Item: MeisterTask
Rating: 10
Author: Amy Beth Byrd

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I do graphic design, e-commerce, and also manage the eBay selling for a client. I'm self-employed and don't currently have any employees working for me. However, my work gets very complicated because it's almost as if I'm managing three different businesses. For the two separate e-commerce businesses, my own and those of my clients, I have separate sets of inventory, shipments, listings, photos for the listings, product research, payments and invoices, etc., to keep up with, and then there's also the graphic design.
Because there are so many details to keep up with within three separate contexts, trying to keep up with it all while tying it together into one, cohesive big picture so that I can prioritize tasks is very difficult for one person.

Over the past three years, I've tried more project management solutions than I can list or even bring to mind at the moment. The book "Getting Things Done" was a game-changer for me, but finding a system that helped me to implement it was a different story. Using Evernote alone just didn't work for me. Because my work involves so many different sets of files, links, and notes, I was soon buried under an avalanche of notes and notebooks, plus I needed more online links than offline notes. I needed a solution that was more geared towards task management, would allow for separation of the different contexts but would also tie them together, would allow enough customization to fit my unique situation, was attractive to look at (as I'm a visual thinker), but was user-friendly enough that it didn't require watching hours of video tutorials before you could even begin. The closest thing I found to meet my needs was IQTell, but then the app unfortunately closed down. Just when I'd decided I'd tried them all, I found MeisterTask. I can honestly say it is unlike any other solution I've tried, and it has simplified what was a very complicated situation.

Pros and Cons

One of the best features is the main dashboard. From there, you have your list of projects, each of which take you to their own separate pages. You can subdivide your projects into groups. Tasks can be added from within a project's own separate page, but you also have the option to add tasks from the main dashboard, with a drop-down box to choose which project it belongs to. Any task from any project can be starred for importance, and the starred tasks will be visible in a prominent place on the dashboard, so that's one way the dashboard ties the boards together. The projects are similar to Trello's boards, but Trello falls short because there's no main dashboard to tie them all together into one big picture. There are tabs for the notifications and time tracking. The dashboard has a gorgeous interface, and the buttons are nicely spaced out. In the settings, it gives you the option to choose a compact interface if you prefer.
MeisterTask has an attractive and user-friendly interface. For example, some other apps that offer some of the same features, such as Todoist, require more tedious steps to access those features. One example is, if you save a web link as a task, you can click on that web link from the task's description without having to actually open up that task into its own separate window first, and it will open up the webpage right from there, saving you an extra step, whereas with Todoist, Toodledo, and several others like it, you had to go through several extra clicks and drop-down boxes to accomplish a lot of simple tasks like tagging or accessing saved web links, or else hunt around for tiny buttons with the mouse, because everything was crammed together too tightly. It also gives you a lot more options to customize the colors and appearance than most apps out there. If you save a photo as an attachment, it shows a preview of the photo, instead of just a paperclip icon, which makes it easier to tell at a glance what the attachment actually is.
MeisterTask has the right balance of complexity and simplicity. Every other solution I've tried is either so complicated that it adds more work or doesn't offer enough features to manage much complication.
Integrations. MeisterTask offers more integrations than any other solution I've seen so far. GitHub, Zendesk, Dropbox, Box, etc., not to mention their own MindMeister. Even more are possible through the use of Zapier and IFTTT.
Easy learning curve. You can get started using MeisterTask in five minutes. Many other solutions with comparable features require watching video tutorials just to get started.

I'd like to see a Chrome extension where you can save a webpage as a task with one click.
I wish you could edit the names of lists within projects once they're created, as opposed to having to create a new list and migrate the tasks to the new one and delete the old.
I wish the dashboard had the option to show only the starred tasks in the task list, as opposed to only having them go to the top of the list of all tasks. My list of tasks from different projects is so long that there's no need to list them all in one place, as the list becomes too overwhelming, so I have no use for that feature.

Return on Investment

I use MeisterTask to manage orders for my eBay store. In order for your eBay listings to receive a high search ranking, which can make or break your sales due to visibility, you have to maintain Top Seller Ranking. In order to meet the qualifications for this, you have to have 95% or higher of your orders ship on time, maintain good buyer communication, resolve all order issues in a timely fashion, etc. With MeisterTask, I have a recurring, automated checklist that I use now with every, single order that ensures I never miss a step, both for my own orders and those I manage for my client. As a result, I currently have a 100% positive feedback rating for my store and hope to maintain it. I also have had no problem maintaining the requirements to maintain Top Seller Ranking, whereas that was difficult to stay on top of before.
Because I no longer have details slipping through the cracks constantly, I finish graphic design projects in less time than I used to. I used to waste a lot of time searching for lost files, correcting mistakes made as a result of fatigue from overwork, and trying to remember what to do next, as my mind was constantly overloaded. As a result of the time and energy I've saved, I've been able to take on more projects, which leads to more profit.

Alternatives Considered

Todoist, toodledo, workflowy, weekplan, Evernote, Any.do, Trello, springpad, iqtell, things, google keep, google tasks, outlook, OneNote, swipes, the secret weapon, to.do and teuxdeux

More customization, easier learning curve, gorgeous interface, more user-friendly, just the right amount of features without offering so many that you practically have to set up the entire app yourself before you can use it, the most integrations with other services, lets you do simple tasks with fewer steps than some other apps, image thumbnail previews, mobile app version also, allows for separation of different contexts but also ties them together cohesively, the right balance between simplicity and complexity, provides automation capability

Other Software Used

Evernote, OneNote, OneDrive

Likelihood to Recommend

MeisterTask is great for any situation where there are multiple projects with lots of details, complication, multiple people working on a project, and different contexts to work with. It's probably less appropriate for a simple situation where there is less to keep up with, for instance, individual, personal use where someone just needs a simple to-do list.

MeisterTask is what I've been looking for

Overall Satisfaction with MeisterTask