The Pi of The Sopranos, Teri Hatcher & ResultsManager

What do they have in common?

One's a big hit show that everyone's heard of.

One's a hit actress who brings star power to any series she's in (no matter how mediocre it is).

And one's the time management and productivity software that no one's heard of, called ResultsManager. What does it do? It takes the project, sub-project and action items scattered across multiple mind maps and puts them into a single "dashboard" map arranged in whatever context you desire.

Sounds pretty handy. But then everything looks good on paper, doesn't it? Real life practical application often produces different results.

But just like pi, which is always the same number -- The Sopranos, Hatcher and ResultsManager are always stars. Well, the first two are anyway. I suspect that latter aspires to be.

I mean, the first two's star status is pretty indisputable, as far as pop culture is concerned. But the last? Jury's still out. Ultimately, it may not prove to have so much in common with pi after all.

Time will tell. It always does.

So what does ResultsManager have to do with all this? Plenty. From what I've read online, if you're a user you're hooked for life. Those who've braved the initial learning curve of ResultsManager swear by it and would rather part with their first-born than use something else.

That kind of fanaticism is a bit daunting. Maybe it's warranted. Maybe it's not. And talking to some users, it's not true that you have to be a David Allen, Getting Things Done disciple to get the most out of ResultsManager, either.

Either way, I intend to find out for myself and I'm inviting you to come along.

For the next 28 days you'll be shoulder-surfing with me as I put ResultsManager through it's paces. I'm an entrepreneur running 3 companies using MindManager as the platform and a couple of other programs. And that's pretty heavy lifting for any project tracking software.

So if ResultsManager is going to break, then I'm going to break it and then I'm going to tell you how I broke it.

And frankly, I'm so fed up with all the fancy promises the bloatware that masquerades as software productivity tools, that I'm ready to let this app have it square between the eyes.

Conversely, and in all fairness, if it significantly saves me in time, money and productivity gains -- I'm gonna buy it at the end of the trial and sing it's praises from the rooftops.

But . . . it's already starting out behind the eight-ball as far as I'm concerned. This is, after all, my third time to the altar with ResultsManager. But more on that in a later post.

Join me over the next 28 days (the length of the ResultsManager trial period) as I do my damnedest to break it and make it whimper. Will it save me time, make me more money and make me Productivity God?

It had better. Otherwise, "It's as useless as tits on a boar," as my father used to say.