These are my current task management apps and the reasons I use each.
Reminders
for single-task items that really don’t need a lot of planning and are not multi-step projects.
I could use OmniFocus Single-Action lists but for these things, I like to have a different “place” (app)
grocery lists
packing lists
“Next time in…” list - this is a list where I may put the name of a restaurant or other place I want to visit the next time I am in a particular city. Each item has the “Remind me…at a Location” box checked. Another use for this list is a reminder of what meal I liked or didn’t like at a particular restaurant so when I arrive, I’m reminded of my preferences.
open orders list - things I have ordered that do not have 2-day shipping. Things on backorder or things that ship from another country, etc.
for sale - things I’m selling or want to sell but haven’t had the time to list yet
loaned out - I started this list after loaning out things like power tools that never made it back to me. I used to be pretty lenient with loaning things and didn’t really say, “hey I need this back right away”. Over time, I forgot or friends forgot and moved away. I know people that like to brag about being minimalist but then they’re texting me asking to borrow everything.
OmniFocus (for both work and personal)
work
for work, if it isn’t in here, it doesn’t get done
I do use single-action item lists in OmniFocus since I don’t use Reminders for work-related items. I tag non-urgent discussion items with people’s names for the next time I am speaking with someone.
I also have a shortcut that uses a taskpaper template to create a new multistep project for any new work opportunity I am working on.
more and more, I am using the notes field in an Omnifocus project to describe the current status of a project, rather than going to my OmniOutliner file for the project or Obsidian.
personal
for multi-step projects like vacation planning (OmniFocus is an awesome tool for this). If a vacation involves destination research, flight booking, lodging reservations, car reservations, covid test scheduling, etc, this really helps me figure out “what’s the next thing” to do.
I do have a single-action list here but it really depends on what tool I am in when I add an item.
Due App
this is exclusively for tasks that MUST BE DONE on a particular day and/or time
Any other tool can track that but Due can repeatedly remind me until it actually gets done.
I can move things from Reminders to OmniFocus if a task turns into a project or becomes part of a larger project.
A note on PKM since it is closely tied to task management…I am using DevonThink, Obsidian, Apple Notes, and OmniOutliner. It might sound messy but each has a strength that the others do not.
DevonThink is great for archiving and looking up information.
OmniOutliner is invaluable to me for taking real-time meeting notes.
I like Obsidian’s support for Markdown and ease of entering text - I use Obsidian for notes that are not related to projects that I am actively working on - it could be some notes on a technical video I watched. I do not track tasks in Obsidian.
Apple Notes is primarily my personal note manager now (not for work stuff). Notes has really come a long way and easily allows me to have text, photos, apple pencil annotations all in one note (page). Devonthink is the only other app I use that can do this too but the presentation is not the same as Apple Notes.
If I wanted to markup a pdf, I’d probably use DevonThink since that’s where I would keep pdfs for future reference. If I needed to quickly mark up a photo or map, for example, I’d probably do it in Apple Notes and keep it there until I no longer needed it.
I like to use the simplest tool that can do the job - not necessarily the tool that can do everything.
Vim is one of the things that I believe isn’t for me because I’m not a developer, and believe me, I tried, specially with org mode. Now I just use things 3, happy with it.
I’m a Todoist user, but last week I gave Microsoft ToDo an honest try. I’m trying to shed as many subs as I can these days now that the tube of caulking I bought at Lowes yesterday was $14 and I seem to be getting wrung out as much as possible with each purchase.
I quite liked it. It’s simple, it looks far better than Todoist, and it integrates with Outlook really well. I can flag an email and it shows up in ToDo, tick off the task and the flag goes away in Outlook – pretty cool. But it just feels – I don’t know – just a bit slow and awkward. They’re starting to incorporate some NLP into the app which is great, but I have this recurring bug where if I’ve been in the app for a while, the window disappears. The app is pinned on my taskbar, it appears to be open, but there’s no window. So I have to click on the taskbar icon and rejig a few things to get the window to come back which isn’t ideal.
I’m back on Todoist for now, but when my sub comes due later next year I will give serious thought to ToDo.
If I were to switch to ToDo full time, I’d put my personal tasks into Reminders. I don’t like the idea of my personal tasks residing in a company-owned Microsoft account. But that’s me.
So all this rambling to say Todoist for natural language, but I actually think ToDo is starting to look promising.
That’s what I do currently - work tasks in MS todo, mainly for the email flagging and full corporate security support. Personal is reminders so I can share some lists with my spouse. I keep starting to go back to Things for personal use, because I do like start dates, but it’s extra complexity I’m trying to avoid.
@Ted_Martin@AppleGuy - I am doing the same… Ive noticed that the tasks on the reminders app on the iPhone and Mac (Both latest is) are slightly different for my exchange account? Are you seeing this?
Currently my workflow is Microsoft ToDo for Work and Reminders for Personal… but I like seeing my To Do tasks in the reminders app. It’s not a huge issue, but wondering if youre seeing that…or if you have a good workflow using Microsoft To Do and Reminders
I didn’t have any issues along these lines. The only thing I wish ToDo did was give you a “My Day” option. I don’t want to see all my work tasks on my phone, but the 3-4 I chose to be in “My Day” would be perfect. But you can’t select that as a syncing option. It has to be one of, or a combination of, your entire ToDo lists.
My office turned off the synch from Exchange for everything, and pushed us to outlook mobile and todo, so I can’t see my todo’s in reminders, even on a work owned, MDM managed device anymore.
Thanks. That may be part of the issue on my end. I think I will keep the exchange stuff out of reminders for now. Hoping for a watch version of To Do soon
I’ve been using Todoist forever, but it’s starting to wear on me a bit. There are a couple of bugs that have been around for weeks (and are logged as “known issues”) that are starting to get a bit tiresome.
Notification dot won’t go away, even though I have no unread notifications
The iOS widget (on both phone and iPad) often reverts to showing “login to view tasks” instead of my tasks list. I am already logged into the app.
Using the Outlook add-in (desktop), if I click the “Add to Todoist Inbox” button, it just hangs. I can only add tasks with the other option “add to Todoist” where I then have to manually fill out data in the little form for my task.
They just seem to be speeding off in different directions, adding AI, updating the “editor” – and I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just want the notification bell gone and the widgets to work.
Also, I work in a Microsoft 365 environment, so the draw to Microsoft ToDo with its integrations and nicer design (in my opinion) makes it tempting to just go to a ToDo at work and iOS Reminders at home kind of deal. Doing that would also be free, so there’s that.
I have been having a similar experience. Microsoft To-Do has been great - I find the app has a better interface for attaching media and adding notes to task list items. I also find that syncing is quick and this includes shared lists which I we are using at work as we use O365.
I’m seriously considering cancelling my next Todoist subscription as a result!
I stopped using Pagico a month or two after posting in this thread. I attempted to loop the team in but the non-savvy members really had trouble with it (a “them” issue, not a Pagico issue!).
I’m still using 2Do for all personal tasks, but team tasks are now in Membrain, a heavily process-based CRM tool. That’s a pretty niche tool but it works really well for our purposes.
I’ve talked about it on the show, but Reminders is really creeping up there in my opinion. I’ve heard from a lot of folks getting by just fine with Reminders.
I’m very keen to see how Todoist shapes up once it adds start dates. I’m still using Omnifocus, and I still wish I wasn’t. It feels more inelegant all the time.
