Original review published on Steve Litchfield's 3-Lib.

Introduction

If you have been using a Psion (or any other PDA) for a while you have, undoubtedly, developed a system to keep yourself organized. You may use the EPOC Agenda application alone or in combination with any of the several todo or project managers available to keep track of meetings and tasks.

The problem with existing applications is a lack of real integration of scheduling and task management functions. The available options are either dedicated time schedulers (Agenda) or dedicated task/project managers (Notepad Deluxe, Plan5, QuickP, etc.) So, while you may be totally prepared for that big client meeting, you forget to pick up more coffee on the way home the night before. WuLi Software has recently introduced Mentor, a very professional-feeling application which integrates task management and scheduling functions. It helps you better manage your time by scheduling all of the tasks you are responsible for, allowing you to be as productive as possible.

Mentor is Different

Instead of entering tasks straight away, you begin in Mentor by defining contexts. I have defined four: "work", "home", "self" and "stuff". I find that the things I have to do fall roughly into those four categories. Each context is represented in the various views by an icon which you select from a set supplied within the software. For instance, I use a factory icon to denote my "work" context and a house icon for "home". Mentor also lets you specify roles within each context, such as "Boss" for work or "Father" for home. I will concentrate here on contexts, leaving roles for your discovery.

Once contexts are defined, time-slots are created in Mentor's Role View. The Role View is like a monthly calendar page. It shows the time slots you have set for each day of the week, two or three weeks at a time. My weekday time slots include work, which I defined as eight hours, self (2 hours) and home (6 hours). These slots are repeated each workday and the work time-slot is set as the dominant slot with home set to normal and self set to recessive. That way, a heavy work load will displace time set aside for myself first and chores at home second. On the weekend my time slots are home, self and stuff. Time slots in Role View are represented by the context icons you chose to along with a bar next to each icon. The degree to which a bar is filled represents the amount of allocated time taken by tasks scheduled into that slot. It is easy, using the Role View, to determine how busy I will be and when I have free time.

Creating and Scheduling Tasks

Once your contexts and some time slots are created, tasks may be entered. Tasks are entered in the Task View, which displays each task as a line item. Entering a task involves typing its name and assigning it to one of the contexts you have created. Following assignment of context, there are a number of attributes that control how Mentor will schedule the task:

• • Importance - is the task a CORE task (you have committed to it and it must be completed by the due date), a STEP task (you have committed to it, but the due date may slip) or a BONUS task (you are not committed to it)?
• • Urgency - when is the task due? This option may be assigned as UNDEFINED, DATED (the task is fixed to a certain date), ASAP (user definable for from 1 to 7 days), SOON (definable for from 2 to 14 days) and SOMETIME (7 to 90 days). Tasks not fixed may float within their urgency category to maximize scheduling flexibility.
• • Size - roughly, how much time will the task take; UNDEFINED, MINUTES, HOUR, HALF-DAY, DAY, PROJECT, MILESTONE
• • Status - UNDEFINED, NOT STARTED, STARTED, DONE, DROPPED, DEFERRED, DELEGATED

Tasks may be either ATOMIC (individual) tasks or COMPOSITE (containing a list of sub-tasks). Each attribute selected is represented by an icon in the Task View (foot steps, a smiley face and a soft-boiled egg for a STEP task due SOMETIME that will take a few MINUTES to do). A note may be attached to each task as well.

Once all of the attributes have been selected, Mentor takes them into account - along with the days where appropriately sized time slots exist - and schedules the task. If DATED is chosen in the urgency attribute, a dialogue will pop up requesting the scheduled date and the due date be entered. Otherwise, "scheduled" and "due" dates will be assigned automatically, controlled by time-slot availability and the chosen attributes. If the task is fixed (set to a certain date), Mentor will move non-fixed ("floating") tasks to accommodate the new task. Mentor will also give you the option of Forcing a task into a full slot or creating a slot where none existed (useful for meetings you didn't schedule and can't get out of).

The Task View shows all of the tasks you have entered and, by way of the icons, attributes of each task. Looking at a task in the Task View I can quickly see the context, type, importance, urgency, size and status of each task followed by its name and whether it is fixed or floating. Composite tasks show the task name and the composite icon. Highlighting a composite task and tapping opens the list of tasks making up the composite. The Task View also may be filtered by combinations of the attributes.

Using Mentor Each Day

Most of the day-to-day use of Mentor is in the Schedule View. The Schedule View is similar to the Task View but filtered on the chosen date (selects Today). It is in this view that I clearly see what I should accomplish on any given day. It is also this view which I use to record the progress of tasks (STARTED, DONE, DELEGATED...). Recording the progress of each task is critical, as it lets Mentor know how to schedule your future (tasks not completed are rescheduled, completed tasks stay in the Schedule View of the day on which they were finished). Mentor reschedules automatically when it is opened at the beginning of each day.

I have found that spending 10 seconds to update the status of each task as I move through the day keeps me on target, helps me refocus after an interruption and lets me know what I have accomplished. It also keeps me honest when setting deadlines with clients: Mentor quickly shows me when I can accomplish any given task as long as I update tasks as I work on them during the day. There is a Tidy function which removes completed tasks from the views and stores them in an archive for later review.

Desired Improvements

The documentation for Mentor arrived a few weeks after I registered and it reads like a mini time-management course. The full manual is also available for viewing at the WuLi web site. Though the program itself has a slick, context-sensitive help function, beginners may need more. It took me a while to understand the context thing and I only really "got" that basic function after I read the manual on the web site.

The program is currently a complete "stand-alone" in that it doesn't link or synchronize with any other EPOC software. The ability to link a task to database, word processing or note recording applications would clearly streamline the task management process.

Mentor manages tasks within days not hours, so it won't remind you about that meeting tomorrow at 9:00 am. I work around this by putting the time into the title of a "meeting task," but there may be an argument here for some type of synchronization with Agenda.

The views are a powerful way to view the tasks before you. Unfortunately, you cannot change the order in which they are viewed. It would be nice to arrange work tasks above home and self tasks or tasks not done above those marked as done in the Schedule View, for instance.

New versions have come quickly, though, as the author (Ben Thornton) is keen on user input. Planned improvements include advanced filter capabilities for the Task View, a REPEAT function for regular tasks (e.g. visits to the gymnasium) a DEPENDENT function for tasks which cannot be completed before others and so on. Ben also plans to implement a Review function, which will allow you to see how you spent your time and possibly adjust in the future to maximize productivity.

Summing up

The application is space efficient. Three weeks into the month, my Mentor file is at 49k (my Agenda file is 164k). The program files take up about 212k of disk space and the application takes about 200k to run. Last month's archive file is 12k.

In summary, Mentor is a very professional application which integrates the functions of both time and task management in a user-friendly fashion. I recommend it highly to anyone who manages many tasks across the multiple responsibilities of a busy life.

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