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Sciral Consistency: Track Fuzzy Interval Tasks
Merlin Mann | Nov 30 2004
Gordon Meyer recently recommended I check out Sciral Consistency, a neat little app that’s somewhere between an event calendar and a TODO list manager. It lets you track tasks that need to be done on a regular basis, such as watering plants, changing kitty litter, or washing your car. While Entourage (and, I assume, Outlook) can do something similar with interval-based events, Consistency adds the novel ability to set a range of days over which a task can be completed. So, for example, you might want to change your water filter every 30-60 days or rake the front yard every 5-9 days. Consistency presents your tasks in a scannable Excel-like grid that makes it simple to see which items are in the current “do” range. It also looks useful as a way to track your progress toward a goal—you can quickly see how close you are to your plan of hitting the gym three times a week or calling Grandma twice a month. It also would be handy for Getting Things Done nerds who want to pull repeating items from their hard landscape calendar and get them onto a list where they can be reviewed and completed in context. I do wish this were just an integrated function of full-on PIMs or even that Consistency had a basic alarm functionality. As is, the price is just a skosh high for me, but it does provide a clever solution for a fuzzy problem. Sciral Consistency [Download]. OSX & Windows. $25.00. “The unregistered version is fully featured, but has a few limits to encourage you to register if you like it.” 6 Comments
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 I'm a GTD newbie. ...Submitted by Abrogaticus (not verified) on November 30, 2004 - 7:26am.
I’m a GTD newbie. I bought the book about 1 month ago (after reading about it here on 43folders). I have started using the techniques touted by David Allen and am quite happy with the results. The ‘Repeating Task’ (ie. exercise, status report, etc.) is a topic that I’ve had trouble wrapping my mind around. How have you GTD masters integrated repeating tasks into your systems. Do you just leave these types of tasks indefinitely on your lists or your calendar? I’m concerned that using this approach will introduce noise items into my system. The status of these types of items will never change (ie. they will always be on the lists or in the calendar). I fear the unchanging, unmoving nature of these items will cause me to ignore them to some extent. This produces noise and any noise in the system reduces its effectiveness. Sciral Consistency sounds like a nice alternative but is using 2 calendars an effective route? I’d love to hear how you workflow gurus handle this. Thank you, Abro »
Life Balance is very capable...Submitted by Alison Scott (not verified) on November 30, 2004 - 9:38am.
Life Balance is very capable at repeating when-you-get-round-to-them type tasks; it’s one of the things I particularly like about it. »
Ever looked at Life Balance...Submitted by Ronald Pottol (not verified) on December 1, 2004 - 8:15pm.
Ever looked at Life Balance from http://www.llamagraphics.com ? It does much of that, with win, mac, and palm versions. Not perfect, but handy. »
I agree w/ Abrogaticus--integrating repeating...Submitted by Snorg Blorgelson (not verified) on December 6, 2004 - 6:20am.
I agree w/ Abrogaticus—integrating repeating daily tasks into GTD isn’t something that’s been easy for me. Any ideas on how to do it w/o running one more program? Extra points for a low-tech solution. »
Being a GTD newbie myself,...Submitted by Jack Baty (not verified) on December 14, 2004 - 4:18pm.
Being a GTD newbie myself, so far I’ve been using a low-tech solution involving the (physical) 43 folders. I just jot down the repeating task on an index card and toss it into whichever day (or month, depending on the frequency) folder I choose. Then, on that day, BLAM! it’s right there in front of me. Then, when the task is complete I toss it into the next target day’s folder and forget about it. »
Use Your Walls to Control...Submitted by All things Bru (not verified) on December 2, 2004 - 3:21am.
Use Your Walls to Control Your House and Fuzzy Time Management A couple of interesting bits that really hit me yesterday and ignited my imagination. I found the first one on SmartMobs. It is an example of a natural interface developed by a French company, Sensitive Object. It is called Anywhere Interface and the i… »
About Merlin Mann Bio Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He’s best known for being the guy who started the website you’re reading right now. He lives in San Francisco, does lots of public speaking, and helps make cool things like You Look Nice Today. Also? He looks like this, answers questions, and has something like a life. Merlin’s favorite thing he’s written recently is a short essay called, “Better.” |
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