I just got a glimpse of the future that we can all put to work in the present. If f you happen to be a fan of using mind maps (as I am) you’ll quickly see why I believe that Comapping represents a big jump in the utility of mind maps, especially for large, distributed teams.

If you’re not a big mind-mapper, perhaps taking a few minutes to explore Comapping for yourself will change your mind on this issue.  In any case you can get a free 30 day Comapping acount just by registering at their site so you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain for taking two minutes to sign up.

So just what makes Comapping so special?  In short usability.  Lots of companies give lip service to usability but after going through the demonstration with Comapping CEO Ulrik Christensen it is very clear that with his company it’s not an advertising slogan, it’s a religion.

How so you ask?  Simple, every single thing that you need to do with a mind map has been carefully thought out and then the way to access the feature has been optimized for greatest efficiency.  For instance, the need to touch your mouse has been pared down to a bare minimum.  In some cases this means completely.

Simple keystrokes (like hitting “enter” twice) will automatically move you to the next most likely place to enter text and if that’s not where you want to go one additional keystroke (an “arrow” key) will solve the problem.

Beyond this, the things that you wish your other mind mapping tool would do, Comapping does.  Need to chat with an associate during a conference call and simultaneous Comapping demonstration?  There’s an instant messaging client built right into the application that allows both a group as well as private individual conversations - this effectively broadens the communcation channels available during a conference.

Want to insert a file like an image, a document or a note into your mind map?  Not only can this be done simply and easily, but if you share your mind map - or should I say “Co-map”? You can make those addtions or someone else can do so in real time.  Comapping supports literally hundreds of users collaborating on the same map at the same time.

In addition to this a map can be split apart if it gets too big and unruly, maps can also be combined, merged, or linked - in fact one of the things that impressed me most about this tool was its obvious flexibility.  The other thing that struck me was the ease in learning the application.

Ulrik, the CEO told me that they spend just a few minutes doing an orientation/demonstration of the tool for their employees and that’s all that is necessary virtually everyone to be up to speed on everything including the advanced features.  I believe it.  The app is so well laid out and the functions so clearly and obviously accessed that anyone that is used to using computers will find it incredibly intuitive.

According to Ulrik, Comapping was originally developed as a tool for internal use and that the amount of time that the company has saved as a result of deploying this tool across their workforce has been sufficient to pay for the cost of development before a single license was sold outside the company.

If that isn’t an impressive testimonial I don’t know what is.  Or maybe I do, because I was so excited about how this software performs that the minute the demonstration concluded I wrote David Allen a note to tell him about Comapping. Now if that testimonial doesn’t impress you then I don’t imagine that anything will.

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If you’re a student or if you happen to be the parent of one or more students you might want to check out  Soshiku,  a new web-based productivity application by  Definitialize that has just launched.  Designed specifically for students by a student - 17 year old founder, Andrew Schaper.  This enterprising young developer claims that frustration with not being able to keep track of all of his school work assignments and the lack of a service that addressed this problem compelled him to code the application himself.

While Soshiku is not really a GTD application in the strictest sense of GTD, it is nevertheless both an impressive development effort as well as a much needed tool for a group that as a whole tends to be both underserved by technology while at the same time being among the most comfortable with it.

The application has received some highly positive reviews including one by no less than Mashable which was highly complimentary of Andrew’s efforts.

Soshiku supports students several ways, it allows them to enter courses and then assignments for each course as well as the dates upon which those assignments are due.  It allso allows you to set up reminders for these due dates that can be sent to you via email or SMS or both.  The application also supports a limited degree of collaboration that includes the ability to exchange messages among users, to store and share documents online and to collectively manage and edit notes and assignments tha are all stored in a central online receptacle making it easy for students to work together on projects.

Mashable was surprised that nothing like this had been developed before and so am I and frankly I am very impressed that someone as young as Andrew managed to build this application.  Having worked on Foldera which was originally a robust orgnization and collaboration application that never made it to a fully live status I know first hand how difficult it is to build one of these kinds of applications, let alone one that works as well as SoShiku appears to. Oh yeah, before I forget, Soshiku is also FREE.

If you’re a student or a parent of a student and either you or your child has used or is using Soshiku and you would like to share your experience with GTDtimes readers, please write to me at editor at gtdtimes dot com and we’ll publish your first hand review of the application.

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Corporate Travel =  Sound of Piggy Bank Breaking

If you shudder when you pull up to the gas pump these days, or swallow hard before you tear open your utility bill every month image how your company’s controller must feel.  If you’re in a start-up or any small business and especially if you’re not cash-flow positive yet these times of soaring energy costs and economic uncertainty border on the downright terrifying.  Under such circumstances even the most financially stable enterprises are taking a hard look at expenses and trying to determine areas in which costs can be cut without reducing the quality of service or their future business prospects.

