Individiual task/to-do lists

The to do list is famous in the software world for being the easiest thing to build (most tutorials for a new framework will present an example of building a to-do list app as something that demonstrates the simplest useful thing that could be built with that framework), so.. it's certainly something that can be built.

I can't quite grab where it goes in Loomio just yet, though... Is this private to you as a user? Is it related to a particular discussion, or group, or your membership to that group?

I'm ask because I'm wary of becoming BasecampDiscourseDoodleTodoist (with polling!) without quite reaching the full user experience in task management, discussion, polling, or to-do listing respectively.

Hmmm. I could see arguments for both public and private to-do lists, but the functionality I'd most value would be for them to be attached to particular groups, so I can pop into the group and be reminded what I personally need to do in relation to it, or could go to a "recent threads"-type page and see my tasks organized by group.

from my perspective integrating some open source kanban boards like wekan into loomio would be more than enough - clear task assignments, comments for tasks and good overview of what is being done.

I can imagine this can be more problematic than to-do list, so creating a "group tasks" in group pages and "your tasks" on main dashboard that are being transferred from the group tasklist when you click to volunteer for it would be still awesome. Right now we're using online spreadsheet for that and the workflow is horrible.

The second idea could be for example extended with the options to set a "volunteer limit", creating task sections for different ongoing projects and simple comment/description section and stuff. Would love to see that function!

As a user - my main use case for Loomio is as a 'Board Platform', or a 'General Meeting Platform'.

Organisations I work with us it as a hub where we can link to important policies / documents and other online tools. Have inductions, guides etc. And thereafter use it to discuss issues, and ultimate to aid in decision making before, after and in between Board meetings.

Loomio works reasonably well for this... however, is relatively labour intensive (for the facilitators) to keep fluid / intuitive for non-power users. We have also had some scaling problems (the more users get involved in discussion and the more we use it for sub-committees and general members forums, the more confusion things become - leading us to rely more on physical meetings) I have plenty of feedback on this if you want it (but perhaps there is a better forum than this).

I have actually looked for alternatives to Loomio for my specific use case - one that I found that I am considering trialing with a board that I am consulting with at the moment is Board Easer https://boardeaser.com/

It is built to meet the needs of the board of a mid-sized organisation, and from the walk through I did... it is very impressive. The stand-out features that it integrates are;

• different kinds of roles, with different functions within the system (Chairperson, Secretary etc.)
• automated task assignments by the system (for recurring tasks like - schedule your next meeting, get approval for meetings, post meeting agenda etc.) and task/meeting follow-up assignments. Kanban etc.
• meeting minutes (draft, circulate, approve and sign) built into the system.
• lots of other little quality of life things

I was very impressed I have to say. Though the price tag is about 3/4 times that of Loomio... And it's not a Co-op, which for orgs I work with is quite important.

Now, from what I understand Loomio was built with a very different use case than Boardeaser, and has been adopted by organisations as a board platform and/or a General Meeting tool regardless. I've used it for both, and it works! But it requires an attentive facilitator to ensure it all works, and to work out the kinks. And using it in this way isn't intuitive for the new user out of the box.

I think Loomio has an opportunity to move more into a more rounded platform, which could serve this use case better (and I am sure some others)... but I don't know were this fits into your vision or aspirations. I'd be the first to subscribe for shares in a funding round for this though... :)

I agree with your statement "I'm wary of becoming BasecampDiscourseDoodleTodoist (with polling!)". My mind map software has gone from an outstanding mind map software at version 4, to a bloated pig at version 11 by bolting on all sorts of stuff unrelated to mind mapping. A plea. Might I suggest a power version for power users and keep a core version of Loomio to keep everything easy for others? My clients I talk to in organisations all seek tools that are easy to use and don't require huge training.

I think there's a case for an 'enterprise' service if the platform was develop much more than it is now...

Yes, that is what I think. It’s a great platform right now for our needs as a non for profit.John