Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Multitasking while watching TV
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
Often in the evenings, you may want to relax in front of the TV or get some small things done. This week's tip, shared by scave31, offers a way to have your cake and eat it too: get some things done while still enjoying some downtime.
I'm new to Remember The Milk, but within days saw how I could really use it to my advantage.
One of the first tags I created was #evening, which I use to tag tasks that include anything from cleaning a closet or going through magazines to sorting tax receipts – things that can't be done at work or I don't want to do on weekends when I can do bigger projects.
(Most items under the #evening tag don't have due dates, unless I see a need to do the task soon, at which time I'll add one.)
I quickly saw where I could add to this: I watch TV a couple evenings a week and need to be doing something else simultaneously, but often find myself surfing the 'net and then realizing later that stack of magazines is still sitting in the corner.
So, I created tags called #tv and #notv to add to my #evening tasks based on whether I can do them in front of the television without missing the show (like sewing on a button or sorting tax receipts) or whether I need to do them in a different room or they would require enough concentration that I'd miss the show (like cleaning my home office desk or reading RSS feeds with heavy articles).
I also set up a repeat "after" recurrence for things I don't want to do too often, such as cleaning out my e-mail inbox, to keep me from choosing the same tasks over and over again.
With a Smart List (or two), I created badges on my Android phone for items tagged #evening AND #tv or #evening and #notv, called the lists ETV and ENOTV, respectively, and can quickly access what tasks I can get done depending on what my evening television plans are.
I've achieved so much in just a week!
Thanks for sharing this tip, scave31! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: My Tickler Setup
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
If you're using Remember The Milk to set up a GTD system, you'll know that it is important to keep track of upcoming tasks due on a particular date. Traditionally, you would keep these items in a set of folders—a "tickler" file. This week's tip, shared by tclaiborne, demonstrates a way to keep these organized right in your Remember The Milk tasks.
I had been looking for a good solution for Tickler style tasks (a la the 43 folders from GTD), and I've finally got one that has stuck in my system.
It involves two lists: a regular list called Tickled, and a Smart List called Tickler.
Tickled is just a regular list. For Tickler, I create a Smart List using the following search:
list:Tickled AND (dueWithin:"1 day of today" OR dueBefore:today)
When I have something that I want to be reminded of on a certain day, I put the task in the Tickled list with a due date of when I want to be reminded.
I can check the Tickler list in the morning each day to see if there's anything for to check on. The way I prefer to do this though is to use the "A Bit Better RTM" extension for Chrome, which shows the count of tasks next to each list. This way I don't even need to open the list, I can just glance.
Thanks for sharing this tip, tclaiborne! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Android app bug squishing update, the sequel
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by Emily Boyd
Bob T. Monkey brings us another bug squishing release, following our big Remember The Milk for Android update. Version 2.0.5 includes:
Enhancements:
- Improve updates to lists/widgets using locatedWithin search criteria.
Bug fixes:
- Fix display of "every last [DAY] of the month" repeat intervals.
- Fix issue with parsing due dates on days with timezone transition.
- Fix issue with repeat intervals passed via the Android Share menu.
- Fix issue with Reminders Bar task entries not being removed if the related task was completed from the Reminders screen.
Versions 2.0.3 and 2.0.4 were also bug squishing updates that we skipped on the blog, but head over to the release notes if you'd like to check whether a bug that you spotted has been fixed. (Not fixed? Be sure to let us know about it so we can get that thing squished!)
Don't have the app yet? Learn more about Remember The Milk for Android.
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Using Remember The Milk for GTD in a School Environment
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
Students know that organizing your assignments across classes can be a tedious affair, even with a syllabus in hand. This week's tip, shared by astavrow, aims for a streamlined, organized setup to keep all assignments straight to make the most of your semester.
There’s a great post on the RTM blog on how to set up the service for advanced GTD. You should read it first, to have a basis for what my basic system looks like.
Anything that I consider a Project (i.e., a desired outcome that requires more than one action to complete) gets its own list. Each class I’m taking is, in a way, a Project. The desired outcome is, obviously, completing the course with high marks; the actions listed are how I make it happen.
The thing is, every class has its own series of Projects to complete — readings, lab reports, assignments, etc. I could make each of these a new list, but they’re pretty short-term projects (a week or less).
So, instead, I created tags that track these “sub-Projects” — things like 'lab', 'readings', 'assignment' – and tag individual tasks within my class list with them.
In a given class, for example, I might have two current “sub-Projects” — a lab and some readings. Those that are also tagged 'na' are Next Actions required to complete the sub-Project.
Why does this work? Adding a list for every bit of assigned work that comes in over the course of a semester, filling in your tasks, and then deleting the list when you’re done involves too much maintenance. A good GTD system gives you enough to work with, but not so much that you’re constantly tweaking the ‘fiddly bits,’ as I like to call them. It’s much easier to simple re-use a few common tags, especially since they will almost never overlap for a given class — it’s unlikely that you’ll have to deal with two assignments or two presentations at the same time for a single class.
