It's such a simple and effective tool! If you need an app to safely store your To-do's and make sure you stay on top of things, this is it. You can divide tasks lists into folders (like "home" and "business"), share the lists with co-workers, set notifications, even mark items as a priority. It's great for smaller, day-to-day tasks but if you need something to manage a bigger project or a team, you should look into more robust project management tools. Although this is a great app, it cannot replace tools like TeamWork, Basecamp etc. But they work great together
[It's] Wonderful for small group or individual planning, brainstorming, explaining, projecting etc. It is also great for reporting or sharing findings of outcomes whether research or business related. It has a free viewer so that if you are presenting on a different computer, the viewer will allow the visuals to be shared. It is not ideal for collaboration unless everyone has this software.
Wunderlist is what you need for your to do lists. It's really simple to use.
Allows you to set due date to your lists, share them with your team and/or create a folder to divide and organize all your list set
Also, Wunderlist is compatible with all platform and devices. So you can always be updated on your list or work on them from wherever you are and with all the devices you have.
GOAL SETTING: Because of the available templates, it is easy to set goals and then revisit them for revision or follow through. I like to brainstorm while I set goals and then come back and annotate my goals with changes, improvements, or add/substract them as needed.
STRATEGIC PLANNING: MindGenius is terrific for working through ideas and parameters. I can either use a freelance screen or a template and brainstorm through the goals that I need to meet. Then I can branch out from each objective with the required facets of each one. I am visual so color coding and using shapes to organize the parts of the objective (i.e. the resources needed, people/stakeholders that are involved, missing pieces etc.). When organizing a project or research, I find it invaluable.
BRAINSTORMING: MindGenius is a wonderful visual to use in a small group or classroom to brainstorm or record ideas. I also adjunct teach and I find MG a wonderful visual for planning a paper or demonstrating how to support ideas in a paper or to verify that research is completed properly. it is a teacher's must-have.
MindGenius is not as intuitive as I would like it to be. Although there is a quick-key stroke or movement that will replicate a shape or field if I want to make a parent or child block, I never remember what it is. I always use the manual insert by clicking with the mouse and it takes longer. If CONTROL ENTER created a new shape field like "the last one" or the one where the cursor is blinking, that would help considerably.
Changing the default visuals for a template or making a new template is overly time-consuming. Although I understand these details may only matter to someone as ULTRA-VISUAL a I am, if the font is too small or the shapes need to be visually altered, there is not a way to quickly grab those boxes and change the settings in one fell swoop. Although there is a way they can be changed, I have to navigate inside this and then inside this to get to the screen and then I have to figure out which changes the lines or the inside color of the shape etc. These details are a little overwhelming.
It would be great if I could make one shape in the font and layout I want and then replicate that pattern to other shapes or apply a different color scheme to it entirely. If these features already exist, i cannot find them and I consider myself to be rather tech savvy.
The actual user interface and the way to navigate around the app is very intuitive and easy to learn/use which would make me give it a high ranking, but the syncing issues drop down my rating because there are times where you add an item to the list and then it just disappears. Then when you add it again the sync will happen and now you have duplicates. The other negative with the usability is adding extra information to an item, such as files or comments or assignments. You can do it but it's difficult to tell which items have this information from the main screen. You have to click on them individually.
I have not had an issue where I needed to reach out to Wunderlist, but I know their contact and online chat is easy to access and feel confident that they would be helpful. My only worry is Wunderlist is becoming Microsoft to-do in May 2020, and I believe the app will become worse after that.
Wunderlist is the cleanest of all these products, and also the most functional. It performs exactly like you would expect a to-do app to work, and you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. Trello boards were too much for my employees to comprehend and they could never get the hang of it. Microsoft TO-DO is just a stripped down remake of Wunderlist and will be a while before it catches up (if it ever does). Todoist is the most similar to me, and it was mostly an aesthetic choice that made me choose Wunderlist.
I have not used another product like MindGenius. Although I use Microsoft One Note for sometimes making lists that sync across my PC and my devices, I do not have another mind-mapping programming. MindGenius only has an app for iPad and without accessibility on iOS, I have not been able to use it for my daily TO DO lists etc that I would otherwise do. I use One Note for that role since MG does not have a phone app
Productivity Increase - Knowing exactly what I need to do and when makes sure that I am on the right track, working on the right project and task at the right time, and not missing anything (or wasting my time on tasks that don't move the needle).
I'm delivering and following through on projects (big and small) without worrying about if I'm missing anything. This has helped specifically in product releases. One task I used to be late on every year was holiday greeting card releases in May. No one is ever ready to design holiday cards in April, so I wasn't even thinking about it. However, retail shops are buying their holiday products in the summer. I would always remember September as the weather started to change, which would lead me to miss out on the bulk of retail shop sales. With Microsoft To-Do, I mapped out the entire project, starting with designing 3 Hanukkah cards, to 3 Christmas cards, to printing them, photographing them, listing them, and marketing them. All with deadlines attached. Every detail was planned out in a doable way. For two years in a row, I did not miss out on this release and my sales have increased 300% year-over-year in part because of my release planning in Microsoft To-Do.
Do you know those tasks that pop up in meetings that you write down somewhere and then sometimes just completely forget? No? Just me? Either way, I used to have them scattered in notepads, sticky notes, and notebooks, and a lot would be lost in the wind. With Microsoft To-Do, I take all of those to-dos gathered during the day and add them to my to-do list with a deadline at the end of my work day. Now, I never miss anything.
I have not tracked the positive or negative impact of MG on my overall business objectives. I have successfully used it in the aspects of my personal and professional management.
MG helps me stay on track with my research and personal editing. It keeps me accountable so that I meet my deadlines. Although I have not applied a dollar value to it, it helps me signficantly.
