I never used fancy productivity and todo apps. I saved Everything in .txt files, sticky notes and writing on papers. No need to go for a few extra miles.
I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
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Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#592> The file sits on my desktop. It stares at me every time I open my laptop. No app to launch, no subscription to manage.
Yeah that’s my problem here, I never see my desktop :)
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#593The author claims to have tried all Todo apps, and the lists only a fraction of the Todo apps available on the market. There's a reason why there are so many apps available, and without actually trying them all any conclusion is based on partial data.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#594The reason why there's always a million reinventings of the todo wheel is because at its core, notes are just databases. A TODO form of note is about as flexible as Redis, and so the use-cases are many, from quick writes/reads (i.e. jotting down TODOs) to sortedset (i.e. priority list TODOs) to full task management (i.e. more data in the value), and everything inbetween.
In the same way we build around Redis for whatever tasks we need, you see engineers build around the concept of the note, complaining every other solution isn't exactly what they're using it for, and they're right, because on the other end is another engineer building for their niche use pattern.
By unpacking the use cases and slicing the right niches there might be a better notes app product somewhere, but I think it takes a very strong product person, not an engineer, to figure that out.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#595Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: - having your computer alert you to things that come up - being able to tag notes - being able to add events to a calendar - being able to set priority of tasks - expecting prioriti…
To add a different perspective, I love Emacs Org-mode for note taking but gave up on it for task management after a couple of years. Not because the tool is inadequate – my attempts at Todoist or Taskwarrior didn’t fare any better – but because the GTD-style workflow just doesn’t fit my personality.
I’ve now happily used a paper-based bullet journal instead, and am about to transition to a Rocketbook for this use.
The problem is that a GTD-style workflow requires a lot of discipline to stick to daily/weekly reviews, where you prune or reschedule tasks, and it requires you to be strict about deleting tasks you’ll never do. If not, you just get an endlessly growing list of stale tasks, and for me personally the list becomes so associated with guilt and stress that I just burn out and get paralyzed unless I regularly throw it all out and start from scratch. (Is "TODO bankruptcy" a thing?)
Surprisingly, this led me to the conclusion that being able to forget tasks is crucial for me to remain focused, productive, and mentally stable. Being able to start each day with a blank page, write or transfer tasks that I can realistically do today, and letting the unimportant ones silently disappear on old pages without having to consciously delete them, somehow works better for me.
For notes however, Org-mode is great. I’ve found great value in rediscovering old ideas and knowledge 5 years later, whereas finding 5 year old undone tasks is rarely something I want.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#596Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: - having your computer alert you to things that come up - being able to tag notes - being able to add events to a calendar - being able to set priority of tasks - expecting prioriti…
Too many programmers think they have a unique use case without considering that maybe the existing projects are bloated for a reason. Then they end up just recreating the same bloat.
The existing projects probably have crap docs then. If I build it myself at least I’m likely to understand it.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#597I use Todoist in a very light weight fashion. I add tasks and they sit on my screen until they're done, basically identical to a text file. I've never used the points, projects, labels, etc. It does one thing a text file struggles at: scheduling recurring tasks and adding notes to a recurring task. I have annual reminders for infrequent, but important stuff. For example, I have a recurring annual task to review my in…
Can you please advise on how to keep it open everyday? Many tasks accumulated there so it became an inconvenience to open it so I just write everything for today on a daily note. In this case using txt is the least resistance path but it's much less effective.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#598I use Todoist in a very light weight fashion. I add tasks and they sit on my screen until they're done, basically identical to a text file. I've never used the points, projects, labels, etc. It does one thing a text file struggles at: scheduling recurring tasks and adding notes to a recurring task. I have annual reminders for infrequent, but important stuff. For example, I have a recurring annual task to review my in…
I must say todoist is the best kind of app for this. Not affiliated. I've been using it since 2010 and it has gone the un-enshitification path ever since. I'm grateful for it and it's everything I want to create as a maker.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#599I just use a Kanban board for my to-do's, and it has been working amazingly well for years now. I sort stuff based on four columns, starting with the most important that should be done "today". I love Markdown files with editors such as Obsidian or Logseq, but found them to be suboptimal for to-do's / tasks.
There actually is a Kanban plugin for Obsidian [1]. I've been using it for a while and think it's pretty good. Each Kanban "card" can also be turned into a full note. [1] https://github.com/mgmeyers/obsidian-kanban
I have it installed as well, but for me it's missing many things I'd expect from a Kanban board, it also doesn't work that well on mobile.
Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file
#600I used a wip.md for ~16 years. Every day, I move the done items to a new file with yesterday's date.