[kwlug-disc] Todo Lists and task management

[Chris Irwin]

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 15:17, Raul Suarez <rarsa at yahoo.com> wrote:
> At work I use the Lotus notes to-do list.
>
> Since I started using that, tasks don't fall through the cracks.

I think a Domino server might be a bit beyond my scope :)

> For personal reminders and tasks I use the Yahoo calendar and task list. I know, not open source but ubiquitous for me that don't carry a cellphone.

I'm using google's calendar for my calendar stuff since it integrates
into both evolution and my phone, which I am less than pleased about.
At least my mail I can back up locally with offlineimap, but I'm not
sure about my calendar. Can I just get the .ics file? Does that
contain absolutely everything? I don't know!

I don't think Google has a task product other than the basic
checkbox+textbox dohicky in gmail. I'd prefer to avoid yet another
"cloud" account and service.

> I know that many people are fond of flat files. Not me.

I liked the simplicity of it. I found it falls down with larger lists.
Data needs to be managed, and with flat files you're doing the
managing. I want to cross stuff off the list, not sort and rearrange
it.

> What's wrong with the plain old paper Agenda?

To me Paper is the same as a flat file. You need to manage everything
yourself. And if you want to insert something between task four and
five, you've either got scribble lines and arrows across the page, or
you're rewriting the list.

I did paper at my last job. The problem was that I didn't *always*
have it on me. And when I lost it, even if I could rebuild the list, I
lost all of my associated notes. It's much harder to keep an
up-to-date backup of paper notes. I ended up leaving it at my desk so
I would always know where it was and didn't risk losing it. It may
sound like nit-picking, but I really don't have anything against paper
itself, I just don't find it efficient for large todo lists.

I do use paper while working on specific tasks as my brain's swap
space. Only so much addressable memory up there.

-- 
Chris Irwin
<chris at chrisirwin.ca>