Being productive with Remember the Milk

As the next installment of my productivity tools blog series, I'll outline the capabilities and how I use Remember the Milk to remember everything from the groceries, work tasks, paying the bills and the things my wife and kids mention for birthday gifts.

Remember the Milk (RTM) at its core, is a web based to do list tool. However, recognizing that you aren't always at a computer with web access, the RTM team has done an excellent job of integrating with off-line and mobile tools, from the iPhone to text messaging.

A great thing (and there are lots of them) is that RTM is free. A few of the mobile platform integration tools are only available to premium members. The RTM team is quick to respond to problems, even though there are only 3 of them and they have a great user driven forum.

Features

RTM is a feature rich application with multiple lists, tagging, robust searching and a smart list feature based upon saved searches. I have work and personal lists and a general shopping list, which acts as the foundation for a grocery smart list based upon the 'groceries' tag. My most important list is my Today smart list, which combines all the tasks from all the lists which I should be working on today. I've found that this type of focus dramatically increases my productivity – I spend more time working on things, rather than figuring out what to work on.

You can receive reminders on a daily basis (the list of things for today) and specific to do's at a specific time. Reminders can be sent via email to multiple email accounts, SMS, all kinds of instant message protocols. My daily reminder goes to both my personal and work accounts, so that no matter where I'm checking my mail, I get that reminder of what to do today. I also get a text message at 6:45 am everyday, so I always have a portable list right there in my cell phone.

Though many productivity systems frown upon the use of prioritization, RTM also provides a numbered, 1 – 3, prioritization schema (the colored boxes). I still struggle with this, as there are some days when I only get to the tasks I've prioritized as number 1, bu there are still tasks which need to be completed that day. Individual tasks can have multiple notes (notepad icon next to tasks) to record the finer details of the particular task, which I use for phone numbers or the detailed SQL for the query that I need to run that day.

I don't make much use of the collaborative portion of RTM, but you can send tasks to or share lists with other RTM users. One of the drawbacks I find to this is that contact management inside RTM is lacking a bit, but it is a task management tool, not a contact manager.

Finally, RTM will generate a fairly nice printout. I use it more as a checklist (a trip packing list) than a printable daily to do list, partially because my work is done at a computer and I find that the mobile versions of RTM meet my needs. One of the continually requested improvements to the printable lists is the specifics of the notes, which I can understand why people would want that.

Cross Platform Integration

Another great thing about RTM is that it can be integrated with so many different tools. You can display your tasks on your Google Calendar, as an iGoogle gadget or desktop widget. There are plugins for Gmail to manage, display and create tasks right in your email client.

RTM supports integration with several third party applications, most importantly, Jott and Twitter. I'm not a Twitter user, but it provides an easy way to add, list and complete to dos by SMS. I'm a heavy Jott user and I can add to dos with my voice!

For those users with a handheld device, there is a mobile optimized website, a Blackberry version, an iPhone version and a synchronization tool for Windows mobile devices (these last three are all paid functions). You don't even need to have an expensive, high-tech device with wireless internet access – even a simple cell phone with the ability to text message will give you the full functionality of RTM (Jott or Twitter and RTM together).

RTM was one of the first applications to make use of Google Gears for offline web support. I can still have RTM when I'm on a plane or someplace with no web access and when I get back online, all my tasks re-synchronize. Its almost like there is no excuse to forget if you use a tool like RTM.

Using Remember the Milk

RTM is the most important productivity tool for me. With all of the things that my family and I are doing it gives me a great, one stop spot for my to dos. With the integration with Jott and tasks by email, whenever I think of something that I need to do, I can quickly and easily make a note of it. For these reasons, RTM is one of my most trusted capture devices for GTD.

It's great as I use the last chipotle pepper that I can take my cell phone and email it to my shopping list that I need to buy more. I can keep track of my work deadlines, personal to dos and my homework due dates all in one place make sure that I am able to divvy my time up between the different activities. Remember the Milk has become so inter-twined with my everyday life that its almost gotten to the level of “if I don't write it down, I won't do it.”

You can sign up here or take a tour!

My weekend with Kid 3

This weekend, Heather and Kids 1 and 2 had a swim meet. Kid 3 and I stayed home, partially because it is easier on him and because I had an MBA small group meeting in the middle of Saturday.

So, he and I got to spend the weekend together. It was mixed, as he came to the team meeting with me (I was the first to break the bring your kid to the group meeting), but we got to enjoy ourselves too. But most importantly we had beautiful weather while we were out and about.

We got to our meeting location early, so we played frisbee in the parking lot of Building 34 at Microsoft's Redmond campus. After the meeting, we played frisbee more in the parking lot and decided that we needed to find a park, not a parking lot.

