Overview of changes and suggestions

Beta Testing Stage Feedback
1

Hi Sergio and GTDN-team,

Thanks a lot for the invitation to test the beta version of TaskScale and be part of the development process. Highly appreciated!

First, I have to say that - even though I just recently started using GTDNext - I am a huge fan. For me, it is really the #1 tool that I have seen (and I tested around 10 others tools in comparison). You have done an awesome job to build and refine this tool. For me, it is near perfection, with two major features, i.e.

• multi-item-selection and bulk edit → not addressed in the update
• repeating nodes being copied on the scheduled date with all children → addressed in the update

plus some further nice-to-have features, i.e.

• drop-down menu for directly editing nodes in the outline → addressed in the update
• conditional tag filtering and → unclear if solved in the update
• calendar view and 2-way integration → not addressed in the update

would make it even more powerful. For details, see also my posts in the forum in May this year.

To summarize, I’m extremely pleased with the current version of GTDNext. Having now tested the new update, however, I agree with Deepak and must admit that I’m not really enthusiastic but rather worried. For me, many great features that I got to love in GTDNext, are (yet) missing in TaskScale, with only the new ‘repeating nodes’ feature appears as clear improvement in my view.

I totally understand that this is yet a beta version, and you are still in the midst of the development process. So, I’m very pleased and happy to share my - elaborative - view and I’m looking forward to your comments and the further development of TaskScale:

• Area/ Workspaces: I must admit, I do not see the benefit of the feature change. Yes, it would be a nice feature to have a view solely on an area or workspace level, however, this appears possible already nowadays in GTDNext by using the area filter or by zooming into projects (e.g. I created one ‘project’ folder for each area that I use → which would then exactly match the new area view/ functionality in TaskScale). Additionally, I really love!!! the current way in GTDNext to be able to have a complete picture with all actions and projects across all my areas shown in one single view. This is actually a must feature and would be really missing (so far) in the new set-up where nodes are now being spreads across both areas AND workspaces and can only be regarded in separate views
• Node Tree (Outline): See above. For me, having a selected Area and Workspace view is nice; yet, having a complete view with all the nodes (Projects and Actions) across all areas and workspaces is extremely valuable for me and is one of the key USP of GTDNext for me, which would get lost in the new set-up!!!
• Node Tree item type: Node: the change is fine for me
• Node Tree item type: Project, Action: one question here: as only direct children of Projects are Actions, how are ‘single actions’ treated that do not belong to a project? Do they need to be set up as a checklist or put under a project folder to be labelled ‘Single Actions’? If yes, this appears inconsistent for me from a logical point of view, but does not represent a major obstacle for me.
• Node Tree item type: Checklist: The change makes sense for me. One question: I understand ‘Info’ items are now being replaced by ‘checklist’ items. Is this a correct understanding?
• Inbox: I must admit, I really do not like this changed feature. In GTDNext, inbox items appear in the overall ‘Project & Action’ view, which is extremely helpful as I actually seldom use the ‘Inbox’ in GTDNex itself but predominately use the complete ‘Project & Action’ view where I actually do most of the new item entries and directly add context and categorize them very efficiently within the outline hierarchy per ‘drag-n-drop’ into the different project folders (see also my comment above on the importance of the ‘complete view’). Now in TaskScale, this would be much less convenient with additional steps being required: first, in the separate Inbox page, one needs to allocate each individual new item to the workspaces by using the drop-down menu ‘move to’ (and if one is operating currently in the ‘wrong’ area, one would additionally need change the area first) and then subsequently in the workspaces, one needs to map the items to the projects.
• Waiting and Someday status: I must admit, I like the current set-up in GTDNext much more. First, having separate lists for all the items a) Waiting for and b) Someday on the left pane is a very cool feature. Second, the currently applied color coding for the 5 node types (inbox items, active, scheduled, waiting and someday) is extremely useful as visual support, which appears now being abandoned. Third, applying tags for #waiting and #someday brings in more complexity, i.e. making the lists / outline look much more busy, especially if one is already making extensive use of tags for other contexts (see also my comment below on ‘Tag display’)
• Tags: three observations here:

