Firetask | Task List & Planner 4+

A Good Start to a useful GTD Tool

I recently got dropped into a failing program spanning 9 strategic project initiatives. The epic failure was a $50M project that has 4 dependencies on other projects that are all delayed and chaos abound. This kind of failure at epic purportions requires a person to think quick, strike first, and use any tools you can find to gather information by project, assign tasks, monitor, and GTD. I have used Microsoft OneNote and Things, but neither could give me the dashboard view I needed for immediate actions. I tried Omni Focus, but gave up on it. I have been searching for medium weight productivity tool that I would grow dependent on for my job, and not get bored with and forgotton about with all the other apps that have not met my needs.

I stumbled upon FireTask Pro by accident, was a bit taken back by the price, but it showed some promise of the integrated GTD toolset I believed may work in my personal workflow. Here is a quick list of feedback.....

1. Documentation how to use all the features is bit light. More FAQ or "How-To" tips would be helpful. Only reason for taking a star, or I would rate a 5-star.
2. Not much on YouTube to offer. I plan to share my experiences there in the next few weeks. A few quick tips will make this app useful even faster after purchase.
3. Once you figure out the basic concepts to enter contributors, projects ~ you will be off to the races. Took me a bit figure out the logic how to use the app, but once I did I became extremely efficient using it.
4. Already communicated to the developer how adding the contributors from the Mac Contacts app was clunky. He agreed a future feature. I ended up figuring out a manual workaround that is fast and achieves the same goal. Will post on youtube.

I also purchased for my iPad Pro and my iPhone. Although pricy, both apps are stable, and mimic the desktop version perfectly. iCloud Sync works as designed.

Best thing I can say is, I actually look forward to getting into this app everyday. It makes me feel in control, on top of the important tasks, and makes me feel I am adding value to my client.

Worth the price of admission!

I’ve tried a number of task/todo/kanban apps. I tried bending these others into a good GTD workflow, but each ended up leaving overwhelmed - either with a long list of tasks, or with the work involved in managing the tasks in the app. I tried the eval on this one and found a winner, and promptly purchased when the trial ran out. Firetask gives you a focused view of your tasks, is easy to add tasks, and gives you plenty of options for tagging. If you want, you can even view them in Kanban form, though I find Kanban less useful in digital form. The Today and Next 3 day views are indispensable to me on a daily basis. This app will help you stay focused on what needs to get done. It can be a little daunting at first, just create some sample items, play with the tagging, and soon you’ll understand what works best for you. The iCloud sync works well too, so with the companion iOS app, you won't be disconnected from your tasks. Don’t waste your time looking at other apps, this one has what you need.

Updated review

Disappointed in that this update did not address any of my "cons". Tried to see the new kanban view types and could not see that with categories.

Previous review
Pros:
1. iCloud sync (keep your data private) is flawless!
2. Highly customizable
3. Kanban
4. Stable (never lost data with years of use)
5. Good documentation
6. Detail sidebar with actions lists (subtasks), notes and attachments for every note.
7. Nice project details.

Cons:
1. Tasks in the Kanban view need to display an icon if the task has a note, and display the number of total subtasks and how many done (like 0/8 or 1/4, ..). This is really important to me; Kanban is the only view I use.
2. If you are in any other view, all subtasks (called here actions) are displayed under the task increasing the size the task occupies in the view area. A simple count of done over total tasks is enough, or make the subtasks list collapsible. We can always see these subtasks in the “actions” tab in the “Detail Sidebar”.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback -- we really like the idea of showing only counts for actions (at least in the Kanban view). We will also think about a setting allowing you to show the counts instead of the full list of actions in the full-width task lists.