I thought that there was a Burger King in Redmond (Google Voice 411 proved me wrong) so we drove back to Issaquah and got food to go there and then headed to Tibbet's park. We played frisbee, watched kids play baseball and then Parker played on the playground and I read a case study. Kid 3 eventually decided he had enough; he was getting hot wearing a black shirt.

We had a lot of fun and Heather called and said that we should eat dinner outside. I stopped at Safeway and bought steak, shrimp, asparagus, sweet potatoes, red onions and portabello caps to grill. After I had cooked everything, I got the validation of a lifetime, Heather said, "You overdid it with the vegetables." Can you believe it, too many vegetables? And what she doesn't realize is that I only cooked half of the vegetables I bought! There is a pork tenderloin in the fridge for tonight.

As it started to cool off, my arms were itchy. I thought at first that there were bugs out, but I actually got a light sunburn on my arms. Is spring really here?

Sunday held another half day of swim meet for Heather and the other kids. So, Parker and I made muffins and then made lists of what we should do. After he made his own Remember the Milk list, we realized that we needed to brush our teeth.


He joined me in the master bathroom and we brushed our teeth together. He brought his timer (pretty good for a 6 year old) and we brushed for 2 minutes. At the end, he said, "That was a long time." Maybe he doesn't use that timer all the time. But even more funny, he decided that we needed to write down on our lists that we brushed our teeth!

I had some reading to do and then we played Wii (he did check it off his list) and we headed out to do some errands (on my list). We drove to the outlets in North Bend to buy some soccer shorts to replace some that I got in college and Heather decided were dated, too short and just plain ugly.

We decided that we would eat lunch there too. Kid 3 was impressed that there was a Taco Time, Burger King and McDonald's all in the same place. I took advantage of that - he got chicken tenders from McDonalds, I got a cappuccino from the McCafe and then I got a burger from Burger King.

The unsnobby coffee from McDonalds is crap. They don't even steam the milk by hand. They have a machine that froths the milk and dumps the milk and coffee in the cup at the same time - all comingled and not a good cappuccino. It is cheap, but not good.

At Burger King, I decided I would have a Steakhouse Burger - the new Angus burger with onion crisps and A1 sauce. The guy behind the counter asked if I wanted the Classic or the Loaded version - has it been around long enough to be awarded "Classic" status? I wanted the lower calorie one and Kid 3 dumped his McDonalds drink on the floor of Burger King. We took my sandwhich and went across the street to the outside seating at McDonalds (and free refills on spilled drinks).

I saved $5 on shorts, $1.20 on gas (with my $ 0.10 per gallon discount at Safeway) and it only cost me $3.50 in gas to go there and back; less than one gallon in my MINI, and we got an enjoyable drive out of it too.

Kid 3 added to his list "Go to a lot of stores" after we got home. He sure knows how to make a to do list look as if he'd been productive!

All in all, it has been a fun weekend. I've spent a lot of time with Kid 3, a lot of time working on school and enjoyed the nice weather! I hope that you are able to take advantage of the good weather as well!

A new look for Remember the Milk

When I woke up this morning, Remember the Milk had a whole new look and feel! Better usage of screen space, display of tags and a nice keyboard interface, too.

You can read more about it on their blog, which includes screen shots. Its a much slicker user interface.

If you haven't checked out RTM yet, you should. And if you passed it up before, you should give it another look. The interface continues to get better and better and it is still free! Combined with Jott, you can rule the world!

In my opinion, I think they have Google-ified their interface some. I still maintain that they are building a great product and waiting to get bought by Google.

Consummate traveler, I am

I'm beginning another series of trips, this time shorter and some actually involving personal travel. But being the end of spring break for my kids and the fact that I am on a plane on Sunday (and this is a work trip), I didn't start packing until 10:30pm the night before my 8 am flight.

I've read some articles in airline magazines (surprise) about experienced travellers and some the tell-tales of newbies. One of the things they mentioned was that experienced travellers never pack early.

Sure, I've got a complete set of toiletries, all under 3 ounces and packed in Ziploc bags, so that part is easy to complete, but my Boy Scout experiences and my military background tell me to pack with a checklist. "Don't forget nothin'" is one of the Army Ranger's founder's mottoes. With a checklist, I don't need to think about what to bring, I've already put my efforts into the checklist!

So, last night, we watched Children of Men (a good movie and even a more interesting family movie - "This is set in 2027, I thought there were supposed to be flying cars?") and didn't finish until late. After the movie, I decided I should pack as I had to leave the house by 6am to get to the airport.

