5 ms·

This is more or less how I've been handling my work as well. Didn't know there were systems describing it. I use Asana, it's not perfect but it works.

VladimirGolovin 11y ago
I haven't tried Asana yet, but I guess I have to. As I understand it at the moment, Asana is mostly team-oriented. Mentally, I put Asana in the same conceptual bin as Trello, which is my primary teamwork tool. What I was looking for, and couldn't find, is a personal productivity tool in the same category as Wunderlist, Todoist, Swipes, Things and countless others, but with much stronger todo de-cluttering abilities.
- visakanv 11y ago
  I've tried all of the above in different configurations. What works best for me is to use Workflowy to think and plan the overall picture, and to use Trello to manage active tasks.
  - VladimirGolovin 11y ago
    I use Workflowy daily, as an idea capturing / brainstorming / work logging tool, but it is unsuitable as a todo app because it doesn't support items with dates, let alone recurring tasks. And Trello is my favorite app for teamwork and personal bookmarking, but I haven't tried it as a todo app - again because it doesn't support recurring tasks.
    - Scarblac 11y ago
      I've never had the need, but it should be really easy to write a small script that reads descriptions of recurring tasks and adds them to Trello usings its API, from a cron job. If that's the only thing...
- Terretta 11y ago
  OmniFocus for iPhone auto filters through geofencing. I've tried every one you mentioned. For me, only OmniFocus handles all the essentials.
  - VladimirGolovin 11y ago
    I wonder why geofencing doesn't spread through other todo apps like wildfire. As much as I'd like to try it out, I haven't had the opportunity yet. Among the apps I tried, only Remember the Milk implemented it, but I couldn't get it to work -- probably my fault, as I don't use RTM as a daily driver. Also, I think that a proper todo app, in addition to geofencing, should include timefencing, people-proximity-fencing, external-condition-fencing and maybe even mood-fencing / energy-fencing. Though I guess some of these can be implemented via contexts.
    - walterbell 11y ago
      http://2doapp.com http://2doapp.com can filter by location and tag. Tags can be paused/unpaused and there are SmartList (saved search filters). Available on Mac, iOS, Android and will sync to 3rd-party or self-hosted open-standard CalDav servers, in addition to the usual cloud services.
  - ahousley 11y ago
    I've been a GTD geek for a few years now and was a borderline religious user of Omnifocus. Its issue comes when you want to move from managing your task to collaborating on shared projects. Unfortunately, contexts just don't cut it when other team members or stakeholders can't see their tasks in the system because it put the onus on you to chase and keep your system in sync with other GTD/project tools. I grudgingly switched to Asana a few months ago and haven't looked back. It supports a GTD workflow with the addition of excellent communication and integration with other tools. For example, I automate task creation with Zapier to follow-up on calendar events in my diary, follow up website leads, scanned biz cards, etc. Placing tasks in multiple projects is also super useful. Omnifocus still has a better mobile app UX, and I wish it would offline sync to make better use of precious planning time on my commute. The part of this post that I already found useful in the few hours since I read it is adopting the Pomodoro time management technique. I found a neat OS X app that called PomoDone (http://pomodoneapp.com/ http://pomodoneapp.com/) that syncs with Asana and many more task managers to keep focus in 25 min intervals followed by 5 min breaks. Thanks!
desireco42 11y ago
I wish you all would explain why Asana, I really need some awesome tool as I have 10+ projects I am trying to organize. Asana is super annoying with blank tasks that show everywhere, you can't easily transfer task from one project to another. What I really like is ability to break list in what I call 'milestones'. Also adding from email is surprisingly useful. In the end, I just can't use it, because I need to shuffle things around and Asana doesn't seem to support that.
- grahamburger 11y ago
  I'm not necessarily an Asana fanboy, it just works for me and so I haven't made an effort to research other platforms. But, since you asked, this is a basic overview of how I use it: -It's just me (Asana is meant to be used with a team. That's not how I use it.) -I don't split up projects in to Asana 'Projects.' I make one Asana Project for each client that I work for and a separate one for 'Personal'. I split up real life projects in to Headings with subtasks in the same Asana project. (All projects for Client A go in the Client A project.) This way I'm never trying to move tasks between projects. -As tasks come up that I want to remember, I forward them to the email address for the correct Project (client). I usually change the subject line to be more descriptive of the task. This puts them at the top of the list for that client. -In between tasks (usually every few hours while I'm working) I read over the list and categorize anything new that I've emailed in under the right heading. I also set the due-date to be the next time I want to work on that particular task. -As I get started for the day on a certain client, I'll look at the list for that client sorted by due date and try to cross off or reschedule everything for that day. -Sometimes I'll tag tasks with a name of the person I need to talk to or the location that something needs to be done. That way the next time I run in to JohnDoe I just say 'oh hang on I had a few things to talk to you about' then tap tap tap to the JohnDoe tag in Asana.
  - desireco42 11y ago
    Thank you. That explains, it seems I use it in a way they didn't plan for or something. :)

