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Fancy interactive graphs

Author	Message
Jake Toodledo Founder	Posted: May 01, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Jake (Founder) Posted: May 01, 2012 Score: 0 Reference The Statistics page in the Tools section has long been one of Toodledo's unique features, but it hasn't been updated in many years. Today we are releasing a totally revamped statistics section with many more capabilities that before. In addition to the pie chart and line graph that we had before, we have added one new type of graph (the bubble chart) and we have added two speciality charts ("Task age" and "Completion Time"). You can now pick any of the fields that you are using to create a graph, and you can filter the data that is charted. Each graph is interactive and requires no browser plugins. The new "Bubble Chart" is a powerful graph that allows you to pick any two fields and see how many tasks are in each intersection. For example, pick folder and priority and you can quickly see which folders are the most important. Check it out
pjlewis	Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: 2 Reference pjlewis Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: 2 Reference Well done. Looks fancy. Of little real use in getting things done (IMHO). I love Toodledo. I really do. But sometimes it's difficult to understand the priorities in the workstack.
PeterW	Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: -1 Reference PeterW Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Posted by pjlewis: But sometimes it's difficult to understand the priorities in the workstack. Yep. Remember this one: http://www.toodledo.com/forums/2/6415/0/project-handling-display-parent-name-in-sub-task.html ?
Purveyor	Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Purveyor Posted: May 02, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Jake, these graphs are really cool but it is not obvious how they can be useful. Please let us know how you use them when managing your tasks.
Jake Toodledo Founder	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Jake (Founder) Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference This was a contractor's side project so it didn't take me away from the higher priority items that I am working on. I am very pleased with how the charts turned out and I am excited to use them. I personally find the pie chart and bubble charts to be the most useful for planning. I use them to identify projects that are too big and that may need to be split, or to find projects that are neglected. I also find it useful to visualize the importance of tasks compared to other criteria. It gives me a feel for where to spend my time. I know from talking to customers that the line graph is also a popular way to see if you are falling behind (adding more tasks than you are completing) or catching up (the opposite). I hope you find the graphs useful, if not, then they will stay out of the way.
garyo	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: -1 Reference garyo Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: -1 Reference I just tried it, and for me at least the Completion Time graph has a bunch of tasks with negative completion times. What does that mean (or is it a bug)?
asillis	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 2 Reference asillis Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 2 Reference These graphs are nice, and pretty, and I could make them useful if only I could save my customizable settings. Having to change the settings every time you go back is a bore! Also, you said that you used them to identify projects which are too big and need to be split. How do you do that? If when we clicked on a bubble, wedge, data point, ... it produced search results on that criteria - that would be really cool!
CreativeExpression...	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference CreativeExpression... Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Hi Toodledo Is there a function available to view tasks for a particular project/folder/goal as a timeline?? If not, can we have one please? I love the visual aspects of Toodledo. It has really helped me to get organised but now I want to be able to visualise how many tasks I have to do over a period of time (but not in a list). Hope you understand what I mean!
Purveyor	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Purveyor Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Posted by garyo: I just tried it, and for me at least the Completion Time graph has a bunch of tasks with negative completion times. What does that mean (or is it a bug)? I have the same issue. I think that it is because a few weeks ago I deleted all my tasks and then imported them from a backup. All my old tasks have a "Date added" equal to the date of the import but most of them were completed before that date. Makes the graph pretty much useless. This message was edited May 03, 2012.
Jake Toodledo Founder	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Jake (Founder) Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference A negative completion time means that you completed it before you added it. This can only happen via an import. Its a bug and I will look into it. Thanks for the other feedback. We'll put them on our to-do list.
martingchapman	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference martingchapman Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Posted by pjlewis: Well done. Looks fancy. Of little real use in getting things done (IMHO). I love Toodledo. I really do. But sometimes it's difficult to understand the priorities in the workstack. Pj has hit the nail right on the head, I agree completely. Martin.
vivendom.budget	Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 1 Reference vivendom.budget Posted: May 03, 2012 Score: 1 Reference Nice! Could you add folder and goal filters on task age and completion time views? Thank you!
joseimora	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference joseimora Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Also puzzled and frustrated about the sense of priority at Toodledo. Still waiting for the ability to save both search and sort order. At this point, it is clear that this isn't going anywhere. Notes area is rudimentary at best, and the only real use I have for it is to place a hyperlink to Evernote - for real notes. Statistical graphs, and other bells and whistles are "gee whiz" but not a substitute for basic needs. I'm working out of Evernote and still looking for a To Do application that truly does GTD and has full functionality.
