I’d like to start by thanking Laurie and the folks at Jenni Bick for the embossed 2012 large daily Moleskine I won in the plannerisms.com giveaway. Of course I subsequently had to view every item on the moleskineandmore.com site and as a result came across something I have needed at work: a planner that has some space for appointments but, more importantly, lots and lots of space for lists. Here is a tour of the Moleskine Professional 2012 Taskmaster Planner – X Large.
The Taskmaster is the usual Moleskine X-Large size of 7.5 x 10 inches (19.5 x 25.4 cm). It is hardcover and so should be sturdy though that adds a bit to the weight, which is 1.5 pounds (680 gm) according to my kitchen scale. By comparison, the daily large Moleskine weighs in at 1.25 pounds, so it isn’t much heavier. It is not quite so thick as the daily one.
The weekly pages are a vertical layout, with the date and days across the top as well as indications for international holidays and moon phases.
You can see in the photo of the left side page that there are times for appointments, one line per half hour but printed hourly, with a blank space midday.
On the right side notice that Saturday and Sunday share the column with no times printed to the lines, and that at the bottom there is a small calendar for current and following month. At the bottom side left the week number is printed, and the month on the right.
You can see in the photo of the left side page that there are times for appointments, one line per half hour but printed hourly, with a blank space midday.
On the right side notice that Saturday and Sunday share the column with no times printed to the lines, and that at the bottom there is a small calendar for current and following month. At the bottom side left the week number is printed, and the month on the right.
So far this is pretty mundane planner stuff, but the page following the weekly calendar is what made my heart beat faster!
Look at all the space for lists! One of the features I like in a planner is the ability to use space as I want without needing to white out pre-printed titles. The left side page has the week’s dates and month at the top with lots of blank space, then two sets of lines with a blank space between. The lines are arranged as four columns with tick boxes at the left side of each and a slight break in the center of the lines, but the boxes are faint enough to write clear across the lines if you prefer.
The right hand side has “actions and projects” printed at the top, again with blank space.
There are two sets of lines that extend across the page with a blank space in the center. At the left of each line is a tick box and two dots at the right to use for your own follow up markings.
Look at all the space for lists! One of the features I like in a planner is the ability to use space as I want without needing to white out pre-printed titles. The left side page has the week’s dates and month at the top with lots of blank space, then two sets of lines with a blank space between. The lines are arranged as four columns with tick boxes at the left side of each and a slight break in the center of the lines, but the boxes are faint enough to write clear across the lines if you prefer.
The right hand side has “actions and projects” printed at the top, again with blank space.
There are two sets of lines that extend across the page with a blank space in the center. At the left of each line is a tick box and two dots at the right to use for your own follow up markings.
There is a set of these pages following each week, and I can imagine all sorts of ways to use them. To do lists could be arranged by day, week or project. Project and action lists could be located behind the appropriate date. There is room for agenda item notes or meeting follow up lists. . . Maybe you can tell I completely fell under the Taskmaster’s spell. To finish up, as in other Moleskine planners there are seven blank pages for notes at the back of the Taskmaster, as well as the inner pocket and indexed address book.
and they repackage the Moleskines with the original label—and a free gift! I received a leather bookmark with one planner and a key fob with the other. I am anxious to begin using the Taskmaster and will update you on how it has worked out for me after I have used it a bit. Thanks to Laurie for letting me share this review!
Thanks again so much to Mstraat for this excellent and thorough review!!
Oooh, neat! Can't wait to see how you use it :D Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this great review, which answered all my questions about this intriguing planner!
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one, puzzled by the layout? It would be so much more logic, if the Weekly-Todo-list was BEFORE the actual weekly planning page?
ReplyDeleteLike: first bucket, then assigning the day/time to do it?
Other than that: very intriguing indeed! Nice to finally see the insides of this book!
@ Jotje Having the list after the week actually works better for me. I must be constantly available so my work time is subject to a lot of interruption; I use the page following the week to organize projects into task lists, roughly prioritized by deadline, but never assigned a specific time. I use the schedule pages to log what I do and for occasional appointments.
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