Zugg Software :: View topic - Nice looking Time/Project tracking software

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:15 pm

In some other blog entries I've discussed the need for a good but simple project and time tracking system.

In the past I've used Joel's "quick and dirty" project tracking via a simple Excel spreadsheet. But that was too hard to keep edited and cleaned up.

I tried something called MasterList Professional from the author of the MicroISV book. But it was slow and cumbersome and so I never bought it.

Now that I'm starting to get more serious about project planning for the CMUD public release in a few months, I went looking for something better.

Today I found something called My Life Organized at http://www.mylifeorganized.net/ In addition to implementing much of the GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology (like MasterList tried to do), it also works well as a nice hierarchical project "to-do" list with time tracking.

I just started playing with it, but so far I really like it. It's fast and easy to use with a modern interface. It has the features for setting subtask times and difficulty and then presenting an ordered "to-do" list of the next high priority tasks. The more detail you provide for subtasks, the better it can prioritize them. But even if you don't provide any information it works well as a basic tree-structured to-do list. So you can start simple with just a list of items, then organize them into a hierarchy, then fill in some time and effort estimates.

It also has some nice import/export for both Excel and Mind Manager. It also nicely hides in the system task bar where it is easy to access without getting in the way.

I'm going to start using this for work on the next phases of CMUD and see how it goes. It has a 45-day trial which should be plenty of time to see if this is *finally* the program I've been searching for!

Newbie Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 2

Hey, check this out: www.xperttimer.com
I've used this in Germany and like it a lot. It also has a To-Do list and hides in the systray and has all kinds of reports. I'm not sure, when the english download will be available, but they say the realease date is tomorrow.

Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:27 pm

The MyLifeOrganized Pro version has some nicer stuff for project tracking that I like, and I like how it handles priorities and also setting the importance and difficulty of subtasks. Also, at this point I already have lots of data entered into MLO so I doubt I'll be changing again to anything else soon. Unlike some of the other systems that I tried, I have been using MLO on a daily (and hourly) basis during the CMUD work to help prioritize tasks and keep track of stuff. It just seems to be perfectly suited to what I need right now.

But thanks for the link. I had so much trouble finding a decent tool that I'm sure other people will appreciate having multiple tools to investigate.