My Life Organized Software

Another no vote for Franklin-Covey software

Just want to second that opinion about the Franklin-Covey PlanPlus software -- dreadful, unusable stuff. I couldn't un-install it fast enough. It ate my Palm Calendar and To-Do lists, too -- just blew them away without warning & replaced them with their own software. I had a terrible time recovering from this harmful installation. The Windows desktop software looks great -- emulating a paper organizer with spiral-bound notebooks, lined paper, folder tabs, etc. -- until you actually try to use it. Then it violates pretty much every expectation of how a well-behaved Windows app should behave. The "demo" that appears on the FC website is not the software you get when you buy PlanPlus. Really verging on the criminally negligent, and a spectacular blunder for Stephen Covey to allow his name and reputation to be attached to this product.

I'm a couple days into my 30-day trial of Life Balance, and so far it seems like a well-designed, well-behaved piece of software that lets me smoothly carry my to-do list between Windows, Palm and Mac, without a hiccup so far (knock wood). I haven't done the "balance" stuff yet but just having a hierarchical to-do list that syncs cleanly between all three platforms is a great start for me!
 
mikeobrien58 said:
I'm a couple days into my 30-day trial of Life Balance, and so far it seems like a well-designed, well-behaved piece of software that lets me smoothly carry my to-do list between Windows, Palm and Mac, without a hiccup so far (knock wood). I haven't done the "balance" stuff yet but just having a hierarchical to-do list that syncs cleanly between all three platforms is a great start for me!
Click to expand...

Although it took me a long time to get a really good GTD set-up with Life Balance, I am very happy with it now, and all platforms work very well. Although I have never had problems, the folks at Llamagraphics have an excellent reputation for customer support, and I would not hesitate to contact them if problems arise.
 
I'm also just a few days into the trial time for LB but I'm mainly interested in using it on my Palm T3.

Synching (albeit longwinded) with company based Outlook is useful but not a primary requirement.

As with any of these tools, it takes quite a while to set up, and I would prefer not to have spent all this time to find that it is not up to the task.

I think it is probably the best example of each to his own I have seen :smile:

Philip Blakemore (UK)
 
Just quick note....

The Sync to Outlook has been greatly enhanced and a public beta was pushed out today complete with testing documentation and a glimpse of the calendaring features to come. Via this update Palm and PPC users are supported via outlook synchronization. The forthcoming ppc release will of course improve native support for the ppc. Suggestions from Palm users on how to improve the sync "via outlook" are certainly welcome....

Unregistered said:
After using it for 2 days I would list these new features I like:

- goal setting (weekly goal brings task on the top of to-do)
- project tracking
- special views for both items above
- sync with outlook (quite smart btw)
-...............
Click to expand...
 
Thank you

I don't want to sound arrogant, but I could write a book about my adventures with various time-management solutions - software and paper-based. Adventures that took me almost ten years. My impression: MyLife Organized is a program that was written by a person with the need of order in a constantly faster life. The first program of its kind. And it's a remarkable tool - both in terms of usefullness and completeness, and in terms of quality.

Thank you for such a great program, and thank you for making it lightweight and portable at the same time.

I wish you all the best!

Lech A.
 
Just my perspective...!

I agree MyLifeOrganized is an excellent attempt for the "best GTD software award"!

But... I have to say, I have some frustrations with it. It may be that I've got used to working in a certain way with Outlook. So, of course, I want some features that Outlook has but with the improvements of MLO...!

In MyLifeOrganized I do like the ability to organise projects and subprojects hierarchly and to easily move next actions from one project to another.

But, when I write a next action (or task) I don't always want to assign a project to it. In Life Organized, this is actually quite difficult. It always enters the action within a project by default and it takes work to take it out of a project.

Also, I want to be able to look at my complete to do list and decide what I will do that day. Having to flick through all Contexts (Places in MLO) one by one is a pain. In Outlook one can have them all in front of you and then put a high priority on each task and then have a new View to only see high priority actions for that day. That helps me focus and not worry about all the other things on my lists.

Maybe people have found ways to address these issues in MLO, and I'm very keen to hear, but if not, I hope the people at MLO deal with the querks. (I’ve sent them an email). For now I have gone back to Outlook, with Contacts as Projects, which is also an excellent software for GTD.

Just thought I'd write to share my perspectives. It's still a great program.

Tom
 
tominperu said:
I agree MyLifeOrganized is an excellent attempt for the "best GTD software award"!

But... I have to say, I have some frustrations with it. It may be that I've got used to working in a certain way with Outlook. So, of course, I want some features that Outlook has but with the improvements of MLO...!
Click to expand...

Tom, thanks for sharing your ideas with us.

But, when I write a next action (or task) I don't always want to assign a project to it. In Life Organized, this is actually quite difficult. It always enters the action within a project by default and it takes work to take it out of a project.
Click to expand...
I see, however you can always use Rapid Task Entry dialog and do not assign a new task to any project. Then return to this task later and reassign if needed. It is very fast.

Also, I want to be able to look at my complete to do list and decide what I will do that day. Having to flick through all Contexts (Places in MLO) one by one is a pain.
Click to expand...

I understand your concern. Sometimes I have the same problem with MLO myself. This is why I plan to add planning and advanced views functionality to MLO. However even now there are a number of effective methods which people are using in MLO to decide what to do that day. They are discussed on MLO forum.

