Priority Matrix (for iPad)

If you're going to use an iPad for business or personal productivity?a great idea, by the way?you'll need a few reliable and highly utilitarian apps for keeping your tasks and projects organized. Part of the trick of picking the right apps is to find ones that not only get the job done but also appeal to your tastes and ways of thinking. An app you like is one you'll actually use. The organizational iPad app Priority Matrix ($3.99) is a good example of an app that contains the functionality to be useful, but may not appeal to all users due to its schematic design.

In Priority Matrix, you set up projects and associate tasks or to-do list items to them. The twist is that you then must categorize each task into one of four quadrants. You can change what these four quadrants are called, but the defaults are: critical and immediate, critical but not immediate, not critical but immediate, and not critical and not immediate. Priority Matrix may work for some people, but its non-traditional way of prioritizing may require others to change the way they see their projects and tasks. And an organization app that mandates you change the way you work isn't doing its job. Priority Matrix could be a useful tool to add to your iPad toolkit, but only if you already think the way the app wants you to think.

Core Features
While this review looks only at the Priority Matrix iPad app, additional apps exist for iPhone, Mac, and Windows, which can all sync with one another.

The Priority Matrix interface puts a four-section matrix on the main stage of the screen, with menus and options along the bottom, and two more icons with options tucked away at the top right. You touch and hold the center of the matrix to resize all the quadrants rather easily. Each quadrant can be named however you like, although the default names, as mentioned, deal with different priority levels.

The left rail is where Priority Matrix lets you set up projects. As you create projects, you can customize the associated matrix for each one depending on its needs. This ability to rename various components makes Priority Matrix quite flexible, letting you categorize elements within the project, whether they're tasks or reminders or something else, however it best suits the project.

But it becomes a little confusing if your sense of organization for a particular project doesn't fall neatly into four sections. What if your project has five or more categories or levels of priority? What if there's only one and what you need is a straight to-do list? What if each item within your project falls into an ordered hierarchy? For the app to be effective, you find yourself readjusting how you think, rather than customizing the app to fully work for you... which is a problem.

Beyond just putting tasks into your projects, you can also add due dates, start dates, notes, icons, and a "percent complete" figure to each one. A repeat button is also included with daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly, and other options.

Design
The menu selections that run along the bottom (and two at the top) of the screen give way to even more customization. You can arrange and sort the items you associate with a project by date, name, completion status, and so forth.

The icons, colors, and typefaces used in the app aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing. Black text becomes difficult to read against the blue and green tones used as default backgrounds for two of the quadrants. An icon of a paint roller flusters me every time I see it because it contains more than just color options?"set as template," "clone project," and "export project" hide behind the paint roller as well.

One design feature that works well, however, comes in the form of icons that you can add to any task you create. Options include a green check mark, red exclamation point, clock face, light bulb, envelope, and dozens more.

Prioritize Your Productivity
The productivity app Priority Matrix for iPad puts an unconventional spin on prioritizing tasks and managing projects, and it's built with enough flexibility to be used widely by people from various professions and background. But at some level, it does ask you the user to conform somewhat to its way of thinking about organization, which might not work for everyone.

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