Remember The Milk, my online task list service, which really serves as my brain, unfortunately had some server issues and was down. This is the first time it has ever happened (I understand there were some widespread Internet outages in Australia Texas (see Emily's comment) yesterday) and I was unable to print out my checklist. "No worries," I thought to myself, "I've travelled enough that I should be able to do it all from memory."

So, I think I packed all the right and enough clothes, some stuff to run in the hotel gym and my iPod speakers. Unfortunately, when I got to the off-airport parking, I realized I left my blue tooth headset sitting on my desk. I did bring the charger and the blue tooth dongle I just purchased, but no headset.

I was really looking forward to making the few conference calls I had this week on Skype. I just signed up for Skype and that was the main reason I bought the dongle. Hopefully, the mic on my laptop will work well enough - I was hoping to save the cell phone minutes and make use of a conference hotspot and not have to back to my room. We'll see how it work out.

PC Magazine's Most Useful Sites

It is the end of the year and all the Best of 2007 lists are coming. PC World Magazine just published their list- The Web's Most Useful Sites. I find these articles interesting because I often stumble upon interesting apps (Gliffy, Basecamp and Writely were all added to my repertoire this way). I am also really interested in Web 2.0 and I think it is changing the face of computing, business - disruptive technology at its best. But back to the article.

I am a big fan of Remember The Milk and the article rated RTM the winner in the to-do list category.

Winner: RememberTheMilk reinvents the to-do list in a snazzy interface that lets you make lists in configurable categories, all laid out on the front page as tabs. Adding to-dos is easy, though adding deadlines, notes, and time estimates is unintuitive.

You can add to-dos using natural language such as "Call Ted next Thursday," sync with your calendar via the widely supported iCalendar format, and set tasks such as "Pay credit card bill" to recur. RememberTheMilk sends reminders through instant message, e-mail, text message, or a combination of these. You can also upload tasks via a special e-mail address that the site gives you.

It's a tremendously well-rounded free product, with neither more nor less than you need to get and stay organized.

I take a little umbrage (if you can only take some) that they gave Gmail runner up status.

But its limitations--the inability to add new folders, to open multiple messages in one window, to filter e-mail, and to right-click on anything--will surely frustrate power users.

They fail to mention tags - that which power users will love the most. I've been thinking of totally dorking out and writing a post about the obvious superiority of tags in organization. But I'll save you from that for now.

In terms of the next, new interesting application, I'm going to check out Meebo, a web based, multi protocol IM client. I've been using IM more and more for work now that I am a remote worker and one of my large projects involves a team spread across the country, both in-house and consultants. I'll let you know what I think.

The article is a long read, but I recommend it. Check it out.

Getting Things Done this week

This week has been a hectic one, mostly due to work. I was traveling for two days and had less than optimal internet access. I couldn't download my email to deal with it when I was offline from the office I was in. On the way home, I couldn't remember my T-Mobile wi-fi account, so I couldn't even catch up in the airport before I got on the plane.

Wednesday, I had an inbox with 2 days worth of high priority emails, some high priority tasks to do and a 3 hour conference call that ended up going 5 hours, plus some additional time rescheduled for Friday.

I was able to take advantage of the GTD practices and I accomplished a whole lot. One of the tenets of GTD is that if it can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it now, otherwise put in on your to-do list (mine is Remember the Milk). Taking advantage of priorities, I was able to tell people when I would get the things done and what things I should be doing right now.

It was great! Every day I worked hard, used the system and kept my head above water. I only had to postpone 1 task - I was amazed at how effective I was amidst all the emails and chaos.

GTD is a great system and I'm glad I discovered and implemented it. The next weeks portend to be just as busy and I'll need all the good technique to get through it.

Implementing GTD has been a life changing process and really made both my personal and professional life much more efficient and effective.

Opera MINI browser on a phone

As a MINI owner, anything mini catches my eye. As a tech geek, anything techie catches my eye.

Opera (the alternative browser people) have a version for mobile devices, Nintendo devices and now a Java based one that will run on my phone. How cool is that! Plus, I also like coffee, so java catches my eye too.

So, this browser is supposed to pre-process web pages in order to optimize them for viewing on the small screen. It also folds long lists, again to make them better to view on the small screen.

My phone already has a browser, but it doesn't really connect to the Internet, just some dumbed down and cleaned of any formatting version that Cingular provides. That browser doesn't really get me anything other than headline news and weather. So, I've been looking for something like this.

The browser seems a little slow to load initially, but then responds pretty well. I'm not looking for the greatest internet experience, but one that fits in my pocket anywhere I go. I know there are limitations on the cellular network and such a small screen.

I tried it out and went to the mobile version of Remember the Milk (my phone browser won't take me there). It worked! I was able to view my tasks and everything. It didn't do so well with the full featured AJAX version of the page, but hey, I'm on the phone.

