[Ayoa](http://ayoa.com/) is a rich and varied environment which provides whiteboarding, flowcharts, mind mapping, work breakdown structures, visual modelling, and synchronization with Evernote. It can be used as a project designer or a full-blown task manager.
Ayoa has a great planner and it is great to develop mind maps into tasks. The canvas view is very interesting and unique. Ayoa provides a work breakdown view of tasks.
## Video introduction to Ayoa Project Planner
This video covers mind mapping, the canvas view, and the Gantt timeline for brainstorming and project planning, the [[#Canvas View]] and [[#Gantt timeline|Gantt timeline]]
This article is an attempt to balance the useful and interesting functions in the Ayoa project planner balanced against some of its limitations and an introduction to the Ayoa platform, which is designed for creating mind maps and task boards.
![[evaluation of ayoa mindmap.png|Ayoa mind map showing evaluation of Ayoa features and workflow]]
## Mind mapping and planning with Ayoa
The Ayoa project planner allows you to break down a mind map into a work breakdown structure, schedule tasks on the calendar, and to generate mind maps through its integration with Evernote.
![[mindmapping-with-ayoa-and-evernote flowchart.png|Flowchart illustrating mind mapping integration between Ayoa and Evernote]]
## Ayoa for Mind Mapping
Ayoa is a versatile tool that facilitates mind mapping. Mind mapping is a technique for capturing and organizing thoughts, often referred to as "mind dumping." This process involves transferring ideas from your mind onto paper or, in this case, a digital platform. Traditionally, mind maps were created on paper, but Ayoa offers a digital alternative that enhances this process.
### Creating a Mind Map
To begin, you can create a new mind map—let us call it "About Ayoa." Starting with a blank mind map, you select a central theme. From there, you can add nodes at various levels to represent different ideas. For example, you might start with "mind mapping" as a primary node and then break it down into more detailed sub-nodes, such as "mind dumping" or "organizing information."
It is advisable to keep each node concise, focusing on key themes rather than lengthy phrases. This approach allows for clearer organization and easier development of ideas.
Ayoa also supports task management. You can create tasks, organize them, and link them directly to specific nodes within your mind map. This integration helps connect your ideas with actionable items.
### Creating Tasks for the Mind Map
Once your mind map is established, you may identify tasks related to specific nodes. For instance, if you are preparing a presentation about Ayoa, you might create a task titled "Write Intro Text About Mind Mapping." This task can be linked to the relevant node in your mind map, ensuring a clear connection between your ideas and your to-do list.
Ayoa provides a task board where you can categorize tasks, such as "Later" or "Soon," and assign tasks accordingly. You can also customize the appearance of tasks by changing their colors for better visual distinction.
Ayoa process flowchart:
![[ayoa flowchart process.png|Ayoa process flowchart visualizing task and mind map integration]]
### Reorganizing the Mind Map
If you wish to change the structure of your mind map, Ayoa allows you to reposition nodes manually or use an automatic rearrange feature for clarity. For example, if you decide that the "purpose of mind mapping" is a primary consideration, you can move that node to a more prominent position. The platform makes it easy to adjust the hierarchy and layout as your ideas evolve.
### Linking Tasks to the Mind Map
Tasks such as "Do Presentation on Ayoa" can be linked to central themes within your mind map, such as "About Ayoa." This linkage ensures that each task is contextually connected to your broader objectives. The task board offers multiple views, including workflow, canvas, Gantt, and urgency lists, each presenting your tasks in a different format.
### Canvas View
The Canvas view displays task categories with their respective tasks in a visual layout. Tasks can be moved, collapsed, or expanded as needed. For example, you might add tasks like "Publish Content on the Web" to the "Later" category and "Do Presentation on Ayoa" to the "Soon" category.
Tasks in the Canvas view can be linked to indicate dependencies. For instance, you can specify that "Write Intro Text About Mind Mapping" must be completed before "Do Presentation on Ayoa." This visual representation helps clarify the sequence of tasks and their interdependencies.
