To do lists are a very personal thing. I’ve tried more more than my fair share of personal task management software and never been satisfied. I find most personal task management software to be glorified shopping lists. I always end up going back to my notebook with a pen.
For the past week I have successfully been using Kanban Flow to manage my to do list. Tasks are represented on cards. You can drag and drop cards through various states – for example, today, in progress and done. For me dragging something to done is as therapeutic as running the pen through an item on my paper list – I can stand back and wallow in my sense of self achievement. I have used other software where completed tasks just disappear, and at the end of the day I don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything.
Kanban Flow includes a Pomodoro Timer. I’d never heard of the Pomodoro Technique before using Kanban Flow, but have actually found it to improve my focus and productivity. The basic idea is that you work focusing on one task for 25 minutes, and then take a five minute break. Every four cycles you can take a longer break.
My biggest gripe with Kanban Flow at the moment is the lack of offline mode and reduced usability on my phone. But given it’s only in Beta, and it works better for me than anything else I’ve tried, I can live with these gripes for now.
