{"id":5296,"date":"2022-01-14T09:23:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T16:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/?p=5296"},"modified":"2022-01-19T12:28:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T19:28:01","slug":"taskangel-online-a-new-recommended-myn-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/taskangel-online-a-new-recommended-myn-app\/","title":{"rendered":"TaskAngel Online: A New Recommended MYN App"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I\u2019ve recently been collaborating with a software developer to help create a new tasks app, one that implements nearly all <a href=\"https:\/\/myn-1mtd.com\/\">MYN principles<\/a> in a simple way. The developer is an avid MYN user and was eager to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An early release of that app is now available. It\u2019s the new Online version of TaskAngel. Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/online\">https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/online<\/a> to get it (note it&#8217;s not in the iPhone App Store or Google Play but it still works on mobile devices as I discuss below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Older versions of TaskAngel have been out a while, including Windows and smartphone app versions, but only TaskAngel Online is currently enabled for MYN\u2014so be sure to select only that. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How the MYN-Enabled TaskAngel Online Looks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how TaskAngel Online looks. It presents a very clean list and it&#8217;s optimized well for MYN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/taskangel-online-mainscreen.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"303\" height=\"437\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Getting Started<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To get started, once you go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/online\">the product link<\/a>, you\u2019ll register a free account and then you can open the app right up in your web browser. By the way, if you have any questions about TaskAngel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/contact\">contact the developer here<\/a>. He is very responsive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the app, you should immediately go to the Settings window and toggle the Set Up for MYN switch to On.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/taskangel-online-setmyn.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After you do, you\u2019ll get a simple tasks view that implements all core MYN principles, as shown above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll quickly find that this is not a slick high-feature app like Todoist or Things. Rather, it is a back-to-basics, very simple task list, one that has been optimized for MYN. That optimization starts with MYN urgency zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>MYN Urgency Zone Labels<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing you\u2019ll notice in the task list image above is that once enabled for MYN, TaskAngel has Urgency zone labels on task groups\u2014something only a few apps have. So you can see Critical Now, Opportunity Now, and Over-the-Horizon labels right at the top of each group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also has a Significant Outcomes choice in the urgency\nzones dropdown\u2014and once you create such a task, that zone has its own group too\nat the very top. Significant Outcomes are an optional feature of MYN that can\nbe very useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/taskangel-online-zones.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>True Start Dates and Due Dates<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>TaskAngel Online goes well beyond the typical MYN enabled to-do list (e.g. Outlook Tasks or Todoist) in that it enables <em>a true start date field and true due date field<\/em> on all tasks. This opens a lot of automation opportunities including viewing lists of overdue and upcoming tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/taskangel-online-dates.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Only one other MYN-capable task app enables this pair of\ndate fields correctly for MYN, and that\u2019s Toodledo. So, with TaskAngel, you\u2019ll\nno longer have to put the due date into the subject line of a task, if you\ndon\u2019t want to, like you must in Outlook and Todoist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>One\nSuper Useful MYN Feature in TaskAngel: Auto Urgency<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>TaskAngel Online has one very unique feature that I am super excited about. It\u2019s the optional <em>auto urgency<\/em> feature. In fact, due to this feature, I&#8217;ve recently been using TaskAngel my daily work. Here\u2019s how auto urgency works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First,\nyou toggle auto urgency on in the Settings window, just below the Set Up for\nMYN toggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/images\/taskangel-online-autourgency-set.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once turned on, an amazing thing starts to happen. When an Opportunity Now task reaches its due date, <em>the task is automatically moved into Critical Now<\/em>. This is incredibly useful; no other software does this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Auto Urgency is So Important<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I hope you realize why this is so important. In case\nnot, here are some reminders of a few MYN principles you should know and be\nusing, ones that will clarify this remarkable feature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In MYN, you should use deadlines sparingly\u2014you set deadlines only for tasks that will become truly critical on a certain date.<\/li><li>The Critical Now section of the MYN task list is only for tasks absolutely due today.<\/li><li>Any task whose deadline has reached <em>today<\/em> you should put\/move into the Critical Now section.