I'm sorry, this should actually be listed in the "feature" section I think.

@Japhir
Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.

Q:Generally, I think that all "properties" of a task should be treated somewhat equally across all views and platforms. They should all be editable in the same way, visible in the relevant lists and groupable in all the lists. This would also allow all the properties to be batch-editable by dragging them around, hitting hotkeys or right-click (long-press on mobile) and adjusting them in the menu.
A: We will redesign the task editing page which will make it more convenient. We have the plan to make it possible to be batch-editable.
It is a little hard to show all tags on the task bar especially for mobile apps.
Do you mean that you want to add different colors for the project name on the task bar?

Q: They should all be editable in the same large "edit task" view (same as the "create task view"). This should always be in one click! Android's "edit more" is really annoying since I usually edit it to set a deadline.
- right now this means that "time estimated" should be added across all platforms.
- right now it would mean that the "star" attribute should be separated from the in/next/someday/scheduled box, so that one can add "waiting" tasks and someday tasks to your focus as well. It should then also be editable in this view.
A: We will do a research on this issue and improve it.

Q: You should be able to group actions by all properties in all views
- Right now we're missing group by time estimated in the next list.
- Group by project/deadline/priority/time estimated in the context and project views.
A: 1. We have the plan to add group by time estimated.
2. We will take it into consideration.

Best regards,
Doit.im Team

@Japhir

I agree very much with the whole long list you make.

Among the already existing features that are nicely implemented I would like to particularly emphasize the priority indicator. This is very discreet and very easy to see. I totally depend on this for knowing which things I need to review during each kind of list review. In my weekly review I look at Nexta nd Waiting and red and blue someday. In my morning review I look at red and blue Next and Waiting only. In reviews during the day I primarily look at red Next and Waiting (and situational items, e.g. particular contexts etc).

The priority feature is the main reason I chose Doit over Nirvana.

Among the things you mentioned that are not so good in Doit I particularly want to emphasize its exceptionally baroque way (from a GTD point of view) of handling "starred" items ("Today" items), I totally agree with your suggestions. This is also the main reason that I am constantly looking out for a better app - that has priorities AND a proper star/focus feature (and is good "in general").

I also agree with your views on Contexts and Tags. These typically represent situational prerequisites for being able to do the task. Of course these must all be visible in the list. Of course you must be able to apply more than one. Of course you want to be able to group your lists by some "main subset" of them and have the rest "belong under" those main contexts. Of course you want to be able to quick filter your list by any combination of them.

The only thing among your suggestions that I do not agree strongly with is "estimated time". Although I agree in principle that this might be a useful feature for some people, it is nothing I would ever want to use myself. It simply takes too much time to enter and is too unreliable and too dependent on circumstances. For example: How long does it take to "Buy bread"? (Depends on where you are starting from; the next aisle in the shop, other shop in the same mall, your office, your jacuzzi?). Or how long does it take to "Draft contract" (depends on what difficulties you encounter; what mood you are in, what interruptions you have etc). For me it would suffice - and be a lot better - to just have the simple option to mark exceptional tasks as either "Low effort" or "High effort" and have the default be "Normal effort" (no clicking required). (And the same goes for priority. I would prefer the default to be Normal.)

Recently I've been looking at todoist, but I've found that while it does all look snazzy and hip, the backbone is much worse than doit.im. (Can't select multiple tasks easily, no "next action" list etc.) The reason I've been looking around is indeed the weird behaviour we both mentioned in our long posts ;).

I guess you're right about the time estimated. I don't use it right now because of bad implementation, but I can see how I would run into trouble when trying to assign it to more complex tasks, rendering it ineffective in filtering.

I'm even considering programming an app with the features exactly the way I'd like them to be together with a friend of mine, but I'd definitely prefer doit.im to simply make the requested adjustments and keep taking my money ;).

Here are some mockups made with my awesome paint skills. ;).

Looks great. Please let me sign up if you decide to develop it ;-)

BTW, I agree about Todoist. I used that many years ago. I have also used and left RTM and Toodledo. (RTM has the same priority indicators as Doit - I wonder who copied who.)

Nirvana is the best GTD app, IMO, except they do not have colored priorities that I have decided to depend on quite heavily. But they seem to be in some kind of a revitalization stage now, with two new mobile apps in beta testing and other changes pending (after years of silence), so if they introduce colored priorities I might well move back. Very fast, very reliable app that has almost everything I need and very few nonsense features.

