Imagine having a way to manage all your to-do items. Sort them by date, place, project or other defining attributes. Imagine having access to this list where ever you are without using up all the free space in your calender or struggling with complicated synchronization procedures etc.
Well it's possible. Today I stumbled onto a web application that completely changed how I work my lists. Its called
Remember the Milk. It is as close to GTD compliant as any application I have found to date. And is by far the most hassle free web interface for the task.
(GTD = Getting Things Done. A methodology that I have described parts of earlier in this blog. Based on the book with the same name by David Allen. If you haven't read it yet then read it and apply it. You wont regret it.)In keeping with the tradition of most web 2.0 applications it is currently Beta (GMail.com has been beta now for how many years?) but functionality wise it's solid.
I have to admit that I have been hesitant about web apps. Its hard to get a decent work flow going in a web browser and keyboard shortcuts are non-existent for the most part. I have tried out other web based solutions for managing tasks in the past but most of them have been too clunky, too restricted or too slow to encourage me to come back and use them on a regular basis.
So I'll try to describe my experience with Rememberthemilk.com (RTM) out of a GTD point of view.
1. Catching tasks. First things first. RTM manages tasks. Nothing else. So you will still need your physical GTD system. Whenever you think of a task you can use a number of ways to enter it into the system.
- You can e-mail the task to a specific @rememberthemilk.com adress and have it automatically added to the inbox.
- You can go to the RTM website and find the appropriate list and enter it there.
- You can use one of the many external plugins available for different devices like the iPhone or windows mobile (requires a Pro account) or you can go to m.rememberthemilk.com from your cellphone and add it that way.
- You can install it into other web 2.0 services like various google services or twitter
- You can add it using various third party desktop applications such as plugins for Quicksilver and Dashboard for Mac or Deskbar and Avant-window-navigator for Linux.
- If you live in the US or Canada and you are utterly deprived of an internet connection at the moment you can even call a Jott number and add it by voice.
Everything you add, where you haven't specified otherwise, ends up in the Inbox. From here you can move it to any list.
2. Lists. Every task is on a list. Either on the Inbox list or on some list of your choosing. To add lists you have to go to the RTM website in a full internet browser and go to settings. This makes it somewhat uncomfortable to use in GTD. But on the other hand defining projects should really be done when you have some time set aside for it, such as during the weekly project review. To use RTM for GTD purposes each list can represent a project.
3. Tags. But we don't always want to sort by project. Say you are stranded somewhere with only a phone and some time on your hands. You might want to bring up a list of phone calls that need to be made. RTM lets you
Tag every task with multiple tags which can then be sorted. So tag all needed phone calls, regardless of project, as "phone" or "to call" or some other tag of your choosing. You then go to m.RTM.com and sort on you chosen tag and voila! its all there in front of you (if you were smart you added the phone numbers in the list as well)
4. Locations. A neat feature is the ability to define locations in a Google maps interface that you can then use to sort your tasks by. These are similar to tags but are used more as locations then anything else.
5. Reminders. RTM can send you reminders in a number of ways. It can send you an email, an IM, or even send reminders to your cellphone (Only for specific providers in each country. I cant use this as I have the wrong cell phone provider) You can set reminders for the same day as the event or at specific times before the event.
6. Collaboration. RTM lets you share tasks with other users. I havent yet tested this feature so I wont write more then that about it.
As you can all tell I'm still in the honeymoon phase with this web app. No doubt RTM will irritate me in the future because of some unforseen shortcoming. It is nowhere near the perfect GTD app. But its closer then anything I have ever tried. But why take my word for it? Get over there, sign up for a free account and see for your self!