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, with that background, here&#8217;s why auto urgency is so useful. <em>Without<\/em> auto urgency (all other MYN apps), to accomplish point 3 you must do two things <em>manually<\/em> each day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You must scan your Opportunity Now section fully\neach day, explicitly looking for tasks that have become due today. <\/li><li>When you find those, you must manually move them\nup to Critical Now.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And I admit, even I forget to do these two steps every day. With TaskAngel and this auto urgency feature, that discipline is no longer needed\u2014it\u2019s now automated. I leave this feature turned on permanently because it has already saved my butt a few times by avoiding missed deadlines\u2014deadlines I failed to notice emerging in my Opportunity Now section. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, one might think a popup alert would suffice to prevent missed deadlines like this. But I rarely set popup alerts because 1) they are slightly hard to set in most apps; 2) they are annoying when overused, and 3) once I dismiss a pop-up alert to get it off the front of my screen, it\u2019s gone\u2014and then I often forget to actually <em>do<\/em> the task later in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But with auto urgency set, any task that comes due is immediately\nand prominently moved to Critical Now, where it now belongs. I do check Critical\nNow many times per day and empty it each day\u2014so I know I\u2019ll get those tasks\ndone today. Best of all, it happens automatically for all tasks with due dates;\nI don\u2019t need to think about setting it for each task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Really, auto urgency is exactly the right way to handle\nfuture due dates in MYN, and I am delighted that this app supports this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pricing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After the initial free 30-day trial expires, TaskAngel Online is only $2 a month, which is half the price of Todoist or Toodledo. I think that is the right price. Why? First of all, I am glad it is not <em>free<\/em> because a payment incentivizes a developer to ensure continued app support and improvement. I am glad it\u2019s not priced <em>higher<\/em> because at present this app doesn\u2019t have all the bells and whistles that many other to-do list apps have (see a list of some nice-to-haves below). But sometimes simple is better, and this app has enough standard features to use now. And of course, it has several MYN features none other have, as I described above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, I get no affiliate payments or paybacks on\nTaskAngel sales\u2014zero. I am gushing about this app because I like it. I simply\nwant to promote a very simple and low-cost app that strongly implements key MYN\nprinciples. This software provides that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other Features of TaskAngel&nbsp;Online<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond the two unique MYN feature described above (true start &amp; due dates, and auto urgency), TaskAngel Online has these standard features you\u2019d expect in any MYN-enabled app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Tasks with future start dates are hidden. But\nyou can easily toggle those on for quick peeks.<\/li><li>Start dates are reverse sorted within urgency\nzone groups, to implement MYN FRESH prioritization.<\/li><li>Completed tasks are hidden but can be toggled\nvisible for a peek.<\/li><li>The Search function is good, and you can search\ncompleted tasks easily.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond those, here are some additional bells and whistles\nthat make the app a good choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>All new tasks get a default date of today and\nare auto-set to the Opportunity Now urgency zone. This is very useful for\nMYN\u2014even Todoist doesn\u2019t have that.<\/li><li>It has a Folders feature, similar to the\nProjects feature in Todoist, which allows you to display groups of particular\ntasks. The folder views follow MYN settings.<\/li><li>It has a good set of optional views to use for\nlooking ahead at future start dates or due dates by timeframe, ones that also\nfollow MYN settings.<\/li><li>It has a separate Goals feature to tag tasks\nwith goal names and to view them in groups, following MYN settings.<\/li><li>It has an optional Contexts feature (GTD), which\nworks well with MYN.<\/li><li>Tasks with no start date are not lost (this can\nhappen easily in Todoist).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Using on Smartphones&nbsp;and&nbsp;Tablets<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While TaskAngel has an older smartphone and tablet app, it is not the MYN version, so don&#8217;t install it. Rather, use the TaskAngel Online version; it has MYN and it has been designed to work really well on tablets and large-screen smartphones. It&#8217;s not in the iPhone App Store or Google Play. Rather, for mobile use, either enter app.taskangel.com in your standard mobile browser (like Safari or Chrome); or even better, install TaskAngel Online as a PWA app using the Add to Home Screen function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am using the PWA version and am really impressed. Some people say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90623905\/ios-web-apps\">PWA apps are the wave of the future<\/a> for efficient use on multiple platforms, and that seems true here. Using the TaskAngel Online PWA app on my iPhone 12 Max, I find it looks and acts just like a native iPhone app. I have a home screen icon and I can work offline. I also use the TaskAngel Online PWA on my Mac and PC and they act like native desktop programs. However, if you have a smaller-screen smartphone, it&#8217;s not yet optimized for that. See this article for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/post\/jump-into-the-pwa-revolution\">instructions for installing TaskAngel Online as a PWA <\/a>on any of your devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Features that Would be Nice to Have<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As an early release, a few features are not yet present; these are things that would be nice to see in an app used with MYN. Again, since the developer is an MYN user, nearly all of these have been committed to, but it may take a while for some of them to arrive in the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Email forwarding into tasks. This feature is coming, but no release date is set. In the meantime, you can of course paste email text into the notes section of a TaskAngel task; or paste in a webmail link.<\/li><li>Tasks with start dates of today underlined (coming soon), to support MYN Target Now.<\/li><li>The ability to edit multiple tasks together\u2014for example to set the start date on a group of tasks to today, all at once, to mark them as Target Now. Also coming.<\/li><li>Native smartphone app. While the PWA version works great (see above),  some people prefer a native app. No current plans for that.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few more bells and whistles that I\u2019d like to see,\nbut that are not at all critical:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Direct file attachments are currently not supported. By the way, even Todoist does not fully support this\u2014only Outlook does. But you <em>can<\/em> paste links into the TaskAngel notes field to link to cloud-based files like those in Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, or OneDrive.<\/li><li>Pop-up reminders on tasks. I don\u2019t use those a lot, but they are coming soon to TaskAngel. <\/li><li>Import and export of tasks\u2014coming soon.<\/li><li>Lots of little feature adjustments are needed and on the developer\u2019s list. This is a young app with a few rough edges\u2014but lots of potential.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Future Feature I\u2019ve Requested: Drag-Set Start Dates to\nReprioritize Tasks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve asked the developer for the following really cool MYN feature, and he says it can be done. When implemented, this will be the only app that enables it. That\u2019s the ability to not only drag tasks into other urgency zones, but to drag a task\u2019s vertical position <em>within<\/em> an urgency zone and<em> reset the start date in the process<\/em>, per FRESH prioritization. All without opening a task for edit. This would be a fantastic time saver for MYN, and something no other app has. The fact that the developer is an avid MYN users bodes well for this being implemented, and I look forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What About 1MTD?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You might be wondering about the simpler One Minute To-Do List system (1MTD) and whether TaskAngel supports it, too. Well, yes it does. You simply need to activate the MYN setting as described above, <em>and then ignore start dates for scheduling tasks<\/em>. That works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, like in Toodledo, since TaskAngel does not yet have a way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/drag-and-drop-prioritizing-in-myn-1mtd-apps\/\">drag-position a task<\/a>, you\u2019ll need to find other ways to order tasks within urgency zones when using 1MTD. So, for using 1MTD, I recommend populating and manipulating the start date on many tasks to do that sorting, just like MYN does (newest sorts to top, oldest lower, and none sits at very bottom). It\u2019s the best way to control sorting, and it\u2019s an easy way to partially transition into MYN. It also takes advantage of the other MYN presets in the app\u2014like forcing all <em>new<\/em> tasks to the top of each zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that you can also use TaskAngel&#8217;s excellent due date field for 1MTD too\u2014it works great. And in conjunction with the due date, you can use the amazing auto urgency feature described above\u2014it works equally well with 1MTD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Video Course?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Will I create a video course on TaskAngel and MYN? Probably.\nBut TaskAngel is so simple you can easily get started without one. But that\nsaid, perhaps in a few months I will create a formal video course for my store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/what-app-should-you-use-for-myn-or-1mtd\/\">recommend a lot of apps<\/a> for MYN and 1MTD. So why another one and why TaskAngel? After all, it&#8217;s not as feature-rich as Todoist or Toodledo, and it\u2019s not yet integrated with email\u2014certainly not like Outlook. And it&#8217;s a young app with some rough edges. But TaskAngel Online is simple to use, it\u2019s cost effective. But mainly, it has some killer MYN features that are hard to find like auto urgency and true start and due date fields. And more MYN features are coming\u2014the developer is committed to supporting MYN in every way. Perhaps give the free 30-day trial a whirl, and see if it fits your needs. And if you have any questions about TaskAngel Online, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taskangel.com\/contact\">contact the developer here<\/a>, he is very responsive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve recently been collaborating with a software developer to help create a new tasks app, one that implements nearly all MYN principles in a simple way. The developer is an avid MYN user and was eager to do it. An &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/taskangel-online-a-new-recommended-myn-app\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5296"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5391,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions\/5391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaellinenberger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}