Managing a TODO list

After years of experimenting with every todo app under the sun, I've gone back to the trusty notebook and pen. I spend far less time faffing and more time doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

The only computerised task management I use now is the occasional checklist for more complex projects and I use taskpaper for that.

When I started reading this post it would make sense to use a local spreadsheet and avoid all the surfing, logging in and searching for the right tab. But when you use a cloud based solution, you still face the same problem as when using yet another (online) app.

For me personally a digital todo list must be as easily accessible as a notebook next to me. If you have your browser open, like me, with 10+ tabs, this is gonna be a problem.

This is a reasonable solution for many people.

I don't think I could stand keeping track of it in a spreadsheet: - You can only access the data from the computer the spreadsheet is on - Can't share with other people Lastly, and most important to me: - I find it ugly to look at spreadsheets or enter data into spreadsheets

The post is a useful list for people who want to create a todo list app about some potential features. I think that even if there was an app that addressed all this (and I think there are apps that do address most of these points), the OP wouldn't be convinced to use it because a spreadsheet is just much more familiar to the him and he doesn't find them ugly.

I personally have my own todo list app that I created and always use (along with paper for more free form notes). In fact, there are 4 different versions of a todo list for different purposes. I like it because it works exactly how I want it to work and I can change it as I desire. I suppose there's also a degree of pride in using my own app.

At this point, why not use a plain text editor for everything? I expect some minimal features from a todo app (time and/or location based reminders/notifications, ability to quickly add new items and check existing items, items classification, etc.), some of which cannot be achieved by using spreadsheets. Using a spreadsheet for this purpose sounds more like "everything is a nail" syndrome.

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