Forgetting the Milk
I’ve been using Remember the Milk for a couple of years now, but the last few months I haven’t been using it at all. Rather than using it as a regular to-do list(s), I was using it kind of like a feature-request repository for my web applications. Over time, this become too overwhelming. Instead of working on features listed (or not), I would avoid the work completely.
A couple of months ago, I decided to remedy this. First, I deleted all my tasks that I had listed. Today, I finally removed the (empty) gadget from my iGoogle page and finally closed/deleted the account. I’ve noticed in the last few months that I’ve done a lot better about coding regularly. Additionally, I’ve started a queue system using a good old whiteboard, with a maximum of three things on the queue. The queue system isn’t just for my features though; the queue is for everything in my life (like getting grad school essays written), and I single-task until each item is done. I also have a simple table on my whiteboard with dates on the horizontal and tasks on the vertical for tasks that need to be done daily (such as working out).
Using this system, I’ve been immensely more productive and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
That said, for those who are looking for a great to-do list application, I can’t recommend Remember the Milk enough. The integration with iGoogle/gmail/etc as well as the web application itself are all extremely well made, and I’m sure the twitter/blackberry/iphone/android/etc integration is good too.