  1. Tag entry: Good change in my view in how tags are now being added
  2. Tag filtering: Additionally, I like the function of a search functionality
    ○ Yet, I really love the filter bar on the top in GTDNext. It gives a great overview of all search terms at once, allows to quickly select those that are needed and allows to filter by both tags and areas (see above: having a complete view with all areas included in one single view would be awesome as well as to be able to filter across areas / workspaces) as well as to filter by priority, items with due dates and focus items + hide complete items at the same time. Having only the search function, as it would now be implemented with TaskScale, would be much less convenient in my view and limits search functionality, e.g. to be able to search for all priority items with a specific tag in a specific area
    ○ Additionally, it appears that the search functionality is not yet properly working. Sometimes, it gives me not all tagged items searched for and sometimes the search results show items that had a similar but different tag than actually searched for
    ○ Question: Is it possible with the new search functionality to filter by various search terms using conditional statements and if so, how, e.g.
    □ AND condition: Show all items that match both tag A AND B
    □ OR condition: Show all items that match tag A OR B
  3. Tag display: The current way in GTDNext in how tags are shown in the outline is very pleasant and neat as they are illustrated in smaller font and lighter, grew color at the right side of the node separate from the node text. With the changed feature, the UI looks much more busy (with the tags following directly after the node texts with larger font, underlined, the same black color as the node text and even highlighted bold for projects) and it is thereby much harder to visually distinguish between tags from the actual node text

• Today/Daily Planner page: I still have to test this feature and will give my feedback later
• Focus: I was using this feature in GTDNext extensively and I would really miss it in the new environment!
• Repeating Nodes: I still have to test this feature and will give my feedback later, but this sounds very promising and a great improvement to the current set-up in GTDNext (one of the two major (in my view yet missing) features that I mentioned in my intro)

Apart from comments to your list of feature changes, I wanted to share my comments on additional observations:
• Edit Notes:
○ In GTDNext, being able to directly write notes in the right pane was very efficient. Now, one more step (click) is needed to open the notes window for a single node, which makes it less convenient
○ Formatting: GTDNext allows easier formatting (with more options being displayed) and especially it provides the ability to insert tables, which I understand is (yet) not possible in TaskScale
• Left pane → some nice features / lists in GTDNext appear to have been abandoned in TaskScale
○ Outline under ‘Projects & Actions’ on the left pane: I really like the outline of the projects on the left pane in GTDNext, which helps to quickly zoom into various project folders. In TaskScale, this functions appears now to be abandoned
○ ‘Someday’ and ‘Waiting’: Both are very helpful as separate lists in GTDNext (see also my comment above on the feature change). The same holds true for the ‘Scheduled’ list. Having one single view with all scheduled dates is really helpful. In TaskScale, it appears that this function is only available for recurring items
○ Tags: Having a list of all tags proofs to be very useful in keeping an overview. If one was able to amend (add, change, delete) tags in the list - similar to the ‘Area’ menu in GTDNext - this would be even better. In TaskScale, this overview, however, now is completely missing
○ Archive: When an item has been accidentally deleted, it is a good way in GTDNext to look into the archive and undo any unwanted change. Is there an Archive planned in TaskScale / where to find it?
• Outline UI: the outline in GTDNext, e.g. under the Scheduled list or Next Actions, is very neat, with information on node type (inbox items, active, scheduled, waiting and someday + coloring for each type), due dates, node text, project family tree, tags, areas, focus and priority nicely separated in individual columns. The current view, in TaskScale (yet) looks a bit messy
• Text entry: I faced some problems when entering text, i.e. in order to get a spacing between words, I currently experience trouble, needing to double click on the spacing button. Otherwise, if it is only clicked once, the text appears without spacing
• Shortcuts: The current GTDNext shortcuts seem to be not yet implemented, but I assume this feature would follow