One area that is coming under the budget-crunch knife at nearly every company on the planet is travel.  Right now just about every aspect of travel has increased in price.  Airfares are skyrocketing and the new ancillary charges - since when did it become reasonable to charge passengers $50 for bringing along a single checked bag? What’s next?  Charging for inflight air?  Or perhaps pay toilets?  One thing is certain, flying is not only a hassle it’s also expensive.  From your CFO’s perspective anything that can help you avoid the cost and headache of another flight - and especially one overseas with the sinking dollar effectively doubling that cost - is going to be worthy of serious consideration.

Buy the Ticket, Ride the Ride…

The flip side to this is that some meetings really require that both parties see one another.  Sure, conference bridges are good and shared desktops like GoToMeeting are useful for certain things but sometimes you really need to look someone in the eye in order to move things ahead.  Traditionally that meant hopping on a plane and that usually meant at least a thousand bucks drawn down on the company coffers (and  lot more if more than one exec needed to travel or if the trip required crossing a continent or an ocean).  That’s a lot of expense for one short meeting. And until recently there was nothing that could be done about this but bite the bullet and break out the plastic.

[Read more →]

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In the prior installment of this series I wrote about HiRise which is a remarkably complete - if somewhat expensive - task management utility. In this installment we’ll take a look at Things by CulturedCode.

Things is currently my application of choice for task management. It has, at least for my current approach, the right mix of simplicity and comprehensiveness that makes it feel capable without having an overwhelming number of features or functions which either will never be used, or which requires that I take a course in how to use the application in order to actually be able to put it to productive use.

Things looks and feels lightweight - it has a clean, Aqua interface and even though you can see a lot of information at a glance the display still manages to look uncluttered and clean. The application supports tags (and also allows you to enter the same tag again with a minimum of keystrokes) and it has the ability to manage nested tasks by allowing you to create projects and then assign multiple individual tasks to each one.

Because things is so closely patterned around GTD, it has a familiar and useful layout that includes an “Inbox” (for everything you typically collect), a “Someday” box (you know what this is for), a “Scheduled” for calendered items, repeating “to dos” and scheduled projects. Projects can have hierarchical tasks and can also be maintained in another box called “Areas” which is earmarked as the place where you store projects and where you can also show areas of responsiblity and indicate whether they are active or inactive at the present time.

Things has a “quick add” feature that makes it fast and simple to add new items to the application and other common tasks can be easily accessed by clicking an icon at the bottom right of the display or by using the menu/navigation bar on top. You can also add teammates to Things - although this did bring up one thing that is either an oversight or a bug. You can’t add a team member that isn’t already in your address book. Not a show stopper to be sure, but it would be convenient to be able to add someone ad-hoc if necessary and even better if adding someone directly into Things also gave you the option of adding that same person to your address book as well. The application is still in beta so I imagine it is always possible that this feature could be added in down the road.

Also still to be added in is “drag and drop” functionality from the sidebar to the main display area and also within the side bar (to rearrange tasks, for example). It is, however, possible to “drag and drop” within the main display to move tasks from one project to another, etc.

Completed tasks are placed in a section called “Logbook”, while the “Next” section allows you to see what’s coming up on your calendar or due dates of tasks and/or projects that are more than a day or two out in front of you. I especially liked the “Heads Up Display (HUD)” for quickly entering data and the tag menu can be visible or only made visible on demand as you prefer.

Still lacking from Things was a dedicated synching utility, although the data is all formatted as XML so someone with some skill could solve that issue pretty easily. Not so easily fixed is the fact that Things has been developed for Leopard. This makes it tough to use for PC operators, though the company says that a fully formatted version of Things will be available via the web making the application essentially universal.

CulturedCode also is advertising that there will be an iPhone version of things available in June of this year; as they put it:

“And we are not just talking about a simple to-do list. We’ll put the whole application in your pocket.”

About now you’re probably wondering what this whole thing is going to run you. The answer is it depends. That’s because right now, while things is in beta, you can download a preview version free of charge. Once the application goes gold you’ll have to pay and then it still depends. If you are a subscriber to their newsletter you get $10 bucks off which makes the app $39 and IMO a very nice value. Those that don’t subscribe to their newsletter can pay the full price of $49 which is still a deal as far as I’m concerned.

Personally though, I’d hustle over and download the preview version now, if nothing else then to give it a test run and see how you like it. So far it works for me, it might just work for you, too.

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