ToDoOrElse.com

Picking up steam on a Roadmap Friday

Assuming the power stays on in my little corner of the universe, RC2 and the revised web site should happen this weekend. At that point, we will be selling MasterList Professional.

Beta Testers will of course be the first to know, and I will be extremely interested in getting feedback on the revised site. More info soon.

Look for that email!

-Be seeing you!

Roadmap Friday on a Friday II

While I've gotten a few bug reports, no showstoppers so far.  Now it's time to put on the web design and marketing hats and get www.safarisoftware.com prepped for MLP's rollout.

-Be seeing you!

It's done!

Just a quick note to let any beta testers reading this know:

I just finished MasterList Professional.

Later today after the install is set, expect to see an email with download instructions for Release Candidate 1. Yes, I won't be surprised if a few more bugs surface and yes! I want your suggestions and feedback. But all features have been coded, all open bugs fixed and all help topics written.

-Be seeing you!

Roadmap Friday on a Saturday

Fix 5 to the current Beta will be out in a few days and with a bit of luck that will be the final beta before we release MasterList Professional. Initially, MasterList Professional will cost $24.95 (USD), and provide up to a 14 day free trial period.

Once we release, my first priority will be tech support: both providing ever-increasing amounts and types of information about how to get the most value out of MasterList Professional and addressing and fixing bugs as they surface.

Also, I will be restarting Tip or the Week, my free weekly “advice column” on ways of using Microsoft Office to get what you want done. While the format will change, the concept will not: provide insight and useful techniques so you can do more with Excel, Word, Outlook and the other Microsoft Office applications.

Be seeing you!

MasterList Recommends...

This may be a radical notion, but I think that software should make your life easier, even if that means offering an opinion when you have no interest in hearing it.

That’s why on the Home Tab of MasterList Professional there’s a MasterList Status pane which gives you all sorts of overview statistics on your tasks and projects. Actually, the stats are an incentive to look at  the “MasterList Recommends” recommendations at the bottom of the pane.

These recommendations are fairly sophisticated: If you haven’t looked at them lately, they are worth a quick review.

Also, Fix 4 is now out, fixing a whole slew of bugs. Unfortunately, it’s as a full install instead of a patch, because sometimes my install software has its own opinions of what I should be able to do or not!

Eight is enough?

Like any tool or method there are a few “best practices” which will help you get the most out of MasterList Professional. Here are eight small but useful best practices to keep in mind. Please feel free to post your MasterList Professional best practices and tips at www.safariforums.com!

Best Practices

1. Break big Tasks into smaller Tasks. Smaller tasks are easier to do, to schedule and increase the number of productivity points you earn!

2. Use the Projects Overview to stay on top of approaching Deadlines and work in progress. Lots of Red, trouble ahead! Too much Green, time to focus the beam!

3. Use Keywords to group similar Tasks across Projects. Use keywords like - Call, Email, Shop and Clean up to group activities that can productively be done together regardless of project.

4. The more views you have, the more control you have. For example there's the By Deadline view, the Easy/Mindless view, the Make Point view and the Quick to do view. Set up different views of your Tasks to give you the list you need when you need it.

5. Save time and typing with the Task Catalog. Any task you do - or should be doing - on a regular basis is a good candidate for the Task Catalog.

6. Pay attention to the MasterList Status Pane on the Home Tab. You can go directly to any overdue task, and the MasterList Recommends section offers good advice.

7. Keep Project Names short. That way, they display better in the Projects List.

8. Use the Mouse Scroll Wheel. With it, you can scroll up and down any list and with the Option Key down, increase or decrease the size to text in all Help Topics.