I know, this was a long list of observations with a rather critical angle. Nonetheless, I hope you appreciate my feedback. You see that I really fall in love with GTDNext. In my view, GTDNext is awesome and would be good to stay in the current form without the need of a complete overhaul but just some minor additional features to be added (see my wish list in the intro and suggestions by other users). In contrast, TaskScale, in its current form (and again, I totally understand, it is yet a beta version), would be a clear downgrade in functionality and UI for me with many beloved features missing in the current version. If I’m honest, if I had to make my choice today on whether to transition to TaskScale, I would really need to think at least twice.

In this regard, if I can be of any further help, e.g. with further feedback / clarification, please let me know. I’m really a big fan of GTDNext and very interested to staying with you guys. Looking forward to your updates!

Warm regards,

Marcel

1 Like
2

Hello Marcel,

Thank you for trying TaskScale.net.

What a great review, I moved it to a separate topic because it definitely deserves one.

Generally, as I mentioned before on the forum, TaskScale.net is rather a completely new product, than an update to the GTDNext. Though we tried to take as much from GTDNext as possible. So some things are missing and some are introduced here.

Area/ Workspaces.

It’s a key change from GTDNext. Though having all the data in one outline has some convenience, Areas and Workspaces add some minimal structure to the data. And it allows us to build features on this structure. Like sharing. We may consider adding some view like Everything in the future.

Single Actions are not implemented. It may be done as a single Project item. It brings some inconvenience but doesn’t look critical.

Node Tree item type: Checklist

Not exactly correct. Ex Info nodes are currently Nodes - the default node type. It just holds info, can’t be checked, won’t appear in the Next Actions.

Checklist is a type of node that all of it’s children are also checklists. But if put under the project, only top-level checklist will get to the Next Action list. It makes sense when you have some action with sub-actions (really small steps to perform) and you don’t want anything below the action appear in the Next Actions. Combined with Projects and Sub-projects it gives much better flexibility to control the Next Action list.

Inbox

As we don’t have the complete outline now, we have a separate list for the inbox. I agree that sorting Inbox gets harder now. We already have plans to enhance Move To tool to make it easier to move the node anywhere within the data structure. And maybe move tools to come.

Waiting and Someday status

That’s something we are thinking about in terms of implementation.

Tags. Tag Filtering.

As of now tags have limited functionality in TaskScale.net. You can add tags and search by tags. We may consider filtering by tags in the future.

Tag Display.

There are two ways of having tags within an item: attaching tags as a separate list (as in GTDNext) or embedding tags into the Node’s text. As the second option seems to be more widely used we decided to go this way.

Search

Search is intended to be a powerful tool. We have created a kind of search queries language, so you can search based on multiple attributes. For example $p:high - displays items with high priority. Or, just as an example: $p:high #meeting $d:next-week. It finds nodes with high priority, tag meeting and Due Date within the next week. (This example won’t work now as some expressions are still in progress, but $p:high #meeting will).

Spaces define the AND relation between expressions.

Focus

Focus will be implemented in some way, either as focus or starred node or favorite.

I will wrap up here. Regarding the following items, we have plans to address most of the issues this or that way. Our current goal is to finish the launch of the product and focus on the next steps.

3

Dear Marcel,

Let me, please, also express my admiration for your participation!
It really helps us to do our best.
I found that you noticed some issues in TaskScale.
Could I kindly ask you to add these problems in our new category here as a new topic?
And if you also could give us more details/description of them it would be great!

Thank you for your amazing feedback!

4

Thanks Olga. Ok, will do so.

5

Hi Sergio,

Thanks for your reply and moving ‘me’ to a separate topic :smile:. I can fully understand the build of a new tool from scratch using a modern tack stack and I stay curious to see the new version once launched. I hope, though, that UI and functionality in TaskScale - after further development and implementing some (hopefully most :wink:) of the feedback - will at least be on the same level, hopefully even better than in GTDNext.

