11 ms·

The Search for the Perfect To-do List

132 points by steve_w 11y ago

ajarmst 11y ago
http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/
kyberias 11y ago
This article isn't really coherent or is it?
- datashaman 11y ago
  Looks like OCD to me. shrug
dostick 11y ago
No mention of hiTask.com ? built in 2007, GTD, single unique dashboard with calendar. And team collaboration features.
- steve_w 11y ago
  I'm not sure how I missed that. I've never heard of if hiTask! A friend pointed out Bullet Journal (http://bulletjournal.com/ http://bulletjournal.com/) too. I like the idea of having it all in your notebook but it does mean you have to carry it around everywhere.
  - qznc 11y ago
    I use one idea from bulletjournal regularly: Whenever I scribble down a note to do something later, I put a box before it. When it is done (done might simply mean scheduled into my real calender) I checkmark the box. It is very easy to scan a page for boxes and it works everywhere. For example, on printed slides discussed in a meeting or a post-it from the refrigerator.
nextos 11y ago
IMHO GTD-based approaches are not optimal for knowledge workers cause they don't limit work-in-progress, and this ends up being overwhelming.
- bachmeier 11y ago
  I'm not sure I understand your comment (I don't know what you mean by "limit work-in-progress") but one of the principles is to be explicit and formal about all the projects you've got going, as opposed to having fuzzy ideas about an unlimited number of potential projects in your head. When you track all of these projects, you adopt a more realistic approach, and you think more carefully about whether or not to start one.
  - nextos 11y ago
    I mean GTD got lots of things right (have an inbox, split tasks/tasks with deadlines/events), but it is missing the WIP limit from kanban which is very important.
- krzrak 11y ago
  I am not sure if I get you right, but what I have a problem with is that to-do list are, well, lists of deadlines. There is no representation of task being "in progress". This way, if you don't groom your list on a daily basis, you may end up having dozen of deadlines to face one day.
  - VladimirGolovin 11y ago
    Yes, most todo apps today are not friendly to dateless tasks, and they conflate start / hide-until date with due date, which should be kept separate. I call this problem 'due date pollution'. I think a user must be able to postpone a task without assigning a due date to it. I'm working on a todo app that will implement separate hide-until and due dates.
fovc 11y ago
With the time it takes to maintain that setup, you could probably do another task or two per day
- steve_w 11y ago
  It doesn't really take that long on a day to day basis. It's the review period which can take a while.
eitally 11y ago
The perfect to-do list is the one that inspires you to do the things on the list. This is highly individual. I'm glad you found that Trello works well for you, but that doesn't mean everyone else's search will end in the same place.
- ghaff 11y ago
  I number of years back, we were looking for a new activity tracking system at the company where it worked. (Meetings, papers, etc.) One of the things that became very obvious was that the decision was going to end up being very influenced by things like the nature of the activities, the degree to which it was important to track progress in an ongoing project, and what were the important attributes to record. We actually ended up repurposing a bug tracking system (trac) because the price was right and it mostly fitted what we were trying to do. But a number of well-regarded project rtacking systems just didn't click with our needs.
ZenoArrow 11y ago
I just end up using text files or written notes. Works both as a to do list and idea scratchpad. The only thing I'd want to change is be more organised about keeping the text files in sync (we can't use Dropbox at work, so I end up using emails). I've heard good things about org mode in emacs, wonder what added value I'd get from that.
- mikekchar 11y ago
  Org mode is amazing as a TODO list. As you've noticed, text files are really convenient for a variety of reasons. If you like emacs (I've been using evil mode recently), then it's pretty much the ideal user interface for outlining tasks and keeping track of them. Prioritisation is simply a matter of cut and paste. The visibility features of org mode make it very easy to keep track of a lot of items. It also has support for setting deadlines, time tracking and reporting. It's worth spending an afternoon playing with it. There are a lot of features.
- steve_w 11y ago
  Could you use Notational Velocity (http://notational.net http://notational.net) and sync with http://simplenote.com http://simplenote.com instead?
- drjesusphd 11y ago
  If you have ssh access, rsync works nicely as a dropbox alternative.
- rekado 11y ago
  One thing you get from org mode is agendas. They are generated according to your specifications (e.g. "all tasks this week" or "all items tagged NEXT") from the clutter of a directory full of org files. I was never much into org mode until I found that I don't actually need to keep order as long as I just tag items. I'm using org mode to implement some form of GTD.
mathattack 11y ago
I'm very interested in the topic as I've struggled to replace the efficacy of my old Franklin Planner. I've tried Google calendar reminders, and that hasn't worked. Evernote hasn't been great either. I don't want to go back to Notepad. Maybe the issue is having the discipline to spend 15 minutes a day planning?
- goshx 11y ago
  was discipline an issue with your old Franklin Planner?
  - mathattack 11y ago
    No. I'd spend 15 mins at the start of the day, and would take it everywhere except the bathroom. My intuition is that there should be something similar on a smartphone.
    - Jtsummers 11y ago
      iOS/OS X only, but OmniFocus has worked well for me in this regard. Synchronizes across devices, and scheduled tasks are visible in my calendar, and calendar events are visible to OmniFocus. If I could use it on my work computer I'd be set (Windows and Linux environment).
- ihaveajob 11y ago
  Shameless plug: Try Priority Matrix at https://appfluence.com https://appfluence.com and see what you think. Many of our customers have been looking for a replacement to their FP for years and they're ecstatic that they found us, if I may say so myself.
insulanian 11y ago
I'm using Trello every day, but I don't like that it is too manual. It's like a physical board. There are no options to automate certain things, especially task order and recurrence. I spend too much time maintaining correct order to avoid important tasks moving out of sight. My ideal system would do the ordering for me, according to the priority, date, postpone hints, and other task properties.
- steve_w 11y ago
  Maybe one of the GTD apps like Todoist (https://todoist.com/ https://todoist.com/) would suit you better? They can show you what's coming up in the next few days.
- dtien 11y ago
  I like Trello primarily because of the fact that it forces some manual intervention on your part: 1) it forces and motivates you to complete tasks 2) the act of moving things, or checking things off provides a healthy boost on progress ( real or not ). As for the recurrence part, there is a way to do that through Trello. I create cards and entire boards for recurring tasks that I have to do each iteration, when that iteration begins I just use the "Copy list.." and copy it to the new board and Bam a whole new set of tasks to check off.
galfarragem 11y ago
GTD is a system that each one should 'distill and blend' according his own view of the world. Somehow the blog author 'distills' GTD towards personal development. By the other hand, my 'distillation' is more generalist. If it helps somebody: https://github.com/eniomauro/hamster-gtd https://github.com/eniomauro/hamster-gtd
- cJ0th 11y ago
  GettingThingsGnome is what I use. http://gtgnome.net/ http://gtgnome.net/
glaberficken 11y ago
What works for me For work: Outlook Tasks list on the right hand pane Killer features: - Single click to flag any email as a task - Drag and Drop to reorder - Set custom date/time folow up reminders For personal life: For things with no deadline - A gmail thread with my wife where we just keep "replying all"; For things with dates / deadlines - A Shared google calendar with my wife I guess its a highly personal choice...
- majewsky 11y ago
  I loved these. Then my employer replaced my Thinkpad with a Macbook. And Outlook for Mac does not have the Tasks pane.
- krembo 11y ago
  I think what makes Outlook Tasks list work for you is the fact that it's there in-your-face all the time, already embedded into the mail app you use. This little step of saving you the need to open a different app in a different window makes the real difference for most people. Actually, this was the main reason I've used Sortd & Yanado (highly recommended) a while.
