It's a real shame that Apple Reminders and Google Tasks don't have better integration capabilities. (Apple Reminders especially.) I've jury-rigged the following: I use Apple Reminders and an IFTTT applet to push "Hey Siri, remind me to xyz" to Google Tasks. That goes to a "New Tasks" list on Google. (Periodically I clean out the residual Apple Reminders, which are just waste at that point.) I have one list on Google integrated with Reclaim.ai, so that I can just pull the new tasks into that list when I want them to carve out time on my calendar. (This is hugely valuable, because I can set the amount of time I need to devote to, say, writing a chapter, a deadline, and Reclaim will cut it up into sessions and defend that time on my calendar, automatically moving them if I schedule an actual meeting in that slot.) But not all tasks should go right to Reclaim, so I have lists containing tasks I'm still planning in TasksBoard, which is a Google Workplace integration. I use labels in TasksBoard to help with quickly seeing all the tasks for a particular mission, because the kanban doesn't really do that when I have to move some tasks to the Reclaim list. It isn't as optimal as being able to have different boards showing the same tasks, some with their own kanbans for progressing a task, etc., but it's ok.
All this could be avoided if Apple Reminders simply played nice with others. (Yeah, I get it...it's Apple.) Or if Reclaim.ai simply had a way to manage tasks in projects without having to integrate with something else. Sigh. Oh well. My frankenstein method works for now to keep me on track with 2buts.com.
Hi John, wow! Sounds like you've figured out some clever workarounds! Appreciate you sharing those. It shows how creative we have to be sometimes to patchwork things together given how each developer weaves in their own hooks, APIs etc — or doesn't.
Thank you for the tools reviews, pointers and tips. I had looked for 6 months testing various task management apps, settled on ToDoIst. Their bootstrap beginning and no-exit plan dedication, are refreshing. If you send a great deal of time organizing and levering an app it's longevity can be a key factor.
Tasks/to do list wise, my productivity coaching clients have found reclaim.ai very useful
I am not affiliated with them but I have to admit it is very useful. It uses ai to auto-schedule tasks for the best times to complete them based on your working patterns, so you know exactly what to do and when. If something comes up and you don't complete the task, it auto-reschedules it for you for another time that works for you
Aug 31, 2023·edited Aug 31, 2023Liked by Jeremy Caplan
Remember the Milk is my much loved and used to-do app. It has all sorts of little helps - like subtasks to a depth of four, and saved queries that create lists.
Have you tried the Motion app? I think it’s a bit pricey ($225/yr) but it has helped me with task management. Took awhile to get the hang of it. Not certain I’ll renew - looking at other apps now, including the ones you mentioned. I really like Microsoft ToDo, especially because it integrates with Planner and Outlook so well. (I was a huge fan of the app that Microsoft acquired to power ToDo. Was that Wonderlist? Something like that. Super streamlined task manager.)
Hi Doug, Yeah Wunderlist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderlist) was that app you referenced. As for Motion, it's interesting, but my preferred approach is to anchor a system around the notes tool, where the core info, insights and material lives — rather than around a tool built to focus on calendar & tasks, where I want the functionality to be quick, clean and minimal. But this is an area where there's a lot of personal preference and style at play, and for distinct work styles there are lots of approaches that can work. Definitely not one size fits all, in my view.
I’m with you on Apple Reminders, Trello and iA Writer. I use Apple Notes because of its multimedia capacity. The upcoming iOS 17/macOs 14 version will allow linking of notes, making it even more useful to me.
Hi Gary, Yes! I'm looking forward to that update for Apple Notes — I agree that linking will be a helpful boost. AI search and organization would also be helpful - given that Apple recently mentioned some new AI capabilities coming, I'm expecting that Notes (and other apps) get some AI search benefits eventually, maybe for iOS 18.
I am a massive fan of Google Docs. It supports my productivity as I write for Substack and a number of other things ( teaching curriculum, wing chun teachings, detective crime) and need to be able to use something that I can be productive with whenever I have an idea. It works perfectly. I always check out your AI and love pi now too 😁
Hi Jordan, That's a neat one, isn't it? Gorgeous design and a strong, opinionated approach to their product! I love their approach to enabling easy saving and searching of anything you save, though I'm curious about whether there are people using it for ALL of their notes, or whether it's primarily a go-to for saving certain Web clips and images, etc. It's one I'll keep exploring in the academic year ahead. Would be curious about your impressions as you use it.