Area/ Workspaces.
I can understand your rationale with the new structure offering new feature options, e.g. sharing possibilities. Yet, for me, as I said, having a complete view is key. If this was not possible in the future, I might not make use of areas and workspaces at all (even though both are powerful tools but at the same, it would be too troublesome to jump back and forth between areas/ workspaces) and the missing of a complete view might even be a complete showstopper for migration!! For me, this is one of the key USP of GTDNext, which would get lost.

Single actions
Agree, not too critical.

Node Tree item type: Checklist
Got your point, makes sense for me and is a nice feature and upgrade.

Inbox
This is related to the area / workspace subject above (complete outline). Being able to only create and work on new items in a separate list for the inbox would make things much more inconvenient and less efficient in my view.

Waiting and Someday status
Ok, implementing a solution would be very helpful if it allows to have separate lists for Waiting and Someday items as well as if it was not run on the basis of tags.

Tags. Tag Filtering
Ok, hopefully you can develop such a functionality soon as filtering via a search bar as it is now implemented in GTDNext is very efficient and powerful.

Tag Display
GTDNext is not the only tool attaching tags as separate list, also Nirvana, Omnifocus and Todoist do it this way. In my view, having a clean and neat outline where tags are being shown in a separate column and in a decent/ discreet style (e.g. as now in GTDNext, Nirvana or Omnifocus) proofs to provide a great value add. Otherwise, the outlines will get very busy and complex. Thereby, using tags becomes much less attractive, which, at the same time would limit the exploitation of their great potential in organizing items and filtering them accordingly.

Search
Ok, have to run more tests once fully developed.

Focus
Ok, great.

Repeating Nodes + Today/Daily Planner page: I tested those features now and have to say that these are great improvements compared to GTDNext.

In this regard, I’m looking forward to any updated version and hope for further advancements :slight_smile: !

At last, some questions re timing and outlook:

• Launch date: Have you already a launch date for TaskScale in mind?

• Transition period: Once TaskScale is launched, are GTDNext users obliged to migrate, i.e. are you shutting down GTDNext soon after launch or will both apps be run for some time in parallel?

• Further development: You always note that GTDNext has not seen much of a development in recent years due to resource constraints and restrictions on the basis of the legacy technology. How active would the team be in the future to work on new features and refinements?

Thanks Sergio!

Marcel

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Marcel, regarding the full outline. I understand your dissapointment with missing the full outline.

I have been using TaskScale.net for a couple of months now, while developing it. And I may say I was also frustrated at first that I don’t have the whole outline in front of me. But it passed.

First, I had to split the imported data between Areas/Workspaces. And the only this process let me overthink and restructure my data in many ways. Now it makes you more disciplined. Makes you think, how would you better structure your data. Because in GTDNext I already started to miss where did I put this or that thing (I have about 3000 items in the outline). And there is no way now that I would want to go back to GTDNext.

As an example, I have TaskScale as a separate Area. Because it’s quite a big project, actually. I have separate Workspaces for: current dev tasks, documentation, marketing and some others. And when I start working on it, I open the Area and it’s absolutely enough for me to be in the context. Because no data from other Areas is relevant to it. (And, by the way, I write this post also in TaskScale, just to paste it to forum when ready)

Not trying to talk you into it. I understand that all people are different. And what fits for one does not fit to many others. But if you can try to stick with it for a bit, maybe the things will change.

Getting back to the full outline, we might do some kind of it in the future. But I can’t promise it will be soon. We got so much to do…

7

Answering your questions.

Launch date

We dont have a fixed launch day. When we see the project is stable we go for it. I believe it will happen within a month.

I also see some anticipation of more features before the release. That is not the case. We will launch with the existing feature set and then continue the development.

Transition period

There will definitely be a transition period. It won’t be soon that we will close GTDNext but it will have to happen someday.

Further development

Yes, we are going to work on TaskScale.net in the future. We have a lot of ideas and plans to implement.