  - Jtsummers 11y ago
    This is why one of my four monitors at work has emacs w/ org-mode up. Its omnipresence makes it easier to work into my daily workflow. But most folks don't end up with 4 monitors. This setup doesn't work as well on my home laptop since I don't have the space to dedicate to this.
dalacv 11y ago
I'll just place this here: http://tiddlywiki.com/ http://tiddlywiki.com/
jasim 11y ago
Most todos are meant to be recorded and discarded. They are just a psychological mechanism to cope with the anxiety of an overly complex world. The todo-list of an average home-maker today would be more complex than that of the princes from a few centuries ago. My todo lists are fluid. I keep them in a big text file, tag them with a date, and keep them there. Once something is recorded, it is off my mind. I'll keep coming back to this file once every while, and realize that most things I recorded are no longer important. There is no one canonical todo list; just an almost immutable archive of lists that I recorded over the years. The todo-mania is not any different than the bookmarking OCD or the million-open-tabs infestation. There are only so many moments in a lifetime, and just so much you can and should do. The important ones would come back to you, and for the rest, there is always the todo list. (Of course professional todos are a different matter - they go into a ticketing system and are meant to be done.)
- hacker_9 11y ago
  > They are just a psychological mechanism to cope with the anxiety of an overly complex world. I'm not sure I agree with you there. Sure the world is complex, but then again so are we. Todo lists allow you to see the bigger picture, as the act of writing down your todo/idea makes you invest time in thinking about it coherently and logically as you convert it to English words on paper. Once you have a list going, you can prioritize it by any means (ease to complete, upcoming events it's needed for etc) and then at least you know that if you were to complete the list in order, then you will achieve your goals/meet deadlines etc. It's that safety of 'knowing' a path through the unknowns in your future that makes writing a list worthwhile.
  - jasim 11y ago
    I wasn't making a value judgement on complexity. That can't be helped. And yes, writing clarifies, and todo lists are a great way of mapping an uncertain future and reducing anxiety.
- lfowles 11y ago
  > The todo-list of an average home-maker today would be more complex than that of the princes from a few centuries ago. Well yes, they had other people to manage their todos :)
jjp 11y ago
I've given up chasing the software solution and realised that a paper to do list (managed in a Filofax) is the optimal for me. Most of my tasks come my way through face to face discussion so there's no email to convert to a task etc. And if it can't be taken off the list this week then it's probably a project that needs diarying. I do use Outlook for diary management but that's because I work in a corporate environment and trying to do anything else would be working against the system. But it's one calendar for everything (work and personal).
- basseq 11y ago
  Paper works for me, too. I get intense cathartic satisfaction in drawing my checkboxes (with drop shadows)--my co-workers make fun of me.* There's value in not only having a to-do list, but re-writing it from time-to-time. I've tried multiple software applications, from plain text, to trello, to custom software. Nothing works as well. * This actually serves another purpose as well: in a page full of notes, my drop-shadowed action items pop out.
truebosko 11y ago
I've tried many TODO apps, and apart from my Inbox being a (small) TODO list, I just maintain a tmux window called "notes", and it's literally a large file I type into via vim daily. I never remove notes, I just add a new header for each note I need to take. These notes are eventually moved into actionable items (Trello is good for this), or if the task is quick and small, I maintain a generic "TODO" at the top of the file and delete that line item when the task is complete. Keeping it simple just means I don't think about it, and actually get shit done.
Chris2048 11y ago
I haven't found a decent ToDo list with this killer feature: dependencies. I want to mark a task as dependant on another being done. I want to add time estimates to those tasks, and see a gantt chart. I want tasks to show the sum of their dependencies estimates next to their own estimates. I want priorities to also flow through dependency chains in this manner - if a high priority task is dependant on a low priority task, the low priority task inherits the high priority while that relationship exists. If a deadline of 7pm exists on one task, and it has a dependant task with an estimate of 1hr, that dependency will inherit a deadline of 6pm.
- patrickmay 11y ago
  These features would make Trello nearly perfect.
  - EGreg 11y ago
    ON IT
- superskierpat 11y ago
  Hmm not sure if it tallies all the dependencie times, but taskwarrior has dependency management
- julianpye 11y ago
  This is key for any ADDers - chains of dependencies to ensure that not only raisins are picked off your ToDo List and you get to only see next steps and not all steps. For the past three years I have been working on this in an app sideproject and planned to launch the beta this winter, but I keep getting distracted :) Android alpha testers can get in touch with me.
  - drjesusphd 11y ago
    taskwarrior also does this. In fact, I'm a little annoyed that I can't see the chain of dependencies; it only shows the next item and prioritizes accordingly.
  - 11y ago
miguelrochefort 11y ago
I'm obsessed with task management. I have read Getting Things Done many times. I've used a lot (~50) of different task management systems over the years, and haven't found one that's good enough. Todo lists and task management software won't ever solve the problem. The problem has to do with the way the system works, how the society is modeled. The application paradigm (where we have disconnected apps that do few things well) is the root cause. It should be obvious that the solution is to change the UX of software as a whole. Get rid of the silly WIMP paradigm, and move to a more task-oriented one. Make the OS your task management system, and let apps (now semantic agents) help you achieve them. What we lack is breakthroughs in language. We need a better semantic model to describe and model expected outcomes.
- drjesusphd 11y ago
  > Make the OS your task management system Can anyone who is more familiar with orgmode describe how it might play this role?
  - npsimons 11y ago
    > > Make the OS your task management system > Can anyone who is more familiar with orgmode describe how it might play this role? Emacs, full screen (https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FullScreen https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FullScreen), auto-starting org-mode, and do everything you can in it (http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/3996068979/the-levels-of-emacs-proficiency http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/3996068979/the-levels-of-em...). It helps if you already use Emacs, such as writing software in it.
    - drjesusphd 11y ago
      Yeah there's my problem. I've heard wonderful things about orgmode, to the point that people think it's worth switching. But I'm a vim user and I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. Trying to get a variety of opinions.
      - lemonberry 11y ago
inthewoods 11y ago
I've tried every to-do product out there - none worked for me. The best method I've found is to actually schedule time in my calendar to work on different projects. I find if I don't block out time to actually work on them, they don't get done. Does anyone know of a to-do list manager that works this way? I ask because while I like this method, it is difficult to see all your to-dos or deal with a to-do that has multiple steps.
- keenans 11y ago
  https://getplan.co https://getplan.co
wimagguc 11y ago
Todoist kept losing my todo items when they were stacked below each other in a two-level hierarchy (it might have been a keyboard shortcut or an error on my side -- we've ran through this with their customer service without any luck, but that's not the point). With my broken Todoist I've avoided creating multi-level items and eventually cleaned up the list with this one question: is this task something I'm actually going to do? If the answer is yes, then it goes to the list. If not, then I discard it right away. It's surprising how much of an anxiety relief this is. Todo apps tend to offer ways too many options, which makes you use them as backlogs or even notebooks. In my case, all those items were actionable - I've read GTD too -, the items just weren't important enough at most times. Now I get rid of the unimportant items on-the-fly.