### Gantt Timeline
The Gantt timeline provides a calendar-based view for scheduling tasks. Instead of simply ordering tasks, you can assign specific dates to each one. For example, you might schedule "Write Intro Text About Mind Mapping" for August 14th and 15th, and "Do Presentation on Ayoa" for the following week. Dependencies established in the Canvas view are reflected in the Gantt timeline, ensuring that tasks are completed in the correct order.
This approach allows you to formalize your commitments and manage your schedule effectively, with clear deadlines and task sequences.
![[ayoa-logo.png|ayoa logo|250]]
### Mind map links to create new ideas
Mind maps, concept maps, entity relationships, brainstorming or class diagrams promote these natural and visual associations.
Imagine a set of ideas that we might not initially or instinctively associate. By making those links through the external mental process of mapping, the brain has something to work on. It’s a whole new ballgame.
The brain can reinforce these associations to calculate new conclusions and thus create new ideas and holistic visions of the system.
The link between mind maps and tasks in Ayoa is dynamic because you can both break down a mind map into tasks – a top-down approach. Or you can use a bottom-up approach by collecting content in Evernote, adding the ‘Ayoa’ tag, organize it into a task board and connect into the mind map overview. So a mind map with underlying tasks is a junction between bottom-up collecting collection yet provides an opportunity.
![[mjl-tek-content.png|Screenshot of Ayoa mind map nodes linked to tasks]]
Herewith is another short video describing the link between mind map nodes and tasks in Ayoa project planner.
### Push tasks from Evernote to Ayoa
Evernote is about memorizing and categorizing things, events, facts, material and content over the course of your life and work.
Evernote integrates with Ayoa. Once the integration is set up, you can tag Evernotes with one of the following tags, and it will appear in Ayoa. You can effectively post Evernotes to the Ayoa task board and them to a mind map.
Here is a short video describing how you can promote Evernotes to an Ayoa task board.
You can then bring them up into Ayoa as a kanban overview, organize them, and mind map them. They’re also there ready to be organized into a workflow and actioned.
![[ayoa-workflow.png|Ayoa Kanban workflow view displaying tasks organized in columns]]
*Above: a kanban view of Ayoa task board*
So you can do top-down analysis from one central mind map all the way down to Evernote leaves, and you can build up your Evernote leaves into a pyramid with a central theme on top.
This is seeing the whole from its parts, and dividing the whole into its components, or top down and bottom-up analysis.
The objective is better analysis, although there is something missing. To make the whole from components, you still need the human touch to fill in the gaps.
You can then see in Evernote how many notes are in Ayoa by the tag count below:
![[ayoa tags.png|Evernote tag count showing notes linked to Ayoa]]
## Benefits and strong points of Ayoa
*Advantages of Ayoa:*
![[main advantages of ayoa.PNG|Ayoa mind map summarizing main advantages and features]]
*This is an Ayoa mind map which summarizes Ayoa functionality:*
![[strong-points-and-benefits-of-ayoa.png|Ayoa mind map highlighting strong points and benefits]]
### Strong mind map functions
The mind mapping functions in Ayoa are a strength. Although I had one gripe about cutting and pasting or dragging and dropping mind map nodes, the general way of producing a mind map works well. You can add nodes and sub-nodes quickly.
The organic view demonstrates the important view of Tony Buzan that shape and form operate in a mind map too; it’s not just about the data.
![[ayoa multiple views of mindmaps.png|Ayoa interface showing organic, speed, and radial mind map views]]
*Mind maps can be viewed in organic, speed and radial views*
Ayoa allows you to link tasks to a mind map. In this example, each mind map node has tasks attached.
![[mjl-tek-content.png|Mind Map of Content Plan for mjl-tek Content]]
The mind map layer sits on top of the task workflow/canvas layer and enables you to stand back and to get an overview of what you’re trying to do in your project. Obviously, this process can also be top-down; you can add to your mind map and develop the tasks needed to fulfil the vision.
