Todo apps are meant for robots • Hacker News Board

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#141

Post by HPsquared » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 9:48 AM UTC

tobr wrote: post #92

rtpg wrote: post #77

Almost all Todo apps have the problem of showing you stuff that you are incapable of just seeing things you _can accomplish right now_. I think people underestimate the amount of pain that comes from, over and over again, looking at a list of things you can't do anything about at a moment X. The only TODO app that I've found get this at least 95% right is Omnifocus with its billions of settings. Though there's still…

I was thinking recently that it’s such a terrible idea to put todos in a list. A todo tends to be something that gives you a tiny bit of worry: guilt that you should have finished it already, stress that you might not be able to, etc. By putting a dozen todos together in a list, your level of worry about that list as a whole is going to rise to the most worrisome todo. It’s poisoning the well. Now you don’t want to l…

The way I see it, putting the todo in a list gets it out of my head - I don't have a need to keep remembering it, so I don't worry about it as much - I have confidence I won't forget to to it, because it's on the list.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#142

Post by ex3ndr » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 9:51 AM UTC

Friend of mine started doing edtech company and shown me his prototype and it blowed my mind: he simply designed stuff after WoW gameplay. It looks and feels addictive, it is collaborative and stuff. This is clearly the future indeed.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#143

Post by massysett » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:05 AM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #77

Almost all Todo apps have the problem of showing you stuff that you are incapable of just seeing things you _can accomplish right now_. I think people underestimate the amount of pain that comes from, over and over again, looking at a list of things you can't do anything about at a moment X. The only TODO app that I've found get this at least 95% right is Omnifocus with its billions of settings. Though there's still…

Most apps do get this wrong. I use Taskwarrior and its ability to tag tasks, combined with the ability to schedule them for a future date and not show them until that date, is essential. I used to use Orgmode for the same reason. I use the tags mostly like GTD contexts: if something can wait until a routine meeting with a particular person, I tag it “discuss” and with the person’s name, and more importantly I routinely check these lists when meeting with people.

This can be done with no app at all though, which is what 43 folders is all about. David Allen says often in his book that the exact app or notebook you use doesn’t matter as long as it works for you.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#144

Post by riho » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:06 AM UTC

This is quite interesting, I've been considering making a todo app to help with ADHD. I've definitely experienced many of the same issues mentioned by the author, and even some apps labelled specifically for ADHD seem to fail on many of these issues.

If it's a chore to add a task, I won't add them. If it's a chore to go through tasks, I won't come back to the app.

It's also a really important point about some tasks being inherently different in scale to others, and the importance of separating them.

I feel like many todo apps focus too much on being a "todo app" rather than actually trying to get you to get things done. All this tagging and categorizing and such are features that take effort and time for me to manage, which in turn help make those apps into huge graveyards of stuff to do, which in turn make me want to not open them ever again.

IMO a todo apps that is blank most of the time is the best. Meaning, you haven't got anything you need to do. Help me keep track of small tasks, and repeating tasks, and let me either complete them or postpone them. If there's something I've postponed too many times, just delete it. It shoudn't become a notes app, it's about getting stuff done.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#145

Post by midrus » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:11 AM UTC

bschne wrote: post #102

My single biggest improvement in getting somewhat organized and productive so far has probably come from getting comfortable with some amount of chaos. I used to try and set up the perfect system for my notes. I got caught in endless cycles of coming up with some structure, finding new tools, etc. — only to then barely ever write down anything because it never quite fit into any of the boxes I'd prepared. I used to t…

I followed a similar path.

Nowadays I just use the Notes app from my mac. I keep a primary note named "daily" where I write at the top the date and everything interesting for the day. If there is anything important enough I want to keep it for more days I move it to a separate note. If I realize I need something I did 3 weeks ago it is easy to find too. It syncs with my phone, works offline, and imposes as little structure as possible which is something I like for the reasons you explained.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#146

Post by jzb » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:13 AM UTC

beermonster wrote: post #139

rtpg wrote: post #77

Almost all Todo apps have the problem of showing you stuff that you are incapable of just seeing things you _can accomplish right now_. I think people underestimate the amount of pain that comes from, over and over again, looking at a list of things you can't do anything about at a moment X. The only TODO app that I've found get this at least 95% right is Omnifocus with its billions of settings. Though there's still…

> People drag on GTD but David Allen I’ve not yet found a decent alternative. I think a better book could be written on it though. I think the system could be explained in fewer words making it accessible to more people. David’s book is a good read but you probably have to be very serious about fixing this part of your life to put in the effort required to understand and implement it.

My take on the book was it could’ve been ~20 pages, but had to be padded out to full book length. A lot of that in the self help category.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#147

Post by fouc » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:14 AM UTC

The title of this totally made me think of this classic story:

Manna – Two Views of Humanity’s Future: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1

In this story, the human essentially becomes a robot, with just headphones and a "todo app" telling the human what to do every step of the way

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#148

Post by girishso » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:29 AM UTC

barcoder wrote: post #127

iamtedd wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminded me about a passage from Red Dwarf: In fact, it was now possible for Rimmer to revise solidly for three months and not learn anything at all. The first week of study, he would always devote to the construction of a revision timetable. At school Rimmer was always at his happiest colouring in geography maps: under his loving hand, the ice-fields of Europa would be shaded a delicate blue, the subter…

This comment has put Red Dwarf to the top of my reading list. I was an avid fan of the tv show and never thought to read the books. I think we all see a bit of Rimmer in ourselves when it comes to preparing for for an exam.

Me three! There should be some book/movie/series where the hero is some average Joe, does nothing heroic, no twists and turns, no rising from the ashes stuff, but lives his life happily.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#149

Post by konschubert » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

sershe wrote: post #98

rtpg wrote: post #77

Almost all Todo apps have the problem of showing you stuff that you are incapable of just seeing things you _can accomplish right now_. I think people underestimate the amount of pain that comes from, over and over again, looking at a list of things you can't do anything about at a moment X. The only TODO app that I've found get this at least 95% right is Omnifocus with its billions of settings. Though there's still…

+1 on this... My serial distraction until I finally switched to paper was writing TODO apps for myself, then abandoning them. The only one that worked well for an extended period of time would literally show you one task to do. You could do it, or choose one of the options like "cannot do for X hours" (e.g. I need to vacuum and someone else in the house is asleep, or whatever), "not enough mental energy" (it would po…

Wow, that sounds amazing. Do you have it somewhere?

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#150

Post by girishso » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 10:43 AM UTC

stavros wrote: post #122

rtpg wrote: post #77

Almost all Todo apps have the problem of showing you stuff that you are incapable of just seeing things you _can accomplish right now_. I think people underestimate the amount of pain that comes from, over and over again, looking at a list of things you can't do anything about at a moment X. The only TODO app that I've found get this at least 95% right is Omnifocus with its billions of settings. Though there's still…

The problem isn't with the app, it's with us. We keep adding things we "should get to at some point". Well, I've got news for you, you're not going to magically be a person that reads Russian literature in the future, you're going to be you, and you hate Russian literature even though it's "good". TODO lists are aspirational, not pragmatic. We make them for someone else, the person we want to be. Unfortunately, we'll…

> We keep adding things we "should get to at some point"

Brilliant. Like the article says, I stopped using the TODO app when I had dozens of tasks in my list and I used to see that backlog every day, made me even more depressed.