Daniel Eldridge's List: To-Do List Management

ToDoList Resources
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Welcome back to Jonathan’s Tool Bar & Grill, where you can find a valuable new Windows utility or Web site twice a month– that is, if I can figure out what to write about and get myself organized enough to research and write it.

Sometimes I stare at my desk, close to desperation, trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing now. What was I working on? What should I be working on? What’s my most important goal, and what’s most urgent? What action should I take right now to start moving forward? Piles of paper scraps and sticky notes only add to the confusion.

A computer should be an excellent to-do list manager, right? First I tried Microsoft Outlook’s Tasks module, even setting up a complex customized structure for tracking my projects’ progress. Outlook simply wasn’t up to the task. Then I used Microsoft Project, but it’s an excellent task manager like a shotgun is an excellent fly killer.

Perhaps, I thought, there are free or cheap to-do list managers on the Internet, so I went looking. I found many, but most disappointed me with limited functionality, oddball approaches to task management, primitive GUIs, or all of these. Then I came across an outstanding exemplar, and my search is over.

Gossamer Threads has partnered with Best Practical to offer a hosted Request Tracker solution. Request Tracker (RT) is an enterprise-grade ticketing system which enables a group of people to intelligently and efficiently manage tasks, issues, and requests submitted by a community of users.

Gossamer Threads has over 10 years of experience developing web applications, and we have the in-house expertise to run and manage your Request Tracker installation smoothly. Our knowledgeable staff are available for consulting and customization of RT.

Best Practical makes software to help you get more done. Our major products include Hiveminder , RT and SVK .

Hiveminder is a web-based tool to help you get (and stay) organized. Hiveminder helps you keep track of what you need to do, assign tasks to anyone with an email address and share tasks with anyone you collaborate with. Basic Hiveminder accounts are free. Sign up today!

SVK is the only distributed version control system in the world designed from the ground up to integrate cleanly with Subversion, the emerging standard in enterprise version control. With SVK, advanced branching and merging and even offline commits are a breeze. Find out more .

We also make RT: Request Tracker , the leading open-source issue-tracking system. We've designed RT to make it easy for your organization to track any sort of "task". Various organizations, ranging in size from Fortune 50 Corporations to the smallest nonprofit use RT to manage a wide range of business processes. Frequent uses include the tracking of software defects, customer service inquiries, internal workflow, project management, network operations and even youth counselling. RT is powerful, flexible and built from the ground up to adapt to your organization and needs. While RT is available without charge as open-source software, we provide a full range of support, training and development services .

1. Tom's Guide to Getting Things Done with Software
Introduction

The Getting Things Done (GTD) mantra is a great one for the start of a new year. It’s not just about making a to-do list of things that never get done. It’s about organizing what you need to get done in such a way that you can relieve some stress and perhaps be more efficient in getting your tasks accomplished.

“Getting Things Done” isn’t a cliché; it’s actually the name of a popular personal productivity book by David Allen. Allen’s approach has spurred a cottage industry of software applications designed to help users implement the GTD methodology.

At its core, GTD is about unloading everything you need to do and making decisions about all the things you need to do. Certainly, not everything needs to be done immediately; tasks can be deferred but they do need to be tracked. While the approach also includes the concept of projects that need to be completed, of greater importance are the tasks that need to be done and the context in which they occur.

There are a lot of different approaches in software for trying to implement some form of GTD methodology. Some stick closely to Allen’s guidelines while others stray from the path. From a practical point of view though, it really is all about productivity and task management. In this review, we’ll take a look at eight different approaches including Backpack, Tracks, Tudumo, Hiveminder, SimpleGTD, MyToDos, Remember the Milk and GTD for Outlook.

Best Online To-do List Manager?

Anyone paying attention out there in the productoblogosphere knows that every week, there's a new web application that helps you keep your to-do list. But which ones are you actually using to, you know, actually do things? After the jump, cast your vote for your favorite web-based to-do manager.

Archives for the 'To-Do Lists' Category
Hiveminder

Hiveminder is a webservice that helps you keep track of all of your to do lists in one convenient place. It’s easy to make new lists quickly or to share tasks with anyone in your hive of friends, family, and co-workers. Hiveminder makes it easy to see only the tasks you’re looking for and to […]
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15 January 2007 | To-Do Lists | No Comments
Remember The Milk

Managing tasks is generally not a fun way to spend your time. Remember The Milk was created so that you no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand. Remember The Milk makes managing tasks an enjoyable experience.

Locate your tasks.
Manage tasks quickly […]

The Web's Most Useful Sites
You have lots of stuff to get done. And these next-generation services can help with everything from wrangling passwords to throwing a party.
Ryan Singel
Friday, December 22, 2006 1:00 AM PST
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To-Do Lists
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The old-fashioned to-do list, which lets the brain concentrate on the task at hand rather than on others in the future, remains one of the world's best productivity tools. These fresh new sites let you keep track of your obligations and prompt you to keep up the pace.

Winner: RememberTheMilk reinvents the to-do list in a snazzy interface that lets you make lists in configurable categories, all laid out on the front page as tabs. Adding to-dos is easy, though adding deadlines, notes, and time estimates is unintuitive.

You can add to-dos using natural language such as "Call Ted next Thursday," sync with your calendar via the widely supported iCalendar format, and set tasks such as "Pay credit card bill" to recur. RememberTheMilk sends reminders through instant message, e-mail, text message, or a combination of these. You can also upload tasks via a special e-mail address that the site gives you.

It's a tremendously well-rounded free product, with neither more nor less than you need to get and stay organized.

Runner-up: Hiveminder is a bit prettier than RememberTheMilk and relies on tags, rather than categories, to group tasks. While you can't set the time and date for tasks using natural language, you do get a nice drop-down calendar, and you can easily edit or add tags to a group of tasks.

Hiveminder syncs with external calendars, publishes RSS feeds, and lets you e-mail tasks, but the only notification it offers is a once-a-day e-mail. In addition, tags are more difficult to track than categories, and while Hiveminder has a more intuitive interface than RememberTheMilk, it doesn't feel as useful in practice.

Getting Things Done with To Do Lists and Task Managers

Posted on April 12, 2008
Filed Under Getting Things Done, Mobile Applications, Mobile Services, Office, Organization, Web Tools | 1 Comment

With the ability to sort and organize your assignments, exams, and projects quickly and easily Schoolhouse is a must have for any student on-the-go. The power of smart notebooks allow you to interact with your work as simply as your iTunes library.

Classcasts give the ability to publish your assignments to the web automatically for anyone to subscribe to. A newly redesigned grading system allows you to chart your scores over the course of the term to keep an outlook as you go. All of this works to ensure you will never be in the dark at the end of the semester.