My favorite to-do list manager

favorite to-do list manager: a screenshot of Adrian Segar's Trello To Do list

My favorite to-do list manager

I’ve lost count of the number of to-do list managers I’ve tried over the years. There have been so many. Most recently, Omnifocus and Wunderlist were my repositories, but I eventually grew frustrated enough to dump them; nothing I’ve used has eliminated the time-honored alternative of writing notes on scraps of paper that get scattered around my desk.

Until now.

I have been using Trello for the last six months, and I’m very happy with it. [Update in 2021: Six years later, it’s still my favorite to-do list manager!]

Here’s what I like about this nifty piece of software.

  • It runs on my desktops and mobile devices, syncing seamlessly between platforms. I can update my to-do lists anywhere. (Trello runs on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, iOS 7+, Android 4+, and, should the spirit move you, your Kindle Fire HD – 2nd Gen.)
  • It works flawlessly. (Wunderlist, I’m looking at you. I shouldn’t need to frantically email tech support when all my lists vanish. Yes, you did restore them for me which is very nice for a free service but…)
  • Trello can handle much more than to-do lists. I keep all my to-do’s on one Trello “board”, but you can easily create additional boards for projects that have more than a few associated tasks if that works better for you. (Or you could color code a project’s items so they stand out on your main to-do board. Or you could tag them. Or…)
  • It’s very flexible without being over-complex (Omnifocus, I’m talking about you.) I use a combination of Getting Things Done and Kanban methodologies, and Trello makes it a snap to extend the core Kanban model (To Do, Doing, Done) in any way you like. Each Trello board can have any number of Lists, and each list can hold any number of Cards, which are your basic individual action items.  For an example look at my to-do board above, which includes a set of three priority lists (cool, warm hot), a Brattleboro list (for things to do when I go into town), a Waiting list (off-screen) for things I’m waiting for someone else to get back to me on, as well as Doing and Done lists.
  • Moving stuff about is a dream. On a desktop device, drag a card with your mouse to where you want it. No delay, just drag it to a new list and it pops into place. On a touch-screen, use your finger to drag; it works the same way. Wunderlist sometimes had annoying lags  (“Did I move it or not?”) while Trello just works—Steve Jobs would be proud.
  • More features are available when you need them, but they don’t get in the way. See this intro Trello board that lists some of the things you can do that maybe I’ll want to do someday.

favorite to-do list manager

  • Trello is free for the functionality I need. If you start using it inside an organization, you can purchase Trello Business Class, which costs $5 per user per month or $45 per user per year and adds administrative controls and security (plus export in CSV format; see below). That’s how they make money. At the time of writing, Trello has ~5 million users.

See why it’s my favorite to-do list manager?

Any quibbles?

Of course—nothing’s perfect! (But Trello comes close.) The main thing that’s a little disturbing is that all your data is stored by Trello and if the company’s massive server cloud was vaporized you’d lose all your lovely to-dos. The free version of Trello only allows export to JSON, which cannot be opened by Excel, and you’d need to use a JSON->CSV converter to get your To Dos in a form that we mere mortals can view and manipulate. The only other thing I find a little clumsy is the procedure to add or change a due date for a card, though writing this article led me to discover a world of Trello shortcuts that simplify such operations. (Yup, more evidence that the best way to learn about anything is to try and explain it.)

Conclusion

Sign up today! It doesn’t cost anything, and no salesperson will call. Want to explain to me why the to-do list manager you use is way better than this? Type away in the comments!

3 thoughts on “My favorite to-do list manager

  1. Oh neat! I struggle with this also and love when people recommend stuff! Going to try this right now, thanks for sharing Adrian!

  2. Fond memories of Acta. Using TextWrangler at the moment – sigh. Had not heard of Kanban. Visually this reminds me of ScanCard Personal Organizer from the 90’s.

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