Once upon a time, I tried to better organize my life by signing up for Remember the Milk, which is a web-based to-do list service with a jaunty bovine theme. I used it mainly for non-work tasks since I was already using the task function in Outlook while at work. But it wasn't much of a robust list and included a lot of frivolous items like to buy a certain comic or to pick up the laundry.
In 2014 Google announced Google Inbox as a mobile-first version of Gmail that integrated various interesting features like the ability to snooze emails and the option to create task reminders within Inbox itself. I switched the service once it became available to the public and it certainly made my mobile email management a lot easier but it wasn't that inspiring on desktop. But this helped me transition away from third-party services for my task list needs and keep things within Gmail.
Last year Google confirmed that they were shutting down Inbox and as a consolation they worked on upgrading Gmail to capture some of the better features from Inbox. One of the weirder things that is sort of floating out there is the reminder feature that seems to be split across various products. Current reminders seem to still carryover to Google Calendar, so you can still create those reminders there instead of in Inbox as the function is not in Gmail. Desktop Gmail however provides handy access to Google Tasks, which is a separate app just for task management that I never really got into since it means adding another app to the mix of things.
On the other hand, there's the option to use a note-taking app to create to-do lists sans the time-based reminders if you just want to check things off your list on a regular basis. My default note-taking app these days is still Microsoft OneNote, largely because I purchased an Office 365 subscription for myself a few years back and since then I feel obligated to use the service. Since then Google Keep came out and has grown to be a better app but not quite a perfect match for what I currently do in OneNote. I rarely use the checklist feature in either app apart from my laundry checklist when we have our clothes washed elsewhere.
Now I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to improve both my domestic and office workflows to make better use of all these tasking functionalities in different apps somehow. I'm just not 100% as to how I might go about things as it will require me to tweak my routines and such. But it also seems like such a waste NOT to do this if it means I could improve how I do things with all the wonders of modern technology, right?
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