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Ask HN: What are you using for task tracking?

3 pointsjrussbowman12 comments

I am curious what other people are using for task tracking. I haven't found one that I have been comfortable using so have basically been using a doc for data and calendar for reminders. I have been tossing around the idea of building an app for it to meet the requirements of my current work flow. I thought I would see what other people are using first to see if there is something like what I want already out there before I enter what appears to be an already competitive market.

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I have used: Trac, Redmine, Basecamp, Trello, FeatureZen, ActiveCollab, and a few others (including in-house trackers that I helped to build).

They vary wildly from far too technical for clients to use (Trac, Redmine); to too rigid to handle fast moving tasks (Trac and Redmine again, ActiveCollab); to too simple for complex/long-lifed/complex tasks (Basecamp, Trello).

FeatureZen is a pretty new addition to the stack (made by someone here at HN) and it's showing promise, but it's still very young.

I also came across sprint.ly recently, and thought that it looked interesting. I've put much thought into making a task tracker that fits "the real world" (whatever that may be), but every time I think too hard about it, I baulk at the size of the task.

In short; find something that suits your style, use it. If you need something different, don't be afraid of using two things for different situations. It becomes a bit of a nightmare to manage, but if it's just you, then it's easier to keep on top of it.

I've tried several myself, mainly time trackers though. I came to the realization that time tracking wasn't as useful for me because I never remember to stop the clock. Especially since my job generally has be doing multiple things at once.

My task tracking right now is just simple notes of what I've done today. Later when I need to bill hours to different budget numbers I can go through the list as generally remember how much time I spent on each item in the list.

What I've found recently is I've been adding more notes and also putting todos in the same list. I also have a separate calendar reminder to make sure I fill out my list at the end of the day. It's starting to get complicated enough I'm considering throwing some code at it.

Just to be a little more clear. Professionally I'm a sysadmin not a developer. So generally I spend my time supporting at least several different projects a day while also getting all the KLO done. At my place of work some projects have different budgets, so I have to track my time to make sure I'm billing the correct budget number.

This is what I'm looking to improve on. Right now I basically track it all in a doc, simple dates with a list under them of what I've done. When it comes time to fill my timesheet I got back and look at it day by day.

I've been using Asana for the past few days. It doesn't look bad, works well in terms of assigning tasks, and putting dates/deadlines on specific tasks. (i.e. Work on task X today with email reminders). I like it and it's free for unto 30 users on one project.

Clickable: https://asana.com/

Went from Trac to Redmine for code centric projects and just started to use Teambox for projects that involve non-coders. My main requirements are: Option to host it myself and the ability to read and modify the code.

Funny, I was just looking around for a task/diary tool. Thanks to the commenters, I looked at Trello. So far, it's fits pretty well with my needs. And it's free (at least for 1 or 2 users)..

I have used Pivotal Tracker for a couple of small projects. I would say it is worth a try, so long as you are willing to buy-in to the somewhat unusual model it uses.

For personal tasks - pen and notebook.

For my team I use Trello. It's perfect.

Taskwarrior is pretty cool... it has a fully command line based interface.

Try out Trello to see if it works for your workflow.

Trello looks interesting for my side projects. Going to check it out. Not sure it's a good fit for my professional needs yet. However, not ruling it out until I've spent some time with it, thanks.

Trello, right now. Very pleased with it.

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