- aygul 11y ago
  We're sorry to hear your issue hasn't been solved after contacting our support team. Safety of user data is our priority #1! Could you please let me know if you're still experiencing any problem with Todoist and we'll be happy to help you either here or at http://support.todoist.com/ http://support.todoist.com/.
  - wimagguc 11y ago
    Todoist support was awesome, but after about a month of investigation the ultimate solution for me was to stop using stacked items -- since I have none of those, the problem doesn't exist either, and I can keep using Todoist (as I've been, for 6+ years).
superskierpat 11y ago
Suprised nobody has mentionned taskwarrior[1] yet! Its very flexible and can even be kept on a server. For example I've got it set up so giving it a link automatically puts in the pages title as a description and puts it in my reading list. 1. https://taskwarrior.org/ https://taskwarrior.org/
JohnLeTigre 11y ago
I am personally addicted to TodoList from abstractspoon. Too bad they don't have a linux version though.
programminggeek 11y ago
I prefer paper todo lists, but to actually move the needle I write down my 3-5 highest leverage activities and do one at a time. I cross them off as I finish them and at the end of the day I tear out the page and throw it away. There was no great notebook out there for this, so my biz partner and I designed our own. We are selling them on Amazon because we have day jobs and don't have time to mess with fulfilling orders. You can see them here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGE1914/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGE1914/ For me, it's the perfect todo list.
Aleman360 11y ago
Piece of paper.
eukaryote 11y ago
I have tried a few tools for to-do lists, but settled on 3 folders in my inbox: ACTION, READ & WANT. I created some rules: subject beginning TODO goes to ACTION, subject beginning READ goes to READ, subject beginning WANT goes to WANT folder. This means I can add to any list just by sending a mail to myself. I created additional rules so all emails from credit card companies, banks, accountant and other important senders goes straight into ACTION folder. I try and ensure all unread items are dealt with daily. If I set it to read, it becomes non-urgent.
collyw 11y ago
Pen and paper still works out way more flexible than any of the todo lists I have tried.
- deadcast 11y ago
  Yeah that solution still works just fine for me. Also just using a plain text file works well too.
  - collyw 11y ago
    I was using a google doc for my task list / bug tracker at a previous job. Then we got Jira involved. No one bothered to fill it in properly, so it was more hassle than it was worth. Actually it was way more hassle then the google doc and far less flexible.
cableshaft 11y ago
So a while back I came up with my ideal way to keep track of progress and next steps for my personal projects, and this seems like a good place to get feedback on it. I often neglect to work on them at the end of the day, because I forget I'm working on so many and what I need to do in them, so I need a reminder of various things I've come up with, which ones I'm actively working on, which ones are on the backburner, which ones are essentially abandoned, etc. Additionally, my motivation for my personal projects ebb and flow over time, and I might have something on the backburner for a good six months and then suddenly something pops into my head about it and I'm raring to go and my motivation skyrockets again and it's back to the top of my list. Third, I don't know when I'm going to be satisfied with it, and I really don't want to put a deadline on something that's supposed to be an enjoyable pastime. But at the same time I want to see progress. So I would like to track when I put units of work into the project, without having to have created a specific task to put up against it. Finally, deadlines should not be required, nor should the sorting mechanism be by deadlines of the tasks. I've tried things like Asana and the like, and I keep just pushing back deadlines because I lost excitement for that project and I'm working on something else for awhile. So basically here's what I need from my todo for my personal projects: A list of projects so I never forget them, preferably with an image to catch my eye (I work on games a lot, so they're very visual, so something like box art would be nice), a way to add a bunch of next steps in the system but only show me a couple at a time (because reminding me of all my projects is more important than telling me everything I need to be doing for one particular project), and a way to record that I made progress without placing it against a specific task (I was thinking maybe have different color cubes, the colors representing different things, and I could reward myself a work cube just for sitting down and spending at least 5 minutes on the project, since the hardest thing to do is to sit down and get started). Also a status for the project would be nice. Like if it's writing it could be '1st draft, 2nd draft', if it's a game then 'Prototype, Alpha, Beta, Gold, Released' I was thinking this could be visually demonstrated with a card like system (kind of like baseball cards), with the project image on the left half of the card and the 'stats' on the right side of the card, and then you can click + drag the entire project card around so you can rearrange the projects to show what you are most currently motivated in. I would also like to include past released projects so I can see those accumulate over time and remind myself what I've already accomplished, also in a similar visual style. And sometimes there's more I'd like to do after the project is released, or think of something more to do later. I was considering making something like this myself but I have so many projects and not enough time so the chances of me working on it are low, so if this excites anyone, please run with it and keep me in the loop. I have some other ideas on it and how it would look if anyone's interested.
miguelrochefort 11y ago
The perfect to-do list will be a semantic marketplace of outcomes. You describe the outcomes you want in life using a formal semantic language, and broadcast them for the world to see. Then, anyone who has the ability to satisfy the expected outcome (i.e., "I'm at work at 8AM") - bet it yourself, a friend, or a taxi driver - can engage in a contract where the conditions of all parties are described and agreed upon. Then, the contract or commitment to make an ideal become real becomes your task. Software will simply become an interface to an ideal world, expressed through deltas with the real world. Your job as an agent is to maintain ideals you committed to maintain (i.e., "Don't drive when drunk", "Don't eat peanuts", "Keep your blood sugar below 150", "Don't have your location be within an area that's private property you don't have access to"). Laws of physics, laws of your state, preferences and other contracts populate the ideal you're expected to maintain and approach. Failing to do that hurts your social credit score, which in turns lowers the chance others will bring the world closer to your own ideals. A to-do list is just a list of things that are wrong with the world. Until we have a system that enables us to precisely communicate and share these deltas, actions will remain meaningless words on a piece of physical/digital paper that only a motivated human can parse.
- lfowles 11y ago
  So, the ideal to-do list will be defined in prolog?
  - miguelrochefort 11y ago
    Assuming that prolog is the best language to represent these goals, yes. But I believe we can do much better than prolog.
joch 11y ago
I recently published my current OmniFocus/GTD workflow, which has been working really well for me. http://johnny.chadda.se/the-2016-omnifocus-setup-and-workflow/ http://johnny.chadda.se/the-2016-omnifocus-setup-and-workflo...
- reubenswartz 11y ago
  that's a nice write up and very helpful.
  - joch 11y ago
    Thank you! There are so many way of implementing GTD and countless posts on parts of everyone's setup, so I just figured I just post my entire setup in one single article.
jackgavigan 11y ago
