introduction
So. My past few app reviews have been for calendaring solutions. The first couple were all inclusive, containing both event management and project management (if in a clunky way) and the third had some basic task management capabilities built in as well (although was not nearly as robust a solution). It was that third, Calvetica, that I landed on as my calendaring app of choice. It was easy to use, easy to input data into, and did just what I needed done, excepting project management. It’s this that I’ll turn to now. And I’ll review the first great program of the category that I have run across. It’s called Voodo (try and let the name not turn you away; perhaps a poor choice, but still a good app, and it might be perfect for your needs).
So what is Voodo? Voodo is a robust task management solution, that allows you to input the tasks that you have, along with their relevant details, and then get to work on them. It does a couple of clever things on top of this, as well, that might interest you.
the likes
As I previously said, this was the first good solution that I came across. Not perfect, mind you, but quite good.
The stand out feature, to me, was its google calendar integration. It’s not something I saw done in other task/project management apps, and was quite unique. It’s not a google tasks integration either. Rather, it creates a new calendar called “Voodo”, and tasks are uploaded as all day events onto it. If the task has a due date, it’s put on that date. If it doesn’t, well, they are made timeless and synced somewhere as well. This implementation is nice for a couple of reasons:
It gives you quick access to your tasks from anywhere, regardless of whether you have the app with you. All you need is access to your google calendar (which is easy to get on any phone with data or computer connected to the ‘net).
It also provides a backup in case anything happens. Hopefully the importance of this speaks for itself.
When tasks are completed, rather than removing them from the calendar, they are marked with a “+” at the beginning of the task name, creating a historical record on the calendar as well. All in all, the google calendar integration is quite a compelling feature.
It doesn’t all the creation of projects, so to speak, but allows the addition of tags to the task, so you are able to group them in this manner. Tags are a great means of categorization, and provide the ability to drill down into our tasks pretty quickly.
Speaking of the tasks, you can add location and people contexts to each, and add notes, set dates, and prioritize (4 levels). And everything can be sorted by these things (excepting notes).
the dislikes
My biggest dislike is probably the lack of projects. Like I said, tags are quite nice, and helpful, but it’d be nice to be able to group tasks together in a more coherent way. For example, I will often have a project where things need to be done in succession, and it’d be nice to be able to more specifically set this (rather than doing it generically with the due dates and tags).
It also makes google calendar “clunky”. If you have a lot of tasks, it adds a lot of info onto your calendar. This isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but it does add some unnecessary clutter. I wish there was a way to create the tasks as time specific events, rather than all day events.
The interface also works quite nicely, but isn’t the prettiest to look at. Again, not a dealbreaker by any means, but something keeping it in the good not great category.
conclusion
As I started by saying, Voodo is a great app. If you need a simple, straightforward task management application with pretty sweet google calendar integration, look no further. It’s inexpensive too. My final verdict is 4 out of 5 stars.
