A To-Do List Made Simple With Sandglaz?

In an ongoing "get things done" series on this ADD/ADHD Product Review Blog, I’m going to be testing out digital apps and software that claim to help with task and time management, because structuring my days is often no easier than building a ship in a bottle with my toes.

I got myself into something different this time around: Sandglaz, a peculiarly named app that’s still in its beta stage and bravely defies the boring-laundry-list-of-tasks format used by the other guys. Show me what you got, rookie.

App Overview: Audaciously billed as “the easiest to-do app you can find,” Sandglaz has its credibility riding on being uncomplicated. Because the company is based in Toronto, one might wonder if the easygoing Canucks can really meet the needs of a mile-a-minute Yank -- one with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) no less.

The Good: Wowzers. This one really knocked me off my feet and onto a neatly folded pile of organized wonderfulness. The main interface is divided into four Post-It-size boxes with the labels “Important & Now,” “Important & Later,” “Unimportant & Now,” and “Unimportant & Later” where tasks can be allocated and specified with infantile ease. This sets priorities in essentially the exact same way my mind does, which is great, but if I ever so desire, I can also assign specific due dates as well. Sandglaz also offers to send reminders to your inbox, which might come in handy at some point, but really I’m just far too sold on its simplicity to care about anything else. I mean, really, what is one of the main reasons someone would use an app to stay organized? Because it’s too complicated to do so otherwise. So shouldn’t the best task-management app also be the most effortless?

The Bad: I don’t know what to say here. If I really want to nitpick, I suppose I can point out that I don’t actually need an app to tell me how important particular tasks are. It doesn’t take much cerebral horsepower to decide whether “pay rent” or “candy sale at Walgreens” should take precedence. I guess they could also come up with a name that doesn’t sound like a beach accessory.

The Grade: A+. I think we have a winner, folks. I’ve sorted through the chaff, and this one’s my favorite. I’ve given an A to another app previously, and at the time it truly felt like the summit of the mountaintop. But at that point I’d never encountered a system quite like Sandglaz and hence had never been enlightened to the possibilities of intuitiveness and simplicity that an app could offer. With that said, Sandglaz, I think a victory dinner at Pizza Hut is in order. You’re buying.

Details: Sandglaz is a free, Web-based application that is still in beta testing. Visit Sandglaz.com for more information.