Jason Fitzpatrick has written up what to-do list managers the readers of lifehacker.com like.
I would have expected paper to be on top of the list, however google seems to be omnipresent, as ever ;)
Check out the post - there is a video and short explanation to every tool. At the end you can vote for your favourite.
Kevin Purdy over at lifehacker.com writes that the right todo manager should be very quick. That is why he suggests using a text file as a to-do list.
Even if you have high-speed internet connection, working in the browser with a web app will always come short of well programmed desktop tool.
There sure is a point to this argument. However, it seems to me, that it is a lot about getting the user experience right. Even though your web app such as rememberthemilk (which I currently use) might be slower than a desktop application, the actual user flow might be done smarter and thus quicker. For example: I use the gmail widget of rememberthemilk, which let's me add todos on the fly in a very useful context, which is open all day long anyway: reading my emails.
Another thing Purdy is not happy with is the speed on mobile devices.
I have tried several tools for capturing my tasks and todos and come to love the note taking android app www.catch.com. It is free and the guys have put a lot of thought into the mobile interface.
It is actually so fast that I use it for every mental note these days: One click to open, input with tag-capabilities, one click to save. Done.
And reviewing your notes in the browser is almost as easy. Due to a very clean and reduced interface.
Purdy suggest todo.txt as his tool of choice. It works as a pimped-up text file with dropbox synchronisation (for more details check out his post).
I actually very much understand the idea of availability and backups as a reason to use a text file:
However, I see some disadvantages:
I am not saying that a text file cannot be a great tool to some extent.
It always depends on your needs, your work flow and in the end discipline to use the tool. However, if done right, a web app can be a great tool to manage your todos, actually get things done and thus make you more productive.
So, what works for you? What kind of tools do you use? Feel free to share your experiences!
If you are a high volume twitter user - todotweet might just be the right tool to manage your todos.
It will integrate easily into your daily routine. Simply add the #todo hashtag to any of your tweets and todotweet imports this post as a task. Which you than check as done within the app.
All in all it has a very limited feature set. However the idea behind it is simple and compelling.
This is it - no more features needed. Todotweet definitely concentrates on a simple integration into twitter and a useful user flow for creating tasks.
If you are looking for team assignments, commenting, due dates, microblogging, email notifications and so forth probably bantam or mangotasks might be more suitable for you.
Feature rating: 2/5
The overall design is aesthetically pleasing however lacks some core functionality such as editing the tasks or their properties.
Also the lack of a help or support section can be rather frustrating, when trying to figure out the functionality.
From a flow perspective though the tools definitely helps you stay on top of your todos because it uses a daily routine of yours to capture your tasks: twitter posts. Even though I doubt, that a lot of people want their followers seeing all the stuff they have to do, it is an interesting attempt to help people get things done. Also the fact that your tasks become social and you commit to them this way even more.
Due to the fact that there is almost no interaction within the application itself, there cannot be said much about perfermance and speed.
Design rating: 2/5
Todotweet is free and due to the limited feature set I cannot imagine a whole lot of people spending significant money on such a tool.
Price: 4/5
Integrating your todo management into daily routines such as tweeting is nice move. However, the overall lack of todo management features such as due dates, assignements, task editing do not make todotweet a real contender.
Overall rating: 2/5
Checkout the presentation video of todotweet for an overall impression of the todo manager:
