Imaginary Personal Manager
pmswap.medium.com
pmswap.medium.com
https://jedahan.com/saltpeanuts/
The data gets serialized (but still human readable) in the url fragment, so its shareable, but server never sees it. You can also just download and run, or see the code for "jedahan's first and only Vue app" on https://github.com/jedahan/saltpeanuts#readme , which is the only user guide.
It has not helped my wrangle my time or focus at all.
First they provide a very flexible hierarchy. You can create multiple workspaces with multiple folders and lists of tasks within them, or start with just one space with one list of tasks.
Next you can view a list vertically as a list, or horizontally as a kanban-style board, or as a mind map, or a number of other options.
Third, you can put tasks on a calendar to timebox and arrange the flow of your work.
You can define a set of statuses to apply to the tasks in a lists, and can copy these status arrangements between lists. These define the flow of your work and the columns of your board.
Tasks can have subtasks, and can also contain check lists and comments. Check lists can be converted into substasks. Combinations of folders lists tasks and subtasks can be made into templates to speed the setup of a new project.
There are a number of other features which help to capture info and keep it in one place: Notepad is a quick place to jot something down that can be converted to a task later; Docs is a somewhat wiki-like place to write longer notes; then you can link things to provide the necessary relationships and associations. There are also numerous integrations with other apps to import or export data.
The phone app is pretty good too, including the calendar and kanban views.
Not a paid endorsement, just very enthusiastic about the capabilities of this system and how it can be adapted to suit many different working styles. Thought other productivity-heads might enjoy it! =)
Bonus tip: If you use one of their docs as a meeting agenda/minutes, you can select a portion of text and make it into a task with a right click. I just discovered this, but it seems to be a great way to create follow-ups and assign people to action items.
I used to use the "Action Day Planner" together with a notebook for more detailed project-related data, and this system was very capable of organizing my work. I don't think electronic devices and software are very helpful. You either don't have them at hand all the time anywhere, or you end up fiddling with software on mobile phones that distracts and makes you enter text much less efficiently than writing on paper.
Anyway, I found with time that the GTD method is mostly suitable for non-creative, boring management tasks. It's good for delegating and managing under load. Or, as a friend of mine once said: It's more of a "you (pointing at employee) better get things done!" method. I now only use a calendar and "Leuchtturm 1917" notebooks. Any other notebook will do, too, as long as they have a ToC and numbered pages.
I use KanbanFlow with both work and personal boards and it's great. The mobile interface fine. For home/desk situations, I'll use a spare monitor or a cheap tablet so it's more present.
Nothing wrong with preferring a notebook, of course; it is easier for some things, and I use to carry one religiously. But since it's an extra physical object I have to haul around everywhere and that requires a special tool to even use, I don't miss it.
It’s worked out well, if no one ever asks me about the never done task, then I succeeded in not wasting my time. Sometimes people do pop in to ask about it, at which point I simply add a new task, referencing the old one. I don’t even worry about due dates, I just pick things off the todo list, mostly at random. Important things tend to get done early or on time.
For example, processing steps like this:
> The calendar is filled two times a week.
Unnecessary in Notion as you can view a kanban with dated items as a calendar.
https://www.notion.so/Intro-to-databases-fd8cd2d212f74c50954...
Edit: why am I being downvoted for suggesting a tool I like
I can have all the lists in the world without knowing what to do, when to do it, or how soon I'll be able to get to it. This works for all that.
But, I'm happy just blocking time in the same program work comes in on (email). I am far enough out of the iterative loop of development that most assignments are "soft" as in emails or requests from the group or random people in the organization who are in early stage product development and haven't formed a core team yet with all the project management tooling that comes with that.
Strangely it feels like I get less done now. But I'm also less stressed.
Somedays I have 5 tasks and I finish them with a few hours left over. Other days, I only managed finished 2 tasks and have to push the left over tasks back into the pool.
Anyone know if there some heuristics I can apply so that I continuously adjust my task loading on a day to day basis?
A single distraction can easily eat up 30 minutes from your allotted time, even if the distraction itself only takes a few minutes.
After you start the habit, you estimate and track tasks in number of pomodoro. And your goal is to do a certain number of pomodoros in a day and then adjusting your tasks on if you estimate it will take more or less pomodoros.
Kanban is designed to minimize WIP. When your WIP is down to zero, it's perfectly reasonable to pull more work.
https://reclaim.ai/ - I found this on HN a couple of months back. It schedules tasks you add to your Google Tasks on your Google calendar, fully automatically.
https://tasksboard.com/ allows you to have multiple Google tasks lists displayed as a kanban board.
Drag your task into your reclaim.ai "todo" list and time gets blocked out in your calendar automatically. et viola!
The next step could be a scheduler that takes the GTD state as input along with your calendar and builds an execution plan.
I guess they assumed that anyone interested in todo-apps would have already encountered GTD before.
I never managed to get GTD done, but the book was still an interesting and enjoyable read when I read it back in university.
Basically for any planning. That's the only todo list that works for me.