TODO lists are seen to be useful, in their basic forms they are easy to program (easy to store, manipulate and display), and they are amenable to much personalisation and tweaking (desktop! web! mobile sync! embeddable widget!).
But, I wonder if they are an example of H.L. Mencken's quote "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong."
For evidence supporting this, look how often they are reinvented and abandoned.
Problems such as ongoing tasks with no quick or clear resolution, teamwork, not having the todo list with you, putting it somewhere you can't quickly see, putting pages of things on it, wanting to separate personal tasks and work tasks (and more), wanting geo-tagged tasks, temptation to push it towards being a life management system, a calendar, a project manager, a timesheet system, a reminder system, and a 'what have I accomplished audit'.
What alternatives to TODOs are there? I mean, odd, curious, niche alternatives that we might not have heard of?
But, I wonder if they are an example of H.L. Mencken's quote "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong."
For evidence supporting this, look how often they are reinvented and abandoned.
Problems such as ongoing tasks with no quick or clear resolution, teamwork, not having the todo list with you, putting it somewhere you can't quickly see, putting pages of things on it, wanting to separate personal tasks and work tasks (and more), wanting geo-tagged tasks, temptation to push it towards being a life management system, a calendar, a project manager, a timesheet system, a reminder system, and a 'what have I accomplished audit'.
What alternatives to TODOs are there? I mean, odd, curious, niche alternatives that we might not have heard of?