Why Toodledo is the most underrated task management system out there

Written on 5th April 2009                                                                                                              2 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.

I’m a task management addict. I have spent far too much time in the past testing various systems and methods to help me supposedly ‘get things done’.

Most recently, I have switched (almost weekly) between Todoist.com, Things (mac app) and Omnifocus (mac app) until, that is, I decided to give Toodledo one more try.

See, I tried Toodledo out years ago (yep, it’s been around for a while), and I must admit I don’t quite remember why I left. This time however, after trying out virtually every task management app out there (both online and offline) I believe Toodledo is where my tasks belong.

Functionality

We all have our own methodologies and systems, each with our own ways to ensure we get as much done as possible. Toodledo, despite it’s almost Disney-like name,is powerful and flexible enough to accommodate for all and allows you to make your todo list as simple or as sophisticated as you like.

No matter how you organise your list, whether you prefer tasks and sub-tasks, goals and folders, projects and contexts – it’s almost irrelevant, the app can (easily) be adapted to however you like to work. Toodledo also features repeat tasks, notes, keyboard shorcuts, priority, time estimates and time tracking.

Sharing and collaboration is another often forgotten feature of the app. It provides more than enough functionality to allow you to share your to-do lists with whomever and have complete control over who has permission to read or modify each list.

The app is also snappy (as in fast) as any todo list app should be. You shouldn’t feel you have to ‘load’ anything, it should just always be there…This, along with Toodledo’s keyboard shortcuts makes the app a breeze to use.

Search and Ordering

One of the most impressive features of Toodledo is it’s search functionality, equalling if not bettering Remember the Milk’s. With an array of options and saved searches, you’ll probably find yourself using your saved searches section of the tool more than anywhere else. One of the more frustrating aspects of many other task management apps I’ve tried is ‘ordering’, most simply don’t provide enough ways to order my todo list – Toodledo does. Without going into too much detail, you can essentially order by date, priority, importance (a combo of date & importance), flagged/not flagged, goal, context and many many more…

Access

Toodledo provides more ways to access your todo list than any other tool I have come across. With a local iPhone app, Google Calendar integration, iGoogle gadget, Firefox extension, Twitter Support (which brings a flood of options), a very cool printing booklet and various desktop tools – there really isn’t any getting away from everything you need to do.

The iPhone app I should add, is awesome.

I could go on…

I honestly could. The plethora of customization and functionality options Toodledo provides is outstanding and to my surprise (after asking in the Friendfeed Apps Room) – it isn’t up there with the most popular of task management applications.

Criticism

If there’s one criticism, it’s the UI. Although it does well to include all the various details and ordering ordering options, visually, the app needs a revamp.

Fortunately however, there’s a wonderful userscript that enhances the entire interface (see right). Otherwise, I can’t give this app enough credit. Impressive.

apps, tasks, todo, Webapp

2 Comments »

Gmail gets ToDo’s!

Written on 9th December 2008                                                                                                              4 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.

I have to confess, I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. Gmail (via labs) has launched a todo list called “tasks”.

To access them, ensure you enable them in “labs”, click save and you’ll see the “tasks” link just above “contacts” to the left.

After you’ve clicked the tasks link, you’ll notice a task list appear to the bottom right of your window. To add a task simply start typing, pressing enter whenever you need to add another one. To add tasks via email you can either click “more actions” above the email and “add to tasks” OR enable shortcuts in your “general settings” and simply type “shift-t”.

If you click to the right of each tasks (on the faint arrow) you are able to add notes and wonderfully, due dates!

Another notable point is that you can also create multiple lists with different names.

Exciting stuff!

via TC and GMail Blog

gmail, tasks, todo

4 Comments »

The How I Use Evernote Video Project

Written on 17th November 2008                                                                                                              2 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

During my vacation in Italy last July, I was addicted to the Evernote app on my iPhone. Fourteen days of wandering in the beautiful North Italian cities without being connected to the web gave me an incredible inspiration boost. I cherished all the new ideas in Evernote, a tool exactly developed for that purpose, and synced it with my Mac when I came home.

The last couple of months I haven’t used Evernote that much. Because of the 3G availability, I store my to-do’s in Things and post snap shots directly to Twitter. So much for Evernote?

Not quite, because the guys at Evernote HQ really know how to create an experience around their project. They send enthusiastic news letters with lots of tips and recently launched a project that might get me back to using Evernote.

Andrew asked all Evernote-fans to share the way they use Evernote:

They launched the project a few weeks ago (yes, I’m a bit late, I know) and received several video responses. Here’s one from Zoe:

Not only will these videos create an even better brand experience, it’s also really useful for users like me to get some more ideas on how to use the app.

evernote, Inspiration, todo, Video Interview, youtube

2 Comments »

Nowdothis, maybe the easiest web 2.0 service ever

Written on 24th July 2008                                                                                                              12 COMMENTS
Joop Dorresteijn, East Asia correspondent

I am not a particular fan of GTD contextual todo lists, they make me grumpy and busy; instead I apply the just-on-time principle: I write down the five most important things in the evening on a paper, and try to accomplish that the next day. And with New York based Jakob Lodwick’s new web application now do this, I can put it online with ease.

Nowdothis.com is surprisingly simple, the online todo is environmental too. Simply go to the site, add the things you need to do in the list, and click “done” when you finish something. It works on any browser, including the Iphone. When you close the browser, your todo will be saved on your particular device/computer.

We have seen simple concepts as Tumblr, Twitter etc. to become highly successful. nowdothis is so simple and effective, that it’s an excellent example to many complicated websites out there. It might be the easiest web 2.0 service out there, what do you think?

gtd, gui, todo, web 2.0

12 Comments »