Someone asked me recently if I'd changed my organisation processes since writing this post in 2014. In fact, almost everything I mentioned in that post has changed!
Just recently I was fired for the first time ever. I was just settling down after the shock of switching from freelancing a couple days a week and spending the rest of the time on my own projects to working full-time for someone else when I was told to pack my bags and leave.
12:45 - When Amir started to get serious about Todoist, he began to focus on SEO tactics, implementing analytics, and concentrating on the upgrade paths to premium tiers. He then focused on developing mobile apps for the product. Todoist helps break large projects down into smaller, more manageable chunks with sub-projects and sub-tasks. Plus, with labels, filters and task priority levels it's easy to categorize and customize tasks. Users are able to create a new task, view the status of their ongoing tasks, and view all completed tasks within their Todoist account. What is Todoist useful for? Working with Todoist helps you with team communication, meeting agendas, brainstorming, sharing files, and creating shared calendars, while keeping track of every hour by connecting with TrackingTime. After the pedal-to-the-floor, all-hands launch of Todoist Foundations last fall, our product teams took a few months to pursue smaller Todoist updates they’d been waiting to get to. Read on to learn what’s new in Todoist and discover new ways to save time and stay organized. Build time-saving workflows with updated iOS 13 Shortcuts.
So I had to make a big adjustment all over again. Aside from the financial stress, I'm a lot happier with my current work set-up, but it did require a rethink of how I manage everything. I have so many different projects and contexts of work to think about now that I was worried I'd forget things or miss deadlines.
I spent a few weeks exploring different options before settling into my current process. I use a paper Leuchtturm1917 notebook with a modified Strikethru system that I talked about here, and Todoist to stay on top of everything.
My notebook is for planning what to do each day, and Todoist helps me stay on top of longer-term project planning and repeating tasks with reminders.
Projects
I mostly rely on filter views in Todoist, but I do have a bunch of projects set up to give tasks more context when I'm working outside the project view. My project tree looks like this:
- Coding
- Exist for iOS
- App Store version
- HealthKit branch
- Location branch
- New features
- Littlelogs for iOS
- ToRead
- Journal
- Notes app
- Larder for iOS
- Project ideas
- Exist for iOS
- Personal
- Calendar
- Bills
- Shopping
- Goals
- Hello Code
- Content
- Exist
- Littlelogs
- Larder
- Writing
- Topics
- Field Trip
- Productive Habits course
- BBC blog
- Clients
- Client 1
- Client 2
- etc.
Exist for iOS is my most tricky project to organise. It's pretty much the only reasons I've been trying so many different digital task managers recently, because several others fit my working style for everything but this project. The issue is that it's a big project with different branches (each sub-project represents a code branch where I'm working on different things) and different task contexts within it: fixing bugs, building new features, refactoring code, etc.
In the future I'd like to see fewer sub-projects under Exist for iOS, but the Apple Health integration took much longer than I expected, so I ended up having to manage the App Store version separately, so I could ship small bug fixes to the App Store quicker than if they were bundled in with the HealthKit branch. I also started the location branch far too soon—I was overconfident that the Apple Health integration was pretty much done and wanted to work on something new, but I've had a few setbacks since that have held up releasing the HealthKit branch into the App Store.
Some of the other projects listed under Coding are not even started yet, but I'd like to build them someday.
My Calendar project holds calendar items as tasks that I create automatically using this IFTTT recipe.
Otherwise, the project set-up is fairly straightforward.
Labels
I have a few different types of labels, so it would be nice if I could group them together for easier reading. Todoist doesn't offer this functionality, but in my mind they're grouped, so that's how I'll explain them.
Coding
- @feature
- @bugs
- @optimisation
- @refactor
I tend to work on the same types of coding tasks at once—for instance I'll spend a day fixing bugs, so I want to just see the tasks labelled @bugs.
Writing
- @post
- @outlined
- @drafted
- @needs-revision
- @update
I use the @post label for any task that is actually a post I need to write. Then I can just look at what writing I need to do, without seeing all the writing-related admin tasks as well.
The rest of these labels help me keep track of what stage each post is at, so I know what the next step is.
Other
- @waiting
I use this label to show that I can't move forward on a task until someone else does their part. I use it for posts that have been sent to an editor, or projects that are held up by someone else.
Filters
Working on
I spend most of my time in this filter view. It's split into three sections:
- overdue tasks
- tasks due in the next 7 days (sorted by date)
- anything in progress or that I want to work on next
This last section is created by searching for tasks with priority 1 status. Since Todoist doesn't have a star or flag feature (you might see these in apps like Wunderlist or 2Do), I use priority 1 as a replacement. I use priority 2 and 3 within lists, but priority 1 is reserved for pushing tasks into this list.