To-Do Lists is one of those things that bugs me a lot. There are hundreds of apps out there but none of them seem to do them particularly well. I think the perfect To-Do list would have - the ability create (and allow others to create, subject to black/white-listing) a task by sending an email to my list - the ability to delegate tasks to others (whether they're users of the app/service or not) - order in a way that takes urgency, importance and deadlines into account - an intray, so I can accept/reject tasks sent/delegated to me - Mailbox app-style swiping to snooze tasks or mark them as Done - shared To-Do lists (e.g. for teams) - support for sharing tasks with others so they can comment on them - API integration - dependencies and workflows I created some mock-ups a few months back to illustrate my thinking: http://jackgavigan.com/1tray-concept/ http://jackgavigan.com/1tray-concept/
- dannylandau 11y ago
  I've tried a few and really like Wunderlist -- https://www.wunderlist.com https://www.wunderlist.com
  - qznc 11y ago
    I'm also using Wunderlist currently, but still experimenting with the how. Should list live long or short? Now I'm trying short-lived: an extra list per week. This adds an implicit deadline on the items in there. Now nesting lists also makes sense for me.
- ajosh 11y ago
  It sounds a lot like you are describing Asana. It is designed with teams in mind but the personal workspace can easily be used for personal stuff and allows delegating including to guest users. It has an inbound mail feature that works well. The only thing I don't know about from your list is the mailbox style app. Their app doesn't seem to use many swipe features. I have messed wit trello. I live the way it looks but Asana fits how I think better. I think that is a big part of why people get wrapped up in the tools they like - it works with their way of thinking. If you process things differently, you'll have different feelings about it.
dbg31415 11y ago
GitHub Issues + https://www.zenhub.io/ https://www.zenhub.io/ works great for me & my team.
krembo 11y ago
Unless the todo list app is fully integrated into your daily routine/one of the apps you use at least 20% of your time, they just end up a a brain-dump tools, which is not a bad practice by the way for making your mind more organized. Having said that, I would repeat and emphasize a recommendation I wrote to another user in this thread-> check apps which DO integrate into one of your existing tools and doesn't require you to open a new window. Actually, I find this extra click on a new tab or an icon in the system tray is a REAL barrier to adopting those endless lists.
ngrilly 11y ago
Is it a satire?
meesterdude 11y ago
It's interesting all the solutions people come up with to tackle GTD. I don't think i've met two people with the same implementation. But really, whats important is finding something that works for you, and thats different for everyone. Relatedly, I built something for myself, but am working on launching it. I wasn't satisfied with any GTD options out there, and really just wanted a brain for my brain. Something i could just dump thoughts and todos into and it would automatically manage them for me. You can actually see some of this in action in the screenshot from a recent update: http://blog.mindaux.com/blog/2016/02/27/sneak-peak-beta-access/ http://blog.mindaux.com/blog/2016/02/27/sneak-peak-beta-acce...
bsbechtel 11y ago
I'm surprised no one here has commented that they just use the iOS Reminders app that's native to the iPhone. I've found it to be more effective than any other system out there, and it's also significantly simpler.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  That's what I use. I have a web app I built for the purpose, and gradually found an equilibrium whereby certain tasks go in Reminders, others go into the app. After awhile I stopped using the app. I need to build support for getting stuff into and out of Reminders programmatically so I can do recurring tasks without cluttering up the interface too much. I want my own interface for managing them.
rsaarelm 11y ago
I've been using the todo.txt format lately: https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-cli/wiki/The-Todo.txt-Format https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-cli/wiki/The-Todo.tx... . No extra tools, just Vim, a text file with a line per task, with the lines kept lexically sorted.
pedrokost 11y ago
The blog Post rings a tune with me. I've started organizing all the work related projects into Trello boards,and have iterated quite a bit on my workflow. Next to a board for scrum, I also have a board reserved for planning work things to do in the long term future, like a backlog, but coverings many different aspects of company mostly related to software dev, but also some hardware and marketing. Eventually I wanted to be able to measure how long would it take to complete some tasks, and prioritize them across lists. The way I solved this way with a plugin for sublime text, the editor I use all day long [0]. The plugin reads metadata I add to each task on Trello like (backend 1d design 4h) and uses it to compute a schedule for all my tasks. It is also able to prioritize between posts, which in in my case are fucus areas. When I need to prepare the next sprint, all I have to to is use the plugin to tell me which tasks have the highest priorities, and occasionally review the Planning board. The plugin was initially developed for Trello, but I found it really useful also for offline task scheduling between different projects. You can read more about how I use it on my blog [1]. [0]https://github.com/pedrokost/STProjectPlanner https://github.com/pedrokost/STProjectPlanner [1]http://blog.pedro.si/2015/11/project-planning-in-file.html?m=1 http://blog.pedro.si/2015/11/project-planning-in-file.html?m...
antognini 11y ago
I've found WorkFlowy [1] to be helpful. It's just a touch more sophisticated than a text editor (you can collapse different levels, for instance, and there's an app so you can take notes on your phone, too). But it's not so sophisticated that you get lost in the features. It gets out of the way so you can make your lists. I've been using it for years now. [1]: https://workflowy.com https://workflowy.com
- phirschybar 11y ago
  I tried this years ago and was just reminded by this post to check it out again. This is an absolutely PERFECT task and notes organizer for me. Super fast, intuitive and without all of the typical todo app bloat.
hackuser 11y ago
I have yet to meet anyone who kept and followed a todo list over the long term. Can anyone say otherwise? It just doesn't seem to be human nature to do it consistently beyond short bursts of focus, like dieting and following step-by-step procedures.
- epmatsw 11y ago
  I've seen Project Managers who are all about GTD and follow it consistently. Not my cup of tea, but it works for some I guess.
- sjenson 11y ago
  I've used a todo list, in some form for over 10 years. I'm currently using WorkFlowy and have used it nearly every day for 2 years now. I'm one of those 'minimal GTD' types that just needs to get everything down so in the morning, I can make sure I'm focusing on the right things. Nothing heavy, just a simple way to reflect and focus.
- tim333 11y ago
  I'm not convinced todo lists are a good long term solution. Short term if you've got more things to do than you can easily keep in mind then they are good but longer term you're better off automating or simplifying life so you don't have the issue, perhaps.
samsolomon 11y ago
When I moved into my role at an ad agency we went through a series of software to keep track of to-do lists. Things, Wunderlist and what seems like a dozen others. The problem for me was always that it is so much easier just to write something down on a piece of paper or in a simple text file—software isn't the best solution to every problem. EDIT: I have a very simple system for my tasks: - One sheet of paper each day with all of my projects and related tasks under those projects. - Pending items get a check—these are actions you've completed, but require someone else to take action. - Completed items get crossed out. - At the end of the day, I create a new list for tomorrow and transfer any pending items of items not finished over. For further explanation I wrote a bit about my habits last year: http://solomon.io/todo-list-framework/ http://solomon.io/todo-list-framework/
rabboRubble 11y ago
Nobody has mentioned Any.do? I've used a day planner, 2Do, Clear, paper, plus looked at a half dozen others. The one tool, Any.Do, has really helped me grind away at life priorities. When I decided to migrate from 2Do to Any.Do, I had around 180 tasks in 2Do. Today I'm at 24 and the only reason it's over 20 is because of tax season, Chinese study, and an investment project. The list will be back down under 20 soon enough and heading to 10.
Nk26 11y ago
I'd like one that will show future repeated tasks in the list. If I have something that repeats every week id like to see in the list with the stuff I have planned for the next few weeks.

