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The Search for the Perfect To-do List

steveworsley.com

31–40 of 128 posts

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#31
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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#32

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…

These features would make Trello nearly perfect.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#33

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…

These features would make Trello nearly perfect.

ON IT

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#34
post #19

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 c…

> 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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#36

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…

Hmm not sure if it tallies all the dependencie times, but taskwarrior has dependency management

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#37
post #19

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 c…

> 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…

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.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#39
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/

For me, it's the perfect todo list.

Re: The Search for the Perfect To-do List

#40

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…

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.
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