Using the priority flag means I can push tasks into my 'Working on' filter without giving them a specific due date. I don't want these tasks to get overdue or to feel like burdens—I just want them to be visible when I'm wondering what to work on next.
Follow up
This is just a filter for any task with the label @waiting.
Forgotten tasks
Any tasks that doesn't have a due date that falls in particular projects gets filtered into here. I don't include long-term projects that include lots of steps to complete. The projects that can push tasks into this list are ones where I've noted down errands, bills to pay, or admin tasks that need to get done at some point.
Having this filter set up means I can confidently throw tasks into Todoist that I want to do at some point in the future without worrying that I'll forget to schedule them.
Exist for iOS
The best part about Todoist filters is the ability to separate the filtered list into sections for each different query. For instance, a filter search of @waiting, (p:personal & !due) will make a list with two sections: one for @waiting tasks, and one for tasks without a due date in my 'personal' project.
For my Exist for iOS filter, I've created a filtered list that breaks all of my Exist for iOS tasks into sections for each sub-project. So I have a section for my App Store branch, a section for my HealthKit branch, and so on—but I can see them all on one screen.
Exist for iOS bugs
This filter only shows tasks labelled @bugs in my Exist for iOS project. It's also broken into sections for each sub-project, so I know which branch each bug relates to.
Posts to write
This filter shows any task with the label @post. It's separated into sections for all my client work, my personal writing, and Hello Code-related blog posts.
Clients
When I want to get an overview of all the client work I have due or coming up, I use this filter. It shows both posts I need to write and other tasks, and it's separated by sub-projects: one for each client.
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Usage
When it comes to actually getting things done and staying organised, here's how I work:
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If I want to work on a particular task next/soon, I make it priority 1 so it shows up in my 'Working on' filter. This is where I spend my time when I'm working and checking what's up next.
Every now and then I try to check my 'Forgotten tasks' filter to see if I need to schedule anything from that list.
To quickly add a task I use Todoist's quick-add shortcuts. Pressing 'q' inside Todoist brings up a simple, easy-to-use box to quickly enter a task, choose a due date, and pop it into a project. I sometimes use the quick-add box that pops up when you hit cmd+shift+a in any app, but this one is a bit more overwhelming than the in-app option.
One thing I'm trying to change when working with Todoist is to only add tasks I really think I'll do someday. I've been guilty in the past of filling up my task managers with any task I can think of. This inevitably ends up in a task manager that's crowded, and full of stale tasks I've forgotten I ever added.
These days Todoist is fairly clean, and full of tasks I actually want to do. I try to be ruthless about removing anything that's no longer relevant, rather than letting my Todoist account get cluttered and overfull.
P.S. I make some stuff you might like: Exist, a personal analytics app to help you understand your life, and Larder, a bookmarking app for developers.
It's been nearly a year since I wrote about how I use Todoist to manage my tasks and projects. This post has been one of my most popular this year, so I wanted to do a follow up to explain how I've changed my process recently.
I've bounced around to other task managers briefly, including Wunderlist, TickTick, and Remember The Milk, but always end up coming back to Todoist. There are some design choices in Todoist that really bother me, and make it frustrating to use, but in terms of simply getting tasks into the system and checking them off when they're done, I've found Todoist suits me best.
Another reason I'm sticking with Todoist is that we've integrated it with Exist, so I can use Exist to see how my other habits affect how many tasks I complete. I wrote more about finding insights in my Todoist data with Exist here.
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What I love about Todoist
Quick Add. Todoist's Quick Add feature combines natural language parsing for dates and symbols to set metadata about a task (such as assigning it to someone, putting it in a project, or setting its priority level) all within one line of text. And it's available everywhere. My favourite way to use Quick Add is with a keyboard shortcut on my Mac that brings up the Quick Add box over any app I'm in, so I don't have to actually switch to the Todoist app and lose focus on what I was doing before.
What I hate about Todoist
There are a few things that really bug me about Todoist, but they mostly come down to the fact that Todoist isn't designed like a traditional task manager. For instance, the way it handles subtasks drives me crazy, because I use these a lot. Todoist doesn't actually have subtasks as such—it just lets you indent normal tasks under others. The problem with this is that subtasks act strangely, sometimes showing up twice in various smart/filter lists, because they exist as subtasks under their parent tasks, but are actually normal tasks themselves, so in both cases they fit the criteria of the list.
