ActionComplete 1.10.0 for Android is released to Android Market.

In this release:

• Active task tab (Actions, Waits, Projects, Ideas) is memorized at exit and restored at restart so you can pick up where you left off. Start in preference is gone for good.
• Norwegian, German, and Spanish translations are brought up to date courtesy of Thomas Kjemperud, Thomas Pauli, and Antonio Tabasco Cabezas.
• Bug fixes.

At the same time ActionComplete for Web is updated with minor bug fixes. To get the updates please force-refresh (Ctrl-F5 or Cmd-R) your browser window. 

Over the next few weeks we are going to run a series of articles highlighting lesser known features of ActionComplete, describing ActionComplete best practices, and providing tips on implementing certain aspects of GTD and derivative methodologies with ActionComplete.

This article is devoted to procedural and technical aspects of implementing the concepts of Big Rocks and Most Important Tasks crucial to Leo Babauta's Zen To Done (ZTD) methodology.

In a nutshell ZTD is a very useful extension of the original GTD methodology emphasizing the dimension of importance or priority. In a sense it alloys the excellent "operational", or runway-level, qualities of David Allen's GTD teaching with the leadership philosophy laid out by Stephen Covey in First Things First and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  When implemented properly ZTD allows you to be not only efficient (do many things fast) but also effective (do things that matter).

At the core of ZTD are the concepts of Big Rocks and Most Important Tasks.

Big Rocks are tasks that are closely related to your short- or long-term life goals. Oftentimes they are not urgent but they are always crucial for the progress towards a meaningful goal. It goes without saying that "meaningful" is not necessarily the same as "tied to career growth". Most Important Tasks can be described as the scaled down versions of Big Rocks. They usually exist within a relatively short time interval such as a day.

ZTD recommends accomplishing a few Big Rocks a week and a few MITs every day. Your daily MITs might include a Big Rock among the other things. ZTD also advocates a more structured process, as compared to "classic" GTD, with fixed time slots for recurring activities such as weekly and daily planning. It is during the weekly and daily planning when Big Rocks and MITs are identified and scheduled for execution.

This is where ActionComplete comes into play. During a weekly review you identify the most important tasks for the coming week - your Big Rocks - and change their weight to above 60 or 80, which will color the tasks either orange or red. You might want to do that for all aspects of your life as represented by tags in ActionComplete. Similarly during the daily review you identify your MITs for the next day and increase their weight in AC.

During the day, when you are in the "execution" mode, you can apply the weight filter to cut off the tasks with the weight below the agreed-upon threshold and view the important only. At the same time you might want to reset the tag filter to get a context-independent view. The context-independent view might tell you that you need to get in a different context to accomplish an important task for the day. 

ActionComplete LLC starts the year with a major release of its flagship product - ActionComplete for Web. The release delivers several major user experience improvements including Smart Layout (TM) technology, options to independently show and hide task panels, and several filtering enhancements.

Holiday greetings from ActionComplete!

We are happy to announce the immediate availability of ActionComplete 1.8 for Android. This release delivers several highly requested features:

• Due Date now drives the Reminder Date. To finish setting the reminder you need to specify the time. If you don't care for the reminder just tap the OK button and the task will be saved without one.
• View Actions and View Waits project context menu options are there waiting for you. If a project has linked actions, View Actions item appears in the context menu accessible via the long tap on a project in the Projects list. Ditto for waits.
• Task sorting options are now separate from the context (filters). Here's how it works now:
  • To change or reset the sort order for a task list, tap and hold the header of the list (Actions, Waits, Projects, of Ideas) until the sort dialog pops up, select the desired sort order, and tap OK.
  • To set or reset the context, use the context bar at the bottom of the screen.
• This release introduces a homescreen shortcut for adding actions by voice. While voice task entry has been available for quite some time via both the main application and the widgets, many users requested a more compact user interface element for this crucial function. It's available now.

That's not all. Through January 3, 2012 ActionComplete for Android can be purchased from Android Market for $1.99. This is 60% off regular price.

There's even more. During the same period - through January 3, 2012 - you can purchase or renew your annual subscription to ActionComplete for Web for $14.99. If you are wondering, this is $5 off the regular price. To redeem the offer please use Google Checkout and apply coupon code holidays2011.

Black Friday deal: %25 off one-year subscription to ActionComplete for Web. That's $14.99!

Purchase via Google Checkout and enter coupon code thanks2011.

The offer is good for both new orders and renewals.

New and noteworthy in this release:

• The application is now called ActionComplete Task & To-Do.
• Translations to Croatian, German, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish are updated courtesy of Nikola Radunović, Thomas Pauli, Thomas Kjemperud, Alexander Sidorenko, and Antonio Tabasco Cabezas, respectively.

For a limited time ActionComplete Task & To-Do is available for $1.99. That's 60% off regular price.

Happy Thanksgiving from ActionComplete! Please eat & drink responsibly and drive safely.

ActionComplete LLC wishes you a Happy Halloween!

Get ActionComplete Pro from Android market for $1.99. That's 60% off the regular price of $4.99.

October 2011 release of the GTD-based task manager improves the integration between ActionComplete for Web and ActionComplete for Android via real-time task synchronization. It also adds one more integration point with Google services - Google Places API is now used to support ActionComplete Vicinity view displaying tasks that can be completed in the proximity of the user's physical location.

Real-time sync nearly instantly reflects updates made in AC for Web on up to five Android devices running AC for Android. Updates made in AC for Android appear within a few seconds in up to five browsers running AC for Web.

Vicinity view in ActionComplete for Android is now based on Google Places API. The vicinity view shows tasks that can be accomplished at a location close to the user's whereabouts. From there the user can tap the location to get to its Google Places listing.

A user can leverage "private" places such as "Home" or "Work" by providing geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the corresponding location. Tapping it will bring up a Google Map centered on the location.

To access the new features of ActionComplete for Web please force-refresh (Ctrl-F5 or similar) ActionComplete page in your browser. To access the new features of ActionComplete for Android please get the latest version of the application from Android market.

ActionComplete for Web meets the fall with a major feature update - Google Docs attachments. Integration with Google Calendar is now more intuitive and user-friendly.

You can create Google Docs attachments in several ways: via Attachments tab on new/edit task form, via email, and by typing a long note.

Attachments tab allows you to link a task to up to five Google Docs files. The files can be documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and any other files created in or uploaded to Google Docs.

Another way to link a task to a Google Docs document is to email the task to your ActionComplete email address. If the body of the email is longer than 300 characters ActionComplete automatically creates an attachment and links it to the new task.

ActionComplete now allows long notes. If a note is more than 300 characters long it is automatically converted to a Google Docs document that is attached to the task being created or modified.

You can now choose your Google Calendar calendars to be displayed in ActionComplete via a user-friendly Options dialog. The selected calendars preserve their native colors for easy identification.

New Convert button allows for easy conversion of a task to a different type (Action/Wait/Project/Idea). The same effect can be achieved by dragging and dropping the task as needed.

Attachments can be created in AC for Web only. However you can view them on your phone if you update your AC for Android to version 1.5.0 currently available at Android Market.

To access the new features described above please force-refresh (Ctrl-F5 or similar) ActionComplete page in your browser.