It can be a little intimidating if you have a large file. When you start out and connect your database - I use FTM, it does an initial analysis and comes up with a "ToDo" list. In my case, there are over 50,000 suggestions. the first thing I do is to narrow the list down using "Research To Do List" drop down list. Under this you can narrow it down by Online Suggestions, Online that you have a subscription to, search by a particular name or family name, or the one I use the most is the custom filter that gives you a lot of flexibility.
Example is that I look at Online suggestions for my Direct Ancestors. You can declare yourself or someone else as Direct Ancestor Root under "My Genealogy File" tab on the home page of ToDo List. GenSmarts also keeps track of who you have researched so you can declare to look only for those who you have not researched before.
Another use is if you go to the "Research Locations" tab at it gives you a list of research libraries. If you click on a particular library it will give you a list of possible people to research, then if you click on that person, on the right it will give you the specific reference book, etc, including call number for that person. while it might not have your relative in that volume, it can help you focus your library research.
The nice thing, is that the tool does not require you to be online if you take your laptop to the library, it just looks at your database when you start the tool. It is also dynamic in that if you make any changes to your data - the next time you open the tool, it reanalyzes the data.
the third feature I sometimes use is the "Data Cleanup". It is useful, but takes a little getting used to.
Check it out, and let me know if you have any other questions.
I also agree with you that the developer can be a little testy - but I like the tool.
steve reed