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Thanks Sergio for the explanation. You built a great product with GTDNext, I’m optimistic you will also design a great app with TaskScale, having now the chance to start on a green playing field with a superior tech stack. So, I wish you good a progress and I’m happy to cotinue to provide feedback (and once in while chase you on the complete outline and inbox topic ;-)). Highyl appreaciate your efforts! All the best! Marcel

1 Like
9

Agree with all points. I think we are saying make it like current GTDNext and then start iterating from there. The current Beta Notes is a real step back for example I see

2023-07-28_10-57-08 GTDNEXT
2023-07-28_10-57-08 GTDNEXT1370×1714 162 KB

10

Hello,
Nice to see you on forum!

First of all, thank you for leaving a feedback. I sometimes also miss the notes on the right panel, as for some cases it was convenient to have an instant access to it. And such feedback helps to understand the needs of the other users of the app.
On the other hand, all people are different. And we have a polar opinion on the forum that we don’t need the right panel at all, as a step forward :slight_smile:
And our goal is to make a product that provides a solution to users’ needs. And we are listening. And we try to identify the problem. And look for a solution that fits best to resolve the problem. And it may be quite different from what we had on GTDNext as we are trying to make TaskScale.net a step forward.

Returning to the Notes on the right panel, I think we will add it as an experimental feature. It will be before we are getting out of beta or right after it.

Thanks again for your feedback!
Best Wishes,
Sergio

11

Hey hey!

We’ve implemented the notes on the sidebar.
Here is the announcement of new release: Release 2023-08-13 (v0.0.13)

Enjoy!

12

Hi, could anyone please explain to me what should I do for my actions to appear in the Next Action list?
Thanks!

Martina

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Hi Martina and welcome to the forum!

You can do it by turning your parent node into Project and all the children of it become Actions. The very first action then gets into Next Actions list.
And of course you can do the same with actions, making sub-projects of them.

14

Many thanks for adding notes its starting to feel like GTDNext with the same intuative functionality.

15

Hi Sergio

Hope I’m adding this in the right place.

One thing I have missed from GTDNext was any form of Zapier integration. I know there is an Email to send to the inbox. And that is cool and very useful, however, there are many tasks that I can either email or Zap so that I know what Parent tasks or Area or Tag that I would like that new item to go into.

You would not even need to write a Zapier plugin, just give us a documented API as we can use either Posts or Gets to the API and write our own Zapier interface. (Maybe there is an API and I just have not found it yet) More than happy to publish how to setup Zapier with Post and Gets for others to use.

16

Hello Lyndon,

Thank you for the feedback!

I’ve added a simple endpoint based on an API for the Extensions.
You can try sending a POST request to https://taskscale.net/api/node/add
Having body:

{“name”: “Test API”, “notes”: “Some test notes”, “parentId”: “ID of the target parent node”}

If parent ID omitted then new node is added to the Inbox.

Auth is a header: Authentication: Bearer ApiKey

where ApiKey is the Extension API Key that can be found on profile page here

Please let me know if it works for you, and if you’d like to be able to set other fields. I will document the feature when finalized.
Would be kind of you if you could write small description on how to use it with Zapier.

PS. Please note that updates do not yet arrive automatically, so you have to refresh the page to see the newly added node.

17

I did my first test import of gtdnext.com to https://taskscale.net/

One issue that is challenging is that on the Next Action you can’t move the action up and down into the order I will do them in the day like you can in gtdnext.com. So for now I will still move back to gtdnext.com (Do you intend to add this feature?)

18

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I would also like to add that the “breadcrumbs” showing the project/sub projects make the page very hard to read. It’s a lot of information to try to read through.

I also find that there’s too much great functionality from GTDNext still missing from Taskscale, so I can’t switch over quite yet.

19

Yes, we have the Next Actions manual sorting in the list. I will try to make it a higher priority.
I will post an update as soon as it is ready.
Thank you for the feedback!

20

Hello!

I agree that Next Action list isn’t perfect now. We are looking for the ways to make it better.