Keeping track of your own to-dos is hard, but keeping track of shared to-dos and tasks with dependencies can be even more difficult. Here are the best tools to get the job done.Photo by Jay and Melissa Malouin.
The nominations this week were all over the map. A number of you use a wide variety of utilities and tools to manage group to-dos, whether the tool was built for that purpose or you’ve re-purposed a tool for the job. Here are the most popular.
Basecamp
Basecamp has grown to be one of the web’s most prominent tools for online collaboration. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can get shared to-do lists with assignable items, a shared calendar of events complete with milestones and major deadlines on the calendar, private chat, document sharing, and more. Many of the world’s biggest companies use Basecamp for group projects and collaboration. Basecamp can be pricey though, with plans that range from $US49/month to $US99/month and topping off at $US149/month. It might be too much if you just want to organise a family reunion, but perfect for a startup company’s new software rollout.
Remember the Milk
Remember the Milk is one of our favourite to-do managers for personal use, but a number of you use it to keep groups on the same page as well. It really needs no introduction, but Remember the Milk offers mobile apps, the ability to tag to-dos with location, and organise sequential tasks with dependancies. The app also allows you to share your to-dos with others who have work assigned to them. Accounts are free, but mobile apps, email support, Outlook Sync and the latest features will set you back $US25/year.
Cozi
Cozi is specifically designed for small groups to manage shared to-dos. The dev lead stopped by the nominations thread to share the app, pointed out that Cozi offers multiple users in the same space, multiple to-do lists with individual owners, shared due-dates, and mobile apps to keep track of work. Cozi even offers shared calendars for tracking milestones or deadlines, and even shopping lists and journals for families or households using the service. Plus, it’s completely free.
Producteev
Another service we’ve mentioned before, Producteev allows you to add to-dos easily, manage them via the Web or iOS app, assign items to team members, share documents, workspaces, and whiteboards, get email alerts to new tasks and deadlines, and the whole thing syncs with Google Calendar. The suite’s features scale whether you’re a small team, a family looking to organise a trip, or a business. Producteev has a free basic account, but $US5/month gives you SSL encryption, more storage, and a customizable workspace for 2 users. For groups of 3 or more, you’ll want the $US20/month group plan, or the $US30/month “platinum” plan that gives you phone support, more storage and reporting.
Spreadsheets
Whether they’re spreadsheets in Google Docs, Microsoft Excel or Zoho Docs, many of you said you just enter to-dos into spreadsheets and send them around to others if you need to get updates from multiple people or assign them work. As someone who used to do project management, I’ve seen enough spreadsheets disguised as project plans and task lists to agree that sometimes the best tool is the one you already have.
There were a lot of nominations this week, so it’s no surprise some of your favourites weren’t included. Share them in the comments below and let us know why you use the app you like the most!
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