LeaderTask - Alternative to Outlook!Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010 LeaderTask - Alternative to Outlook! I once asked a friend of mine what is the best organizer? He said, "Microsoft Outlook, of course". Then he thought a bit and added, "The most popular one, anyway." But popularity is not the key issue for me. And since I have to write down (or keep in mind) a lot in my work, I decided to take it more seriously. I have studied a lot organizers and schedulers. LeaderTask from the Almeza company has turned out to be the most appropriate and convenient one for me. I will not compare it with all organizers, but only with the most popular one ? Microsoft Outlook. No doubt Microsoft Outlook is a high-quality software product, but LeaderTask outdoes it in some things. Though Outlook is better in some other things. I will enumerate all these parameters in this article. So... LeaderTask advantages. 1. Separate object groups. There are different types of objects defined in LeaderTask. These include: projects, tasks, notes. Projects in LeaderTask mean those things that have time limits. Something specific results from a project being completed. A task in LeaderTask is the description of what should be done in order to complete a project (project steps). Notes are chaotic records that can be assigned to projects and separate tasks (they may also deal with a contact/category/time, etc.). Notes serve as a convenient tool for taking down separate thoughts that can be useful for completing a project or a task. A project may contain several tasks. For example, the "Writing an article" project may include the following: "Studying materials", "Writing a draft", "Sending it to the editor", "Correcting the article". The result of the project is an article. That is, something large is split into smaller parts, which is very convenient to use. Besides, every project has the following properties: a name, a group (logical, the one the project belongs to), a contact (the list of project participants), a time period (the time the project will be completed within), notes (comments to the project). You can filter tasks by these properties (single out tasks from the list of tasks). I will dwell on filtering a bit later. Each task can contain subtasks. For example, the "Studying materials" task may include the following subtasks: "Visit the library", "View information on the website", "View advertising materials". Any task has parameters (tags) that can be also used for filtering. These include: "Projects", "Contacts", "Categories", "Calendar". Outlook has nothing like this - no different types of objects are defined in it. There are no separate projects, tasks, notes ? there are only equal tasks. It means that notes (occasional thoughts) will be in one list, which will make searching for a particular note afterwards more difficult. It is completely unacceptable for a person who values time. 2. Tree-like tasks. Tasks in LeaderTask are arranged in the form of a tree, which is achieved due to the task hierarchy (splitting tasks into subtasks). It allows you to classify tasks, combine them into one project (or into a task of a higher level). This way you get tasks that are not scatterred, but strictly structured. The tree-like structure allows you to see the heirarchy and understand what tasks belong to what at any time. It reminds the tree of folders and files in the operating system. It is much more convenient to keep tasks this way (since you are quite used to it). Besides, these hierarchies can have as much levels as you need. The tree-like structure allows you to: See all tasks at once; 3. Flexible interface customization. It is possible to flexibly customize interface in LeaderTask (as in many modern programs). Any user can customize tasks to be displayed in the way he finds convenient. The following items can be used to achieve it. Floating panels. All panels in LeaderTask are floating ? they can be dragged to any part of the main window. The user can set the panel size, set its position and type, specify how many panels should be displayed at a time. Besides, every panel has thee buttons in the right corner of its title bar. They allow you to maximize the panel (inside the main window of the program), activate popup mode for the panel (the panel will slide out when you move the mouse pointer over it), close the panel. 4. Structuring tasks. That's where LeaderTask is completely incomparable - it offers extremely wide features for structuring tasks. First of all, it is structuring tasks by projects and subtasks (what I mentioned above). Besides, it is possible to structure tasks by categories, by deadlines, by priority, by contacts. The most important thing in LeasderTask is structuring tasks by priority. Priorities are arranged into a library of priorities that you can cusotmize so that it meets your needs. Tasks structured by priorities allow you to single out the most important tasks among all other tasks and complete them first. Tasks are not structured in Outlook. All tasks are displayed in one list where it is reall difficult to make anything out. 5. Clear view. One of the main advantages in LeaderTask is a clear view of tasks (particularly on the "Today" panel). Along with the task tree and highlighting, it is achieved by the following: Tabs. Multiple tasks are grouped with the help of tabs in the "Tasks" panel. Any items in the "Navigator" panels can be used as these tabs. Most often, they are projects. Using tabs is very convenient. For example, there are two projects: "Writing an article" and "Design development". And these projects include a lot of tasks. Not to view tasks from both projects at once, you should click the corresponding project tab and the "Tasks" panel will show tasks of one project only (for example, those from "Writing an article"). 6. Differentiated tasks. LeaderTask allows you to plan your activity assigning tasks to a certain context. Context means circumstances that suit best for completing a task (for example, "in office", "at home", "at a conema" and others). Also, it is possible to single out tasks by parameters and attributes set for them. For example, by projects, by contacts, by priority, by urgency and by others. In other words, LeaderTask considers the same tasks with different attributes as different tasks (which they are). Tasks are not differentiated in Outlook. All tasks are equal. That's probably the reason why it does not have such useful features as trees, filtering and others... Microsoft Outlook advantages. 1. Data synchronization. Microsoft Outlook (to be exact, a lot of add-ins both from Microsoft and from third parties) allows you to synchronize your data on the computer with data on other devices, such as cell phones, pocket PCs, etc. There is no such data synchronization in LeaderTask. It should be mentioned that LeaderTask is not assigned to any system during its installation ? you can store it, for example, on a flash drive and use it on different computers. It is a bit of excuse. 2. Data import and export. Microsoft Outlook has automatic data impot and export. You can import quite a lot of items: address books, e-mail messages, account settings, etc. You can also export this data into various formats that are most convenient for importing by other programs. Besides, there are special add-ins enhancing the data import and export features. I could not find data import and export in LeaderTask. Summary. These are the main advantages and disadvantages of LeaderTask. Since I plan my time only using the computer and only in LeaderTask, I do not have to import, export and synchronize data. But, of course, it is no excuse for its drawbacks. Probably, they will be fixed soon. And if they do it, LeaderTask will become the best organizer ever. And there is no doubt that they will do it taking into account how thoughful software developers from Almeza are about their software making it comfortable, appealing and functional. Most probably, data import, export and synchronization are only a question of time. All that may be even implemented already in the current version of the program ? it all depends on when you are reading this article... LeaderTask is a perfect choice for everyone who is looking for an alternative to Outlook! 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