I really missed the quick-add feature in Nirvana. It really is quite amazing in doit. Basically I stopped using Nirvana only because their free version allows you to use only 5 projects so I couldn't really test it properly. Then I found doit.im, was very satisfied but missed the instant-sync the pro account offers so I bought a pro license (I'd stick to this business model! The Free version is good enough for regular Joe's, but gets really annoying if you want to use it intensively!)

- tags SHOULD BE VISIBLE at all times (unless you are currently viewing that tag, like the boxes?)! Just like contexts. (On a related side-note: contexts should be treated as tags normally are: you can add multiple to one task).

+ 1000!!!
Assign colors to tags. This makes for nice, quick visual cues when scanning lists of actions. Assign colors to existing tags by right-clicking on them, either in the main window, the context bar, or when manging tags via the tag library dialog.

@Japhir

“This week ‘ — In that will tasks wirh the starting time and / or deeadlina this week. This is sorely missed

@Folke

Niravana / This well-made service area

Hi there wendy_only, have you read the comments that were added after your initial response? :)

@Japhir
Hi,

Yes. Thank you for your suggestions. Some of your suggestion need change not only the UI but also the logic. We need be careful. We will do a research on them and take them into consideration. Thank you.

Best regards,
Doit.im Team

Yes I see, adjusting the actual variables that are stored in the database is obviously harder to do than just move around already present page-elements. I'd still urgently advise you to do so though :).

Thanks again for at least acknowledging the input of your users!

@Japhir and @wendy_only

One of the difficulties that I imagine the Doit team are facing is the fact that they have a very diverse user group. Particularly as regards the "correct" handling of starred (Today) tasks there is a huge divide between those users who follow David Allen's GTD and those users who follow some form of date planning practice. I assume Doit wants to be able to accommodate both categories of users even if they have very different requirements.

let me try to explain this by beginning with the term "Next action". This has a very different meaning for a GTDer and a "scheduling" person:

- For the GTDer the term "Next action" means any action that I personally WILL do sooner or later (today or some other day), where the choice of date is not restricted by any objective (external) factors either to any particular day (called Calendar action, such as an agreed appointment) or to sometime after a particular future date (called Tickler action, such as buying tickets that will go on sale only next month). I can do the next action whenever I find a suitable opportunity, which may turn out to be anytime from now onwards without limitation. A next action remains to be a next action until it is completed.

- For the "scheduling" person the term "Next action" typically seems to mean "not yet scheduled" and/or "of secondary importance". The "scheduling" person likes to put dates on most tasks that have at least some importance, and therefore the Next list in practice tends to get used as a "lower priority" list, a "spares" list.

If we now turn our eyes to the Today list it becomes apparent that it has two very different kinds of significance to the GTDer and to the "scheduler":

- To the GTDer the Today list tends to be just a very convenient summary of "hot options" and "bear in mind" notes for today or the next few hours, and perhaps also a copy of today's appointments. All of the information on the Today list is expected to still exist intact in the places where they really belong. For example, your appointments are still expected to stay on the Calendar, your Next actions are still next actions expected to stay on the Next list, a starred Waiting for action such as an expected delivery is still expected to remain on the Waiting list, and so on. The Today list is just a convenient summary of what has been starred on other lists. It becomes a major obstacle if items are moved away from their "home list" just because you have starred them. I know of many GTD followers who have left Doit because of this. A GTDer wants the Next list to be complete and correct - all next actions should be on it, both starred and unstarred.

- To the "scheduler" the Today list is a firmly decided list of actions that you have undertaken to complete. When a next action has been starred, this is taken as a final decision, and the action is not even wanted on the "spares list" (the Next list) anymore. You'd just want your true "spares" on the "spares" list. I can understand that.

So, how can Doit accommodate the requirements of both categories of users? I have a simple suggestion:

1) Change (simplify) the underlying logic such that Doit has the ability to retain all starred items on their "home lists" (just like all other todo apps and Gmail etc). In other words, make the star to be just like a "flag" or "tag" that changes nothing else when you click it on or off. The only effect is that the star changes its color. When the star is "on" the task will also be shown on the Today list.
2) Introduce a preference setting called "Hide starred items". The GTDer would leave this off, but the "scheduler" would turn this on, which would result in starred items being hidden whenever you look at the Next list (and Waiting and Someday).

I LOVE the suggestions that @Japhir made in his two pictures!!
I think this will also solve the 'star' problem described above by @Folke, because he calls these items 'Focus' items. I very much agree with this. (Yes, I'm a GTD practitioner)
For items that really should be done today, I always use a due date. I think that will also work for non-GTD practitioners.

Also VERY important: show TAGS in the left sidebar. Coloured tags would be very helpful.

We read carefully about everything above, thank you so much for these great suggestions, and we will make Doit easier to use for everyone.