132 points by steve_w 11y ago

ajarmst 11y ago

http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/

kyberias 11y ago

This article isn't really coherent or is it?

datashaman 11y ago
Looks like OCD to me. shrug

dostick 11y ago

No mention of hiTask.com ? built in 2007, GTD, single unique dashboard with calendar. And team collaboration features.

steve_w 11y ago
I'm not sure how I missed that. I've never heard of if hiTask! A friend pointed out Bullet Journal (http://bulletjournal.com/ http://bulletjournal.com/) too. I like the idea of having it all in your notebook but it does mean you have to carry it around everywhere.
- qznc 11y ago
  I use one idea from bulletjournal regularly: Whenever I scribble down a note to do something later, I put a box before it. When it is done (done might simply mean scheduled into my real calender) I checkmark the box. It is very easy to scan a page for boxes and it works everywhere. For example, on printed slides discussed in a meeting or a post-it from the refrigerator.

nextos 11y ago

IMHO GTD-based approaches are not optimal for knowledge workers cause they don't limit work-in-progress, and this ends up being overwhelming.

bachmeier 11y ago
I'm not sure I understand your comment (I don't know what you mean by "limit work-in-progress") but one of the principles is to be explicit and formal about all the projects you've got going, as opposed to having fuzzy ideas about an unlimited number of potential projects in your head. When you track all of these projects, you adopt a more realistic approach, and you think more carefully about whether or not to start one.
- nextos 11y ago
  I mean GTD got lots of things right (have an inbox, split tasks/tasks with deadlines/events), but it is missing the WIP limit from kanban which is very important.
krzrak 11y ago
I am not sure if I get you right, but what I have a problem with is that to-do list are, well, lists of deadlines. There is no representation of task being "in progress". This way, if you don't groom your list on a daily basis, you may end up having dozen of deadlines to face one day.
- VladimirGolovin 11y ago
  Yes, most todo apps today are not friendly to dateless tasks, and they conflate start / hide-until date with due date, which should be kept separate. I call this problem 'due date pollution'. I think a user must be able to postpone a task without assigning a due date to it. I'm working on a todo app that will implement separate hide-until and due dates.

fovc 11y ago

With the time it takes to maintain that setup, you could probably do another task or two per day

steve_w 11y ago
It doesn't really take that long on a day to day basis. It's the review period which can take a while.

eitally 11y ago

The perfect to-do list is the one that inspires you to do the things on the list. This is highly individual. I'm glad you found that Trello works well for you, but that doesn't mean everyone else's search will end in the same place.

ghaff 11y ago
I number of years back, we were looking for a new activity tracking system at the company where it worked. (Meetings, papers, etc.) One of the things that became very obvious was that the decision was going to end up being very influenced by things like the nature of the activities, the degree to which it was important to track progress in an ongoing project, and what were the important attributes to record. We actually ended up repurposing a bug tracking system (trac) because the price was right and it mostly fitted what we were trying to do. But a number of well-regarded project rtacking systems just didn't click with our needs.

ZenoArrow 11y ago

I just end up using text files or written notes. Works both as a to do list and idea scratchpad. The only thing I'd want to change is be more organised about keeping the text files in sync (we can't use Dropbox at work, so I end up using emails). I've heard good things about org mode in emacs, wonder what added value I'd get from that.

mikekchar 11y ago
Org mode is amazing as a TODO list. As you've noticed, text files are really convenient for a variety of reasons. If you like emacs (I've been using evil mode recently), then it's pretty much the ideal user interface for outlining tasks and keeping track of them. Prioritisation is simply a matter of cut and paste. The visibility features of org mode make it very easy to keep track of a lot of items. It also has support for setting deadlines, time tracking and reporting. It's worth spending an afternoon playing with it. There are a lot of features.
steve_w 11y ago
Could you use Notational Velocity (http://notational.net http://notational.net) and sync with http://simplenote.com http://simplenote.com instead?
drjesusphd 11y ago
If you have ssh access, rsync works nicely as a dropbox alternative.
rekado 11y ago
One thing you get from org mode is agendas. They are generated according to your specifications (e.g. "all tasks this week" or "all items tagged NEXT") from the clutter of a directory full of org files. I was never much into org mode until I found that I don't actually need to keep order as long as I just tag items. I'm using org mode to implement some form of GTD.

mathattack 11y ago

I'm very interested in the topic as I've struggled to replace the efficacy of my old Franklin Planner. I've tried Google calendar reminders, and that hasn't worked. Evernote hasn't been great either. I don't want to go back to Notepad. Maybe the issue is having the discipline to spend 15 minutes a day planning?

goshx 11y ago
was discipline an issue with your old Franklin Planner?
- mathattack 11y ago
  No. I'd spend 15 mins at the start of the day, and would take it everywhere except the bathroom. My intuition is that there should be something similar on a smartphone.
  - Jtsummers 11y ago
    iOS/OS X only, but OmniFocus has worked well for me in this regard. Synchronizes across devices, and scheduled tasks are visible in my calendar, and calendar events are visible to OmniFocus. If I could use it on my work computer I'd be set (Windows and Linux environment).
ihaveajob 11y ago
Shameless plug: Try Priority Matrix at https://appfluence.com https://appfluence.com and see what you think. Many of our customers have been looking for a replacement to their FP for years and they're ecstatic that they found us, if I may say so myself.

insulanian 11y ago

I'm using Trello every day, but I don't like that it is too manual. It's like a physical board. There are no options to automate certain things, especially task order and recurrence. I spend too much time maintaining correct order to avoid important tasks moving out of sight. My ideal system would do the ordering for me, according to the priority, date, postpone hints, and other task properties.

steve_w 11y ago
Maybe one of the GTD apps like Todoist (https://todoist.com/ https://todoist.com/) would suit you better? They can show you what's coming up in the next few days.
dtien 11y ago
I like Trello primarily because of the fact that it forces some manual intervention on your part: 1) it forces and motivates you to complete tasks 2) the act of moving things, or checking things off provides a healthy boost on progress ( real or not ). As for the recurrence part, there is a way to do that through Trello. I create cards and entire boards for recurring tasks that I have to do each iteration, when that iteration begins I just use the "Copy list.." and copy it to the new board and Bam a whole new set of tasks to check off.

galfarragem 11y ago

GTD is a system that each one should 'distill and blend' according his own view of the world. Somehow the blog author 'distills' GTD towards personal development. By the other hand, my 'distillation' is more generalist. If it helps somebody: https://github.com/eniomauro/hamster-gtd https://github.com/eniomauro/hamster-gtd

cJ0th 11y ago
GettingThingsGnome is what I use. http://gtgnome.net/ http://gtgnome.net/

glaberficken 11y ago

What works for me For work: Outlook Tasks list on the right hand pane Killer features: - Single click to flag any email as a task - Drag and Drop to reorder - Set custom date/time folow up reminders For personal life: For things with no deadline - A gmail thread with my wife where we just keep "replying all"; For things with dates / deadlines - A Shared google calendar with my wife I guess its a highly personal choice...

