[Ask HN] How do you organize your tasks/to-do lists?

I haven't found anything better than a written list. There's something really tactile and satisfying about crossing items off it.

Every few days I rewrite the list onto the next page, drop things that are no longer relevant, expand items that are sticking around. The physical nature of the list, and the ritual of recopying it are really powerful, to me. Plus the fact that I recopy it frequently helps keep it from getting out of hand and naturally prioritizes it.

I say this, but I've been out of the habit lately. I need to start doing this again.

I am a huge fan of DevTodo: http://swapoff.org/DevTodo

It's a todo list designed for development projects (you can put a todo list in any directory), but I use one in my home directory for just the basic stuff: add and mark complete.

Things on the desktop and the iPhone. If you buy into the GTD system, I'd recommend it. The iPhone app syncs via WiFi to the desktop app whenever you're connected to the same network (I'm hoping syncing via the 'cloud' is coming soon). Ubiquitous capture is what it's all about, and Things is good at it.

It also helps that the app is simple and well designed. I don't use the tagging or much of the scheduled tasks features. Otherwise, there isn't much that beats pen and paper.

No pre-made org software has ever felt comfortable enough for me, so I roll my own.

I have a series of text files organized how I like. I added syntax highlighting in TextMate. I also wrote Ruby scripts that automate any parts that would be tedious if done manually. My calendar is just a glorified text file, specially formatted for ease-of-use.

I also wrote my own TextMate bundle that turns TextMate into a wiki, which is my exobrain.

Finally, whatever you end up doing, I would recommend doing something similar to my "jot" script. Basically, whenever I have an idea or come across something I want to address later, I hit F10, a dialog appears, I type my thought into the text box and hit enter, and then the message is saved in a file called jot.txt. At the end of the day I clean out my jot.txt. This allows me to capture ideas as they come to me without breaking my momentum of what I'm currently working on. You can find that script here: http://techiferous.com/2009/12/streamlining-your-workflow-wi...

A visually pleasing but very simple site: http://teuxdeux.com/