Why?

Why do I need a task organization tool?

Oh well, you do not and neither do I. At least not, if you can live with forgetting essential things you always wanted to do, e.g. the next steps you have to take to achieve a long-term goal. But if you’re a human, you normally tend to forget things, loose the overview and be stressed about that. And even if you’re a genius, there is a limited amount of tasks you can manage in your “brain only” notepad – believe me! So this is why a task organization tool is mindblowingly important – at least for busy gusy like me.

Why a tool on a computer when there’s pen and paper?

Because mostly, tasks are actually a consequence of something happening in a computer, e.g. a mail or an invitation via electronic calendars like outlook. So why use pen and papers if you have a computer ready?

Why did I start the development?

Because I was bored of the other task organization tools and their lack of essential features. Well, I was pleased by one – but it is a bit pricy, at least from my point of view.

Why shall I use myTO?

Because it’s an allrounder and capable of coping with plenty of self-organization systems. So, why not?

Why shall I use it the way you do?

Well – to be honest I don’t care how you use it – but I will explain why I need it and how I use it: Often people mess around having two calendars (private and work), a few notebooks, magnets on the fridge door, Email, one Outlook account at work, one at home, and so on. The more things you have to do, the more stress you’ll experience. At least that’s what happened to me. So, instead of running away like a chicken, I started to read about self organization methods. And the one I fell in love with is GTD (wikipedia about GTD®/Getting Things Done, David Allen’s page about GTD®) – and with this method, I’m really pleased and able to organize everything pretty well  – work related tasks as well as private ones.  How, you ask? Well – come closer and read further:

Get inboxes:

1. a paper tray at home
2. a paper tray at work
3. email program at home
4. email program at work
5. a small notebook (it must not be a moleskin!) and a pen
6. a calendar (and this is your single one and only one! – doesn’t matter whether it’s electronic or paper format)

Log your thoughts:

• Whenever you’re sitting at your computer at home or at work, always have myTO running in the background.  Whenever you feel like you have to note some new tasks – do it immediately, so it’s out of your brain.
• Whenever you are not at your computer, always have your notebook and pen with you.  And use it!

Empty your inboxes:

• Once in a while (maybe every one or two hours) you empty all your inboxes. Check the inbox of your email program.  If a email leads to a task for you, you can enter it yourself into myTO, or, if you’re using Outlook, you can easily Drag’n'Drop the email into myTO. Check your paper tray and your notebook as well.
• For each item you have to decide how to proceed.
  Is it a task? Then decide whether you can finish it in within 3 minutes. If yes, just DO IT! If not, put it in the tree beyond “Next Steps”.
  Is it something you’re expecting from others to be done? Put it in the tree beyond “Waiting For/Name of the guy”.
  Is it something you want to start now, but it’s more than a single task (let’s consider it a project), put it in the tree beyond “Projects”.
  Is it something you’ve always wanted to do but it does not seem the right time now? Maybe in a month or year? Put it in the tree beyond “Future/Maybe”.
  Is it an appointment? Put it into your calendar and set a reminder.
  Is it something but you don’t have to do anything? Then delete it, destroy it or store it in some kind of reference.

Review

• Every Friday after you emptied your inboxes, open myTO and have a look at each task.  Maybe sort the “next steps”, so their priority is fine. Check the “waiting for”-list and remind the guys that you’re waiting for his/her results. Check your projects list and make sure, you have at least one next step per project in your “next steps”-list. Check your future/maybe list and decide whether you want to start one of these tasks.

That’s pretty  much it.  It’s really easy and helps a lot keeping your head clean! If your next steps list is getting to big, you should start to subdivide it into different contexts (e.g. @Desk, @Internet, @Phone, @Shopping, …).