Workflowy – an actually useful tool
In my last post I explained why I think use pen and paper is better than pretty much any other tool I've found for time management. Now I'm going to totally contradict myself by recommending Workflowy.
The guys at workflowy have kept it super simple and basically made a tool that works just about like pen and paper, but enhanced it all the right ways...
So it basically works just like a pen and paper list. You start at the top and proceed to the bottom. You can group things together and create hierarchies if you want to (great if you want to organize like tasks under a project). You can insert into the list wherever you want. You can also dive into the hierarchy and just show that list which is very nice for focusing in on a specific group of tasks. You can also re-order tasks by just dragging.
It is all web based, but its so simple and clean that you can use the web interface on PC, iPad, iPhone. There is really no need for a mobile app. They leave your session open forever so you aren't constantly logging in. I can't remember the last time I logged in. You just go to workflowy.com and instantly you are in your list.
My wish List
There is only one thing I really want to see in the tool that is missing and that is some improvement on managing completed tasks. Basically you can choose to show or hide all completed tasks. What I really want is to only show recent completed tasks or show all completed tasks. Seeing your progress checking things off is pretty motivating so I like to keep some around for a while. As I've described in previous posts on Uberfocus, keeping completed tasks around highglights the tasks I'm procrastinating when I have 1 incomplete task surrounded by 15 completed tasks. I emailed the Workflowy guys and one of the creators emailed back promising some enhancements in this area so I'm optimistic to something improved here soon.
How I use it
It's a pretty simple tool and this hardly needs description, but I have mine organized like the following hierarchy:
- Personal
- Archive
Completed tasks go here- Active
- Current tasks and projects
- Project 1
- Task 1
- Task 2
- Another task
- Professional
- Archive
Completed tasks go here- Active
- Current tasks and projects
- Project 1
- Task 1
- Task 2
- Another task
The Archive section is just a way that I use to get some completed items out of the way. Basically every week during my weekly review I start at the top of my list and move all completed items between the top of the list and the first incomplete item into the Archive section. This is the only tool on which I can operate about 90% of the Uberfocus system effectively.
Summary
For right now I am using Workflowy instead of pen and paper. I am really liking it. I do find it a bit less engaging than pen and paper, but more convenient for most of my computer based tasks which represent a large portion of my important and critical tasks. For non-computer projects I find pen and paper a bit more engaging and effective, but for simplicity I'm sticking with Workflowy as my single system. My poor notebook looks bored and abandoned on my desk now.
Workflowy is definitely worth a try. It's free and easy to get started. Give it a shot and let me know how you like it.
Related posts
-
Greenchutney