Discussion on we-need-your-help-how-do-you-use-reminders

[theWA]

I haven't been able to try list.it yet (I ran into a bug on the
install, which I posted about elsewhere) but I do have a few thoughts
about alarms: every type I've ever tried has had one of two flaws:
either it jumps up and interrupts me at exactly the wrong moment, or
it is so kind and gentle I can just work right on, never even noticing
the box that popped up, then was promptly hidden behind all my other
windows...

My own solution? I try to set things up - simply, I'm still looking
for the perfect app - to sort by date / time so instead of searching,
I can just look at the list and know the top note is the most
immediately urgent, and so on. I've been keeping notes in a "tree"
type app: I name time-sensitive nodes with the due date / time, yyyy-
mm-dd hh:mm so it will sort properly.

Things that aren't time sensitive get buried at the bottom, of
course, but since they aren't time sensitive, that isn't a bad thing.

[FrankMcL]

I use list pro (Illium Software) to track my to dos and information. I
like it because it has an outline feature, so I'm able to collect
thoughts and ideas and jobs under various headings.

[MaryEllen]

Alarms don't work well for me. If I'm not on my PC, I often miss it. A
daily email that summarizes all daily tasks which is sent first thing
in the am would work best -- kind of like the "I Want Sandy"
application. I get it on my BlackBerry no matter where I am. It helps
me plan my day.

MaryEllen

[MaryEllen]

The most important part of the ListIt app that I like is the
Synchronize option. I use multiple computers and it is nice to be able
to have one list database. I am using it both for To Do lists and as a
simple knowledge database. I list the To Do tasks by the days of the
upcoming week (i.e., To Do MONDAY) so I can sort easily. For tasks
that aren't date specific, I list under "Waiting For", Planning,
"Client [Name] To Do," and other key words. I have also started to use
it to list knowledge bits, such as Quotes, Websites to check out,
Books of interest, etc.

-- MaryEllen

[Sacha]

I also have the problem of being away from my computer, but in
general, I keep my cellphone in my pocket. Could list-it propagate its
reminders to someone's cellphone ?

Moreover, I think that feeling the cellphone vibrate when I'm in the
middle of doing something isn't as distracting as an alarm popping up
in my computer screen.

[katrina.panovich]

Up until this morning, I wasn't on the 'alarm' bandwagon. I have the
google calendar (&gmail) notifier installed but it rarely provides me
with relevant information. HOWEVER I missed an assignment for class
and realized it was because I hadn't included any time-related
information with it... so now I've changed camps.

One support email we got (don't remember from whom) suggested some
sort of priority function. Something like that would really help me.
I also dig Sacha's comment about how a cellphone buzz is less
intrusive but seems to be just as effective.

In my ideal world, I would budget time for assignments (say, 60
minutes) and at the last available (pre-due date) chunk of that length
of time, I'd get a warning. I'd of course be able to do it
beforehand, but knowing that something's going to happen in 10 minutes
isn't helpful if I'm tied up with something else already.

[Jeff]

I am a new user of list.it, but am trying to make some sense of how i
take my notes with it. I use dates to note both completion for tasks
and date the note was taken for non-actionable items. I use action
triggers to differentiate between action that require a meeting (f/u =
follow up) versus a phone call (s/w = speak with)....

A clean once a day reminder list, divided by action type, would work
well for me.

[mem from somerville]

My favorite notification (and it works every time) is the thunder and
flashing icon for my weather channel bug. It is so right for its type
of alert. And then after the alert it flashes on the toolbar. Red or
yellow, depending on the type of alert. Very effective.

[Andy]

Hi!
I just started using list.it and I really like it, but already I am
struggling with the ToDo list connundrum that Max mentioned--
especially choosing between "ToDo Today" and "Todo Wednesday" and
"ToDo 25 Feb 2009".