See how to [[Project Definition and Protecting the Plan]] for top-down and bottom-up projects, and how to use the funnel concept to [[Turn Ideas into Actions and Projects]].
Ayoa is a great environment to mind map with a strong link to tasks, effectively actioning Evernotes.
### Add tasks to a mind map node
Linking tasks to a mind map is one of the key concepts, particularly in the analysis (phase) of a project. Here in Ayoa you can link a task to a mind map node. Either by creating a new task or linking an existing task.
![[adding a task from mindmap mode.png|Ayoa screenshot of adding a task from mind map mode]]
I want to be able to mind map freely and [[Turn Ideas into Actions and Projects]] recognizing the many factors which affect decision-making.
Mind mapping is a key technique to sort out these multiple influences and ideas. And once you see more clearly, you can start to build a project around them, and take action.
### Integration with Evernote
#Evernote
I initially came to use Ayoa when it was still called Droptask because of the integration with Evernote.
An Ayoa task can be sent to Evernote. An Evernote can be ‘promoted’ to Ayoa. This dynamic relationship means that changing the title in one changes the title in the other. Completing a task, changes the Evernote tag to Ayoa_completed. This is quite valuable because Evernote fails as a task manager (despite the new reminders view).
*Edit: Since Writing, Evernote Has Added [[Evernote to capture ideas and issues#Evernote task|a Task Function]]
However, when defining projects bottom-up from Evernote, you tag an Evernote ‘Ayoa’. This creates a task item in Ayoa, not a mind map node.
### Create an Evernote from Ayoa
You can create an Evernote from a task in Ayoa by clicking on ‘Send Task to Evernote’
![[send-task-ayoa-to-evernote.png|Ayoa interface for sending a task to Evernote.]]
You can send items in Ayoa to a specific Evernote folder.
![[ayoa send to specific evernote folder.png|Ayoa screenshot of sending a task to a specific Evernote folder]]
Items sent to Evernote from Ayoa can easily be viewed
![[clean-link-to-evernote.png|Ayoa interface showing a clean link to Evernote]]
To create an Ayoa task from an Evernote, tag a note ‘Ayoa’ and the note appears in Ayoa.
![[tag-a-note-droptask.png|Evernote note tagged for integration with Ayoa (Droptask)]]
### The Ayoa My Planner
One of the functions I really like is the planner, which divides the screen into Now, Next and Soon. These statuses and columns are an interesting mix between Eisenhower and GTD. Eisenhower talks about urgency, differentiating what is urgent, important or not. So I very much like both these concepts Eisenhower and GTD. I was enthusiastic about the planner. You have the now (urgent), soon (less urgent but upcoming) and Next in between.
So you can easily distinguish tasks that are in progress, or should be doing now, from the subsequent ones. Those just after (next action), and the ones on the horizon which you should start to consider. So it nicely models the low-level GTD horizons.
The Ayoa Planner is an excellent way to view priorities and filter them from the mass of potential items planned
![[ayoa my planner.png|Ayoa My Planner screen with Now, Next, and Soon columns]]
Sliding items between now and next and soon is easy. And the view gives you a summary of what’s going on. It enables you to focus on the immediate stuff while preparing in the background (off planner) your workflow for after the soon.
![[ayoa planner now next soon tasks.png|Ayoa Planner View Displaying Tasks Sorted by Now, Next, and Soon]]
My planner in Ayoa is an opportunity to play around with your tasks and to juggle what you should be doing or what you think you should be doing now. It is about focusing on the important and urgent priorities and the things you should be doing next and soon. The Soon status is not quite like ‘someday’; it is just after Next.
So it’s very easy to tag a task now, next or soon and Ayoa presents them all in a unified screen with columns now next and soon.
My Planner gives you a great opportunity to establish your priorities and to juggle them around until you feel that you are doing the right things.
