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To Do Lists or not To Do Lists

Friday, October 31, 2008 4:31:30 PM (Romance Standard Time, UTC+01:00)
At some stage in my life, my experience of time changed from being something I had plenty of, sometimes even too much, to being a very scarce resource where tasks and chores compete for time and attention.

The other day I walked past a place where  there used to be a cherry plum tree. I remembered how I as a kid, could spend hours in that tree, enjoying the half-ripe plums, without ever feeling there was anything more important or serious to do. Usually there was a price to pay the next day, but that did not prevent me from doing it again again. While I mourning that lost paradise, and looking for a way to find it again, there is the practical problem of managing, remembering and prioritizing all the stuff I have to do.

Over the years I have used multiple systems: Sticky notes, task lists in Outlook, notebooks of all kind, emails send to myself, mindmaps, and probably a few more I can't remember. All of them were great for a while, but all had limitations that let me to eventfully give them up. For instance Sticky notes are great, tangible and practical - as long as you are the same place all the time. Mindmaps are great for a brainstorming a set of tasks, but more tedious on a daily basis.

But now I have used a tool continuously for more than a year, and I am still surprised by the way it can fit to any of my changing work modes and places.

The name of the tool is Remember the Milktm . It is a free, webbased tool. What I really like about it is that it  is simple, easy to use, and at the same time extraordinary flexible in terms of input and output.

The core of the product is a set of tasklists, each containing tasks, that can be prioritized, have a due dates, estimates and a few other things. It is easy to create and remove lists. 

But what it really impressive is the numerous ways to enter new tasks and the equally impressive amount of ways to manage and be reminded of tasks:    

First of all there is a nice Ajax based Web-UI. From that I can enter  and maintain all my tasks as well as my lists. That probably the least important part of RTM. 

I mostly interface with RTM through my iGoogle Dashboard in Firebox.  I also have access to my tasks via Gmail, Google Calendar, Skype and on my mobile phone.   Every morning I get a friendly email, telling me which tasks are due today, and if they are due at a certain hour, I get a reminder at that time too. Besides iGoogle, Google Calendar and Gmail,  I can enter tasks on my mobile phone or through email.

Try it out! - maybe you too will never need another tool to manage your tasks




By Bent Jensen

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