

[Ask HN] How do you organize your tasks/to-do lists? - rob

Just curious.<p>I might be old-fashioned, but I'm still using a pen and notebook. I'm thinking of going digital, but all of the online to-do list applications are far too complicated — I don't care about categories, tags, or priorities. I'd just like to be able to type in a list of tasks for a given day and hit a box to mark them as done.
======
aymeric
WeekPlan <http://weekplan.net>

As a fan of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I have developed
WeekPlan. It allows you to keep your whole week and your goals in perspective.
(Thanks to <http://teuxdeux.com> for some of the UI inspiration)

The feature I find most powerful and yet almost invisible is the Overall
Quadrant indicator. It tells you in which quadrant (cf. the book) you are
spending most of the time this week by showing a different color. Your goal is
to have it green, Quadrant II, important tasks but not urgent. Trying to get
the green light has been very efficient to help me keep focused on what
matters.

(I developed most of it in eight hours using a combination of asp.net MVC and
jQuery and was really impressed by the productivity you get out of these two.)

------
geocar
I use <http://orgmode.org/>

~~~
keyist
+1 for org-mode

While on-topic, just want to clear up misconceptions of org-mode. It is
different from all the software/website task managers mentioned here. You can
think of it as a meta-organization tool. A org software factory if you will.
You can customize it to exactly how you want your thoughts, tasks, notes, etc
organized.

See <http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html> for an idea of the sheer breadth of
options available to make it work exactly for you.

This may sound like a lot of work, but there are a lot of sensible defaults,
which is why most org-mode tutorials that scratch the surface make it seem
like a sibling to other task management software. The base case the OP wants
would simply be:

    
    
      S-M-<RET>: create new TODO
      C-c C-t D: mark TODO as DONE
    

If I may pilfer a quote, org-mode "outshines other [task management solutions]
in approximately the same way the noonday sun does the stars." (Neal
Stephenson on Emacs)

------
DenisM
The simplest, easiest to use online ToDo app is Google Tasks. You can access
it using small window in Gmail (look for "tasks" on the left-hand side) or
full-screen ( <https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas> ) or on the
iPhone/Android ( <https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig> )

I have also wrote a native iPhone app client for Google Tasks so that you can
use it offline <http://www.geetasks.com>

~~~
gte910h
Wow, great job man. I've been looking for something like this for a LONG time.
Downloaded and tried it out with the lists I already have in there, and great
stuff.

~~~
DenisM
Happy users carry me through the day of work.

I'm _so_ not missing my corporate job.

BTW, I have forums over at <http://geetasks.com>, stop by to say "hi"!

------
techiferous
No pre-made org software has ever felt comfortable enough for me, so I roll my
own.

I have a series of text files organized how I like. I added syntax
highlighting in TextMate. I also wrote Ruby scripts that automate any parts
that would be tedious if done manually. My calendar is just a glorified text
file, specially formatted for ease-of-use.

I also wrote my own TextMate bundle that turns TextMate into a wiki, which is
my exobrain.

Finally, whatever you end up doing, I would recommend doing something similar
to my "jot" script. Basically, whenever I have an idea or come across
something I want to address later, I hit F10, a dialog appears, I type my
thought into the text box and hit enter, and then the message is saved in a
file called jot.txt. At the end of the day I clean out my jot.txt. This allows
me to capture ideas as they come to me without breaking my momentum of what
I'm currently working on. You can find that script here:
[http://techiferous.com/2009/12/streamlining-your-workflow-
wi...](http://techiferous.com/2009/12/streamlining-your-workflow-with-
applescript/)

------
rudders
<https://www.rememberthemilk.com/>

Quite simple interface. Write your list, easy to manage times with the
shortcuts (just go: ^ then type your due-by date, ie: tomorrow or friday and
it'll set the date), and you can print it off if you still enjoy the nostalgia
of pen and paper

~~~
krschultz
Absolutely nothing works better for me, I've tried a lot of things from paper
or post-its to writing my own software or using flat text files. I have paid
for the pro version ($25 and can be accessed on an iPhone or Droid, web-only
version is free) for two years now and I'd gladly pay $100 for it.

------
qeek
37signals Backpack. <http://backpackit.com/>

For more information read this article:
[http://patrickrhone.com/2006/06/27/backpack-new-gtd-
implemen...](http://patrickrhone.com/2006/06/27/backpack-new-gtd-
implementation-ideas/)

------
joeld42
I haven't found anything better than a written list. There's something really
tactile and satisfying about crossing items off it.

Every few days I rewrite the list onto the next page, drop things that are no
longer relevant, expand items that are sticking around. The physical nature of
the list, and the ritual of recopying it are really powerful, to me. Plus the
fact that I recopy it frequently helps keep it from getting out of hand and
naturally prioritizes it.

