Using Tasks in Pocket Informant

[Crystal Eitle]

I have Pocket Informant 4.1, and so far all I'm using it for is my calendar.

It's kind of ironic; the whole reason I bought my PPC was to help me get organized and stay on task, but that's what I probably use it for the least. (Although I spend a lot of time with my PPC, it's mostly spent reading the news, reading e-books, playing games, and listening to music.)

I'm intrigued by the power of Tasks in PI4, but also a little intimidated by it.

Can you all help me out by describing how you use Tasks in Pocket Informant? Do you have a system you use to keep track of what you have to do and when you have to do it by? The more detail the better.

I also have List Pro, but I tend to use that for making lists of things that don't have a deadline, e.g. recurring household chores, gift ideas, etc.

[ntractv]

I use it quite a lot. I assign my tasks with a start and ending date and set the alarm to remind either on the due dute or a few days before as a reminder that it's coming up. What I also like is if I complete partial parts of the task or make an appendage I can make/update notes and click the date and time and attach to the line of note.

[HelgeG]

I usually order my tasks using ABC/123 priorities where A means Urgent and Important, B means Not urgent but important, C means Urgent but not important and D means not urgent and not important. I have also set up my agenda views to show tasks. This way I get the tasks listed in order of importance beneath the appointments of the day.

Usually I convert bigger tasks to appointments, as I find that they are easier to get done when they have a fixed timeslot. This is easily done by tapping the task and holding, and selecting Tools-->...To Appt from the popup menu.

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helge

[CTSLICK]

I use the Task View in PI a ton. In addition to using task priorities as mentioned above I make extensive use of categories to help sort out what is what. This is where the Group by Category functionality comes in handy. I have a lot of tasks that have several different stages to move through...i.e. Mod in Devel, Mod in Beta, Mod Ready for Production. I have a category for each of theses stages and simply drag and drop the task between categories as it progresses. I use journal entries to make progress notes or misc comments on the tasks as required.

To assist in visually identifying tasks I use category colors and icons. I find they help me quite a bit.

My advice is to start simple...just make your task list...then branch out as you feel your needs growing...thats how I got sucked in :lol:

[Jacob]

The whole hierarchical tasks feature in PI is also great!

It's actually one of the primary reasons I went with it over AF. If you have a big task that can only be accomplished when other tasks are finished first - I like to have that kind of tree format.

It lets me expand the tree when I want to look at those tasks and collapse it if I don't need to.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I am a heavy PI task user. On any given day, I have an average of 20-30 tasks to accomplish.

I don't use the A-Z/1-99 like many do. I think it's a great feature, but it's more than I need. I just use the High/Normal/Low priorities. High means I don't go to sleep until it's done. Normal is the bulk of my tasks (hack away at them through the day). Low started out as minor tasks that I didn't want to forget about. However now they've become tasks that I need to take care of at the end of the work day. By making them Low priority tasks, they stay at the bottom of my Outlook task list and get a different colour in PI.

Also, the hierarchal tasks are great. The ability to seed tasks under requisite tasks, and the ability to expand/collapse these groups gives you so much flexibility when planning your day.

I've said it before: PI is the reason I have a PPC.

[andrewlwood]

I like having my overdue tasks pop up on my agenda screen in bright red - means that I get round to them that much quicker...

Also good to have two custom views - one of tasks due today that I pop up when I get to the office each morning, and then when (HA!) I get through those, I switch to a 'by category' view and start working through the less pressing stuff from the top.

Drag and drop categories are really handy - if I didn't have them, I wouldn't use categories, and then all my tasks (i have 80+ at any one time) get all jumbled up...

[Crystal Eitle]

Wow! Thanks for all the great advice, everyone.

I've started by just making a simple list, taking advantage of the hierarchical feature to break things into subtasks, and assiging a couple items as "high" priority. And it's already helping! Last night I finished one small project I had been majorly procrastinating on. Yay!

[Mark R Penn]

Take a look at http://www.pocketinformant.com/Forums/ as well. The user tips section has some interesting ideas re tasks, and you can always post questions if you need other ideas.

[jsanfordii]

I've had a heck of a time trying to figure out the tasks area...I DID read the docs, and have been to the PI forums to review various threads, but I didn't figure out that to see the hier. tasks, you had to be in the 'none' view...

You guys should have seen me trying to drag and build a hierc. in the importance view... I was getting so frustrated. I just didn't see anything in the docs (yes, I read the docs first ---it's a habit from being a pilot, I read everything!) about this...

I really like this software, I just wish that I could hang out with someone that really knows it to learn all of the tricks that I'm missing out on (or some better docs)...

[Mark R Penn]

I think better docs are on the way. Certainly the existing ones have been left behind by the actual software somewhat!!!