Instead of using alarms, I think a more effective solution for me
would be to allow "OR" searches. I would like to be able to enter in
the search bar "ToDo Today || ToDo Wednesday || ToDo Feb 25". This
would allow me to easily pull up a custom list of exactly what I want.
Better yet, if there was a down arrow that saved recent searches (A La
the Google Bar in Firefox) than I could reuse complex searches over
and over again. The "OR" feature would be extremely simple to add, but
would improve my overall experience by orders of magnitude!

In terms of alarms, I have only found them useful when they are
aggressive. For example, I often stay up way too late just aimlessly
browsing the web only to find myself exhausted when I have to get up
the the next morning. I finally wrote a script to speak out an alarm,
minimize my browser window and threaten to put the computer to sleep
unless I actively intervene. I find this effective.

In general, however, I don't use list.it for appointments. Anything
that has a definite start and end time, I put in google calendar, and
I check my calendar everyday. I see list.it as more of a repository
for things to do which are slightly more flexible. I may have a day
attached to a todo item but this could often be done at anytime
(especially before that day!), whereas apointments and meetings are
fixed. Thus reminders within list.it would be less useful for me than,
say, a feature to "Send to Gcal".


Thanks again for this awesome tool.
Best,
Andy

[Danny]

Just starting to use this, but I think it would be nifty if you could
create links to other sources of information that contain dates that
list.it would then integrate with. For example:

(1) If I included text like [[gcal:mar meeting with emax at night]]
that note would then cause some backend intelligent query of my gcal
data for any dates that are correlated with that text, and around that
time that note would appear increasingly high up in my list of visible
notes, with increasingly more visible coloring (I forget what exactly
the research is here, but red is the most attention-grabbing color
etc.) Another example would be doing something [[rt:322345]] which
would get due date information from my corp's RT system; perhaps this
could be more than due dates, eg if other people have updated a ticket
that is linked to recently it could float into the list of notes I see
(either by default or when I do a query like @todo). See also
http://www.eclipse.org/mylyn/

(2) http://web.media.mit.edu/~dustin/ has done some interesting-
looking (really alpha last time I looked, but perhaps his code monkeys
have been productive) work in this area. I unfortunately forget the
name of the system and can't find the link, since I wasn't using
list.it at that time ;-)

[Jack]

When the tutorial said something about "listing all my todos" I got
excited and started searching for options to categorize my notes.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem to be there. And
when I read this discussion, I saw that the moderator was talking
about todos as if what he was actually doing is putting the string
"todo" into the text of the note. While I suppose it would work, and
while I agree that its probably not wise to try to duplicate the
functionality of OneNote, etc, having some simple and commonly used
categories (preferably user-defined) would be welcome.

Thanks,

-- Jack Love

On Mar 1, 12:33 pm, Danny <dcl...@pobox.com> wrote:
> Just starting to use this, but I think it would be nifty if you could
> create links to other sources of information that contain dates that
> list.it would then integrate with. For example:
>
> (1) If I included text like [[gcal:mar meeting with emax at night]]
> that note would then cause some backend intelligent query of my gcal
> data for any dates that are correlated with that text, and around that
> time that note would appear increasingly high up in my list of visible
> notes, with increasingly more visible coloring (I forget what exactly
> the research is here, but red is the most attention-grabbing color
> etc.) Another example would be doing something [[rt:322345]] which
> would get due date information from my corp's RT system; perhaps this
> could be more than due dates, eg if other people have updated a ticket
> that is linked to recently it could float into the list of notes I see
> (either by default or when I do a query like @todo). See alsohttp://www.eclipse.org/mylyn/
>

> (2)http://web.media.mit.edu/~dustin/has done some interesting-

[Nico]

Rather than an extern alarm like "Outlook reminder", a system of
colors (red, orange,...) according to the importance and the emergency
of the todo note would be useful.
The icon of list.it at the right would then flash to reminder to read
notes.

Great tool!

[uuc]

How would you personally like to be reminded? -> SMS. The cell-phone
is the only ubiquitous device at this time.