I say this, but I've been out of the habit lately. I need to start doing this
again.

~~~
wisty
IIRC, writing stuff down is better for recall than typing.

------
dthakur
OneNote -- it has been said it's the best piece of software to come out of
Redmond.

~~~
nickpp
One note is shockingly good. The easiness with which you make items "doable"
is awesome. You then move them around as you like.

------
romland
I made a post about it some time ago on here, and at that point the poster
asked for the opposite (not too simple).

You can find it here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1108498>

I have since added a few minor details, but largely it's the same. I still
feel a bit bad for ripping off their design, but heck, it was just up my
alley. But in all honesty, it sounds like <http://teuxdeux.com/> out of the
box would be just your thing. Personally I wanted to be able to have it stored
"locally" where I had full control.

And to answer your question: I use what is outlined above and it works really
well for me. The only drawback, perhaps, is that my "To do Some day" list has
gotten pretty big. Everything I can't do right now but find interesting, or
every little idea end up in that container. Not sure if that's entirely bad,
though.

~~~
rob
Thanks!

TeuxDeux is very, very close to what I'm looking for — I'll give it a try for
a couple of days. Too bad they don't have an iPhone version ready (even just
an iPhone-optimized site).

~~~
romland
Glad to be of assistance. :)

It's on the "Todo Some Day" list to make my version of it talk SyncML which
would enable it to synchronize with existing mobile apps out there. I never
considered porting the UI, but maybe that's an idea, it is really suitable for
cellphones.

Hmm...

------
telemachos
I've tried a number of different options - online and local files - but I've
settled on Vim's taskpaper plugin (see link below) and a tasks.taskpaper file
that I keep in sync across machines using version control. I don't actually
even use Taskpaper itself, since I don't really want another application for
this - just a file with a reasonable, and hackable syntax. (The syntax is
simple enough that it's dead easy to whip up a script for any kind of display
or search or munging you might want to do with your tasks file.)

Taskpaper.vim plugin: <http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2027>

Recommendations for highlighting taskpaper files:
[http://www.praytothemachine.com/evil/2007/11/06/taskpaper-
an...](http://www.praytothemachine.com/evil/2007/11/06/taskpaper-and-vim/)

------
elliottkember
I'm working on an app for this - Speckle (<http://speckleapp.com>). The main
feature is that Speckle has multiple checkboxes per task, so if you're working
in a team, or even just if some tasks take longer than others, you can check
them off bit by bit.

------
frossie
Not in any one single way :-)

I think you might want to look at <http://www.toodledo.com/> \- it is actually
quite powerful (aka "complicated") but the amount of complexity is user
configurable. So if you don't care for a certain category, you can just tell
the system to ignore it.

The main advantage of something "online" is that it is easy to attach
supplementary information to a to-do item - a file, a message-ID...

I use a hybrid of post-it notes, online calendar, paper notebook, toodledo,
and e-mail. GTD it isn't - but it works.

[Edit - toodledo also allows you to assign tasks to other users. It is not
quite implemented in the way I would like, but their deveoper is very user-
friendly and they are always working on it, so I am optimistic.]

------
gr366
Gootodo (now called Goodtodo) is the best solution I've found. It's simple,
without categories, tags or priorities (other than sorting by position). The
differentiators for me are: calendar-based to-dos. I can create a to-do that I
don't actually need to act on until next week, and it won't show up until
then.

Also, awesome email integration, where I can forward an email to, for example,
apr14@gootodo.com, and the body of the email will be attached to a to-do that
shows up on that date. This is a fantastic way to get in the habit of emptying
your inbox as well. Things you have to do don't linger there, you just forward
them to your to-do list.

Simple and elegant, and more than worth the $3/mo I pay for it.

------
dskhatri
Emacs' org-mode. I've been using it for the past several months and love it.
Some links:

<http://searchyc.com/org-mode>

<http://orgmode.org/org.html>

------
dmfdmf
Nothing wrong with paper and pen but you need a system to make sure things
don't fall through the cracks. I use and recommend the Franklin Planning
system now Franklin Covey. <http://www.franklincovey.com/>

------
d4nt
I use <http://toodat.com>

I wrote it myself because, like you, I didn't like the complicated nature of
the other tools out there. It's pretty basic but it works.

------
nwjsmith
Things on the desktop and the iPhone. If you buy into the GTD system, I'd
recommend it. The iPhone app syncs via WiFi to the desktop app whenever you're
connected to the same network (I'm hoping syncing via the 'cloud' is coming
soon). Ubiquitous capture is what it's all about, and Things is good at it.

It also helps that the app is simple and well designed. I don't use the
tagging or much of the scheduled tasks features. Otherwise, there isn't much
that beats pen and paper.

