GTD is a waste of time! So, do To-Do lists really work?

There are copious systems of effective to-doing ranging from full blown GTD to a piece of paper in your pocket and everything in between. So how does one choose the best system for them?

What I have been using recently is simple in comparison to 90% of these all encompassing, problem solving, to-do systems. I just write my list of tasks for each project and just start making my way through them. It’s easy this way to break work into chunks (today I’m writing blog posts, today I’m writing code), and I can pick a task to do my scanning a list for something that appeals to my mood at the time.

Each bullet point is a task, which can have sub tasks. When I’m ready to work on it I copy the bullet point and sub points into a new work space (like a new Google Doc) and start at it. Especially handy for writing articles like this one.

One popular method is breaking tasks into manageable chunks of work and setting a trajectory time.

I’ve used this for time critical projects where I want to achieve something by a certain date in combination with my simple bullets method. Just put a due date on the main bullet and you know which one to take on first in your mega list. It’s not technically advanced, but it works.

GTD Is A Waste Of Time

This is just my personal opinion, so all you flame thrower toting GTD nutters put the guns down please!

I just find that working on to-do systems to do my to dos with is a bit like shaving a yak (?), it’s hella-fun, but utterly useless unless you’re achieving something at the end of the day.

For those who aren’t good at working with “to-do systems” in general (I’m a prime example!) it’s a hopeless activity. We need simplicity to get things done. No pun intended.

To-Do Progams

I recently trialled RememberTheMilk. It was nice and works a treat. There are many like it as well. Too many to count on one hand.

But for me, I always forget to check it!

I also found that even though you can access RTM a number of ways, including twitter or your mobile phone, I wasn’t consistently adding tasks. I guess that is something that would improve over time as it slowly becomes part of my working habits.

Having to always check the list was annoying, tying me to my computer instead of liberating me from to-do hell.

I just find most “systems” like this too restrictive and immovable to change. I don’t want to be held down by my own schedule which makes these programs a rough fit for me.

I shouldn’t have to okay it with my to-do list if I want to take 30 minutes break during the day to watch an episode of Family Guy.

Email + Phone Syncing

A friend of mine does this quite well. He’s a system administrator for a large construction company and is always on the move.

I’m kind of jealous that his system works so well for him. I attempted to use Outlook Tasks for this exact purpose at my day job. It worked briefly, but because of the time lag between tasks it’s not as simple to schedule “3 hours for programming” and expect to be productive.

I find it’s only good for reminders to check email and the sort.

So, What is Left?

I find a piece of paper/small notepad works well for me, but only when carried constantly.

Equally, leaving a buzzing beeping note in my phone is good too, especially for reminders to pay bills that can’t be automated etc. The prompting is what I need if it’s something that cannot be automated.

So I’m still yet to find a system that suits me 100%. Do you have any suggestions? Anything I missed here? Someone please tell me the missing link!

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