I had been looking at a replacement for Outlook tasks for the longest time. Since Windows Phone 7 came out, Microsoft’s mobile offerings for Outlook tasks have been… sub-optimal.
I had heard of Wunderlist through sites like Lifehacker and The Verge, and in 2014 6Wunderkinder released a new real-time sync engine as well as new beta versions for Windows Phone and Windows 8. I thought it was about time I switched from Outlook, so I gave it a shot.
A year later and I’m still using it every day.
Wunderlist is intuitive and easy to use. The free version does more than other apps, and it’s totally cross platform with first-class apps for Apple’s platforms (including Watch), Android, Windows and the web. It features recurring to-dos, subtasks, reminders, due dates, multiple lists and folders to organise them. Smart views let me order the to-dos by today or this week. This is where I spend most of my time when actually doing things. I like working through to-dos in due-date order, across all of the lists.
The latest new feature was a Wunderlist API. Integration with Slack and Sunrise has been useful, but I’m still waiting on integration with Outlook (coming soon) and IFTTT.
Now Wunderlist is part of my Action Management System and vital to how I get stuff done. Here’s how I have it set up.
Inbox
The Inbox is where I collect any of my to-dos as I record them. I try to keep my inbox fairly minimal, so I regularly review it. I often put links or other small reminders to myself in here and check them off without ever organising them into folders. The way I use inbox is in a similar way to my email: it’s a great collection point, but it should be regularly emptied – either by doing the to-do, or organising it into one of my folders.
Actions
Anything that takes longer than a couple of minutes goes from the Inbox and into here. Pretty much anything goes, as long as doesn’t fit into any of my other lists. I regularly review this list to add due dates or subtasks.
Habits
Daily, weekly, and monthly habits are stored here. All of these to-dos are recurring, so as soon as I check them off they return for the next date. For example, every week I review my finances and every month I review my projects list. These will appear on my weekly smart list as they need to be addressed.
Wishes
There are often things I am thinking about doing or getting which are either just ideas or not feasible right now. This is where my wish list comes in. Putting items in here gets them off my mind into a place where I can review regularly.
Waiting
This list keeps track of any items I’m waiting for including Kickstarter projects, deliveries, book and music release dates and other things like that. I also use list to keep track of things that I am waiting on from people too, including items loaned to friends.
Projects, Objectives and anything else
All of the above to-do lists are actually inside a folder marked ‘Personal’. As well as this folder, I also have a folder called ‘Projects’ which contains number of to-do lists for projects I am working on – and these come and go depending on what’s happening in my life. In fact, some of these lists may even be shared with other people.
Currently I also have an ‘Objectives’ folder which is keeping track of a some bigger picture things I want to achieve, but this is not permanent. I like to keep things flexible inside Wunderlist, and creating ad hoc lists and folders makes it easy for me to do so. I always review my to-do lists once a week a week anyway.
Sounds like the task app I’ve always wanted. I’ll give this one a go.
I too have decided to give this a try. I’m no stranger to trying to solve this problem, having tried schemes like using OneNote, making up “task appointments”, Outlook task reminders, and finally full blown solutions like Todoist. One thing they all have in common – they require a ton of extra work and I end up not bothering because my brain can handle keeping track of most day-to-day tasks without having to invest to energy into data entry and management.
Soon after my prior reply (http://juliankay.com/organisation/the-death-of-outlook-exchange-for-task-management/#comment-1012) I started using my phone to show my agenda instead of Outlook which I find is essential for tasks. I was really pleased to see you can schedule tasks in Wunderlist and they’re accessible via webcal URL. I put the URL into OWA and Exchange synced it to my phone, Outlook, and Windows 10 Calendar/Cortana. I’m a bit disappointed that apparently Exchange will only update the calendar every 4 hours, but I suppose that’s alright in practical terms. This might be finally a workable solution.
There still the issue of the amount of manual labour that’s required to handle these, we’ll see how it works out.
I’d be really interested in knowing how you handle e-mail organization these days. I find Outlook to be quite horrible at organizing mail in the modern age, requiring tedious unnecessary quick steps, rules or folder-checking.
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