I’ve tried every form of planning/productivity software out there. I’ve tried mind maps. They work a little, but not essentially for me.
I’ve tried all the Personal Information Managers out there (known as PIM’s). I’m not kidding when I say it. Outlook, Get the Milk (sorry, can’t remember the name), Evernote, Agenda At Once (one of the best), one whose name escapes me but is actually designed more for writers (you can create a subject/to-do and write scraps of thoughts connected to it – great for planning out non-fiction).
I hear a lot of people use Trello. A producer who I worked with last year swore by Asana, and I was able to get that set up.
Trello’s strengths are also its limitations. You have three columns, Plan, in progress, done. I’m sure you can tweak that a little, but essentially that’s what you’ve got. You add “writer’s platform June 1-6” in the plan section. Once you star working on that, you move it to the “in progress” column. And when it’s done, well. I think you can figure that out.
If you end up with dependent tasks, I’m not sure you can set those up to use dependencies. For instance, you should be able to add “Twitter” beneath that. “Nicholas Reicher” web site. “LinkedIn”.
Add a different task. “Pirate novel.” Sub dependencies of “Save The Cat.” “21 point sheet.” “60 point sheet.” “Synopsis.” “Write”. “Structural Edit”. “Grammatical edit”. “Filter Word edit”. “Forbidden word edit”. “Read Through/Poke Edit 1”. “Read Through/Poke Edit 2”. “ProWritingAid Edit”. “Read Through/Poke Edit 3”. “Final ProWritingAid Edit.” “Query Letter”. “Deliver to agent for shopping.” “Sign publishing contract.” “Galleys”. “Corrections”. “Cover proofs”. “Published.”
With this many sub-dependent tasks, Trello probably isn’t for me. Asana seems to work better. The only thing I’d REALLY like is a desktop program (”Apps” are for phones, “Programs” are on PC’s), and an Android app. With the way I work, I’d almost need all this open all the time. I guess if I just have an Android App, I can adjust my to-do’s. UPDATE: They do. Asana Android App
Asana also has a GREAT system by which you can connect to other Asana users when collaborating on projects. If you think you’d forget to use it, you can set up Asana to email you daily to remind you.
Using the descriptions above, which system do you think works best for you, your planning process… and why?