The greatest challenge is selecting the right things from the mass of ideas, tasks, desires, intentions, and definite things that you need to do.
Items in the ‘My Planner’ screen give you a clearer vision of what is missing and whether your priorities are appropriate.
Also consider that each task board might represent a separate project. The challenge is to select tasks from each project without selecting so many tasks that each project advances very slowly. It’s the difference between focusing on a single project, on several fronts, or snowed under with just too many things at the same time.
Take a look at this [tutorial on how to get started with Ayoa Planner](https://youtu.be/hfnvIJaBHAE)
My Planner in Ayoa provides a great view of the priorities. The principal of now, next and soon, helps to focus on current tasks and to decide on the rough timeline for other tasks.
It’s easy to set the planner status on an Ayoa task:
![[set-planner-status-on-ayoa-task.png|Ayoa interface for setting planner status on a task]]
set planner status on Ayoa task
### My Planner is The Funnel
The Ayoa Planner implements The Funnel concept, which is a theoretical construct to [[Turn Ideas into Actions and Projects]]. The idea is that there is a funnel effect leading down from the backlog in preparation to task to be done Now.
![[The-Funnel.png|Diagram of the Funnel concept for turning ideas into actions in Ayoa]]
To select what to put in now, next and soon, you might filter on the important and urgent tasks. Importance and urgency are the key factors used in the Eisenhower method.
Most probably the important and urgent ones will be in the Now section. However, ideally, proactive management means that you don’t have anything that is urgent.
You might find, with practice, that you are less focused on putting out fires and getting ahead of the game. The now next and soon helps you to anticipate and hopefully avoid emergencies.
### Canvas and workflow views
*Task management in Evernote and Ayoa:*
![[ayoa driving task management.png|Ayoa canvas and workflow views driving task management]]
The canvas and workflow views in Ayoa are very helpful for modelling your tasks visually. You can easily swap categories and subcategories and add dependencies between tasks.
Ayoa is a digital productivity and collaboration platform that includes features for visualizing and organizing work. Canvas and Workflow views are two of these features.
Canvas View is a visual tool for organizing ideas and tasks. It allows users to create a visual representation of their work, such as a mind map, to help them see the connections between ideas and tasks. Users can add notes, images, and links to the canvas, and rearrange items as needed. The canvas view can be used for individual projects or as a shared collaboration tool for teams.
Workflow View is a tool for organizing tasks and tracking progress. It allows users to create a visual representation of their work processes, such as a flowchart or Gantt chart. Users can add tasks, set deadlines, assign responsibilities, and track progress. The Workflow View can be used for individual projects or as a shared collaboration tool for teams, and it integrates with the Canvas View for a comprehensive and visual representation of work.
Both Canvas and Workflow views in Ayoa are designed to help users and teams visualize their work, stay organized, and improve their productivity. They are intuitive and easy to use, and they provide a visual representation of work processes and ideas that can be easily shared and discussed.
*Below, a category and subcategory on Ayoa canvas view:*
![[ayoa canvas view 2.png|Ayoa canvas view showing categories and subcategories]]
Swap from the canvas views to the workflow view.
One column:
![[ayoa workflow view.png|Ayoa workflow view with tasks in a single column]]
These perspectives on the same set of tasks can allow you to think about things differently.
![[ayoa canvas.png|Ayoa visual canvas view for organizing tasks]]
The visual canvas view allows you to place tasks in the right categories and to swap categories and subcategories or place categories within categories.
You can collapse all categories down and pull them together to get an overview of the big themes.
Model tasks in the canvas view and sequence tasks in the workflow view.
The canvas view allows you to establish dependencies between tasks by drawing an arrow between tasks.
Three easily interchangeable views in Ayoa can therefore be used:
- Canvas view: allows you to model and organize tasks and deliverables in logical groupings.
