TaskFreak – First Look
Seems like I’m always looking around for a new or interesting way to keep track of task lists. I’ve even had a series of posts on the topic (here’s the most recent). I stumbled over a new option earlier this week and finally had a few minutes to poke at it this evening. TaskFreak is the name and tracking tasks in a GTD type fashion is what it seems to be all about.
I should mention up front that this is a package you install for yourself. Right now, I have it running on my desktop using good ol’ XAMPP. TaskFreak would be a good candidate to be run from a USB key… perhaps Webserver on a Stick or XAMPP-Lite would work well. Or, if you already have hosting that meets the requirements (listed on the front page), you could host it online — but do have a look at the Security page first! It seems it isn’t quite up to user authentication yet, but you can fairly easily work around that.
Confession time: I just recently got my hands on the “Getting Things Done” book (from the library as I’m rather cheap…) so I’m not expert yet. In fact, I’m not even through the first few chapters! Putting that aside, and admitting I’m largely GTD ignorant, I can still safely say that TaskFreak is slick. Very slick.
Each task has a context and project associated with it, along with the other typical “task’ish” type things. Even has a memo field for some notes (*hint* Zoho Planner!). Data entry is simple and painless and all Ajax‘d up for your pleasure. Set your context and (optional) project and then admire your results in a straight-forward grid style view.
The task view is easy to work with. Column headings are clickable and allow sorting (both ascending and descending). There are menu items across the top to allow you to filter your task view by context and/or project. For each project you can also specify if you want to see Future tasks, past tasks or all tasks. All very simple and intuitive to use. And, for what it’s worth, all contained in one database table — that surprised me a bit.
Updating status for a task is done via clicking off 5 boxes to show level of completion. Very simple and easy to do, but I will say the color choices are a bit odd. Yellow, orange, dark orange, reddish orange, then green. Might want to tweak that bit…
Long story short, if you’re looking for task management, give this thing a look. If you’re a GTD fan, definitely give it a look. I’m not completely sure that I’m ready to switch from Zoho Planner, but I am quite impressed by what I’ve seen after just a short time playing with it.
Possibly Related posts:
- Tracks – Another GTD Tool
- Task Management – Part III
- Zoho Planner – another wish list item
- Task Management – Part IV
- Early Thoughts on Zoho Notebook
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4 Responses to “TaskFreak – First Look”
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Flair and Sparklies
[...] As usual, I’m still investigating “task management” applications. Lately I’ve been looking at things that have more of a “Getting Things Done” (GTD) angle to them. For instance, a bit over a week ago I checked out TaskFreak. It had a lot to like, but not quite enough to convert me. Last night I found Tracks and I’m teetering on the edge — at first glance, this one seems almost perfect. [...]
I’m curious, did you switch to Taskfreak, stay with Zoho Planner, or move to a different GTD platform altogether?
Bob
I meant to mention that I’ve tried Zoho, RTM, and about a dozen others…. And finally settled on Gmail’s easy tasks to keep track of things. But after using it for about 2 months, I’m getting frustrated again with its lack of flexibility.
Bob
Hi Bob — to answer your first question: different platform altogether. Last year or so I was mostly using OneNote. Then I switched to Evernote and now I have an upcoming post soon about where I’m at this year…
Check these out for stops along the journey: http://www.solo-technology.com/blog/tag/gtd/
Google tasks is interesting and I’ll often use it as an “inbox” or interim storage but you’re right. Currently just not flexible enough. May be some hope though, I saw the “leaked” standalone tasks page yesterday but it is now down http://www.google.com/tdlist/