It has replaced Craft for me, due to its object-based organization. Has daily notes, AI, tasks, etc. The fact that you can create your own custom objects is the game-changer for me. I have differentiated object types for People, Pages, Meetings, and about a dozen others. Plus everything is interconnected and linked, so no more folders and hierarchies.
Matt, I appreciate your note. The benefits of interconnected and linked notes resonates — it's why I had been so attracted to Roam originally. I'd love to see how you set up your Capacities, if you're open to sharing that. I'm exploring new potential notes systems to try this year, so I'm eager to learn from how others are making these tools work for them, and Capacities is one near the top of my list for further experimentation!
To be honest, my ADHD brain still gets overwhelmed by choices. I'm the generation that were the first to use computers. This led me to a career as a programmer. But so much more. One thing I've learned is not even Apple is the best place to keep it all. And that almost all services eventually fail to some extent. And then there is the issue of using a service for years, knowing that they will probably disappear and you'll have to find what works for you once again. And transfer all your stuff over. See? I do overthink things but also have so much experience with all these issues.
I have tried many of these. At the moment, my digital workflow is defined this way: https://musingsofaxennial.substack.com/p/how-to-clearly-define-your-digital but that may change or I may add to it. I try not to jump onto every new shining tool and to focus on it's purpose, but I am not always very successful.
Appreciate you sharing that, Bill. I'm curious to see how Evernote will evolve after their recent layoffs, change in ownership, change in pricing structure, etc. There are still millions of people with tons of notes in Evernote (myself included) so I'll be interested in seeing how the next chapter develops!
It's a real shame that Apple Reminders and Google Tasks don't have better integration capabilities. (Apple Reminders especially.) I've jury-rigged the following: I use Apple Reminders and an IFTTT applet to push "Hey Siri, remind me to xyz" to Google Tasks. That goes to a "New Tasks" list on Google. (Periodically I clean out the residual Apple Reminders, which are just waste at that point.) I have one list on Google integrated with Reclaim.ai, so that I can just pull the new tasks into that list when I want them to carve out time on my calendar. (This is hugely valuable, because I can set the amount of time I need to devote to, say, writing a chapter, a deadline, and Reclaim will cut it up into sessions and defend that time on my calendar, automatically moving them if I schedule an actual meeting in that slot.) But not all tasks should go right to Reclaim, so I have lists containing tasks I'm still planning in TasksBoard, which is a Google Workplace integration. I use labels in TasksBoard to help with quickly seeing all the tasks for a particular mission, because the kanban doesn't really do that when I have to move some tasks to the Reclaim list. It isn't as optimal as being able to have different boards showing the same tasks, some with their own kanbans for progressing a task, etc., but it's ok.
All this could be avoided if Apple Reminders simply played nice with others. (Yeah, I get it...it's Apple.) Or if Reclaim.ai simply had a way to manage tasks in projects without having to integrate with something else. Sigh. Oh well. My frankenstein method works for now to keep me on track with 2buts.com.
Hi John, wow! Sounds like you've figured out some clever workarounds! Appreciate you sharing those. It shows how creative we have to be sometimes to patchwork things together given how each developer weaves in their own hooks, APIs etc — or doesn't.
Thank you for the tools reviews, pointers and tips. I had looked for 6 months testing various task management apps, settled on ToDoIst. Their bootstrap beginning and no-exit plan dedication, are refreshing. If you send a great deal of time organizing and levering an app it's longevity can be a key factor.
Thanks for your input, Mig. Glad you found something that works for you!
Tasks/to do list wise, my productivity coaching clients have found reclaim.ai very useful
I am not affiliated with them but I have to admit it is very useful. It uses ai to auto-schedule tasks for the best times to complete them based on your working patterns, so you know exactly what to do and when. If something comes up and you don't complete the task, it auto-reschedules it for you for another time that works for you
Hopefully this helps!
Thanks for the input, John.
I’ve been using Tweek for my to-dos. It’s been the first to-do app that I’ve naturally kept using.
Remember the Milk is my much loved and used to-do app. It has all sorts of little helps - like subtasks to a depth of four, and saved queries that create lists.
Joplin has replaced Evernote entirely
For everything else, Obsidian.
