Better Task List Discussion
I think this classification of the different uses of task lists is pretty good, but I wonder if we can think a bit more about different contexts and different problems. My main use for task lists is certainly obligation management --- memory enhancement is important, but automatically falls out of obligation management in my experience. I have effectively no spare time, so task prioritization is important, but somehow, task priorities have never been very effective motivators for me.
In terms of software, I use org-mode, with a mix of GTD and Pomodoro methodologies. What I struggle with is mobile/offline usage. There doesn't seem to be anything both interoperable and functional for Android.
-- jfm
Look for a post in the next few days about the mobile/offline question: It's a problem that I am still interested in, and I'd say that the mobile problem is more about figuring out what the right kind of task list content is right for the phone, and less about the application design.
I think that we use task lists to prioritize tasks, even if the task prioritization features of most management software are somewhat... lacking. I think this is largely because prioritization happens quickly and automatically when reading a list, prioritization changes rapidly as tasks are added and completed (or at least more often than the task list is reviewed,) and in almost every other case it's more important to sort/filter/view task lists along another dimension (project-based, context-based, global next-steps, etc.) But having tasks written on a list makes it possible to do that kind of prioritization. So that's worth something.
-- tychoish
For me the mobile/offline issue comes down to:
- How to get the necessary lists (and reference material) out of my trusted system and onto something on my mobile device that will present it in some useful fashion (and what's a useful fashion requires some thought, too).
- How to propagate edits and status changes on those lists back to my trusted system.
- How to do ubiquitous capture, and how to propagate captured items back to my trusted system.
Since my trusted system is org-mode, you'd think MobileOrg for Android would be ideal. Unfortunately, (1) only half-works (the presentation is perhaps not very useful), (2) does not work in the current version of the app, and (3) works adequately, but needs UI improvements, and the whole thing is slow enough to discourage me from using it when I need it most. I really would like to work on improving it, but I really don't have time.
Android Shuffle is, interface-wise, very nearly what I would like MobileOrg to be, but it only interoperates with a RoR webapp, and it's a little too focused on tasks, with no place for notes.
I find myself using Note Everything for all kinds of things that I'd certainly do in org-mode if I had a full org-mode everywhere. But it bugs me because it's not Free Software, and because syncing with org-mode amounts to mailing notes to myself and copying them out of the email to org during my morning review.
This little mobile-sideline is probably not exactly relevant to the issue of better task-lists, though.
Regarding prioritization, I've seen the argument made that priorities are such a complex, fluid thing, that there's no point in trying to manage them in software or in personal organization systems. I find that I do use priority tags in org-mode, but only in order to force sorting in org-agenda, which defaults to file order. I also use task dependencies, which may actually be the most important part of priorities.
-- jfm
I've bee playing with Epistle which I think is pretty much brilliant. Sort of the android equivalent of paragraft editor that got some buzz in the iOS sphere. Not "faif" and while I think that's important, at least for right now I want to think a bit more before I start deciding what software freedom, the use cases, and the economics of software development look like in terms of mobile technology.
I too only use prioritization to monkey with the way that things get sorted by org-agenda. Though I suppose I could use block commands to do that, what I have seems to work just fine.
My take on the mobile task management question is less that there isn't a good app, and more that no one really knows what the right way to plan tasks for mobile operation is. The problem isn't with the apps, it's with us.
-- tychoish
Re: mobile:
I've found the Nokia n900 to a nice mobile solution for org-mode. I run emacs in easy-debian (a debian chroot) and sync it with my linux boxes via git. With the keyboard, basic editing is not too bad. But it would be nice to have a workable solution on Android other than ssh'ing into server running emacs.
Re: prioritization:
Like tychoish, I use org-mode's priorities primarily to sort the agenda view --- i.e., to cause tasks I don't want to miss to float to the top. IMO the hierarchical structure of org outlines allows for more organic, natural prioritization of commitments than A, B, C, etc. My broader approach to goal-setting and prioritization is as follows:
If a commitment is going to last more than 3 months, it gets its own file. If it is going to last 1-3 months, it gets a GOAL keyword and a place in one of my existing files. If it is going to last less than one month, it gets a PROJECT keyword.
"what I have seems to work just fine" <--- Yes! This is really the only way to make org-mode work --- to find a basic routine and run with it, even if it's less than perfect.
-- madalu