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-----
title: Getting things done... in Wonderland!
content-type: article
subtitle: Why Wunderlist is the only Todo List I'll ever need
timestamp: 1312063673
tags: productivity|review|software
pdf: true
-----

		<section class="section">
<p>I don&#8217;t remember the exact day when I started using a todo list in a serious way. It definitely happened at work, but I can&#8217;t remember when exactly. The point is that, once I started working (and getting paid for what I love doing &ndash; writing), I slowly turned into a real <em>productivity freak</em>.</p>
<p>I write <em>everything</em> down. My colleagues know that if I say that I&#8217;ll do something <em>right now</em> but I don&#8217;t do it within five minutes, they have to assume that I forgot about it altogether and they&#8217;d better send me an email.</p>
<p>I am not a paper person. Never been one. When I got a job which consisted in working on the computer for eight hours a day, I started looking for todo list programs. That turned into an endless quest: I tried X for a few weeks, then I discovered that Y was better, used it for months, then moved onto Z, and so on.</p>


	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_1" class="toc">What's wrong with 90% of digital todo lists</h1></header>
<p>Over the past five years, I must have tried dozens of different digital todo lists, and every single one of them had something wrong with it. Here are the most common flaws I encountered in many applications:</p>
<ul>
	<li><strong>Too many fields</strong> &ndash; I don&#8217;t want to specify (or see, either) a due date, a start date, a completion date, priority, effort, risk, tags, categories, sections, flags, stars, projects, reminder, pre-reminder, recurrency, location, contexts, and finally the actual task. I just want to write down what I have to do. Maybe I want to flag it as <em>important</em>. Sometimes I may need to set a deadline with a reminder, but that starts getting complex already.</li>
	<li><strong>Too few fields</strong> &ndash; On the other hand, just a title and a checkbox won&#8217;t do. I want some form of categorization and (optional) deadlines.</li>
	<li><strong>Not cross-platform</strong> &ndash; I use Windows at work, Linux at home, my wife has a Mac. We both have iPhones, but someday I may get an Android device, too. There aren&#8217;t many todo lists out there that support more than two operating systems, nevermind mobile devices or web access!</li>
	<li><strong>Too fiddly</strong> &ndash; See the first complaint, above. With too many fields almost always comes a complex interface. I don&#8217;t want to wait 17 clicks to save my task. I want to type in what I want to do, and press Enter. Is it too much to ask for?</li>
	<li><strong>Made for a particular methodology</strong> &ndash; <span class="caps">GTD</span> is great and David Allen is the God of Productivity, but I don&#8217;t want to use @contexts or specify next actions because don&#8217;t believe in them, therefore I shouldn&#8217;t be forced to do so.</li>
</ul>
<p>90% of the digital todo list suck. Believe me. 10% &ndash; perhaps &ndash; don&#8217;t. Luckily, I just need <em>one</em>, and guess what: I found it!</p>

</section>

	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_2" class="toc">Introducing Wunderlist: the quest is over!</h1></header>
<p><a href="http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist/">Wunderlist</a>, the List of Wonders, you can use it anywhere and at any time. It&#8217;s so awesome that&#8230; I should stop the ass-kissing right now, and get to the <em>facts</em>.</p>
<p>I discovered Wunderlist when my endless quest led me to the App Store. I think I must have installed nearly all the damn todo list apps, even the crappy ones. I didn&#8217;t fall in love with Wunderlist at first tap: it took a few install-uninstall cycles, but in the end I settled for it. Here&#8217;s why:</p>
<ul>
	<li><strong>Free</strong> &ndash; Not that it matters that much, I would happily pay a few bucks for a <em>good</em> app. And yes, I did pay for a few todo lists that I dumped afterwards. Bummer.</li>
	<li><strong>Cross-platform</strong> &ndash; iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, OS X. And Linux? Not really, but who cares: the web app is fine and it probably plays well <a href="http://haiku-os.org/">Haiku</a> as well.</li>
	<li><strong>Simple and Efficient</strong> &ndash; Two clicks to add a task to any list. No compulsory extra-fields, optional deadlines, unlimited lists. Got something important to do? Tap the star on the left of the task to move it to the top of your list and bookmark it.</li>
	<li><strong>Amazing email integration</strong> &ndash; Create tasks via email, share tasks with others via email, get reminders via push&#8230; or email. They even email you if you have overdue tasks. Like&#8230; everyday! I was so happy when they implemented this feature that I nearly cried when I got the first few emails.</li>
	<li><strong>Everything is sync&#8217;ed</strong> &ndash; On your iPhone, iPad, Android device, Windows PC, Mac, web, etc. It&#8217;s all there, always, everywhere.</li>
</ul>
<p>When I finally realized how awesome this app was, I started using it for chores, and as a shopping list. Then I figured it was good enough as a backlog for my open source projects and my web site, and then&#8230; Then my wife discovered it.</p>

