
Does there exist or is there a market for an online to-do list (see comment)? Edit: apparently rememberthemilk.com. - BrandonM

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BrandonM
In the past, I have been continually frustrated by my inability to get things
done. I find that I know what I _should_ be working on, but I instead do
things like lurk here or obsessively check my e-mail. For the last month or
so, however, I have started to write down the things that I would like to do
in lists (using a Google homepage feature), and I find that I do a much better
job getting things done.

I also live with my girlfriend, and sometimes we have things that we would
like each other to do. Oftentimes, she'll ask me to do something, I'll say
"okay", I'll forget, and it won't get done when it should. It would be nice if
she could easily add to my list.

In general, I have a need for a to-do list application. I feel that if it's
something I need, however, that others might find a use for it as well. The
idea I have is to allow it to connect with other applications like Google
Calendar, although it would also have a built-in one for those who don't use a
calendar program (me included). I would be able to add ideas to my to-do list
either by adding them to the calendar or by simply adding them with some
priority (i.e. Immediate, High, Medium, Low). Then, in my preferences, I would
be able to assign priorities to items based on how many days away they are
(i.e. 1, 5, 10, 11+).

Finally, the point of all this would be to have a simple list of things I need
to do, with highest priority items appearing on top. Items without an explicit
due date would gradually increase in priority based on some scoring system.
There would be a simple way to mark items off the list or to lower the
priority. I feel that this system would produce a nice mix of tasks that
include items with a deadline and things that I would like to get done that
don't necessarily have a deadline.

The additional interesting part of the whole thing would be to allow other
members to add items to your list. You could have public items on your
calendar (as with Google) which everyone could see, but you would also be able
to have friends add things to your calendar, for example if they are planning
a party and would like you to attend. Now it would conveniently show up in
your to-do list and you wouldn't forget about it. Or if your wife wants you to
clean the gutters sometime this week, she could just add it to your list with
Medium priority, with the knowledge that it would gradually rise to the top of
your list and you would get it done.

Does anyone find this to be an interesting idea? Is there anything out there
that does this already? As I said, I really feel like I could use something
like this, so if it's already out there, I would be quite happy to use it. If
not, well, I guess it's something I should make :-).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

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danw
I've seen a lot of todo list applications in the past year.
<http://www.rememberthemilk.com/> is the most popular I believe and should
meet your requirements.

For now I'm sticking with paper notepads. They're flexible and portable. The
only downside is that copying tasks from my "this week" list to my "today"
list involves rewriting.

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BrandonM
Thanks for the link. I've signed up for it, and it seems to almost precisely
describe my idea, so that's good for me; it will save me some work :-).

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felipe
Seems to me that your problem is not making your to-do list more _efficient_ ,
but actually more _effective_. Any to-do list system (rememberthemilk, GTD,
Outlook, etc...) will help you with the efficiency part, but not with the
effectiveness part.

I highly recommend you the book First Things First, by Dr. Covey:
<http://www.amazon.com/First-Things-Learn-Leave-Legacy/dp/0684802031/>

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lee
I've always wanted something that works like Omni Outliner does - with
infinite indents. I've found several todo lists on several online project
management packages, but this has always been the dealkiller for me. It's what
allows me to break down tasks to bite sized increments - no matter how large
the tasks are originally. I've only found that OmniOutliner and LifeBalance do
this...and they aren't online. Doesn't seem like rememberthemilk does it
either.

