Posts Tagged ‘Remember The Milk’

When creating a task list, sometimes it is hard to input data in an easily digestible fashion. I think a lot of times to-do lists fail because an item is 10 lines long, and while all that text is definitely relevant, and can help you do the task, it can also get in your way. A lot of information can disable the at-a-glance function to do lists should have and also deter you from finishing a task because it seems complicated. I believe that the key in creating successful task lists lies in balancing the list between simplicity and relevant data, and here are three methods you can use.

Use tags to link important data locations

A task created in Todoist

For my list needs I usually use Todoist now, an application I favor because it has the simplest interface, yet is extremely powerful and well structured, and also because it has native Launchy support for adding tasks from your desktop and Gmail support to use in your favorite email client. Take a look at this post on Hack Your Day on how to integrate these services into Todoist.

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Remember the Milk is one of my favorite task managers, but there are so many options that you may get overwhelmed, or not use them because they just take too much time to implement into your work flow. There are a handfull of handy shortcuts you can use to ease all these tasks and navigate the RTM interface swiftly.

Multiple editing

Multiple editing is the one mode which can save you a boatload of time. You can enter tags, places, URL’s completion information for any tasks you like at once, or you can mark them complete en masse. Just press “m” to enable multiple mode and from then on, when you select more than one task you will be editing them all at once. Handy lines to the right will enable you to visualize this better, and also to help you notice that you’re in multiple mode when you want to be in single edit mode. If you want to switch back, just press “m” again.

Editing task specifics

When creating a task you need to click on tags, then click on tag, enter it, click on location, enter it, click on time spent and so on, and while these are small additions to the time of task creation, they still amount to a considerable waste of time. There is a letter shortcut however for each task property, so when adding a task all you need to do is press “u” for url, enter it, then press enter, press “s” to change tags, enter them and press enter. While this sounds longer written down it’s actually about 30% faster initially and when you learn the shortucts it shaves at least 50% off your task creation time. Here are the shortcuts to all the properties in the order they are found in RTM, and also the shortcuts for assigning a priority on the fly.

• r - Rename
• d -Due
• f – Repeat
• g - Time estimate
• s – Tags
• l – Location
• u – URL
• p – Postpone
• y - Add a note
• 1 through 3 – Priorities

Navigation and Misc

Apart from just changing and adding tasks you can navigate easily around the interface with just letters. “a” selects all the tasks visible while “n” deselects all tasks, both logical choices and highly productive, especially the select none option. You can easily move up, down and select an item with “k”, “j” and “i” respectively. Another way to easily navigate and input details is the tab key which will save your input and move to the next field. The last keyboard shortcut I use a lot is the delete key which of course deletes the selected task(s).

If you use these shortcuts a bit you will get very used to them and your productivity will soar, shaving precious time off what you spend adding and modifying tasks which in itself is not an effective task.

One of the best features in Remember the Milk is the smart list, which is essentially a search option, but your searches can be saved permanently. Normally you would want to save a search because you perform them often, but in Remember the Milk there are more benefits.

I actually only have one “real” list in RTM, the others are all smart lists. So I have loads of tasks, all in one list, but tagged well. This means that if I search for “tag: blog”, it will show me all my blog related tasks. If I save that search, I now have a new list, with every item tagged with blog. The productivity aspect enters right here, because you aren’t limited to just viewing, you can edit and create tasks inside the smart list.

This means that if you create a task, it will automatically be tagged with “blog”, and of course it will be created in your primary list. This feature is great if you do some more complex searches, like incomplete priority 1 tasks, tagged with “blog” and due tomorrow. These are you most important tasks probably, so you may want to keep an eye on them. You can either type “priority:1 and status:incomplete and tag:blog and dueWithin:”1 of today”" in the search field, or you can use the search options too. When you save this as a smart list and create a new task, it will automatically be assigned all these attributes. This saves you time, increasing your productivity because there is no need to tag all your tasks.

I recommend having only 1, maybe two main lists, and creating all your other lists from them using smart lists. This makes sense from a GTD and productivity view, possibly even database management view because it eliminates redundancy, and auto-creates what you need. I also find that sometimes it’s useful to see all your tasks, regardless of their properties in one place.

When talking about task management and productivity on the web, I can only think of one to do list to rule them all. Remember The Milk has tons of features, it is fun to use and offers real collaborative power.

The heart of Remember The Milk is a structure that allows you to add a huge amount of data to each task. You can choose a location on a map, then group by locations, shown on the map, you can add dates, invite users, add tags, etc., etc. The reason I find it very useful and flexible is the relaxed approach it takes. Don’t know what date your task is due? Simply type: “tomorrow”. Elegant, and simple. You can also input “the day after tomorrow” and “next Wednesday” for example.

You can apparently create unlimited lists, and easily copy items, copy lists, mark items done, and when an invited user marks an item done, it will show up done for you as well. I just love this service, if you really need more and can’t decide, just look at the logo. How cute can you get?