There are hundreds and hundreds of task management systems out there. They all allow you to do same thing. They allow you to create and organize tasks. Some have calendar views, some don't. Some allow collaboration, some don't. Some email you what you have to do and some don't. There are lots of great ones out there...but none of them get it right in our opinion. Why, because people spend more time managing the damn lists than they do making the types of decisions, and doing the type of work, that actually leads to progress.
There are no such things as 'overdue tasks'. They are still tasks. If you don't accomplish them, they shouldn't just turn red. You still have to do them and the fact that they are not done affect every other thing on your task list.
Furthermore, no app, that we found had a good way of helping you compare which tasks are more important. In the heat of battle it's hard to tell which you should do first. Write the copy for Client A's website or work on Client B's logo. Which task was more important and what was the impact of picking one over the other.
My goal with Taskk wasn't just to create yet another view of all the stuff we had to do, but rather a living breathing tool that forces decision and communicates clearly about what is possible.
Taskk was built because we were tired of being intimidated by our todo list. We are people who like to stay busy, love to learn, and want to help. But time after time we under estimated workloads and over committed. So, we built this application on three premises:
Premise 1: You have things to do
You have things to do (lots if you are like us) and those things take time. Each one takes a different amount of time, and the time dedicated to one inherently affects the others. There are no such things as 'overdue tasks'. They are still tasks. If you don't accomplish them, they shouldn't just turn red. You still have to do them and the fact that they are not done affect every other thing on your task list. So we treat it that way.
Premise 2: You only have so much time to do them
There are only so many hours each day that you can (or should) dedicate to work. If you are like us you have lots of things that pull you away from actual work time. Things you have to do like errands, and go to the doctor, and things you want to do like read a book or take a walk. Whether it's conscious or not we make a decision about how many hours we are going to dedicate to actually getting shiz done. What we don't know is how to best fill those hours with all the stuff we have to do. Especially when those tasks are of varying lengths across lots of different projects.
Premise 3: Everything changes
The above is great, but guess what? Your call ran long. Your dog got sick. You project took a back seat. Things change. We all know that our day looks totally different at the end than we though it would when it started. We need a way to constantly push, pull, and change things. We need to move hours around, take a day off, or make one lists of tasks more important than another. These types of events have a real affect on your tasks and the people who care about their completion. With traditional task management system, deviation from the plan results in more work reorganizing your task list. It's and endless cycle of prioritizing with not enough information to make an educated decision.
Taskk to the rescue
So Taskk is simple. You create lists of tasks an sort them both by dragging and dropping them into priority order. You then tell Taskk how much time you have to dedicate to work each day, from here into perpetuity. Taskk will build your days based on your priorities, task lengths and hours available. You can move things around, change hours, or rethink what's important to you. And you can do that as much as you like. With the click of one button you can see the impact of such decisions on everything you have to do.
If I make my personal project more important than my work project, how will that impact the deliverables.
Furthermore, managing your tasks like this let's you set realistic expectations. Considering taking on another project? Quickly create a new list and create tasks to represent the work needed. Drop it into it's priority position and update your planner. In real time you can tell if you have time to spare and if not when you will. The uses for Taskk are endless.
We've got lots more content coming about how to use Taskk and why we think it's the best way to work. Taskk isn't just about managing your tasks, it's about aligning your life and giving you insite for the first time into what your workload actually looks like.
Take back control and make education decisions with Taskk.
