I recently started another part time job at Comerge AG, because a friend of mine, Till, asked me if I had some spare time, and since I’m having a slow semester to finish my bachelor, i accepted at once.

The problem now is that I’m starting to run into a wall when it comes to getting my tasks organized and keeping track of my time. At the FGCZ we use a Redmine task tracker for both task and time tracking, it’s a great tool and I started to use it for some smaller projects of mine too. Then at Comerge we use Origo for task tracking and WR Time Tracker, again these are all great tools. For other smaller stuff I use Freshbooks, which I think is one of the nicest trackers I’ve ever used. By far my favorite task tracker for personal use is RememberTheMilk, which I’ve been using since it came out in 2005.

By now you probably see my problem: all tools are great, otherwise I wouldn’t use them, but with all the different locations where to report, it’s really getting hard to get an overall view. Wouldn’t it be just so incredibly nice to have just one place where to get all the needed information, tasks and time reports, without having to look around in hundreds of different places? Many companies and projects have tried to be that one place to go, but none have actually succeeded, and I don’t think anyone will ever succeed. It won’t be possible to force all the users and their respective companies into using one tool.

Why not finally move away from that narrow mindedness and just integrate into our tools a simple common API that would allow tools to share information among each others? Maybe allow for a Desktop client that collects my tasks from BaseCamp, Redmine and Trac, throws in my Todos at RememberTheMilk and shows me where I’ve spent my time so far. I’m not even asking for the ability to update all that information, that’s what the different tools are for, but just displaying all in one place would make my life so much easier.

Would that be so hard?