Using Evernote as a task manager...revisited

[mattinsa 3]

Hi there,

 

I have been through my fair share of task managers (including TSW) over the years and have settled on using doit.im for a while.

 

I use Evernote heavily as a premium user, and pretty much all of my "life's work" is housed there..subsequently I sometimes feel that my tasks are isolated sitting outside of my main ecosystem and am really interested in bringing them into evernote in 2015 through the setup of a simple, usable system.

 

I am keen to get some ideas as to how others are using EN for task management - personally I have not taken to large use of tags as of yet, and tend to use notebooks for filing of notes.

 

I have tried previously in having a "Tasks" stack with notebooks

 

1. Now

2. Next

3. Someday

4. Waiting

5. Recurring

 

and then tags for context...Most of my tasks are not assigned deadline dates, I purely move them around the now - next - someday areas to manage priority..

 

This has worked, but can get confusing and overwhelming (especially when it comes to management on mobile) and I always tend to convince myself and I see many many others saying EN just is not a replacement for a task manager...then I switch to a dedicated TM

 

I like the reminders feature, however ticking off tasks keeps them in the notebook, and its difficult to see which notes have reminders and which don't - this adds complexity which puts me off.

 

Evernote seems to be evolving in a big way - their web version and mac client specifically for me and there could be some new ways you guys have found to crack task management on EN...

 

Any interesting links or input as to how you successfully use EN for tasks please could you drop them here as we approach 2015 which will surely bring plenty of action that needs to be managed accordingly!

 

 

 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Since you don't assign "deadline dates" to your tasks, I would recommend the following system illustrated in this blog post of mine:

 

http://www.productivitymashup.com/blog/2014/10/16/kanban-calendar-evernote-series-2-of-5

 

This particular post in the series relies on using Reminders. You mentioned already that "ticking off tasks" in the Reminders list keeps them in a notebook - however, the proposed system does not make use of checking tasks off. One would simply move them to the "Done" notebook (dragging and dropping). This setup leans on the Kanban method of moving tasks along in stages, incorporates a GTD "tickler file" and also an Eisenhower Matrix for prioritization. It's a nice little bundle of principles that I like to call "Kanban Calendar". 

 

Before taking a look at that post, you may want to look at this "preamble" to see the underlying basics of the system itself, which can be set up in a variety of wildly different apps:

 

http://www.productivitymashup.com/blog/2014/7/17/kanban-calendar-preamble

 

You could easily incorporate your GTD categories mentioned by including those in their distinctive notebooks (Someday, Waiting, etc.)

[CalS 5,280]

Myself, I break tasks into three types:  those that are date sensitive, those that aren't, and those that recur be they date sensitive or not.  All of which I keep in EN.  Note, I don't use EN for things like grocery lists, I use Wunderlist for those.

 

For date sensitive tasks I use dated reminders, with the help of PhaseExpress for date context searches.  I implemented PhaseExpress hot keys since the dynamic date searches just don't work in EN.  For any note that represents a date sensitive task I simply add a reminder date to the note, no changes to the notebook or tags of the note.  I have hot key searches through PhaseExpress for open reminders - Through Today, Today, Tomorrow, The Next Seven Days.  For example the hot key for Today is <Win><Alt>T.  Typically I view the tasks in Snippet mode so as to have access to the sorting and reminders view from the  reminders drop down that exists there.  But List view works as well since the notes context is simply the results of the search.

 

For non date sensitive tasks I use tags, all starting with !, TSW type tags actually, !1-Now, !2-Next, etc.  No notebook changes.  I change the tags on the notes as they migrate up the priority to !1=Now.  Sometimes I will add a reminder date at that point.  

 

For those tasks that recur, date sensitive or not, I use tags and reminder dates as need be.  The review period tags are  !Weekly, !Monthly !Quarterly.  I use these tags to trigger review of a note.  For date sensitive recurring tasks I change the date to the next review date after completing.  I realize I could do it with just a reminder note, but I like to keep track of the recurring items.  To trigger the review I use Follow Up Then to send me a recurring email at the appointed time.

 

All of these ! tags are nested, a TSW nest and a review nest.  

 

I have the tag !1-Now on my short cut bar.  Sometimes I will add the !1-Now tag to a dated reminder just to hone my focus for the day.  I think it sounds more complicated than it is, but it works for me in any case.  I have all of my "important stuff" in one place and with the hot keys I can see it all very quickly in multiple contexts.  FWIW

 

Now if I could just complete some of the stuff.

[gazumped 11,667]

I'm currently using TickTick as being the least invasive of any task management system I've tried lately,  and although it is possible to use Evernote to duplicate a lot of its activity,  I find it safer - in terms of:  I'll actually remember the process reliably - to put all documentation,  notes,  details,  recordings etc into Evernote,  but keep all tasks in TickTick.

 

As implied in @csihiling's post above - "Now if I could just complete some of the stuff." I have a horror of spending too much time moving things around,  reviewing and generally organising rather than doing.  I would suggest - if your system works at present,  why fix it?  Get some work done instead!

[azhummer 0]

Hi gazumped.. just curious if you still use TickTick.. its my fav!  and its only getting better IMHO.

[gazumped 11,667]

Still ticking... haven't found anything better!