Another problem with the way subtasks work in Todoist is that I can't add a subtask from a smart list like the built in 'Today' view, because adding a subtask isn't actually a matter of editing a task to give it a subtask, but rather adding a normal task indented below the existing task. This means you need to be in the actual project view to be able to add subtasks. As you'll see in my explanation of how I use Todoist, there are some cases where I have repeating tasks with new subtasks added each week, and having to switch to the project view to add those subtasks is a real pain.
You also can't delete a task and all its subtasks, because they're not really connected. Today I had to click the overflow menu, then choose delete task eight times to get rid of a task with seven subtasks that I no longer needed.
(One of my other issues was no bulk editing on desktop, which would have solved the problem of deleting eight tasks at once. While writing this article I found out bulk editing is available by holding down command or ctrl and clicking on multiple tasks. I was also going to have a rant about how hard it is to set a reminder for the due date of a task, but I found out if I change the due date to include a time, I'll automatically get a reminder. In both cases, I didn't find the process intuitive at all, but at least the features exist.)
And finally, having to switch views in the sidebar to see labels, filters, and projects really bugs me. I'd much rather be able to scroll down the sidebar to see all of these in one spot (and maybe collapse the different sections). I'd also love to add my most-used filter views or project views to the main sidebar section reserved for built-in views like 'Today'. The more clicks I need to do to stay on top of my work, the more time and energy I'm wasting in Todoist when I could be getting things done. I really hope this aspect of the design improves in the future.
How I use Todoist to stay organised
Despite the issues I have with Todoist, my biggest issue with task management is getting tasks into my system and being reminded when they're due. Todoist makes this more streamlined for me than any other app I've tried with its Quick Add, and I miss it so much in other apps that I always end up coming back to Todoist.
Here's how I've set up my Todoist account to manage my tasks and projects now.
I have five main projects, with sub-projects under each. Here's my current project tree (These obviously aren't linked in Todoist, but I've linked some of the project names in case you don't know what these are and want to find out more):
- iOS
- Exist for iOS
- Content
- {client name}
- {client name}
- Writing
- Essays/feature articles
- Hello Code
- Personal
- Bills
- Goals
- Project ideas
- Shopping
I have a few different iOS projects on the go, but right now I'm mainly working on Exist for iOS, so I've temporarily archived my other iOS projects to avoid clutter in my Todoist sidebar.
In the parent 'content' project I keep article ideas that haven't been pitched to clients yet. I also have a recurring task in this project to send invoices every week. This is one of the two tasks I have where the limitations of subtasks in Todoist really bother me. I have this task repeat weekly, but each week when I send off new articles I add each one as a subtask so I'll know which articles need invoicing for when the parent task rolls around the next week. The issue here, as I mentioned above, is that when I find this task in a view like 'Next 7 days', I can't add any subtasks to it there. Instead, I have to switch to the project view to add subtasks. I don't spend much time in project views, so I find it a pain to be constantly switching just to add subtasks, before going back to a view like 'Next 7 days' where I spend most of my time.
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I have a bunch of content sub-projects, each named for a freelance client. These projects include specific tasks for those clients and actual articles I'm working on. I also move article ideas into the project for each client when they're pitched, so I don't accidentally pitch them to more than one client at once.
The Hello Code project and sub-projects are for related tasks, as opposed to iOS development or writing work.
I think the rest is all self-explanatory.
I mainly use the built-in 'Today' and 'Next 7 days' views, rarely opening filters or labels these days. The only label I'm using these days is the @waiting label, which I add to every invoice sub-task until the article has been approved by my client so I know I can go ahead and send that invoice.
The other recurring task I have where I need to add new subtasks regularly is one in my blog project to send my weekly newsletter. I add sub-tasks to this recurring task with links to each of the articles I've had published so I know which ones haven't been included yet.
As you can tell, my organisation is fairly simple these days. Now that Todoist integrates with Exist, I use the Today view to add anything I want to get through each day. I make sure to review today's list at the end of each day so that Exist always has an accurate number of tasks I completed, and it can tell me how my productivity is affected by my diet, exercise, sleep, and what music I listen to.
Recent updates to the Todoist Android app have made Quick Add even more useful, which I'm excited about, and added app icon shortcuts (a là iOS 3D Touch), which I use all the time. Despite the trouble I have with subtasks, I'm sticking with Todoist for the foreseeable future.
P.S. I make some stuff you might like: Exist, a personal analytics app to help you understand your life, and Larder, a bookmarking app for developers.