majewsky 11y ago
I loved these. Then my employer replaced my Thinkpad with a Macbook. And Outlook for Mac does not have the Tasks pane.
krembo 11y ago
I think what makes Outlook Tasks list work for you is the fact that it's there in-your-face all the time, already embedded into the mail app you use. This little step of saving you the need to open a different app in a different window makes the real difference for most people. Actually, this was the main reason I've used Sortd & Yanado (highly recommended) a while.
- Jtsummers 11y ago
  This is why one of my four monitors at work has emacs w/ org-mode up. Its omnipresence makes it easier to work into my daily workflow. But most folks don't end up with 4 monitors. This setup doesn't work as well on my home laptop since I don't have the space to dedicate to this.

dalacv 11y ago

I'll just place this here: http://tiddlywiki.com/ http://tiddlywiki.com/

jasim 11y ago

Most todos are meant to be recorded and discarded. They are just a psychological mechanism to cope with the anxiety of an overly complex world. The todo-list of an average home-maker today would be more complex than that of the princes from a few centuries ago. My todo lists are fluid. I keep them in a big text file, tag them with a date, and keep them there. Once something is recorded, it is off my mind. I'll keep coming back to this file once every while, and realize that most things I recorded are no longer important. There is no one canonical todo list; just an almost immutable archive of lists that I recorded over the years. The todo-mania is not any different than the bookmarking OCD or the million-open-tabs infestation. There are only so many moments in a lifetime, and just so much you can and should do. The important ones would come back to you, and for the rest, there is always the todo list. (Of course professional todos are a different matter - they go into a ticketing system and are meant to be done.)

hacker_9 11y ago
> They are just a psychological mechanism to cope with the anxiety of an overly complex world. I'm not sure I agree with you there. Sure the world is complex, but then again so are we. Todo lists allow you to see the bigger picture, as the act of writing down your todo/idea makes you invest time in thinking about it coherently and logically as you convert it to English words on paper. Once you have a list going, you can prioritize it by any means (ease to complete, upcoming events it's needed for etc) and then at least you know that if you were to complete the list in order, then you will achieve your goals/meet deadlines etc. It's that safety of 'knowing' a path through the unknowns in your future that makes writing a list worthwhile.
- jasim 11y ago
  I wasn't making a value judgement on complexity. That can't be helped. And yes, writing clarifies, and todo lists are a great way of mapping an uncertain future and reducing anxiety.
lfowles 11y ago
> The todo-list of an average home-maker today would be more complex than that of the princes from a few centuries ago. Well yes, they had other people to manage their todos :)

jjp 11y ago

I've given up chasing the software solution and realised that a paper to do list (managed in a Filofax) is the optimal for me. Most of my tasks come my way through face to face discussion so there's no email to convert to a task etc. And if it can't be taken off the list this week then it's probably a project that needs diarying. I do use Outlook for diary management but that's because I work in a corporate environment and trying to do anything else would be working against the system. But it's one calendar for everything (work and personal).

basseq 11y ago
Paper works for me, too. I get intense cathartic satisfaction in drawing my checkboxes (with drop shadows)--my co-workers make fun of me.* There's value in not only having a to-do list, but re-writing it from time-to-time. I've tried multiple software applications, from plain text, to trello, to custom software. Nothing works as well. * This actually serves another purpose as well: in a page full of notes, my drop-shadowed action items pop out.

truebosko 11y ago

I've tried many TODO apps, and apart from my Inbox being a (small) TODO list, I just maintain a tmux window called "notes", and it's literally a large file I type into via vim daily. I never remove notes, I just add a new header for each note I need to take. These notes are eventually moved into actionable items (Trello is good for this), or if the task is quick and small, I maintain a generic "TODO" at the top of the file and delete that line item when the task is complete. Keeping it simple just means I don't think about it, and actually get shit done.

Chris2048 11y ago

I haven't found a decent ToDo list with this killer feature: dependencies. I want to mark a task as dependant on another being done. I want to add time estimates to those tasks, and see a gantt chart. I want tasks to show the sum of their dependencies estimates next to their own estimates. I want priorities to also flow through dependency chains in this manner - if a high priority task is dependant on a low priority task, the low priority task inherits the high priority while that relationship exists. If a deadline of 7pm exists on one task, and it has a dependant task with an estimate of 1hr, that dependency will inherit a deadline of 6pm.

patrickmay 11y ago
These features would make Trello nearly perfect.
- EGreg 11y ago
  ON IT
superskierpat 11y ago
Hmm not sure if it tallies all the dependencie times, but taskwarrior has dependency management
julianpye 11y ago
This is key for any ADDers - chains of dependencies to ensure that not only raisins are picked off your ToDo List and you get to only see next steps and not all steps. For the past three years I have been working on this in an app sideproject and planned to launch the beta this winter, but I keep getting distracted :) Android alpha testers can get in touch with me.
- drjesusphd 11y ago
  taskwarrior also does this. In fact, I'm a little annoyed that I can't see the chain of dependencies; it only shows the next item and prioritizes accordingly.
- 11y ago

miguelrochefort 11y ago

I'm obsessed with task management. I have read Getting Things Done many times. I've used a lot (~50) of different task management systems over the years, and haven't found one that's good enough. Todo lists and task management software won't ever solve the problem. The problem has to do with the way the system works, how the society is modeled. The application paradigm (where we have disconnected apps that do few things well) is the root cause. It should be obvious that the solution is to change the UX of software as a whole. Get rid of the silly WIMP paradigm, and move to a more task-oriented one. Make the OS your task management system, and let apps (now semantic agents) help you achieve them. What we lack is breakthroughs in language. We need a better semantic model to describe and model expected outcomes.

drjesusphd 11y ago
> Make the OS your task management system Can anyone who is more familiar with orgmode describe how it might play this role?
- npsimons 11y ago
  > > Make the OS your task management system > Can anyone who is more familiar with orgmode describe how it might play this role? Emacs, full screen (https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FullScreen https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FullScreen), auto-starting org-mode, and do everything you can in it (http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/3996068979/the-levels-of-emacs-proficiency http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/3996068979/the-levels-of-em...). It helps if you already use Emacs, such as writing software in it.
  - drjesusphd 11y ago
    Yeah there's my problem. I've heard wonderful things about orgmode, to the point that people think it's worth switching. But I'm a vim user and I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. Trying to get a variety of opinions.
    - lemonberry 11y ago

inthewoods 11y ago

I've tried every to-do product out there - none worked for me. The best method I've found is to actually schedule time in my calendar to work on different projects. I find if I don't block out time to actually work on them, they don't get done. Does anyone know of a to-do list manager that works this way? I ask because while I like this method, it is difficult to see all your to-dos or deal with a to-do that has multiple steps.

keenans 11y ago
https://getplan.co https://getplan.co

wimagguc 11y ago

Todoist kept losing my todo items when they were stacked below each other in a two-level hierarchy (it might have been a keyboard shortcut or an error on my side -- we've ran through this with their customer service without any luck, but that's not the point). With my broken Todoist I've avoided creating multi-level items and eventually cleaned up the list with this one question: is this task something I'm actually going to do? If the answer is yes, then it goes to the list. If not, then I discard it right away. It's surprising how much of an anxiety relief this is. Todo apps tend to offer ways too many options, which makes you use them as backlogs or even notebooks. In my case, all those items were actionable - I've read GTD too -, the items just weren't important enough at most times. Now I get rid of the unimportant items on-the-fly.