------
Batsu
Maybe it's just me, but maintaining a task list is about as troublesome as
finding one that does just what you need.

I get e-mails for business related tasks. Outlook flags posts sent directly to
me (as in, I'm in the TO: box, not part of a group or CC'ed) and I'll check
them out.

Anything else is stuff I want to do. I don't often forget that I want to do
something, thus no list necessary. If I do miss something... well there's
always free time in the future.

------
sidsavara
I like using Toodledo:

<http://toodledo.com>

I like it because it's free, and I can even sync it with my iphone free - just
have to pay $1.99 for the app

Nice clean interface, has a nice Google Chrome extensions, and for me it is
intuitively how I order things - by date and importance. I just use "Project
-> Task" to signify next actions within projects

------
chasingsparks
GTD style git.

I have a private repo on git-hub with minor things I am writing (i.e. not
multi-week projects), priority registers (only allow myself 3 things on it),
lists of things to read, list of things to do in spare time, list of ideas for
future projects, and directories with notes on books and practice applications
that I write when learning something new.

It's _very_ effective for me.

------
theBobMcCormick
I used to be mostly pen and paper for capture and on-the-go lists, with a
little bit of RememberTheMilk for larger lists (like the GTD someday/maybe
lists, etc).

Now that I've got my Nexus One, I'm using Shuffle
(<http://code.google.com/p/android-shuffle/>). Although I still haven't
migrated everything out of RTM.

------
roti
A visually pleasing but very simple site: <http://teuxdeux.com/>

------
aidenn0
I am a huge fan of DevTodo: <http://swapoff.org/DevTodo>

It's a todo list designed for development projects (you can put a todo list in
any directory), but I use one in my home directory for just the basic stuff:
add and mark complete.

------
huhtenberg
You pretty much described <http://culturedcode.com/things/iphone>.

These were the best $10 I spent on an iPhone app by a very wide margin. It is
simple, but not simplistic, and it is really well designed and executed.

------
qeorge
Uncommon around here, but I love Outlook. I've tried Gmail, Thunderbird, and
others but nothing handles the Email + Contacts + Calendar + Tasks problem as
well as Outlook, IMHO.

I've also used Basecamp, but I like having my To Do list integrated with my
email.

------
makeramen
<http://www.makeramen.com/noodles/>

------
rob
Thanks for the suggestions everybody.

For now, I decided to go with Google Tasks. It's very barebones and simple,
but it's just what I was looking for and they even have an iPhone-optimized
version (I will also look into GeeTasks).

~~~
DenisM
Be sure to let me know what you think of GeeTasks, as can be seen at my forum
<http://geetasks.com> I always answer all inquiries.

~~~
rob
I went ahead and purchased the Pro version this morning. Really nice and works
great. I didn't like how you couldn't indent tasks on the iPhone web version,
but GeeTasks does it. :)

~~~
DenisM
Well, there's a reason people are paying those huge bucks for GeeTasks :-)

------
onewland
I find OmniFocus to be very helpful. The difficulty is making sure you enter
everything.

<http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/>

~~~
kleinsch
Second the vote for OmniFocus. The key for me was synchronization between
multiple computers and the iPhone. The iPhone app seems a bit like an
afterthought (it's very slow to update, even when using their suggested
tweaks), but synching between computers works great.

------
roundsquare
Pen and paper.

When I had my blackberry (before it got damaged) I wold use the "memo" area a
lot. It was the most convenient way to make sure I could note down tasks that
came up as they came up.

------
jamesbritt
I'm a fan of Todoist.com

Pretty simple, plus a nice Web API. I wrote some command-line tools and an
Android app to work with it, so I have a few ways to read or edit my list.

------
epi0Bauqu
Recently switched from white board/notepad to <http://speckleapp.com>, which
is made by HN member elliottkember.

------
Lazlo_Nibble
Toodledo, via the web and the App Store app. Though I'd be using the mobile
version of Things if it synced to anything other than a Mac application.

------
stevelosh
I use t (one of my own projects): <http://stevelosh.com/projects/t/>

------
xenoterracide
I think google's tasks can do what you need... it has more than what you
probably need but you don't have to do that.

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jxcole
I use post it notes. But there is also a little known feature of gmail that
has a very simple task list mechanism.

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jason_slack
I am hoping that the ipad will help me get better organized with e-mail,
calendar, etc.....

------
cellis
notepad.exe

When I had jobs that required me to use Huge Enterprise Planner v 10.0, i
copied my tasks as succinctly as possible to notepad. It's lightweight,
doesn't get in the way, and just works. Todo.txt, and I keep it to 10 lines
per day.

------
gte910h
Google tasks is fine for me

------
johndevor
paper

------
itistoday
The Hit List

<http://www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/>