Thanks for sharing this tip, astavrow! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: See tasks due where you are
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
If you ever take out your phone to recall which errands you need to run, this week's tip, shared by alasnik, is for you. In it, he discusses a way of using locations while mobile to zero in on what you have to do nearby.
I've been enjoying the great updated Android app and tonight just happened to browse through the Advanced Search Operators list and… voila! … came up with an idea!
I created a new Smart List called "Nearby today." It includes tasks due that day (or overdue) located within 1 mile of where my phone says I'm located.
dueBefore:tomorrow and locatedWithin:"1 mile"
And of course, I created an RTM 1×1 badge linked to this list and put it on the homepage of my Nexus S and my Xoom so I can spot at a glance when there's something I need to be doing where I am :).
In case you're curious, here are the main locations I use:
- Location "Work" — for those things I have to remember to do when I'm physically at work… can't do via VPN.
- Location "Home" — update clock on microwave upon the time change, put out recyclables barrel, etc.
- Location "SF" — tasks I should remember to do when I'm hanging out in "the city" (renew SF library card, etc.)
Now there's no escaping my due tasks…
Thanks for sharing this tip, alasnik! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Join the Remember The Milk team: JavaScript Ninja
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 by Emily Boyd
Do you dream of a world where the browser reigns supreme, and all applications are a beautifully constructed and obsessively optimized mish-mash of cleanly namespaced JavaScript, crafty HTML and minimalist CSS? Do you wake up screaming "OH NO! NOT ANOTHER [favourite quirky browser here] BUG!" as cross-browser development haunts you in your sleep?
We're looking for a JavaScript Ninja with Google Closure Library experience to join the Remember The Milk team (this is a full-time, "work from anywhere" position). If this sounds like you, and you'd like to join us in our quest to make the world more organized and productive, head on over to the jobs page and get in touch!
(Not a JavaScript Ninja? We have other positions available, too.)
Posted in: Behind the Scenes
Android app bug squishing update, part II
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 by Emily Boyd
Bob T. Monkey's been busy with another bug squishing release, following our big Remember The Milk for Android update. Version 2.0.2 includes:
Enhancements:
- Initial sync now uses 50% less memory.
- Updates to localizations for Chinese (Simplified), Danish, German, Spanish, French and Portuguese (Brazil).
Bug fixes:
- Fix issue with updating widgets on Motorola devices running Gingerbread.
- Fix issue with task counts on tags/locations not clearing when all tasks were disassociated from that tag/location.
- Fix issue with editing tags for multiple tasks not syncing as expected.
- Fix issues with Finnish date parsing.
- Fix miscellaneous crashes.
Don't have the app yet? Learn more about Remember The Milk for Android.
Posted in: New Features & Updates
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: The Boss List
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 by Andrew Conkling
It can be hard to have the clearest perspective about what you did in the past year, so this week's tip, shared by rossruns, describes a way to keep track of some big items for use in a performance review.
Like many folks out there, I have an annual performance evaluation activity at my company.
Also like many folks out there, I used to end up racking my brain the last week before the evaluation is due, trying to figure out just what the heck I did over the past 365 days (besides surf the internet). It was difficult to remember all the important "brag list" points, especially when under a deadline to turn in my review.
Now that I've got my "Boss List" in RTM, though, that's a thing of the past. My "Boss List", aka known as my "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" list works as follows:
- Add a new tag to tasks that I want to record for later (in my case, I use "boss" for something easy to remember and add). Tag tasks with this new tracking tag at time of creation, or more usually, right before marking it as completed. (I also occasionally will add a task specifically for the purpose of documenting something I did, such as a training seminar or mentoring activity, tag it "boss" and immediately mark it as complete).
- Create a Smart List with the following search string:
(completedWithin:"1 year of 11/1/2011" and tag:boss)This "Boss List" then makes my performance evaluation a breeze, as I just access the Smart List and format prettily for my review.
Some additional notes:
- I use the full date (11/1/2011) so I get everything within a year since the last review. After filling out my evaluation, I change the date to 11/1/2012 and it lets me track, through the year, how many things I've added to my "Boss List" to make sure I'm on track to have things to report NEXT year.
- You can use a similar list to report things more often. For example, if you have a monthly status review, you can make your search for (completedWithin:"1 month of Saturday" and tag:boss) and access the Smart List on the last week of the month to see all the activities to report that month. Heck, you can even do this weekly if you're subject to micro-managing, but for those folks, I find it's better not to tag things as "boss" and just use the search (completedWithin:"1 week of Sat") and filter yourself based on what you think is important. The "boss" part is really key when you're looking at a full year's worth of completed tasks, and saves you from having to go through the mental effort of filtering who knows how many tasks through your "importance detector" to get the key items to use for your performance evaluation.
Thanks for sharing this tip, rossruns! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
