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Todo apps are meant for robots

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Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#171

Post by bachmeier »

yourenotsmart wrote: post #106
bachmeier wrote: post #42

> Up until the last week I thought the problem was in myself (you probably think so too). After all, David Allen seems to have figured this shit out. It's worth pointing out that David Allen is very outspoken on his position that you should NOT use a todo list. He writes it out clearly in his book. This is probably the most common misconception about GTD. I've even heard people say they gave up on GTD because todo li…

> To get things done, you have to decide on the one or few things you should be working on at a point in time. A todo list doesn't help with that. If you have 100 things to do, certainly a list helps you at least not forget most of them, before you even start work. I don't know what David Allen recommends, but if everyone is left with the impression he recommends TODO lists and he doesn't, it might be because the alt…

You're talking about lists in general. His system is built on lists. The TODO list, as he's using the term, means a single list where you dump all the tasks you need to do or might want to do. Without further thought, you end up with a long list of items, no guidance about what you should be doing, and stress because there are incomplete items on your list. If you're not going beyond that, the TODO list is a terrible idea.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#172

Post by 600frogs »

carloscbl wrote: post #105

That is part of what i'm trying to accomplish in https://prot.ai Reduce friction with scheduling and recurrence. By using cloud apps, calendar aware, an operate by difference. So the calendar negotiates for you when is a good time.

Some unsolicited advice for you:

* That initial "How to use it" diagram completely puts me off the product - it seems dizzyingly complex, and to have that right at the top before I even know what the product is seems like a mistake.

* Consider getting a native speaker to review the text - the grammar is off in a fair few places.

* Write a simpler paragraph for what your product does - I've read through the entire landing page, and your HN comment, and I still don't understand what it is you are selling.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#173

Post by mojuba »

midrus wrote: post #145
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 str…

Same here! I think at least outside of your day job if you have one, as a tech-savvy person you should use your OS with its standard tools as the TODO app.

Of course you could find a better 3rd party mail client, probably a better Notes app too, but the improvement in terms of your productivity will be marginal (if not negative in some instances). Good OS makers copy many of the good things from 3rd party apps anyway, right?

Team collaboration and productivity though is a different beast of a problem. I hate Trello, Asana, Jira - all of them. Because this kind of tools are generally B2B, the decision to buy is usually made by the wrong people. They are generally made to please the decision makers more than the actual every day users. "Let's use X, it has the timeline feature!". Well how about its UI for actually dealing with tasks (creating, closing, moving, etc) is pretty awful?

All in all it feels so strange when looking back at the decades of the evolution of the PC (and the Internet!) that we still haven't figured out how the computers can help us collaborate more efficiently. But then maybe it's because the way we collaborate changes all the time - just take the move from corporate to modern startup-y way of running companies.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#174

Post by drran »

konschubert wrote: post #149
sershe wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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?

See my `td` variant for console here:

https://github.com/vlisivka/bash-modules/blob/master/bash-mo...

They are easy to make.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#175

Post by penguin_booze »

I'm a long time user of GTasks [0], a rather simple application which serves most of my needs (notifications, repeating reminders with customizable frequency). The application is stable and feature rich enough, but author seems to be have abandoned it in favor of a clone with subscription model.

For the features that I feel missing, I've been hatching this plan for my perfect app for more than a decade. "Cloud hosted HTML5? Oh, but how do I get notification on my phone? Hm, maybe need to write a native one. Not easy to develop for Android from command line, ugh. Flutter?". Rinse and repeat.

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dayup.gtas...

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#177

Post by yourenotsmart »

bachmeier wrote: post #171
yourenotsmart wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To get things done, you have to decide on the one or few things you should be working on at a point in time. A todo list doesn't help with that. If you have 100 things to do, certainly a list helps you at least not forget most of them, before you even start work. I don't know what David Allen recommends, but if everyone is left with the impression he recommends TODO lists and he doesn't, it might be because the alt…

You're talking about lists in general. His system is built on lists. The TODO list, as he's using the term, means a single list where you dump all the tasks you need to do or might want to do. Without further thought, you end up with a long list of items, no guidance about what you should be doing, and stress because there are incomplete items on your list. If you're not going beyond that, the TODO list is a terrible…

There's nothing about TODO lists that says you have one list per person. And "TODO lists don't work, unless you have many of them" is counterintuitive and misleading at best.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#178

Post by codemac »

nl wrote: post #73
codemac wrote: post #31

#1 has been debunked[0], in 2016 of all times. I wonder how many more years we'll have to go before people stop saying willpower is a finite resource. [0]: https://elemental.medium.com/dont-worry-you-can-t-deplete-yo...

From that link you shared: > But while the early ego-depletion concepts appear to be flawed, experts say that self-control can wax or wane for a number of predictable reasons. and > Inzlicht says that no matter what a person does, willpower is going to be a fickle commodity. It’s heavily influenced by many variables, and so it really cannot be trusted. “There are easier, less-muscular ways to engage in goal-directed…

No, not close enough at all!

They show that willpower comes and goes for many reasons, but it is not a limited resource. You can't "use it up" in the morning, and thinking that way will lead you to actually having less willpower in the evenings even though you could have plenty!

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#179

Post by mundanemethods »

afarviral wrote: post #140
avh02 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with just bookmarking is link rot, I've had a few links 404 or the domain disappear - instead I use wallabag (imperfect but good enough) to pull in the content for another day

I just discovered SingleFile, a plugin for Firefox which does an epic job at creating an offline copy of the webpage in a single HTML. I'll sync my repo across all my devices for offline/forever access to them.

Seconded. I am continuously astounded at how capable that little extension is. Rarely am I disappointed in the result.

Re: Todo apps are meant for robots

#180

Post by throwaway58670 »

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…

Fully agree. Have come to similar conclusions with time.

Nowadays the only tool I'm using is https://workflowy.com. It's basically an infinitely nested list that you can expand / collapse or zoom into. Extremely fast to dump items into and delete afterwards.

I use it as a cache or stack for my immediate more complicated developer tasks. Once something's done - delete it.

Here's a referral link if you'd like to get me (and yourself) more free items: https://workflowy.com/invite/200f24b.lnx

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