Tips and FREE Solutions for Managing the 21st Century To-Do List

In August, I will be conducting a session with teachers and administrators on how to use the free tools available on the Internet to manage their To-Do List electronically. After our conversion from Using MS Outlook web to Google Apps, which has a handy task manager, many of our staff are exploring options. In the following presentation, I will be reviewing with them 4 very good, but also very free, solutions for managing the day-to-day tasks that we face as administrators and teachers.

The first tool that I review is the simple Task List feature that comes with Google Apps. It is the tool that I currently use. It is simple to use and the best bet for a non-power user. It works well for those users who are not tackling a major year long task with lots of multiple subtasks.

The second application I review is Remember the Milk. It is a workhorse To-Do list that offers users a bit more functionality such as sending yourself text message reminders, and for having direct access on a smart phone. It is also a very good To-Do List.

Remember the Milk: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Another equally free and powerful To-Do List solution is Task Coach. Task Coach is an open source solution that offers users quite a few options when it comes to managing tasks. It allows for categories and subcategories. It allows for task tracking, and it has features that allow you to add budgeting. It is not as simple as the other solutions, but it is the most powerful To-Do List solution.

Task Coach Download: http://www.taskcoach.org/

The final solution I review in the presentation is not just a To-Do List. It allows users to place sticky notes on the desktop. It is called Hott Notes. Users can customize their notes, or they can use the To-Do List note on their desktop. You can add alarms to the notes, and it can be ran portably from a thumb drive. Hott Notes is a very simple sticky notes option.

Hott Notes Download: http://www.hottnotes.com/

Below is the presentation for my session. It provides an overview for each of these options.