Have you tried the Motion app? I think it’s a bit pricey ($225/yr) but it has helped me with task management. Took awhile to get the hang of it. Not certain I’ll renew - looking at other apps now, including the ones you mentioned. I really like Microsoft ToDo, especially because it integrates with Planner and Outlook so well. (I was a huge fan of the app that Microsoft acquired to power ToDo. Was that Wonderlist? Something like that. Super streamlined task manager.)
Hi Doug, Yeah Wunderlist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderlist) was that app you referenced. As for Motion, it's interesting, but my preferred approach is to anchor a system around the notes tool, where the core info, insights and material lives — rather than around a tool built to focus on calendar & tasks, where I want the functionality to be quick, clean and minimal. But this is an area where there's a lot of personal preference and style at play, and for distinct work styles there are lots of approaches that can work. Definitely not one size fits all, in my view.
This is an example of what my comment was talking about. I loved, loved Wunderlist but alas it also went away.
A new player that I like so far is called Fabric. https://go.fabric.so/
Interesting, thanks for pointing that one out, Mike.
Hey Jeremy – I'm the founder of Fabric, happy to show you around what we're building sometime!
Hi Johnny! Just downloaded it to test out. Happy to hear more at some point in the near future.
They have been very responsive. Contact info Johnny from Fabric <team@fabric.so>
I’m with you on Apple Reminders, Trello and iA Writer. I use Apple Notes because of its multimedia capacity. The upcoming iOS 17/macOs 14 version will allow linking of notes, making it even more useful to me.
Hi Gary, Yes! I'm looking forward to that update for Apple Notes — I agree that linking will be a helpful boost. AI search and organization would also be helpful - given that Apple recently mentioned some new AI capabilities coming, I'm expecting that Notes (and other apps) get some AI search benefits eventually, maybe for iOS 18.
Brilliant summary of each point in the list which helps you make a decision fast on them. Great piece as ever
Thanks, Jon! What's your toolkit look like? What's one of your go-to apps?
I am a massive fan of Google Docs. It supports my productivity as I write for Substack and a number of other things ( teaching curriculum, wing chun teachings, detective crime) and need to be able to use something that I can be productive with whenever I have an idea. It works perfectly. I always check out your AI and love pi now too 😁
Thanks for sharing that, Jon. GDocs does work reliably & consistently, and it's always there when you need it.
Good stuff. I just came across this one worth checking out:
https://mymind.com/
Hi Jordan, That's a neat one, isn't it? Gorgeous design and a strong, opinionated approach to their product! I love their approach to enabling easy saving and searching of anything you save, though I'm curious about whether there are people using it for ALL of their notes, or whether it's primarily a go-to for saving certain Web clips and images, etc. It's one I'll keep exploring in the academic year ahead. Would be curious about your impressions as you use it.
Terrific list. I've got experience with most of these—you've surfaced the best stuff out there.
I have to give a big mention as well to Capacities. https://capacities.io
It has replaced Craft for me, due to its object-based organization. Has daily notes, AI, tasks, etc. The fact that you can create your own custom objects is the game-changer for me. I have differentiated object types for People, Pages, Meetings, and about a dozen others. Plus everything is interconnected and linked, so no more folders and hierarchies.
Matt, I appreciate your note. The benefits of interconnected and linked notes resonates — it's why I had been so attracted to Roam originally. I'd love to see how you set up your Capacities, if you're open to sharing that. I'm exploring new potential notes systems to try this year, so I'm eager to learn from how others are making these tools work for them, and Capacities is one near the top of my list for further experimentation!
To be honest, my ADHD brain still gets overwhelmed by choices. I'm the generation that were the first to use computers. This led me to a career as a programmer. But so much more. One thing I've learned is not even Apple is the best place to keep it all. And that almost all services eventually fail to some extent. And then there is the issue of using a service for years, knowing that they will probably disappear and you'll have to find what works for you once again. And transfer all your stuff over. See? I do overthink things but also have so much experience with all these issues.
I have tried many of these. At the moment, my digital workflow is defined this way: https://musingsofaxennial.substack.com/p/how-to-clearly-define-your-digital but that may change or I may add to it. I try not to jump onto every new shining tool and to focus on it's purpose, but I am not always very successful.
I still like and use Evernote for notes. It does everything I need and then some.
Appreciate you sharing that, Bill. I'm curious to see how Evernote will evolve after their recent layoffs, change in ownership, change in pricing structure, etc. There are still millions of people with tons of notes in Evernote (myself included) so I'll be interested in seeing how the next chapter develops!