The Gantt Chart (to the right of your task-list) represents each task’s date range as a green bar super-imposed over the days of the week. This tells you not only when a task can be done but also puts that task in the context of your other commitments.

Hint: Scheduled non-fixed tasks also have a black diamond to indicate the scheduled date and time. Fixed appointments have only a diamond with a small green thumb-tack (no “green bar”). Completed tasks show only a checkmark on the day on which they were checked “complete”. (See illustration, above.)

These side-tabs are created and edited in your Weekly Template or through the Welcome Wizard. (See those explanations for more details.) There are, however, two special categories:

Summary Tab

This tab includes all categories. You can view or add tasks for all categories. Uncategorized. This “category” displays ONLY in the Summary view; it does not have a separate tab. Tasks which do not have a category (for example, tasks sent by email) will show up in Uncategorized. You may also add an uncategorized task. Hint: Assign a category by dragging the uncategorized task into one of the other category lists.

These over-head tabs allow you to quickly display tasks which are can (or should) be done in a given time-frame. Overdue. All tasks which are past due AND incomplete will show up under the Overdue tab. There are several ways to reschedule overdue items:

1. Drag task onto another range-tab (Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week).

2. Click on the task to open task properties. Then click on the range to select a custom range from the pop-up calendar.

3. To schedule an exact time, you can drag the task directly onto your schedule. Alternatively, you can click on the task to open task properties. Then click on Specify Exact Date/ Time.

Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week

Use these tabs to quickly add new tasks or to view your task list. To set a more precise range, use the Range Selector.

Custom Tab

The Custom tab only displays after you have highlighted a custom range in the Range Selector. Once a custom range has been defined, the Custom tab remains visible until you log out of Skoach. Even if you switch between tabs, the Custom tab will continue to access the most recent custom range.

Hint: Using the Range Selector to add new tasks in this way adds more realistic precision to your task-planning. It’s super-quick, once you get the hang of it!

Repeating Tab

This tab collects all repeating tasks in one place. This is also a convenient place to create new repeating tasks. If you create a task under the repeating tab, Skoach will prompt you to define a recurrence schedule (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly).

Hint: To check a repeating task “complete”, be sure to click on the instance of that recurrence appearing on your calendar. The recurring task which appears in your task list is ALWAYS the master task; changes to the master task (reminders, notes, schedule changes, etc...) are reflected in all instances of the recurring task.

Hint: You can spot a repeating task by looking for the repeating icon (revolving arrow): or

Future Tab

This tab is reserved for tasks which will be done at some as-yet unspecified time in the future (longer-term goals, future projects, some-day tasks). To put future task on your active task list, just drag the task onto one of the range tabs (This Week, Next Week...).

The calendar is where your schedule lives.

Task Range - Calendar Sync

As you switch range-tabs (Today, This Week...) on the left side of your Home page, the calendar automatically shifts to display the corresponding calendar days. However, shifting your calendar to next month or next week will NOT affect the displayed task range.

Displayed Time Units

You may change the level of detail on your schedule by altering the displayed time unites (30, 15, or 10 minutes):

Print Schedule

Click on the Print icon (above the calendar) to print your schedule. Your schedule will display in a new window, from which you can customize the included information before printing.

Hint: Printed selection will include daily/ weekly schedule depending on the current daily/ weekly view.

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly views

Use icons above the calendar to change the view:

What Does It Do?

The Commitment Bar gauges your workload over a selected date-range. Before adding a task, it is helpful to glance at the bar to see how much more time you have available. In this example, I have 2 hours and 24 minutes of work-time available for additional tasks.

Hint: Completed tasks do not count toward your workload.

Hint: The Commitment bar is updated every sixty seconds. The available time only includes the actual time remaining in a particular time-block. For example, imagine I have a time-block, work (9am – 5pm). If by 12pm I have not checked “complete” any of my “work” tasks, then the bar will assume that I only have 5 remaining hours to do all my work tasks for that day. To get the most accurate reading from the Commitment bar, be sure to check-off completed tasks.

Hint: The Commitment bar ALWAYS adjusts to the displayed date range and category. If you are in the Summary view, then the Commitment Bar will reflect the total workload and total available time over ALL categories. Therefore, it is often most helpful to add new tasks under the particular category-tab (instead of Summary-tab). This will insure that the Commitment Bar is giving you an accurate category-specific reading.

How Does It Work? The basic idea is pretty simple: If I have 5 hours worth of work-tasks on my Today list, and 8 hours allocated for work, then my Commitment Bar will appear about 60% full, and the gauge will say, “3 hrs available”. The algorithm is a quite a bit more sophisticated, but that’s basically what a user needs to understand in order to take advantage of this feature.

Warning. The following material may cause dizziness; do not operate heavy machinery while reading.

In fact, the challenge of gauging one’s work-load for any particular category over any given date range is not easy for people OR computers. If a task must be done on one particular day, then the calculation is pretty straight-forward, but many tasks in Skoach are set for a multi-day range (This Week, Next Week, or even a custom range like “Wed or Thurs”). In other words, I don’t know which day the task will actually be done, only that it will be done sometime during a given range of days. So if I have a 2 hour project that can be done Monday or Tuesday, which day should I subtract the time from?

Enter Quantum Mechanics. (Yes, you are still reading the Skoach Manual.) The theory of quantum mechanics is founded on the startling (but verified) idea that a particle can never be said to exist at a definite location in space. Rather, we can only calculate the probability of finding it (at a given time) at some precise location. The sum of the probabilities over all space is always one (it MUST exist somewhere).

We followed the same approach to deal with these “indeterminate” tasks. Without going into the exact mathematical detail, we basically assume that a task is more likely to be done as the due date grows closer. For each day, there is a defined probability that the particular task will be done on that day. So, if there is a 40% probability that some task will be done on Monday, and 60% that it will be done on Tuesday, we divide the duration of the task 40/60 between the two days. If on Tuesday, the same task is still marked incomplete, then the commitment bar recalculates, assigning 100% probability that the task will be done today, and deducting the full task-duration from the Commitment Bar. (The reader’s jaw is now hanging open somewhere between confusion and mild terror.)

This statistical approach does NOT work for a single task, but works beautifully on an ensemble of multiple tasks over multiple overlapping ranges of variable extent. It takes some brain-scratching, and maybe a stiff drink to wash down, but it should make sense. If not, have another drink.