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To-Do Lists Don't Work

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Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#71

Post by shn »

nadaviv wrote: post #22

I've had issues with TODO list in the past, but settled on a combination of a Kanban board using Trello and Pomodoros, which works quite well so far. If anyone is interested, this is what we're doing: This is how our board looks like: http://i.imgur.com/LnD5a5H.png Each Monday, we pull a week worth of tasks from the Backlog to the Weekly sprint. Each morning, we pull a day worth of work to the Daily goal. We separate…

I like your board. I would like to give it a try. Could you explain difference between "Actionable" and "Daily Goal". Aren't all "daily goals" are "actionable" since you transferred them from "weekly sprint" or "backlog".

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#72

Post by therandomguy »

I have tried todo lists on and off. It definitely works for me in the short term when I have a lot going on. Recently I started using an app called Swipes. It has been working great so far. I think it holds up because rather than fighting it, easy procrastination mechanism is built in.

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#73

Post by ams6110 »

Karunamon wrote: post #41

Can we get "(for me)" added to the topic here? There's no such thing as an organizational system that works (or doesn't work) for every person out there. I personally use Taskwarrior[1] for work (because I'm in the terminal all the time anyways), and aside from a couple of edge cases, it's the simplest and most effective thing I've found. Our group uses a JIRA[2] instance that I've customized the heck out of to make…

Are your shell scripts/aliases available anywhere?

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#74

Post by xerophtye »

kabdib wrote: post #52

I usually keep a local "todo" list in each project I'm on. It helps me focus, and if I'm away from a project for a while it helps me figure out what I've done (I seldom remove old entries, as it gives me a sense of history). Like most processes, it's better to keep something like this lightweight. "Nested todos" are about as fancy as things get. I also check the todo lists into the project. Sure, it makes things a li…

exactly! todo lists help ALOT. I usually use trello for this. It really helps me remember on monday what i was doing on friday and what needs to get done. None of the complains in the article make sense to me. When i make a todo list, i usually have a sense of direction so I dont get stuck in the "choices choices" problem. Besides, didn't anyone teach you how to prioritize stuff? "Urgent, Important; Important, not urgent; Urgent, not important; not important not urgent;"

Oh and trello really helps me enter a TON of information into a task so i dont face the "they all look the same on paper" issue. heck i even use the comments feature as status updates to keep logging whatever i am doing on the task. Todo lists are great! (or atleast they are for me. especially trello)

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#75

Post by xerophtye »

nadaviv wrote: post #22

I've had issues with TODO list in the past, but settled on a combination of a Kanban board using Trello and Pomodoros, which works quite well so far. If anyone is interested, this is what we're doing: This is how our board looks like: http://i.imgur.com/LnD5a5H.png Each Monday, we pull a week worth of tasks from the Backlog to the Weekly sprint. Each morning, we pull a day worth of work to the Daily goal. We separate…

Yep trello is great! I use it too to help me amange all my work. Unfortunately since i am the junior-most dev at my office so haven't gotten everyone else to use it yet. but am working on it. i am sure my manager would love being able to just make a list for all the things that needs to be done and we'd figure out how to do it.

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#76

Post by jacquesm »

uladzislau wrote: post #17
jacquesm wrote: post #3

Todo lists work great! They may not work for everybody but I wouldn't know how to get through the day without my lists. I use them pretty much like an OS would schedule tasks to avoid the pitfalls mentioned in the article. If a task is 'runnable' it will get its share because I go round-robin along the lists without preference. All this boils down to is some common sense and self discipline.

What do you use for todo lists?

Depends on what kind of lists... while working on projects with hardware, shopping or not near a computer: paper & pen, stuff that has to do with a software project or organizing either a leo file (but emacs org mode would do just as well). I used taskfreak for a while and occasionally stuff things next to google calendar so the NSA has a copy without having to ask me.

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#77

Post by ams6110 »

timedoctor wrote: post #62

All of the "problems" that he listed of to do lists are solved by using the "Getting things done" method from David Allen. I personally hate the method of blocking off tasks in a calendar because it is: a) Not agile (can't adjust your priorities quickly). So you get sick one day then you have to adjust your entire calendar for the next month? b) Very cumbersome and totally not suited to the concept of lists of things…

Tangent, but that's a great observation on the agility implied in "agile." So many managers and executives think it means "building software faster" because "agile" == "quick" and you get to skip the requirements and design steps and can just start writing code. What it really means is "accommodating change more easily."

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#78

Post by ams6110 »

When your list comprises items of varying priorities, you tend to take care of the “A” priorities and let the “C” priorities lie fallow…until it becomes an “A” priority itself.

I had to re-read this three times to be sure I was getting it... his contention is that sometimes a "C" priority is really more important than an "A" priority???

The entire point of prioritization is that you do the most important stuff first, and if you don't have time for everything, well at least the stuff that didn't get done was not really the important stuff anyway.

Re: To-Do Lists Don't Work

#79

Post by xerophtye »

z92 wrote: post #14

Scheduling works for me. Not a TODO list. I schedule what I shall be doing tomorrow and as soon as that's done, I get out of office. This motivates me to start work early in the morning, just to feel relaxed after finishing my work for the day by 11:00, for example.

That somehow never works for me. Partially because when writing code you cant always knw how long wil it take (issues come up all the time. debugging can take a while especially if it's a big project and there is a lot of code written by a lot of different people)
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