- Workflow view: provides a more structured work breakdown structure, allowing you to sequence the order of tasks
- Gantt view: to schedule tasks against the calendar
![[schedule-tasks-in-ayoa.png|Ayoa interface for scheduling tasks in Gantt view]]
### Kanban of tasks
Despite my concluding that Ayoa is too slow for everyday use, I have come back to the Ayoa workflow because, currently, I know no better way of organizing Evernotes into a kanban such that it actually generates action.
The Ayoa workflow is a content planner.
![[ayoa-workflow.png|Ayoa workflow kanban view allows you to move tasks between columns.]]
Ayoa allows you to drag-and-drop note tasks in a visually pleasing environment.
And you can then play with each note-task in the task organization environment. Ayoa workflow provides you have notes, checklists, and the link back to Evernote. It would be nice, though, if the link back to Evernote could open the desktop app and not the web app. You can then display your kanban workflow grid visually in the canvas view.
![[ayoa-canvas-view.png|Ayoa canvas view with tasks arranged visually]]
Example of Ayoa Canvas View
### Calendar integration
It’s very useful to see task dates appear on the calendar.
![[see-tasks-on-google-calendar.png|Ayoa tasks integrated and displayed on Google Calendar]]
Above Ayoa tasks on Google Calendar.
But calendar integration is now an [ultimate feature](https://account.ayoa.com/business/subscription/buy) – thus setting you back $187.
### Ayoa Gantt chart
The Gantt chart is a bit clunky. I’m not sure that I would go all the way to planning and executing a project with Ayoa.
*Below is a dependency between two tasks in Ayoa on the Gantt view:*
![[ayoa gannt chart.png|Ayoa Gantt chart displaying task scheduling and dependencies]]
The Gantt view allows you to schedule tasks (against time).
### A partial replacement of Moh.io
Ayoa is not the same as moh.io, but it does allow you in effect to arrange notes spatially.
![[mohio-map.png|Screenshot of moh.io visual-spatial mapping of Evernotes]]
*Above: moh.io modelling of Evernotes*
What were the characteristics of [moh.io](http://moh.io/) that drew you to it? First, the visual-spatial two-dimensional presentation. Although it had quite different capabilities, the ability to link notes and to tag notes by linking them to tag visual tag objects.
Sadly, though, moh.io is now defunct, although you could purchase the [moh.io domain on product hunt](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/mohiomap) for around 5k USD.
![[mohio for sale.png|Product Hunt listing for moh.io domain for sale]]
### Breakdown tasks into a checklist
![[checklist-in-droptask.png|Ayoa checklist feature for breaking down tasks]]
## Gripes and feature requests
On a mobile device, the small screen is difficult to read; you have to scroll sideways to get the list of recent task boards or mind maps. But this is inherent in the small screen format and applies to KanBans in both Trello and Todoist. But on Ayoa, the columns are quite wide.
![[Bugs-gripes-and-requests-on-ayoa.png|Ayoa screenshot showing bugs, gripes, and feature requests]]
### Ayoa is slow on mobile
A workflow cannot be used seamlessly on all platforms. Ayoa is slow on Android. And so it relegates itself to being a planner, rather than a daily task manager.
Each piece of software embodies a vision of what it means to manage a task. I need to play with my tasks on the phone in my off time. And when I do, the app needs to be fast, responsive, and allow thoughts to race ahead. If the app is slow, the train of thought is stunted.
![[ayoa workflow view 3.png|Ayoa Workflow View on Mobile Device]]
Speed is a problem for Ayoa. The app is just not dynamic enough to bounce around between one task and another, and it quickly becomes frustrating to see the wait icon on opening. Perhaps that’s just me, but when I get an idea, I want to get it down as soon as possible – not wait until it evaporates.
But here it’s a little slow to find an existing task. Finding a task on a mind map node is a little slow. It requires you to go to the task menu on a mind map node and click a further sub-item find task. I think either adding or finding a task should be at the top-level menu inside the mind map node.
### Can’t move a category to another board
The canvas view helps you move tasks in and out of categories.
