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Microsoft To-Do. In a bid to accelerate its ‘Mobile First, Cloud First’ vision, Microsoft purchased the.
Recently, many personal Kanban apps have emerged in the personal productivity space. I bet that you have tried many of these apps. And most probably, few had good integration with email, right? In this article, we will explain the benefits of using a personal Kanban application within the email. But first, let’s explain a bit about the history and the idea behind Kanban.
Kanban as a method of organizing teams and workflows has been around since the 1970s when Toyota began implementing it in their US auto plants. It soon became widely recognized as a powerful method to organize complex teams and projects and was adopted by other businesses and industries, most notably in film production and software development.
Businesses like Kanban boards because they make it fast and easy to assess the status of complex projects, allocate tasks, identify backlogs, and adjust priorities. Because these Kanban boards are typically physically hanging on a wall in a workspace, the information is clear and transparent to everyone on the team.
Project leaders and managers love seeing all the work laid out visually and tracking tasks through the workflow. But it wasn’t until 2011 when Jim Benson published the book Personal Kanban: Mapping Work, Navigating Life that large numbers of people began to modify the Kanban system to apply to their personal lives, work, and projects.
Suddenly Kanban wasn’t just for big businesses with large teams; it was for anyone who wanted to get organized and stay productive. In the simplest form, a personal Kanban system can consist of a small whiteboard and sticky notes. The notes are color-coded by project or goal, and they are placed in three columns on the whiteboard.
The columns are:
- To-Do
- Doing
- Done
When a task is identified, it’s written on the appropriate color of note and placed in the To-Do column. When you begin to work on that task actively, you move it to the Doing column. When it’s completed, the note goes (obviously) into the Done column.
A personal Kanban can be modified as needed, based on what works best for you, and people love Kanban systems for their flexibility and adaptability. The only two core principles of a Kanban system are:
1) Visualize your tasks
Visualizing tasks and priorities is crucial in a Kanban system. The idea is that you don’t spend time making or reading lists or redefining priorities; you can see everything at a glance.
This is important because of the way the brain works. 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. We process images 60,000 times faster than text. Images are stored in our long-term memory, while words are stored in our short-term memory.
By making your To-Dos visual, it’s fast and intuitive to identify backlogs and priorities, re-allocate resources, and understand your workload comprehensively. Also, the visualization of completed work helps you recognize your accomplishments and reward yourself for progress made.
2) Limit the amount of work being done at once
In a physical Kanban board, this is done by making the “Doing” area small, so that it can only fit one or two tasks. Kanban seeks to limit multitasking by only having you focus on one (at the most two) tasks simultaneously. Again, this is compatible with the way the brain works.
When a task is interrupted, it takes as long as 25 minutes to return to full focus. When tasks are interrupted, we lose an average of 15 IQ points when we return to the work at hand. Multitasking causes errors. A person working on three simultaneous tasks makes three times the errors of a person only doing two.
This is why Kanban is favored by software developers, for whom errors are costly and troublesome. Limiting the current tasks to one at a time allows you to focus and complete the task more quickly and accurately than working on several things at once.
Kanban seeks to remove distractions, create clarity, and focus your many projects down into one simple step at a time.
The great thing about Kanban is that it’s compatible with other existing productivity and project management systems. People use Kanban alongside other productivity systems like GTD,InboxZero, the Pomodoro Method, and apply the system to all kinds of different projects.
Because it doesn’t require complex tools or a comprehensive ecosystem and is simply a way of visualizing and focusing work, Kanban is an incredibly versatile method of keeping yourself, your projects, and your life organized and moving forward.
One way to make the Kanban method even more versatile and useful is to use a personal Kanban app. Flow-e makes implementing a personal Kanban system simple, and provides some key advantages over the traditional physical Kanban board:
1) Flow-e is responsive. You probably won’t be carrying your whiteboard to and from work, on business trips, or into meetings, and yet you need that information at your fingertips all the time.
2) Using a Kanban app keeps it with you, and that keeps it current and accurate, no matter what changes the day may bring.
3) Flow-e includes email management. In a traditional Kanban system, if you got an email with a task or an assignment, you would need to write it down on a card or a sticky note.
4) With Flow-e, emails become tasks by just dragging-and-dropping, making it simple and intuitive for your task list to stay up-to-the-minute, and for you to follow up on tasks in progress.
5) Flow-e manages your schedule. Kanban systems don’t naturally link tasks to time, but that’s a luxury few of us can afford. With Flow-e, not only are your calendar events visualized, but tasks can be scheduled and have reminders.
6) Flow-e makes delegation simple. While it may be possible to write a task on a sticky note and walk it over to someone else’s desk, it’s a little weird, and doesn’t have natural follow-up included in the task.
7) Flow-e makes delegation simple, and includes built-in follow-ups and reminders, so that you don’t lose sight of tasks you’ve delegated.
If you’ve decided to join the millions who have adopted a personal Kanban system to get organized and stay that way, congratulations!
And if you’re one of the thousands using Flow-e as a personal Kanban app to make your system more comprehensive – it’s even better!
Picture credits: Freepik
The whole concept of GTD (Getting Things Done) revolves around the productivity tools like Calendar and To-Do apps. Especially, in the current situation of home quarantine and lockdown, where the majority people and teams are working from home, it’s essential to keep track of tasks and clear them before the end of the day.
