Planfix’s default “Summary data” planner vs. my task planner
For a long time I looked at Trello and similar kanban services and wondered why our task board in Planfix, the task and process management system we use, looks so much worse. I concluded that the reason is too many colors and controls, a small font and small spacing. In short, it’s a question of the planner’s design. It looks as if Planfix wants to show off how much it can do, so it ends up like someone who “put on all their best clothes at once for a friend’s wedding”. I understand the commercial goal, but why do I have to suffer? I hope the Planfix folks try a different approach soon, but in the meantime I decided to try improving the interface within the means available to me. My rule was:
“increase the information, reduce the noise”
So here’s what you can do to make Planfix planners more readable with the standard tools.
1. Column headers in one color that doesn’t burn your eyes. Strangely enough, this color sits in different places in different Planfix palettes. Tut-tut, guys.
2. Column headers of the same height. If the counter is on in one column, turn it on in all of them. That way the eye doesn’t jump around looking for the first item in the next column.
3. Unneeded task-creation fields removed. In statuses where tasks shouldn’t be created, it’s better to remove the task-creation field. This contradicts point 2, but it helps clean up the planner as a whole, because there are fewer controls.
4. A minimal card menu. The card menu is the buttons for managing a task. Keep them only where someone will use them. I only have them in the inboxes, because that’s usually the only place I delete tasks or close them straight away. This will depend on how tasks are handled in each case. The general rule: keep buttons only where they’re needed.
5. A simpler card view. The Planfix developers are smart cookies! They’ve given us a way to configure what cards look like. Depending on the context, the person using a planner needs different task fields. The general rule is the same as everywhere: reduce the noise and keep only what’s needed.
By default Planfix puts card titles in bold. I think that’s unnecessary. I removed the bold everywhere and removed labels where I could. For example, why write “deadline” if the card has only one date? (I still have a “deadline” label left, by the way. I’ll remove it.)
The card looks tidy and reads easily without the extra labels and bold.
I went a little further and added my own CSS styles for the planner. Here’s my bit of CSS, which you feed to the Chrome extension Stylus.
What this style gives you:
What’s the use of the words “checklist attached” when we can see it anyway? Besides, it’s especially important to add space between task cards. Otherwise they all visually stick together in a heap.
I set this up about a year ago, and I’m very happy with it. Working with Planfix has become much more pleasant. Maybe the developers will read this post and move a redesign of the planners a little higher up their backlogs. In the meantime, you know what to do.