Franklin Covey has upgraded its PlanPlus for Outlook software -- and that should be good news. PlanPlus is one of the most productive software products I've ever used. It helps organize Microsoft Outlook so a casual user can better manage his tasks and appointments on a daily and weekly basis.
Even better news, I thought, was that the company has joined forces with WebIS, the developers of PocketInformant, an organizational tool for Pocket PCs (a k a Windows Mobile PDAs) and SmartPhones that has always made it easier to view and adjust calendars and tasks within those portable devices.
Yet the upgrades and combined user environment don't create the enhancement that we might have hoped for. Both products are still excellent at helping busy people get more out of their days. But the new combined offering seems to have taken a step backward.
Like Franklin Covey's paper planners, PlanPlus has always given users an edge by making it easier to plan and organize daily activities. The software lets you more easily show your daily agenda in a single place, instead of moving back and forth in Outlook panes, or taking valuable time to constantly tweak the display parameters.
The PlanPlus Home Page, a single window that it sets up within Microsoft Outlook, shows you your calendar and daily task list in a way that lets you move tasks from day to day and prioritize them within each day, so you can focus on what is important to do now. With the PlanPlus Home Page, you can determine which tasks are A priority -- then list them in the order that you want to accomplish them. Do the same with the B priority tasks and C priority tasks. You can put all other tasks into a master task list, allowing you to pull them into the proper date any time.
In PlanPlus for Outlook version 4, the productivity gurus at Franklin Covey have redesigned the Home Page, and while it still has the same great stuff, it doesn't make great use of your display space. On my screen, a third of my window is unused space. It forces the user to choose between seeing the entire task and being able to read the details of his calendar. The problem is that the new design puts the calendar control, the task list and the detailed calendars into separate columns -- and two of the three don't usually take up the full column on a medium to large monitor -- thus wasting otherwise usable space.
In addition, the new Home Page requires more clicks than before to create and prioritize tasks, reducing the utility of the functions.
Older versions of the software came with a utility for SmartPhones and PDAs, which worked very well for your prioritized tasks -- tough to improve. In the new version, they replaced that utility with the ability to view your tasks in PocketInformant. It works as well as the stand-alone version. But it won't work on SmartPhones that don't use a stylus.
I guess I'm whining, because PlanPlus has been on my list of top five computer applications since I first used it. And I still think it offers tremendous benefits for busy people who need to take charge of their tasks. But the upgrade is not an enhancement on version 3. At best, it's a parallel move.
My recommendations: If you need software to organize and prioritize your day -- especially your business day -- PlanPlus for Outlook is as close to a must-have product as you can get. But if you're already using version 3, don't upgrade -- unless you want to risk being disappointed.
First Published: June 23, 2007, 1:00 a.m.