[Rogers George]

Meeself, I'm content with google calendar's reminder function. I can
already drag calendar info into list.it if I need to see it there. The
thing useful to me would be to enter something into list.it and have
it pop into my calendar. (I picture a button, dialog, or shortcut key)
The Franklin=Covey people say you should have a single place where you
keep reminders. That means if you use more than one place, they should
synchronize somehow.

[Elias]

Love list.it, expecially the mobile browser experience. I'll forgive
an occasional hiccup. I tend to use it as a brainstorming tool,
leaving the using search query to "tag" my ideas around that topic.
Discovered it by mistake, and it's your killer feature as far as I'm
concerned.

Few observations from above, along with my take

1 Everyone uses gcal, gcal uses sms, sms though an alert is
ubiquitous. (so export to gcal somehow, or preferably the tasks.) I'd
love to see that. Guess you just have to be purchased. By the way my
phone speaks my sms, which makes reminder extra cool. Or creepy.

2 Ideal gui stuff seems to be an icon changing colors depending on
today's agenda size, how long until next appointment etc. perhaps
alerting you only if you haven't checked your to-do yet today. If you
check it before it happens, you've been made aware, yes? This could be
color coded into guis but if you want to avoid alerts, must be in your
face. IE iphone/android apps. Along these lines you might color code
and sort your todo lists when you view them. Everything green, nothing
red? Ok then I'm fine, no need to read dates. PUT A COLOR CODED BUTTON
ON THE WEB GUI.

3 Check out task.fm, they are your competition (if you're going into
alerts) and I like em too.

And going off the deep end...

4 Making it social is killer, ie sending notes to another persons to-
do with using it "Mary please remember to call the super 9am tomorrow,
he needs to fix the leak" should add it to Marys to-do, if she's in
your contact list. (or send an email if not signed up, ideally) You
could run a company through your mobile browser gui quite nicely with
that.

If I keep going I might spill to many beans.. Enjoy

[Elias]

Oh yes, and if you make it a semantic todo generator you MUST create a
gmail gadget, preferably color coded entries to match t-minus time.

[glenn]

Elias,

Would you explain your statement in the first paragraph below about tagging
ideas. Since you appear to have happened on it by mistake, I don't want to
miss it.

Thanks...Glenn

[barnsey123]

Need some lateral thinking, perhaps, on this subject.
I don't use list-it that much but try thinking as a first time user.
What would you want to do to organise your information, LAST ADDED,
LAST EDITED, MOST URGENT. I guess most people are looking to do one of
two things when they make notes. 1. Remember a money making idea.
2. Remember an idea that could help something or someone.
3. Just need to remember an event, birthday etc.

Hope this helps a little.

Paul

[bomfog]

Automatically (optionally?) time-stamp each note, by default with
current date, and make it just an regular editable part of the note.
I'm a lot more likely to edit &/or cut'n'paste the date than to type
it in from scratch every time.

(Nit: I get no right-click context menu when editing notes, and I
never remember the ^X/^C/etc keyboard shortcuts. :()

Make the time-stamp the first line by default, so an alphanumeric sort
puts the notes in date order.

Allow at least alphanumeric and most-recently-added sorting.

My saved :<keyword>: searches have handled pretty much everything else
for me, so far.

Boolean operations would be cool (Alta Vista search ruled), as would
the ability to save more complex searches under short keywords. And/or
a search drop-down with old searches (make them deletable, please). I
think those have already been mentioned, though.

This is a great program. Thanks.

[Gordon]

I would love to have 3 or 4 reminder buttons. One for each of these
functions: next day, in 3 days, in 7 days and if you have enough space
in 14 days. That would work with 90% of my notes. I have shedules all
around me. list.it does not need these exact appointments. If i want
to have this i can enter a date in the note and use the search
function. That is working already...
Please do not start popup windows. It would be enough to set these
notes just on the top of the list. It would be great if these notes
would be invisible in the meantime.

Thanks Gordon