience managing a wide variety of projects / people over 20 years, on and offline. Yes I took your hint ;-)

At least I will have something for my own purposes. But I am also going the whole hog by making it a contender to rival the other tools. So I am including a few extra features I wouldn't use myself too much

One is document collaboration. Unlike the other major areas I don't have much experience of these.

BC's "writeboard" seemed OK to me with the simple use I gave it (of doing a project proposal, w a couple of other people, for a charity project to a major grant giver).

Here's a question:

RE Huddle you say " they call them 'whiteboards' for all the wrong reasons "

and re BC: "I find the 'writeboards' too rudimentary and the snags in the mark-up language annoying"

Could you elaborate ?

Basically I'd greatly apprecaite any comments on what you would want to see in your ideal doc / editing / sharing tool.

I am tempted to simply iframe google docs within the tool - assuming that's OK w Google. Does anyone see any flaws with googledocs?

Many thanks for your attention

best wishes

ed