voo2do - Frequently Asked Questions

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4. Helpful Tips and Tricks

Can I place a Voo2do shortcut on my desktop?

One way to do this, which should work for any site, is to go to your desired page and then drag the little Voo2do icon that appears to the left of the address bar (a red check mark in a yellow box) onto your desktop. Your computer will create a shortcut to the current page.

Technology

What technologies is Voo2do built on?

Voo2do is built with Python, Django, and JQuery. Prior to December 2009, Voo2do used Perl, Apache, the Apache::PageKit web framework. It also uses the PostgreSQL database server.

The Voodookit JQuery plugin was designed to support Voo2do and other spreadsheet-like browser apps.

Are you sure it's not Ruby on Rails?

Really... it used to just be Perl! But now it's Django, which is almost as trendy as Rails. :)

Using Voo2do and time management styles

Can I download Voo2do for installation on my own computer or web server?

Not at present. Voo2do is available for use as a hosted web application only, and I do not currently plan to release it for installation anywhere else. I am committed to making voo2do.com a reliable and high-quality service for the long term. But if at some point I am unable to maintain voo2do.com, I pledge to release the voo2do software so that others may continue to develop or host it.

If you are interested in purchasing voo2do for your company or team, please let me know. Although this option is not immediately available I would be happy to discuss it with any interested potential customers.

What are the 'orig est' and 'curr est' columns?

orig est	original estimate: how long you expect this task will take when you first enter it into your task list.
curr est	current estimate: your most recent estimate of how long this task will take (total). If something is taking longer than you originally expected, you should update this column.
elapsed	elapsed time: how long have you spent on this task so far? I suggest updating this as your work or at the end of each day.
remain	remaining time: calculated as curr est – elapsed.

The orig est, curr est, and elapsed columns are there to help you track how much time a task takes. One of the principles of Voo2do is that, whenever adding an item to your to-do list, you should estimate in hours how long that task will take. When entering a task, you can enter your hour estimate in orig est. This column holds the original estimate, and shouldn't normally be changed; curr est is where you'll put any updated estimates. This way, you can compare your initial estimates to how long the task actually took, and see where your estimating skills could use improvement.

The elapsed column is there to track how much time you've spent on a task so far. It's important to track this rigorously if you want to judge the accuracy of your estimates. That doesn't mean you have to measure in minutes; the important thing is to make regular updates during the day as you work.