It is great that this kind of processing power (and research too - preloaded with Wikipedia search box) can be packaged in such a small device. This is one step closer to ubiquitous Internet access. Now I need a better data plan on my phone!

The Opera Mini browser is available as a free download and a link can be sent to your mobile phone.

Remember the Milk integrated with Google Calendar

Remember the Milk has been my to-do list manager of choice for a while now. It has some really great features:

• Reminders by Instant Message, email, text message
• Multiple lists with priorities
• Create to-dos via email or text message
• Share or send tasks to others
• Publish your task list via RSS or iCal
• Supports the use of tags on tasks
• Tasks can be associated with URLs or locations and laid on top of a Google Map
  

It easily integrates with Getting Things Done and I use this service on a daily basis. On top of all that, it is free. On a daily basis, I live and die by my RTM task lists.

But they have taken it one step further. Google Calendar has some functionality to display web content. Google has created some calendars that show the weather for your location or the phase of the moon. Emily, Omar and Bob T Monkey at RTM have just released RTM for Google Calendar. It uses one of these web content calendars to show your tasks that are due on a particular day.

It gets even better than that! You can add and complete tasks as well! From the looks of it, it is based upon their recently released Google Gadget for the Google personal homepage or Google Desktop sidebar.

Remember the Milk is an excellent Web 2.0 task list. Though still in beta, it performs excellently and the team keeps adding new functionality and is quick to provide support! I can claim identifying at least one bug.

I recommend this service. You should use it. Google should buy it and integrate it into their services.

When technology fails

I am traveling for a few days and am going to rely heavily on Remember the Milk and Google Calendar and SMS notifications.

I didn’t get my reminder for my flight 3 hours in advance. Don’t worry; I did make it to the airport on time.

Beginning to get worried, I sent myself a test event from my phone. It was sent back, saying that my cell phone wasn’t registered with Google.

I decided to blog about this experience and the first time I tried to make this posting (from my mobile phone) the mo-blog posting got kicked back.

I wondered if something was wrong on Cingular’s side. To check what was being sent via SMS, I sent myself a quick email, planning on checking it when I got to my hotel. And then it was time to get on the plane.

When I turned my phone back on in Oakland, there was an SMS notification waiting for me, reminding me of the phone number to call for the shuttle to take me to the hotel. Luckily, I wasn’t reliant on this, because had already printed out the email with that information.

I had a conference call shortly thereafter and I got reminded about that one too. So SMS notifications were working. But when I got to the hotel room, their wired internet service wouldn’t assign me an IP address.

Argh. I’ve really come to rely on this technology and this is unfortunate. I almost didn’t set my alarm this morning, planning on relying on my SMS notifications. Good thing I didn’t. One of the lessons I learned in the Army (which is still holding true): communication gear will always fail in the moment that you need it.

Finally, the internet in my hotel room is working. My apologies to those who read the partial post from my phone. I can't tell where it will stop when I moblog!

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Assorted thoughts for the day

On Customer Service...

Yesterday, I blogged about Remember the Milk. Well, because of the order I did things, it didn't work the way I expected the first time. I posted to the help forum and within 10 minutes there was a response from one of the founder/designers. All this with a free service. Now that's customer support. Oh, and yes, we identified what was going on and most of it was my fault. Check it out - it is great.

On consumer recalls and bonus packs...

They suck. We are going on a trip this weekend (travel swim meets now) and I ran out of contact lens solution on my last trip. Well, I found a bonus bottle in the gigantor pack from Costco. For a moment, I was happy. Then I read the package a little closer; it was the Baush and Lomb solution that was recalled. I didn't pay much attention to the recall because it wasn't the kind of solution I used. Good thing I paid enough attention to it. I don't want to use that stuff in my eyes. Some kind of bonus, huh?

Remember The Milk

I've migrated my personal email to a great web based application, gMail. I've stopped using Outlook for my personal calendar (inter-twined with my work calendar) and started using Google Calendar. But this post is not about those.

I've found a great task list manager application, again web based.

Remember The Milk

It lets you create multiple lists, prioritize, tag, set due dates, everything that a task list should do. You can send tasks to other people (as long as they are members, too). It will remind you in a variety of ways, including Text Message, Email, Instant Message (in almost every protocol). And on top of all that, it has a slick web interface. It will also export your task list to lay on top of any calendar that supports the iCalendar standard.

And it is all free.

This has allowed me to move my task list (both personal and work) out of Outlook.

With it all being web based, my task list is at any computer attached to the internet, be it at the library, one of the several in my house or...

There are some really great apps out there on the web and this is counted as one of them. Check it out. Manage your life.