Tech For Free!

Toodledo is my favorite FREE task management tool, and in my opinion it beats out other free AND fee based tools. To be fair though, I must admit that my love for the tool and positive experience only extends to individual use—I have not tried any of the collaboration features.

About ToodleDo
In short, Toodledo is a “to do” list you create that allows you to create a task (aka a “to do”) and then assign a description to it, a due date, as well as an organizational category (its capable of much more). I’ve been using it for a couple of months with great success, and I attribute my bliss with the tool its integration with other services/devices that work together to keep me on task and ALWAYS SYNCHED. Certainly Toodledo isn’t the only service out there offering this type of integration, but once I discovered ToodleDo the search was over as I had no need to look any further.

Benefits of This Tool

• It’s Free (unless you opt in for the pro version which allows collaboration)
• It’s In “The Clouds” (access it anywhere you’ve got an internet connection—your data is stored with ToodleDo)
• It’s Always Up to Date (synched)
• Very Easy to Use (I didn’t need to look at any of the support docs to start my list)
• Offers Multiple Ways (services/devices) to Access Your List
• Allows Exports (lets say your not comfortable being in “the cloud”)
• It Even Lets You Print Your List in a Booklet Format—Too Cool!

How It Works For Me
In an effort to stay on top of my work and my personal life, I tried a variety of approaches and tools including (but not limited to) the use of paper/pen lists, Excel spreadsheets, and services such as iTeamwork (free) and BaseCamp (fee based). All of course had advantages, but none fit the bill because they limited how and when I could access my list.

The flexibility of ToodleDo’s service/device integration has been key to my happiness with the tool, but the main reason I have so much love for it is that no matter how I choose to update my list, I can see the change almost immediately regardless across all services/devices. For example, if I add or remove a to do item via my iPhone, I will see that change reflected the next time I access my list via the web or my widget. I’m always synched!!

Figuring Out What to Enable
Before you start “flipping things on”, take the time to figure out what the ideal task management tool would do for you. Consider the circumstances of when, what and how you want to access your list.

For me, I knew that at work I would probably want to access my to do list via the website because of the option to see things full screen and because of the blazing fast broadband my office offers. I also knew there would be times when something would pop into my head and I would want to quickly add a to do item without disrupting my current workflow. Additionally, I knew I would want to be able to read and add to my list from my phone, while also seeing how my to do’s stacked up to calendared meetings. Lastly I knew that I didn’t want to be inundated with constant reminders of impending due dates. Knowing this allowed me to easily determine what features to enable.

Setting it Up
To get things going, you need to sign up for an account with them. It takes less than a minute and its free (they do offer pro versions) and once signed up, you can begin creating your to do list, or you can skip right over to “Import/Export/Synch” which is where you specify the services/devices you want to integrate with including: iPhone, email, Firefox, Twitter, Google (calendar/igoogle), cell phone browsers, iCal, SMS (text messaging), CVS/XML/TXT/PDA import and export options, RSS, Apple Dashboard Widget, Netvibes, Pageflakes, Jott and TSheets. Third party vendors have also been hard at work in making sure ToodleDo will work with their services so if you want to integrate Outlook or your Blackberry (among others) you’re in luck.

To get your list to work with any of the above services, simply click on the “more details” link. ToodleDo provides great instructions on what needs to be done to get your list working with a particular service/application.

Conclusion
If you need to EASILY track what needs to be done and you want to be able to access your list (add/read/synch) regardless of location/device I suggest Toodledo especially if you want to work from the clouds. *Sign Up Now: http://www.toodledo.com

*I am not affiliated with Toodledo, nor was I contacted by them to write this piece.