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The Search for the Perfect To-do List

steveworsley.com

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Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#11

Post by insulanian »

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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#12

Post by goshx »

mathattack wrote: post #9

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?

was discipline an issue with your old Franklin Planner?

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#13

Post by galfarragem »

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

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#14

Post by qznc »

steve_w wrote: post #10
dostick wrote: post #3

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

I'm not sure how I missed that. I've never heard of if hiTask! A friend pointed out Bullet Journal ( 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.

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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#15

Post by glaberficken »

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...

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#16

Post by krzrak »

nextos wrote: post #4

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

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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#18

Post by cJ0th »

galfarragem wrote: post #13

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

GettingThingsGnome is what I use.

http://gtgnome.net/

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#19

Post by jasim »

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.)

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#20

Post by mikekchar »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #8

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.

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.

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