VladimirGolovin 11y ago

I haven't tried Asana yet, but I guess I have to. As I understand it at the moment, Asana is mostly team-oriented. Mentally, I put Asana in the same conceptual bin as Trello, which is my primary teamwork tool. What I was looking for, and couldn't find, is a personal productivity tool in the same category as Wunderlist, Todoist, Swipes, Things and countless others, but with much stronger todo de-cluttering abilities.

visakanv 11y ago
I've tried all of the above in different configurations. What works best for me is to use Workflowy to think and plan the overall picture, and to use Trello to manage active tasks.
- VladimirGolovin 11y ago
  I use Workflowy daily, as an idea capturing / brainstorming / work logging tool, but it is unsuitable as a todo app because it doesn't support items with dates, let alone recurring tasks. And Trello is my favorite app for teamwork and personal bookmarking, but I haven't tried it as a todo app - again because it doesn't support recurring tasks.
  - Scarblac 11y ago
    I've never had the need, but it should be really easy to write a small script that reads descriptions of recurring tasks and adds them to Trello usings its API, from a cron job. If that's the only thing...
Terretta 11y ago
OmniFocus for iPhone auto filters through geofencing. I've tried every one you mentioned. For me, only OmniFocus handles all the essentials.
- VladimirGolovin 11y ago
  I wonder why geofencing doesn't spread through other todo apps like wildfire. As much as I'd like to try it out, I haven't had the opportunity yet. Among the apps I tried, only Remember the Milk implemented it, but I couldn't get it to work -- probably my fault, as I don't use RTM as a daily driver. Also, I think that a proper todo app, in addition to geofencing, should include timefencing, people-proximity-fencing, external-condition-fencing and maybe even mood-fencing / energy-fencing. Though I guess some of these can be implemented via contexts.
  - walterbell 11y ago
    http://2doapp.com http://2doapp.com can filter by location and tag. Tags can be paused/unpaused and there are SmartList (saved search filters). Available on Mac, iOS, Android and will sync to 3rd-party or self-hosted open-standard CalDav servers, in addition to the usual cloud services.
- ahousley 11y ago
  I've been a GTD geek for a few years now and was a borderline religious user of Omnifocus. Its issue comes when you want to move from managing your task to collaborating on shared projects. Unfortunately, contexts just don't cut it when other team members or stakeholders can't see their tasks in the system because it put the onus on you to chase and keep your system in sync with other GTD/project tools. I grudgingly switched to Asana a few months ago and haven't looked back. It supports a GTD workflow with the addition of excellent communication and integration with other tools. For example, I automate task creation with Zapier to follow-up on calendar events in my diary, follow up website leads, scanned biz cards, etc. Placing tasks in multiple projects is also super useful. Omnifocus still has a better mobile app UX, and I wish it would offline sync to make better use of precious planning time on my commute. The part of this post that I already found useful in the few hours since I read it is adopting the Pomodoro time management technique. I found a neat OS X app that called PomoDone (http://pomodoneapp.com/ http://pomodoneapp.com/) that syncs with Asana and many more task managers to keep focus in 25 min intervals followed by 5 min breaks. Thanks!

desireco42 11y ago

I wish you all would explain why Asana, I really need some awesome tool as I have 10+ projects I am trying to organize. Asana is super annoying with blank tasks that show everywhere, you can't easily transfer task from one project to another. What I really like is ability to break list in what I call 'milestones'. Also adding from email is surprisingly useful. In the end, I just can't use it, because I need to shuffle things around and Asana doesn't seem to support that.

grahamburger 11y ago
I'm not necessarily an Asana fanboy, it just works for me and so I haven't made an effort to research other platforms. But, since you asked, this is a basic overview of how I use it: -It's just me (Asana is meant to be used with a team. That's not how I use it.) -I don't split up projects in to Asana 'Projects.' I make one Asana Project for each client that I work for and a separate one for 'Personal'. I split up real life projects in to Headings with subtasks in the same Asana project. (All projects for Client A go in the Client A project.) This way I'm never trying to move tasks between projects. -As tasks come up that I want to remember, I forward them to the email address for the correct Project (client). I usually change the subject line to be more descriptive of the task. This puts them at the top of the list for that client. -In between tasks (usually every few hours while I'm working) I read over the list and categorize anything new that I've emailed in under the right heading. I also set the due-date to be the next time I want to work on that particular task. -As I get started for the day on a certain client, I'll look at the list for that client sorted by due date and try to cross off or reschedule everything for that day. -Sometimes I'll tag tasks with a name of the person I need to talk to or the location that something needs to be done. That way the next time I run in to JohnDoe I just say 'oh hang on I had a few things to talk to you about' then tap tap tap to the JohnDoe tag in Asana.
- desireco42 11y ago
  Thank you. That explains, it seems I use it in a way they didn't plan for or something. :)