</section>

	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_3" class="toc">Why your wife shouldn't use it...</h1></header>
<p><img src="/img/pictures/wunderlist/wunderlist-list.png" style="float:right;margin-top:1em;" /></p>
<p>One of the relatively unusual features of Wunderlist is the possibiliy of sharing lists with others. All you have to do is click a button, specify one or more email address, and send invitations out. People will then signup for a free Wunderlist account and they&#8217;ll be able to access (as in read/write access) your list.</p>
<p>Because Roxanne, my wife, has an iPhone, she was the most obvious candidate to try out this collaborative feature. First I shared my <em>Shopping</em> list with her: we needed to make a list of things to get for a party, and that was fun. Wunderlist worked perfectly: we went around the supermarket and ticked things off the shared list, which updated in real-time!</p>
<p>All went great until I decided to share the infamous <em>Chores</em> list. You know the one: bills, fees, errands&#8230; I used to say things like &#8220;it&#8217;s on my list, honey, I&#8217;ll do it&#8221;, or even &#8220;Yes&#8230; I&#8217;ll add it to the <em>Chores</em>, just gimme a minute&#8221;. Little did I know that my beloved liked Wunderlist so much that she started using it frequenly, constantly updating the damn chores list with things like &#8220;Take the rubbish out&#8221; or &#8220;Collect the package from the post office&#8221;.</p>
<p>I realized she became a true Wunderlist ninja when I found a task called &#8220;Flowers for Roxanne!&#8221; &ndash; starred and with a deadline set to <em>two months ago!</em></p>

</section>

	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_4" class="toc">My five work lists</h1></header>
<p>After months of trial, I decided to use Wunderlist at work as well. With caution, of course: I made sure not to write down any sensitive information in my tasks, because you never know. I started off with just one list, but it got crowded very quickly. I now use <em>five</em> lists for work only:</p>
<p><img src="/img/pictures/wunderlist/wunderlist-work.png" style="float:right;margin-top:1em;" /></p>
<ul>
	<li><strong>Work [!]</strong> &ndash; This is the most active one, I use it for things to do <span class="caps">ASAP</span>. Starred tasks are urgent and important, and should be dealt with within the day. At work, that&#8217;s my default list.</li>
	<li><strong>Work [~]</strong> &ndash; This is for things that in progress, for tasks I delegated to other people, for keeping track of emails waiting for a reply, etc. I tend to check it at least a couple of times per day (if something is really urgent gets moved to the first list).</li>
	<li><strong>Work [&#8230;]</strong> &ndash; This is for someday/maybes. Something that is most definitely not urgent, and not too important either. I normally review it once a week, except in the middle of August when I won&#8217;t be able to do anything because everyone will be on holiday&#8230; It will become my default list for a week or two, then.</li>
	<li><strong>Work [CoP]</strong> &ndash; I also work as the coordinator of a Community of Practice, and I want to keep CoP-related stuff separate, so that I know where to look when I can allocate some CoP time during my day.</li>
	<li><strong>Work [@boss]</strong> &ndash; This is a special list for my boss only. We email each other frequently, but rather then sending her long emails she can&#8217;t afford to read, I write down discussion topics in this list, which I&#8217;ll then load up at the following status meeting.</li>
</ul>
<p>The next step? Maybe sharing lists with my boss and collegues, who knows&#8230;</p>

</section>

	<section class="section">
<header><h1 id="h_5" class="toc">The bottom line</h1></header>
<p>Saying that Wunderlist is the <em>perfect</em> todo list for <em>everyone</em> would be pointless: there would always be people who wouldn&#8217;t agree with that. Wunderlist is not perfect, but close enough for me: it has most of the feature I need, and &ndash; most importantly &ndash; very little features I don&#8217;t need. In the end, this is what makes an app truly awesome.</p>
<p>I give it four stars out of five. Why not five? Because in this way <a href="http://www.6wunderkinder.com/">6Wunderkinder</a> can make Wunderlist <em>even a better product</em> by surprising its users with something they didn&#8217;t know they wanted. That&#8217;s what Steve Jobs does at every Keynote, isn&#8217;t it?</p>
<p><img src="/img/pictures/wunderlist/wunderlist-done.png" style="text-align:center;margin:auto;display:block;" /></p>

</section>

</section>