Planning and task management: Master of none? Might be. But with MindMeister together they definitely are jacks of all trades
June 29, 2016
Planning and task management: Master of none? Might be. But with MindMeister together they definitely are jacks of all trades
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with MeisterTask
I switched to MeisterTask when my team was to make a (IMHO) bad decision about which solution to use for task, time and project management, hence I'm using it alone (I hope that's going to change) and transfer data from it to the one the team chose. In that one I had difficulties prioritizing my own tasks, breaking them down in smaller chunks, tracking time spent on each one, and the files that were task or project related... They were scattered widely in emails and on different machines of the team. There's another problem that it could address if we were using it as team: communication, focused on project and task. While it has email integration and mobile access, none of those are used by the team in the other solution either. Though I imagine email notifications could operate as an alarm function for due dates.
- Kanban-like approach. The lists, cards and checklists are great when it comes to micro-management of tasks and their details.
- Time tracking. This one is a must and it is done well.
- Task relations. It's good to be able to put some connections between the tasks, regardless of the nature of the relation (simply being related, marking blocks or duplicates).
- Comments and attachments are the base of task-focused communication between team members. Alas, no benefit from that for me right now. I'm only making notes to myself.
- Calendar integration. Due date should be visible on a calendar. And they are.
- Pro version enables workflow management by adding actions to lists. Nothing too complicated. But in turn, that makes it efficient.
- Using together with MindMeister (a bit limited) project-wide overview is possible.
- Support. Its quick to respond and it does a terrific job at answering questions, regarding both speed and detail.
- Exporting data about time tracked. It'd be awesome if its detail level could be user-configured. Then again, I need that for importing the data into another system, hence it might not be that important for others.
- Due dates are there. Estimates for time requirements are missing, therefore nothing Gantt-like either. And I miss those dearly.
- Quick access to some features could be achieved using context menu items or clicking deails without having to open the actual task (setting priority, tags, due dates, etc.)
- Structural integrity of tasks in projects became possible. It provides status transparency.
- Defining workflow helped develop routine in task management.
- Routine increased efficiency (where it can, of course).
- Increased efficiency lead to reduced effort and time requirements, thus greater chance for not passing due dates and a slight rise in quality.
Asana: while MeisterTask is card-based, this one is list-based. This one is entirely matter of preference. I prefer cards.
Trello: I used Trello for a long time and liked it. And though it lacked certain features, there were plenty of developers trying to create add-ons to browsers that patched the holes. But that brought together different styles and different ways of thinking. The solution MeisterTask provides seem much more cohesive to me.
Kanbanflow: I used this one for a very long time, too. It has some features (analytics & reporting) that are not implemented in MeisterTask (yet). Where it lacks is the same MeisterTask is short: a quick overview of the project itself.
Summary:
There are many other similar products, some of them offering more features in their no-cost subscriptions, or plainly, more features. But then again, it's not about the number of features, but how fluid and intuitive their use is. They also suffer from the same drawbacks MeisterTask does when it is used on its own. But MeisterTask can be connected to MindMeister, and I cannot imagine a better tool for planning than a good old mind map. And MindMeister is good at that.
Trello: I used Trello for a long time and liked it. And though it lacked certain features, there were plenty of developers trying to create add-ons to browsers that patched the holes. But that brought together different styles and different ways of thinking. The solution MeisterTask provides seem much more cohesive to me.
Kanbanflow: I used this one for a very long time, too. It has some features (analytics & reporting) that are not implemented in MeisterTask (yet). Where it lacks is the same MeisterTask is short: a quick overview of the project itself.
Summary:
There are many other similar products, some of them offering more features in their no-cost subscriptions, or plainly, more features. But then again, it's not about the number of features, but how fluid and intuitive their use is. They also suffer from the same drawbacks MeisterTask does when it is used on its own. But MeisterTask can be connected to MindMeister, and I cannot imagine a better tool for planning than a good old mind map. And MindMeister is good at that.