Just thought I'd write to share my perspectives. It's still a great program.
Click to expand...
Thanks again for sharing your ideas. We really appreciate it and will consider your suggestions.

Andrey Tkachuk,
http://www.mylifeorganized.net
Ukraine
 
TkachukA said:
I understand your concern. Sometimes I have the same problem with MLO myself. This is why I plan to add planning and advanced views functionality to MLO. However even now there are a number of effective methods which people are using in MLO to decide what to do that day. They are discussed on MLO forum.
Click to expand...
It would be neat to have a drag and drop todo list view that allowed drag and drop to that view and allowed drag and drop order within that view. I realize that yes I can assign a specific place to any number of items, but, while looking at the list view, I would like to pick out the items I want to work on now, or today, and and put them in a window and drag them into an order that I want to work on them. In my mind, this is pure GTD, even though it is described as a mental task by David instead of a physical. We are to look at an, in some cases, overwhelming amount of information and plan our morning or day. Well, if those next actions are in a "system", why do we have to remember those things? Why do we need to jot those items on a post-it note? And why do we have to keep looking at all the other things that we have already looked at today and decided that we are NOT doing?

Part of GTD is removing from our mind the things that we have decided to not think about or do, but with Life Balance and MyLifeOrganized, there they always are.
 
Thanks for the reply

Thanks for you quick reply TkachukA. You certainly show a quick response to feedback on MLO!

I hadn´t seen the the Rapid Task Entry facility which goes some way to meeting my concerns.

I agree with tim99! At present, to get a to do list for the day I mark next actions as high priority in Outlook, then switch to a View I've created to see only high priority tasks, then copy and paste to Word, and then adjust the list order (with accompanying Contexts) according to my movements and percieved energy levels that day.

It's a worthwhile thing to do as it gets me focussed on the important things for that day and helps me forget the rest, but it would be great to have a facility in MLO such that I could do this a lot quicker.
 
tominperu said:
But, when I write a next action (or task) I don't always want to assign a project to it. In Life Organized, this is actually quite difficult. It always enters the action within a project by default and it takes work to take it out of a project.

Tom
Click to expand...

You may have figured something like this out already, but I've created a Project called NoProj for all my single, one-off NAs. It works for me until there is a different option available.
 
New features in MyLife Organized

New version of MyLife Organized has been released.

Some new features from latest release:
- Just type phrase like "Send report to Jim next Monday 6pm remind me 10 min in advance " in Rapid Task Entry dialog and MLO will parse it creating new task in your outline with appropriate parameters and reminder.
- improved drag&drop items from Outlook to MLO
- click to "I have" link on ToDo tab of main window to calculate the time you have before next appointment in your Outlook calendar
- MLO could insert and open relative path links in task notes
- show the number of days due or left for tasks in the outline instead of task date

More details on these and other new features:
http://groups.google.com/group/myLifeOrganized/browse_thread/thread/f1b07b2e4d4b704a/

Andrey
http://www.mylifeorganized.net
 
MLO Newbie Feedback

I have just downloaded the trial version and it looks very good. Reviewing previous posts on this forum has been useful.

For NON-Project Tasks/Reminders for those single NA issues, I have created a high-level group/task called "T2BD" which stands for "Things To Be Done", an acronym I have used for much of my 59 years (one is never too old to stop learning or trying!).
I then put the single-action NAs under this group with place and time as necessary eg in a few minutes I expect the reminder to pop up for "Anti-flea treatment for Tigger". This has happened and been rescheduled because Tigger is nowhere to be found, that darn cat!

Questions
(1) How many readers have integrated with Outlook, have the earlier problems been resolved?
(2) Comments on MLO Mobile? Integration issues? Do the reminders pop up on the PPC? I use a WM2003 on my iPaq 4150.

I see some readers of this forum have abandoned Outlook tasks in favour of MLO, but surely this means one is forced to use MLO Mobile.

Development: I know the MLO developer reads this forum. Any longer term plans to have Tablet functionality? I am trying out TEO (Tablet Enhancements for Outlook) which is useful in meetings etc, so I guess I will have to go for Outlook integration to save me having to recapture OutLook/TOE items again in MLO.

Cheers,

Kibo Kid
 
OneAlert - New MyLifeOrganized application

I am glad to announce new MyLifeOrganized application named OneAlert - advanced reminder system with simple calendar. GTD speaking OneAlert is a manager of actions which require less then 2 minutes of your time and need to be done at a specific time: "Call Katrin in 10 min", "Remind Jim about report tomorrow at 3pm" etc.

You usually do not track such activities in your advanced task management system.You should not spend much time to manage these actions so we tried to design OneAlert extremely easy to use and powerful in the same time.

The look and feel of OneAlert is similar to Google gadgets:

​

Here is the three-step scenario of adding new reminder to OneAlert:
1. While working in any application press OneAlert hotkey (Win+Down by default)
2. Type in OneAlert console: "Call Katrin in 10 min" and press Ctrl+Enter
3. Press OneAlert hotkey again to return to application you worked with.

Custom alert settings and other useful features are also available.

More details, screenshots

Discussion

And lastly OneAlert is FREE for those who purchased MLO-Professional.

Others also can use OneAlert FREE for as long as they want but if only ten reminders stored in the same time. To remove this limitation registration is required.

Try it!

Andrey Tkachuk
http://www.mylifeorganized.net/

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