* Hiveminder does list management better than any other service
Every now and then I come across a Web application that just blows me away. That is what happened when I found Hiveminder from Best Practical Solutions. Hiveminder doesn’t break new ground — Web-based list management has been done before. That said, what Hiveminder does do is do list management way better than any other service I’ve ever seen!
Every now and then I come across a Web application that just blows me away. That is what happened when I found Hiveminder from Best Practical Solutions.
Hiveminder doesn’t break new ground — Web-based list management has been done before. That said, what Hiveminder does do is do list management way better than any other service I’ve ever seen!
Hiveminder allows you to create lists in two ways – either item by item or by a “braindump.” The former is as simple as a short name or description of the task and optional tags while the latter, the braindump, is a novel idea – you just create a list of task names or description, one per line in a text box and when you submit the list a task is created from the text on each line. Better still more sophisticated users can add task attributes in both single item and braindump modes such as:
Paint kitchen [house][due:tomorrow]
This would add the tag “house” and set the task as due tomorrow.
You can filter tasks by their tags (the only missing feature here is the ability to select tasks that aren’t tagged) or by their attributes, which include being overdue, due today or tomorrow; tasks that are hidden until after today; tasks that other people have assigned to you that you haven’t accepted; tasks you’ve asked others to do; tasks you’ve completed; and repeating tasks.
The system tracks all changes made to each task, and you can add notes and comments to tasks as well as specify that particular tasks come before and/or after another task. Tasks can repeat and you can opt to have repeats stacked (you would want “pay rent” to stack because if you miss a month it still needs to be paid while “brush teeth” is either done on a given day or it isn’t, if it isn’t then the next day the task repeats but needs to only be done once not done twice).
An interesting and clever feature is to be found on most Hiveminder pages: A feedback box into which you type a suggestion or comment about the service. Every suggestion I’ve made has had a response usually within a few hours. I suspect that the Hiveminder staff never sleep.
Other common features are invite a friend and a Braindump field allowing you to add tasks whenever you think of them.
You can also create groups and invite people to join them, which is very useful for collaborative projects. Invitees can be defined as Organizers (they can invite and delete members as well as perform the “standard” actions of add, share, mark done, and comment on tasks}, while members can just perform standard actions. Guests can only see what is happening in a group, but cannot perform any actions (the only missing role I can think of is a “limited” member who can only perform actions on his or her own tasks).
In a group, tasks can be assigned to members and reassigned as necessary, where Hiveminder gets really sexy is in providing an RSS feed for personal tasks and for group tasks. You can also create tasks via instant messaging and e-mail, and be notified of tasks due by e-mail.
One of the things I find very appealing about the design of Hiveminder is its laid back, tongue-in-cheek dialogs. For example, when a search on the site fails, the response is: “Huh. Sorry, but we can’t find that file. For now, head on back to your To Do list and try to forget that we let you down.” I think this is so well managed that there’s a sort of weird feeling of being in a club or hanging out with friends.
Hiveminder also offers a number of tools such as a Google Gadget and a Google calendar; export to iCal and plain text; printing; and use of Hiveminder from mobile devices.
Hiveminder is still in beta with a Pro version planned for the future that will offer advanced features and, so they say, no ads even though none are shown at present.
Hiveminder really is a great example of a Web application that has been designed and built with real attention to detail on a solid architecture with a sound concept of what the target audience needs.
