I work in an environment with unstable plans (computer vision research lab), so my TODO system has become very dynamic over time. The basics: org-mode. org-mod

I work in an environment with unstable plans (computer vision research lab), so my TODO system has become very dynamic over time. The basics: org-mode. org-mode is a wonderful TODO extension for Emacs. I add a new file to org-mode's global TODO list every day. I tried keeping individual project files, but using tags to separate projects ended up being the least-effort system. Break up tasks. As with code, work can be decomposed into small, orthogonal tasks. Take a small amount of time to enter a TODO item for each one. I'm only human - I'd much rather start a small task than a large one. If I discover I finished something, but there's not a corresponding TODO item, I add it and close it. Why deprive myself the satisfaction? Lazy update. Since I have several small tasks that represent a job to be done, I only revisit my TODO list every few hours for cleanup (and to ensure I haven't forgotten anything). Touching my TODO list whenever I do something is overkill. Loose prioritizing. I track the importance of each line-item by Low, Medium, and High priority. 80% of items are Medium priority, and most of the rest are High. These are just suggestions: for instance, I pick short Medium tasks before starting long High priority tasks. Relentlessly prune. Plans change. Just delete irrelevant or items from your list and move on. I tracked closing information on line-items for over a year until I realized that I had never needed to go back to look at the resolution information or start/end timestamps. Over a year after I stopped, I still haven't. Know when to let go. When something needs to be done yesterday, someone asks every 30 minutes if you are finished. You don't need other reminders. Skip the TODO list and get to work.