Mark.M	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 2 Reference Mark.M Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 2 Reference I tend to agree with those who question the feature development priority list. This statistical information is interesting, but I am hard pressed to find the application of this data back into my daily task management. There are those who love data for data's sake, and then there are the rest of us who need data to stay on top of our work/client commitments. This new statistical feature satisfies the first group, and is virtually worthless to the rest of us. You may notice that there is a vocal percentage of TD users (paying and free) that tend to wander away fromo TD to other task management systems, only to come back to TD - not out of great love, but rather because TD has a good 'core' product. One day, a competitor of TD may build an equally strong 'core' product and win us all away for good. The best way to win over your customers for good is to add the 'bells and whistles' that they find in other products... then you make the other products more 'redundant'. I know that you can't be 'all things to all people', but I believe that you can build a future development list that is based more on market trends. You may see this as commoditization of TD. But, rather I see it as a way to build upon your 'core' success. I've seen comments in the past from TD administrators that indicate that they do not want to be 'pressured' by their customers to deliver, by making any commitments of any specific future development roadmap. And when I see those comments, I wonder if I shouldn't be looking for another task management support, because that doesn't sound like a business philosophy at all. Will I wake up one day and find that the operation has 'folded up' and gone away? I don't think that this is the TD philosophy. But its comments and feature releases hints at it being simply someone's pet project. That causes someone like me to think that I might be wise to 'invest' in a more long-term tool for my business success. Would I be wiser to look elsewhere, TD?!?! This message was edited May 05, 2012.
Jake Toodledo Founder	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Jake (Founder) Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Like I said before, this was a contractor's side project and did not take our time away from our more important priorities.
Purveyor	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 1 Reference Purveyor Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 1 Reference Posted by Mark.M: I've seen comments in the past from TD administrators that indicate that they do not want to be 'pressured' by their customers to deliver, by making any commitments of any specific future development roadmap. And when I see those comments, I wonder if I shouldn't be looking for another task management support, because that doesn't sound like a business philosophy at all. Will I wake up one day and find that the operation has 'folded up' and gone away? Actually, it is not the "TD administrators". It is one guy: Jake Olefsky, the owner, developer and administrator of Toodledo, but there is no info on the Toodledo site about him or his team. Remember the Milk has eleven people: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/about/ Omni Group (makers of OmniFocus) has 24: http://www.omnigroup.com/company/people/ Nozbe is primarily Michael Sliwinski with a team of 8: Apivision. Appigo (makers of Todo) has a team of 7 guys. The most powerful task management that I've seen was developed primarily by one guy, Andrey Tkachuk, but there is no info about him on this website: http://www.mylifeorganized.net/ Jake is a very smart guy and he has done a lot of things right with Toodledo. His basic approach has been to throw in a lot of features and make those features available at an attractive price. In some ways it his "pet project" but I'm sure that Jake wants Toodledo to succeed as a business, and, I think that, as far as he is concerned, Jake has succeeded. It is clear, though, that he doesn't have the money and resources to take Toodledo to the next level. One day, a competitor of TD may build an equally strong 'core' product and win us all away for good. I agree. But, so far, companies like Google and Apple haven't come close to developing a product that beats Toodledo. This message was edited May 05, 2012.
Jake Toodledo Founder	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Jake (Founder) Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference For the record, Toodledo has two full time employees and several part time contractors. It is a full time business, definitely not a "pet project". We are currently hiring.
Purveyor	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Purveyor Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 0 Reference Posted by Toodledo: Like I said before, this was a contractor's side project and did not take our time away from our more important priorities. The contractor got paid, right? Whether it is time, money or effort, there is a cost for everything. In this particular case, you decided that the benefit was worth the cost. Others in this thread disagree with you. This message was edited May 05, 2012.
Mark.M	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: -1 Reference Mark.M Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: -1 Reference My intention in my earlier post was not to insult, but simply point out that TD as a business could benefit from developing and publishing a 'roadmap' of what it sees coming over the horizon. There will always be people that will want everything NOW. But, for most of us, it would just help to have confidence that TD - a productive tool that most of us rely upon daily (if not hourly), has a future set that will continue to meet all of our evolving needs. I appreciate everything that the TD team has done. And I believe that TD is a great product. I rely upon it. As a marketing guy myself, I am just seeing some missed opportunities to gain more customer 'buy in' to the product and excitement around future feature sets.
allan_1310296117	Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 3 Reference allan_1310296117 Posted: May 05, 2012 Score: 3 Reference I am amazed by some complaining about a software that costs $29 a year. I am a home builder and we use an industry leading project management software that costs us $3,000 a year. We've been using Toodledo to manage daily tasks and it is more effective than the software costing 100 times more.