aygul 11y ago
We're sorry to hear your issue hasn't been solved after contacting our support team. Safety of user data is our priority #1! Could you please let me know if you're still experiencing any problem with Todoist and we'll be happy to help you either here or at http://support.todoist.com/ http://support.todoist.com/.
- wimagguc 11y ago
  Todoist support was awesome, but after about a month of investigation the ultimate solution for me was to stop using stacked items -- since I have none of those, the problem doesn't exist either, and I can keep using Todoist (as I've been, for 6+ years).

superskierpat 11y ago

Suprised nobody has mentionned taskwarrior[1] yet! Its very flexible and can even be kept on a server. For example I've got it set up so giving it a link automatically puts in the pages title as a description and puts it in my reading list. 1. https://taskwarrior.org/ https://taskwarrior.org/

JohnLeTigre 11y ago

I am personally addicted to TodoList from abstractspoon. Too bad they don't have a linux version though.

programminggeek 11y ago

I prefer paper todo lists, but to actually move the needle I write down my 3-5 highest leverage activities and do one at a time. I cross them off as I finish them and at the end of the day I tear out the page and throw it away. There was no great notebook out there for this, so my biz partner and I designed our own. We are selling them on Amazon because we have day jobs and don't have time to mess with fulfilling orders. You can see them here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGE1914/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGE1914/ For me, it's the perfect todo list.

Aleman360 11y ago

Piece of paper.

eukaryote 11y ago

I have tried a few tools for to-do lists, but settled on 3 folders in my inbox: ACTION, READ & WANT. I created some rules: subject beginning TODO goes to ACTION, subject beginning READ goes to READ, subject beginning WANT goes to WANT folder. This means I can add to any list just by sending a mail to myself. I created additional rules so all emails from credit card companies, banks, accountant and other important senders goes straight into ACTION folder. I try and ensure all unread items are dealt with daily. If I set it to read, it becomes non-urgent.

collyw 11y ago

Pen and paper still works out way more flexible than any of the todo lists I have tried.

deadcast 11y ago
Yeah that solution still works just fine for me. Also just using a plain text file works well too.
- collyw 11y ago
  I was using a google doc for my task list / bug tracker at a previous job. Then we got Jira involved. No one bothered to fill it in properly, so it was more hassle than it was worth. Actually it was way more hassle then the google doc and far less flexible.

cableshaft 11y ago

So a while back I came up with my ideal way to keep track of progress and next steps for my personal projects, and this seems like a good place to get feedback on it. I often neglect to work on them at the end of the day, because I forget I'm working on so many and what I need to do in them, so I need a reminder of various things I've come up with, which ones I'm actively working on, which ones are on the backburner, which ones are essentially abandoned, etc. Additionally, my motivation for my personal projects ebb and flow over time, and I might have something on the backburner for a good six months and then suddenly something pops into my head about it and I'm raring to go and my motivation skyrockets again and it's back to the top of my list. Third, I don't know when I'm going to be satisfied with it, and I really don't want to put a deadline on something that's supposed to be an enjoyable pastime. But at the same time I want to see progress. So I would like to track when I put units of work into the project, without having to have created a specific task to put up against it. Finally, deadlines should not be required, nor should the sorting mechanism be by deadlines of the tasks. I've tried things like Asana and the like, and I keep just pushing back deadlines because I lost excitement for that project and I'm working on something else for awhile. So basically here's what I need from my todo for my personal projects: A list of projects so I never forget them, preferably with an image to catch my eye (I work on games a lot, so they're very visual, so something like box art would be nice), a way to add a bunch of next steps in the system but only show me a couple at a time (because reminding me of all my projects is more important than telling me everything I need to be doing for one particular project), and a way to record that I made progress without placing it against a specific task (I was thinking maybe have different color cubes, the colors representing different things, and I could reward myself a work cube just for sitting down and spending at least 5 minutes on the project, since the hardest thing to do is to sit down and get started). Also a status for the project would be nice. Like if it's writing it could be '1st draft, 2nd draft', if it's a game then 'Prototype, Alpha, Beta, Gold, Released' I was thinking this could be visually demonstrated with a card like system (kind of like baseball cards), with the project image on the left half of the card and the 'stats' on the right side of the card, and then you can click + drag the entire project card around so you can rearrange the projects to show what you are most currently motivated in. I would also like to include past released projects so I can see those accumulate over time and remind myself what I've already accomplished, also in a similar visual style. And sometimes there's more I'd like to do after the project is released, or think of something more to do later. I was considering making something like this myself but I have so many projects and not enough time so the chances of me working on it are low, so if this excites anyone, please run with it and keep me in the loop. I have some other ideas on it and how it would look if anyone's interested.

miguelrochefort 11y ago

The perfect to-do list will be a semantic marketplace of outcomes. You describe the outcomes you want in life using a formal semantic language, and broadcast them for the world to see. Then, anyone who has the ability to satisfy the expected outcome (i.e., "I'm at work at 8AM") - bet it yourself, a friend, or a taxi driver - can engage in a contract where the conditions of all parties are described and agreed upon. Then, the contract or commitment to make an ideal become real becomes your task. Software will simply become an interface to an ideal world, expressed through deltas with the real world. Your job as an agent is to maintain ideals you committed to maintain (i.e., "Don't drive when drunk", "Don't eat peanuts", "Keep your blood sugar below 150", "Don't have your location be within an area that's private property you don't have access to"). Laws of physics, laws of your state, preferences and other contracts populate the ideal you're expected to maintain and approach. Failing to do that hurts your social credit score, which in turns lowers the chance others will bring the world closer to your own ideals. A to-do list is just a list of things that are wrong with the world. Until we have a system that enables us to precisely communicate and share these deltas, actions will remain meaningless words on a piece of physical/digital paper that only a motivated human can parse.

lfowles 11y ago
So, the ideal to-do list will be defined in prolog?
- miguelrochefort 11y ago
  Assuming that prolog is the best language to represent these goals, yes. But I believe we can do much better than prolog.

joch 11y ago

I recently published my current OmniFocus/GTD workflow, which has been working really well for me. http://johnny.chadda.se/the-2016-omnifocus-setup-and-workflow/ http://johnny.chadda.se/the-2016-omnifocus-setup-and-workflo...

reubenswartz 11y ago
that's a nice write up and very helpful.
- joch 11y ago
  Thank you! There are so many way of implementing GTD and countless posts on parts of everyone's setup, so I just figured I just post my entire setup in one single article.