In 2020, task management apps aren’t just limited to create and complete tasks. They offer more functions to increase overall user engagement. Some of the features include habit tracking, basic project management, location-based reminders, calendar integration, and more.
While choosing an app over the other, it’s essential to invest in a platform that is easily available on rival platforms. That way, all your tasks get synced over multiple platforms, and you don’t lose data when switching between the devices.
We have hand-picked top five task management apps for iOS and Mac. In this post, we are going to talk about their features, price, theme engine, and more. Let’s get started.
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Microsoft To-Do vs Todoist: Can Microsoft Beat the Ace
Read More1. Microsoft To-Do
In a bid to accelerate its ‘Mobile First, Cloud First’ vision, Microsoft purchased the popular task management tool Wunderlist and shut down the further development in favor of its app Microsoft To-Do.
After four years of acquisition, I can safely say that Microsoft’s version of task management is right up there with the rivals. The company recently redesigned the whole app to make it more familiar to the Wunderlist users.
Microsoft To-Do offers the My Day function, which lets you add tasks for the day. You can quickly add terms like ‘Conference call 8 PM,’ and the app will suggest the time for the task. You can also add sub-tasks for the prime to-do task.
Being a Microsoft product, it nicely integrates with other services as well. For example, you can flag an email in the Outlook app, and it will get saved in the Flagged mail section in the Microsoft To-Do app. One can also view the tasks in the Outlook desktop app.
The other functions include the ability to create a list, Siri Shortcuts support, dark theme, Wunderlist import tool, and more.
The company’s macOS app is right up there with its iOS counterpart. It supports keyboard shortcuts too. The app syncs the theme and wallpapers from the mobile app, which looks nice on the big screen.
Microsoft To-Do is completely free to use, and it’s available on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac.
Download Microsoft To-Do for iOSDownload Microsoft To-Do for macOS2. TickTick
This one is my favorite. TickTick is a multi-featured productivity app. It’s full features, but more importantly, the overall implementation is better than the others.
The theme support is the best I have ever seen. It’s not limited to light/dark theme. You can implement colorful ones based on seasons and well-known cities around the world.
Besides creating a list and adding a task, the app also has integrated habit tracking and the Pomodoro function. You can add habits and complete them to see a cool chain of habit building in the calendar widget. Pomodoro helps you keep track of the productive hours throughout the app.
The Mac version is more powerful. In a task list, one can switch to a Kanban-style to view and manage tasks. The desktop app also supports notes function.
TickTick is free to use. But the premium subscription at $2 per month lets you unlock functions like theme support, habit tracking, app icon customization, and more. It’s accessible on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.
Download TickTick for iOSDownload TickTick for macOS3. Apple Reminders
Personal Kanban App
After neglecting the default Reminders app over the years, Apple finally gave it the much-needed makeover with the iOS 13 update. It’s now head to head with the third-party apps there.
For starters, the new design looks much better than ever. It lets you add tasks as well as location-based reminders. I use it all the time. I have set the relevant tasks to remind myself wherever I reach my workplace.
You can ask Siri to set tasks and even add a reminder when you are messaging a particular person. Check out the best tips and tricks for the Apple Reminders app.
The Mac app also got the redesign to resemble the iOS version. It’s not as fluid or intuitive as the others. I’m hoping to see tight integration with other Apple services, including the Notes and Email app in the future.
Apple Reminders is only available on iOS and macOS. It’s completely free to use.
Download Apple Reminders for iOSAlso on Guiding Tech
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Read More4. Todoist
Used by millions of users around the world, Todoist has nailed the task management in the app. The app uses a fairly standard UI with the hamburger menu.
It terms lists as projects and even lets you add tags to find the tasks later. Todoist recently announced Foundation function, which lets you convert big projects in the small tasks to manage them more efficiently.
One can also use Siri Shortcuts to set tasks. The app supports icon customization to change app icons. Todoist has integrated a cool stats tab to see the data of completed tasks.
The Mac app is right up there with the iOS variant. If you are looking for the best Mac app to manage tasks, then Todoist will easily top the list. It’s available on Android and Windows as well. The app is free to download, but the premium functions such as icon customization, stats, etc., come with a subscription of $50 per year.
Download Todoist for iOSDownload Todoist for macOS5. Any.do
Any.do brings fresh UI to the table. It shows the tabbed list from the home screen. The app has rightly integrated the calendar function to use it as a calendar app too.
The biggest highlight of the app is how it plans your day. It will suggest all the tasks one by one and will ask you to take action on it.
Personal Kanban App Mac Os
A couple of things to mention here. I experienced a few crashes while using the app, and adding a new task screen was quite cumbersome. It’s not minimal like others and asks way too many details upfront.
The Mac app is much better. One can quickly add tasks from the floating menu, and it supports keyboard shortcuts too.
Any.do is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.
Download Any.do for iOSDownload Any.do for macOSAlso on Guiding Tech
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Get Tasks Done in Style
Use any of the apps mentioned above, and you will be completely fine with flying through the day without missing any task. Microsoft To-Do is free, TickTick is an all-rounder, millions favor Todoist, Apple Reminders makes the best out of Apple ecosystem. At the same time, Any.do is perfect for task and calendar combo.
Next up:Looking to ditch the Apple Reminders in favor of richer third-party apps? Read the post to find the top five alternatives for the Apple Reminders app.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextTop 5 Apple Reminders Alternatives for iOSAlso See#productivity #iOS apps
Did You Know
Notion was founded by Ivan Zhao.