Task & Reminder System Upgrade#91

Currently, the Tasks are too limited to replace even a simple spreadsheet. An addition of a few more informational fields would greatly expand its capabilities:

• Ability to add an estimated cost to a task in chosen currency.
• Ability to add a hyperlink to a related part/modification/DIY Guide.
• Ability to set priority and current status of the task.
• Ability to Group/Categorise tasks, even by a simple tagging system.
• Task description field.

Currently, the task’s description can be edited via the Notepad section when viewing a task. This can be used to insert hyperlinks and a description, however it would make sense to be able to edit this section directly from the task creation window. Cost, Priority, Status, and Category should be seperate fields via which the tasks can then be filtered by.

Welcome @Michael!

We completely agree with all of your points above.

The task system was our first ever feature released (our foot out the door) over a year ago now. Since then our team has both skilled up and grown and we are all very aware internally that the task system is currently not up to snuff!

We have a lot on at the moment with #14 and our native mobile app for iOS just launching but this is high on our internal list for reworking. I’m going to target Q3 this year but we might be able to squeeze it into Q2 if things go very well with your upcoming insurance product! *still not fully announced.

Calling out specifically to your features. I think we have all of them covered in our plans except for the estimated cost functionality. This is actually really interesting for two reasons:

1.) Part of the task upgrade is to give it some more fields, some search and filter functionality etc (as you’ve requested), the other part is we are currently exploring how best to incorporate tasks into the history file, as a sort of upcoming entry, which would then convert into an entry when the task is completed (at the users choice). If you had estimated costs you could potentially have a expectations vs reality calculation.

2.) The second is that many people are asking for a way to have an overview of all their cars, a sort of cost of ownership dashboard, a digital instrument cluster if you will 😅. Your suggestion here around estimated future costings could be really cool if we could tie it into some sort of ‘upcoming/projected costs’.

Such a good idea Michael!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write the above, it really helps us build the software out in the right direction for the community! We’re still a small team so it takes some time but we will get there with the help of people like yourself!

If you think I’ve missed anything and/or want to add any other tidbits, please do let us know!

Thank you!

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy, thanks for getting back to me so quickly and in such great detail! Ahh yes, the infamous “Dashboard”, it appears every piece of software must have one to survive nowadays! Talking from the analytical perspective, yes it would be interesting to see a comparison between an actual cost (Value calculated from historical entries and completed tasks) VS an estimated cost (Value from uncompleted tasks) of ownerhip thus far. It would greatly assist with accountancy and pre-planning aspect of works yet to be carried out, but also serve as a good means of self-reflection when looking at the actual cost and thinking to yourself - “what a money pit!”…lol! In any case, I will be patiently waiting for the expansion of Tasks, as this will truly allow users like myself to ditch Excel and other platforms and focus purely on Custodian :)

I wanted to share a very very early sneak peek at some of the planned task management system changes.

I must be clear though, these are not final and are early ideas on how we can better tie the task and reminders system into the history file. A lot of the text etc is also filler.

I just really wanted to show you where we currently are on this internally!

You need to click the link to come and view the files as they don’t get sent in the notification (to save on email size).

Hi Jeremy,

Thank you very much for sharing those screenshots.

The Kanban board is a great design choice - very simple, but also perfectly fit for purpose - and the option to convert it to a list view is very considerate for users who prefer this instead.

I can honestly say that, outside of edge cases, this new design and functionality will completely overhaul the experience of tracking to-do jobs, and I appreciate that so much attention to detail has been invested into this new layout (Such as the new Tasks icon, ability to categorise and label tasks, estimation costs, ability to link DIY instructions etc.) - well done to yourself and the team!

The only improvement I can suggest is to include the ability to add PDF & Word files to tasks, similarly to how you can add them to entries within the History File. Reason being, if the DIY/Manufacturer instructions are strictly in a downloadable format, you can then upload them directly to the task and not have to worry about the download link being taken down.

I appreciate that this can be accomplished by simply uploading the file to a cloud storage provider, and then including a hyperlink to the file within the task, or just storing the file locally, but the whole purpose is to make Custodian the only platform you ever need to manage your car :)

Fantastic work, and thank you again for the update, can’t wait for the next release!

Michael

A reminder system, especially on the iOS app, for MOT is the reason I came to this app in the first place.

Being able to set the reminder with a yearly occurance (obviously editable for when the date changes slightly) This is probably my biggest logistical annoyance keeping all these current on a collection of vehicles.