![[ayoa canvas view 3.png|Ayoa canvas view showing task categories]]
But you cannot move a category from one task board to another.
### Moving a mind map branch
You can’t drag and drop a mind map branch in organic view; you have to cut and paste it. Why break the drag and drop function again?
### Can’t use inline links
Currently, links pasted into notes show up as their full length
![[paste-an-inline-link-url-in-ayoa-notes.png|Ayoa note with a pasted full-length URL]]
It would be great to be able to represent URLs with inline links so that you have a nice succinct title, much more important with extremely long URLs.
![[use-inline-links-in-ayoa.png|Ayoa note demonstrating use of inline links]]
### Move a category left or right on Android
It would be nice to be able to move a category left or right on Android
### Can’t import OPML
This might be more important to me than to Ayoa developers. They might see other mind-mapping software as competition, but they could hasten the take-up by allowing users to import all their old mind maps, most of which can be exported to [OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML#:~:text=OPML%20(Outline%20Processor%20Markup%20Language,attributes%20with%20string%20values%22).)) [format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML#:~:text=OPML%20(Outline%20Processor%20Markup%20Language,attributes%20with%20string%20values%22).).
I use many mind-mapping tools. I have a whole library of Simplemind mind maps that I can’t import into Ayoa. You can only import iMind mind maps (launched by Tony Buzan).
### Drag and drop notifications
If you send an email to Ayoa or from an Evernote integration, a notification appears at the top of the screen.
![[ayoa notifications window.png|Ayoa notification window]]
You can move the notification onto a task workflow board by clicking move task below. But it would be nice to be able to **drag and drop** **the notification** straight onto (and in position) on a workflow board.
![[ayoa drag and drop notifications.png|Notifications of new items added in Ayoa]]
## Overall evaluation of Ayoa
My use of Ayoa seems to be limited to project definition and work breakdown structure (defining tasks from a mind map). The follow-up on Android is likely to be an obstacle due to slow app speed.
![[summary-comments-on-ayoa.png|Summary comments on Ayoa evaluation]]
### Ayoa for mind mapping
The link between mind maps and tasks in Ayoa enables you both to break down a subject into next actions, or to build up a mind map from the nodes of a kanban grid.
Creating relationships between ideas generates more ideas, and is the heart of creativity. Mind map links to create new ideas.
The mind functions through association. Brain structures are neural connections. Creativity comes from creating links between different areas, by the association of ideas.
Mapping systems like creative neural processes generate new links, leading to new creative visions of previously obvious data.
### Ayoa visual project environment
Use [Ayoa](http://ayoa.com/) to manage projects. It provides multiple views of a work schedule, the visual view, and the work breakdown view and can synchronize Evernotes with tasks.
![[ayoa-project-model.png|Ayoa (Droptask) Project Model Visualizing Task Relationships]]
Ayoa allows you to create links between tasks and visualize the dependencies between them. This relationship between items provides perspective and allows you to stand back from the tasks in hand.
### Project Planner or Task Manager?
One possible conclusion is that Ayoa just cannot be used as an operational task manager – due to the speed issue. Perhaps then it could find a place as a project designer: mind map, create a workflow (WBS), play around with it and use something else to manage everyday tasks.
This would, of course, entail copying tasks from one place to another. Ultimately this won’t work – it would be more of a problem trying to synchronize the two tools. It would be difficult to know what has been done or not, and the benefits of the mind mapping to task process would be lost.
I wonder whether its mission is as a task manager. The problem is that Ayoa is not so fast to open and quick to sync. I think this is a real requirement for a task manager. I want a responsive app – when I think of a task to do, I want to get in there quickly, modify it, update it and invariably bounce onto updating and rearranging other tasks.
Ayoa has its place; it just lacks that little something to make it the long term one tool choice. The concept is attractive: create a mind map and create or associate tasks with nodes on the mind map.
#Ayoa