jackgavigan 11y ago

To-Do Lists is one of those things that bugs me a lot. There are hundreds of apps out there but none of them seem to do them particularly well. I think the perfect To-Do list would have - the ability create (and allow others to create, subject to black/white-listing) a task by sending an email to my list - the ability to delegate tasks to others (whether they're users of the app/service or not) - order in a way that takes urgency, importance and deadlines into account - an intray, so I can accept/reject tasks sent/delegated to me - Mailbox app-style swiping to snooze tasks or mark them as Done - shared To-Do lists (e.g. for teams) - support for sharing tasks with others so they can comment on them - API integration - dependencies and workflows I created some mock-ups a few months back to illustrate my thinking: http://jackgavigan.com/1tray-concept/ http://jackgavigan.com/1tray-concept/

dannylandau 11y ago
I've tried a few and really like Wunderlist -- https://www.wunderlist.com https://www.wunderlist.com
- qznc 11y ago
  I'm also using Wunderlist currently, but still experimenting with the how. Should list live long or short? Now I'm trying short-lived: an extra list per week. This adds an implicit deadline on the items in there. Now nesting lists also makes sense for me.
ajosh 11y ago
It sounds a lot like you are describing Asana. It is designed with teams in mind but the personal workspace can easily be used for personal stuff and allows delegating including to guest users. It has an inbound mail feature that works well. The only thing I don't know about from your list is the mailbox style app. Their app doesn't seem to use many swipe features. I have messed wit trello. I live the way it looks but Asana fits how I think better. I think that is a big part of why people get wrapped up in the tools they like - it works with their way of thinking. If you process things differently, you'll have different feelings about it.

dbg31415 11y ago

GitHub Issues + https://www.zenhub.io/ https://www.zenhub.io/ works great for me & my team.

krembo 11y ago

Unless the todo list app is fully integrated into your daily routine/one of the apps you use at least 20% of your time, they just end up a a brain-dump tools, which is not a bad practice by the way for making your mind more organized. Having said that, I would repeat and emphasize a recommendation I wrote to another user in this thread-> check apps which DO integrate into one of your existing tools and doesn't require you to open a new window. Actually, I find this extra click on a new tab or an icon in the system tray is a REAL barrier to adopting those endless lists.

ngrilly 11y ago

Is it a satire?

meesterdude 11y ago

It's interesting all the solutions people come up with to tackle GTD. I don't think i've met two people with the same implementation. But really, whats important is finding something that works for you, and thats different for everyone. Relatedly, I built something for myself, but am working on launching it. I wasn't satisfied with any GTD options out there, and really just wanted a brain for my brain. Something i could just dump thoughts and todos into and it would automatically manage them for me. You can actually see some of this in action in the screenshot from a recent update: http://blog.mindaux.com/blog/2016/02/27/sneak-peak-beta-access/ http://blog.mindaux.com/blog/2016/02/27/sneak-peak-beta-acce...

bsbechtel 11y ago

I'm surprised no one here has commented that they just use the iOS Reminders app that's native to the iPhone. I've found it to be more effective than any other system out there, and it's also significantly simpler.

vinceguidry 11y ago
That's what I use. I have a web app I built for the purpose, and gradually found an equilibrium whereby certain tasks go in Reminders, others go into the app. After awhile I stopped using the app. I need to build support for getting stuff into and out of Reminders programmatically so I can do recurring tasks without cluttering up the interface too much. I want my own interface for managing them.

rsaarelm 11y ago

I've been using the todo.txt format lately: https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-cli/wiki/The-Todo.txt-Format https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-cli/wiki/The-Todo.tx... . No extra tools, just Vim, a text file with a line per task, with the lines kept lexically sorted.

pedrokost 11y ago

The blog Post rings a tune with me. I've started organizing all the work related projects into Trello boards,and have iterated quite a bit on my workflow. Next to a board for scrum, I also have a board reserved for planning work things to do in the long term future, like a backlog, but coverings many different aspects of company mostly related to software dev, but also some hardware and marketing. Eventually I wanted to be able to measure how long would it take to complete some tasks, and prioritize them across lists. The way I solved this way with a plugin for sublime text, the editor I use all day long [0]. The plugin reads metadata I add to each task on Trello like (backend 1d design 4h) and uses it to compute a schedule for all my tasks. It is also able to prioritize between posts, which in in my case are fucus areas. When I need to prepare the next sprint, all I have to to is use the plugin to tell me which tasks have the highest priorities, and occasionally review the Planning board. The plugin was initially developed for Trello, but I found it really useful also for offline task scheduling between different projects. You can read more about how I use it on my blog [1]. [0]https://github.com/pedrokost/STProjectPlanner https://github.com/pedrokost/STProjectPlanner [1]http://blog.pedro.si/2015/11/project-planning-in-file.html?m=1 http://blog.pedro.si/2015/11/project-planning-in-file.html?m...

antognini 11y ago

I've found WorkFlowy [1] to be helpful. It's just a touch more sophisticated than a text editor (you can collapse different levels, for instance, and there's an app so you can take notes on your phone, too). But it's not so sophisticated that you get lost in the features. It gets out of the way so you can make your lists. I've been using it for years now. [1]: https://workflowy.com https://workflowy.com

phirschybar 11y ago
I tried this years ago and was just reminded by this post to check it out again. This is an absolutely PERFECT task and notes organizer for me. Super fast, intuitive and without all of the typical todo app bloat.

hackuser 11y ago

I have yet to meet anyone who kept and followed a todo list over the long term. Can anyone say otherwise? It just doesn't seem to be human nature to do it consistently beyond short bursts of focus, like dieting and following step-by-step procedures.

epmatsw 11y ago
I've seen Project Managers who are all about GTD and follow it consistently. Not my cup of tea, but it works for some I guess.
sjenson 11y ago
I've used a todo list, in some form for over 10 years. I'm currently using WorkFlowy and have used it nearly every day for 2 years now. I'm one of those 'minimal GTD' types that just needs to get everything down so in the morning, I can make sure I'm focusing on the right things. Nothing heavy, just a simple way to reflect and focus.
tim333 11y ago
I'm not convinced todo lists are a good long term solution. Short term if you've got more things to do than you can easily keep in mind then they are good but longer term you're better off automating or simplifying life so you don't have the issue, perhaps.

samsolomon 11y ago

When I moved into my role at an ad agency we went through a series of software to keep track of to-do lists. Things, Wunderlist and what seems like a dozen others. The problem for me was always that it is so much easier just to write something down on a piece of paper or in a simple text file—software isn't the best solution to every problem. EDIT: I have a very simple system for my tasks: - One sheet of paper each day with all of my projects and related tasks under those projects. - Pending items get a check—these are actions you've completed, but require someone else to take action. - Completed items get crossed out. - At the end of the day, I create a new list for tomorrow and transfer any pending items of items not finished over. For further explanation I wrote a bit about my habits last year: http://solomon.io/todo-list-framework/ http://solomon.io/todo-list-framework/

rabboRubble 11y ago

Nobody has mentioned Any.do? I've used a day planner, 2Do, Clear, paper, plus looked at a half dozen others. The one tool, Any.Do, has really helped me grind away at life priorities. When I decided to migrate from 2Do to Any.Do, I had around 180 tasks in 2Do. Today I'm at 24 and the only reason it's over 20 is because of tax season, Chinese study, and an investment project. The list will be back down under 20 soon enough and heading to 10.

Nk26 11y ago

I'd like one that will show future repeated tasks in the list. If I have something that repeats every week id like to see in the list with the stuff I have planned for the next few weeks.