Outlook/PDA Tasks -- tantalizing, but not there yet

[Ken Wallewein]

This has to be getting to be an old story. Why does Microsoft perpetually
ignore Outlook Tasks?

I want to use Outlook/Exchange to manage a fairly large, active shared task
list for a small group of busy technical consultants who support a number
of client companies. Outlook is well suited to this due to its great
support for mobile users via Exchange, networking, synchronization, and
software for various PDAs.

On the other hand, there are a few seemingly-trivial show-stopper issues
that appear to be chronically ignored.

The biggest is that I need the shared/public Tasks folder to track tasks
grouped by category (e.g., "To Do", "Client Requests", "Quotations", etc.),
by client Company, and by consultant ("Checked out to" in 2007). And
within those categories to sort tasks by priority, status and/or date.

No problem, you say -- unless you need to do it on a PDA. And we do. When
we are in front of clients, discussing issues, we need to be able to log
tasks on the spot, view them on site, and discuss client priorities. I've
yet to find PDA software (Mobile Outlook? Not even close!) that
accomplishes this. They either don't do shared folders, don't handle those
fields, or don't group/sort/filter on them.

Let's be clear: I don't care which PDA does it. If it works, I'll go
there.

For another, Outlook's rigid method of handling task assignment, requiring
email messages, acceptance and private folders, is a damn nuisance. I need
to be able to assign a task to someone (or they to me), it optionally sends
a notification email, end of story. The rigid process may be appropriate
for assignment rates of relatively large tasks. It's completely
INappropriate for what I would call "lightweight" tasks, which need to be
logged and handled with a minimum of overhead. And which may actually be
performed by any of several people who "volunteer" for them.

CRM packages tend to be sales-oriented, and have poor PDA support. Help
Desk packages don't support PDAs well either. Both are far too fat for
what we need. Outlook is tantalizingly close.

Does _anybody_ know of decent solution for shared lightweight task
management?

/kenw
Ken Wallewein
K&M Systems Integration
Phone (403)274-7848
Fax (403)275-4535
(e-mail address removed)
www.kmsi.net

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

hi Ken

tell me the most crucial things you want to be able to do and I'll teach you
some of my workarounds. Maybe we can get a bit closer to you being happy
with the way Tasks work!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au

 

[Ken Wallewein]

Thanks for the offer, Judy.

As the the most crucial things, well, I already listed them in my previous
posting. To recap:

What it mostly boils down is being able to create and selectively display
200-plus tasks in a shared task list based on a few key fields --
primarily, the Category, Owner and Company fields, and to a lesser extend,
fields like priority, status and dates.

Outlook on the desktop does most of this nicely, but no PDA seems to be
able to. Some don't have the fields. Some don't group tasks or filter.
Some won't sync to a shared folder, public or otherwise. None will group
or filter by any field other than Category.

For example:

When we look to see what task we should do next, we usually want to view a
specific Category, and perhaps sort by date or priority.

When I'm on site with a client, I need to group or filter by that client's
Company, so I can see all the tasks to be done for that client.

When I'm discussing issues with a client, I have to be able to create new
tasks specifying Category, Company, and other values like owner.

At some point I'll probably want to filter for only tasks that are either
unassigned or assigned to myself, and then I may want to assign one or more
to myself or someone else.

Note that this must all be doable on a PDA, in the client's office.

It doesn't sound all that difficult, but good luck making it happen.

Mobile Outlook and Informant don't support Owner or Company fields. They
do group by category pretty nicely. But they don't support shared folders.
Useless for teamwork.

Chapura Key Suite for the Palm has a far more complete user interface and
synchronization, and lets me see all of the key fields, but as with the
Mobile PDAs, can't group or filter by company or owner. And I can't change
owner, or change info for tasks I don't "own".

Chapura's PocketMirror does not a bad job of connecting to shared folders,
and it's compatible with MS and Informant.

Outlook's way of assigning tasks and locking them down is a total pain for
lightweight team task management. I need assign tasks to people quickly,
no questions asked, and alow anyone to reassign them just as easily. But
the recipient should be automatically notified.

Are you challenged?

/kenw

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

My personal solution is a dual processor HP Tablet. It goes a long way to
avoiding the PDA limitations - by not using one. Clients love the way I
take notes in OneNote and then make them straight into Outlook Tasks, assign
them to my team members etc.

I think you're likely to be on a hiding to nothing - have you searched
through all the links from www.slipstick.com?

Judy

 

[Ken Wallewein]

"On a hiding to nothing" -- hadn't hear that one before. On a wild goose
chase, too, I think.

I appreciate your suggestion, but a Tablet is a bit big to hang on my hip
and follow me as I walk around. Not to mention expensive. I'll keep it in
mind, though.

Slipstick is a great place, but no solutions there, either. Well, there's
some folder synch stuff that may be useful. That's about it.

Off to find another windmill, I guess.

/kenw