This is the fourth in a series of posts on project management (PM) tools for PDAs. In this post we will look at using Shadow Plan for managing projects.
Shadow Plan works on the Palm and Windows and Mac platforms, and allows the same projects to be modified on each platform. The following screenshot provides the basis for a number of talking points about Shadow Plan:
As indicated in this snapshot of Shadow Plan on the Palm, projects can have any level of indentation. Each level can be numbered (or not) using a variety of numbering formats. Tasks can be assigned a Percentage Complete, and the percent complete is reflected graphically in the layout. Shadow Plan calculates the percentage complete of Parent items based on the values of children items. For example, if there are two children items, one with a percentage completion of 40% and one with 20%, the parent item will be figured at 30% (the average of the two children).
As indicated in the screenshot to left (again from the Palm version), several types of project elements are supported (see the drop-down list). Also, as indicated at the bottom of the snapshot, associated dates can be easily set and a project item can be linked to a ToDo (in the Palm ToDo List), an appointment in the Palm DateBook, or to another project. The program DateBk6, a popular PIM for Palm devices, supports the link tags of Shadow Plan. I have not tried this out within DateBk6, but it is always interesting when one program supports features from another.
Shadow Plan also supports drag and drop, so you can move items around withing a project. On my Palm TX, it doesn’t seem to do this as cleanly as Bonsai or ListPro does, but it does work. (Shadow Plan on my TX double-refreshes the screen after an update. This makes it appear a little more “jerky” than apps that do not use a double-refresh, but performance is not impacted by this.) In addition to the drag and drop, you can make changes with the Edit Menu:
The desktop (Windows and Mac) versions do everything that the Palm version does, and projects sync between the desktop and Palm versions, so that changes in either are reflected on both. The Mac version of Shadow Plan does not always recognize the registration code. To register the software on a Mac, you obtain a file from the developer and then install that in a particular directory. Ideally Shadow Plan is supposed to create this directory for you, but it didn’t for me and the author indicated that people sometimes have to manually create the directory. I created it, moved the registration file there, and for a while the reg code was accepted … but after a few days, the program apparently stopped recognizing the reg code file. I assume the author will get this bug fixed as the Mac version of Shadow Plan is a relatively new program, and, of the PM programs I’ve reviewed to date, it is the only version that works at all on a Mac.
Hopefully this has given you enough information to see if you might want to use this tool. Ultimately the only way you can really find out if it’s right for you is to download it and try it out for a while.