As an autistic individual, I find task management systems invaluable not for their own sake, but because they help me overcome my natural difficulty in switching between detailed and big-picture thinking. While I excel at focusing on details, I can struggle to identify true priorities. My simple system (voice memos processed through Claude) helps me intentionally zoom between granular tasks and high-level priorities. This isn't about getting lost in productivity tools - it's about having the right support structure for how my brain naturally works.
This. Well, I'm not autistic, but I use them the exact same way.
The funny thing is, I have a personal project where I'm following a TODO list for minimal completion. It has finally reached the point where a single item remains, yet I get lost all the time when I start working on it thinking on extensions or not knowing what to do. So I need to constantly consult that single-item TODO list to actually get something done.
It's weird how helpful it is.
I struggle with this as well, but I didn't realize it until reading your comment.
Thanks very much for taking the time to write it.
Can you elaborate a bit on your workflow? I also struggle with this.
Here's my daily task management system:
1. Brain Dump: Record a voice memo on iPhone, speaking freely about anything I need to do - from household chores to work tasks. No need for structure, just stream of consciousness.
2. Transcription: Use iPhone's built-in transcription to convert the voice memo to text.
3. AI Processing: Feed the transcription into ongoing chat in Claude, which: - Structures my rambling into a clear task list - Incorporates context from previous days' tasks - Formats everything in markdown with checkboxes
4. Task Management: Import the markdown into Drafts app, which lets me easily check off tasks throughout the day.
It's a simple system that combines the ease of verbal brain dumping with the structure of a digital task list, without requiring manual organisation.
When you know what needs to be done, you don't need "productivity", you just need to work.
When you don't know what needs to be done, no amount of "productivity" will compensate for the fact that any work you do is meaningless and any result thereof accidental.
That's simplifying things a bit too far. For a lot of people, the required productivity system is exactly what's needed to enable them to "just work". For example Pomodoro timer is in that category. Unfortunately conveying what's happening in your brain to other people is really tricky.
Figuring out what needs to be done is itself work though, and for many people it is the type of work that productivity tools can greatly help with.
That’s why most productivity “hacks” are prioritization systems…
First, 'doing the damn work' all day feels horrible. You need to do some self-assigned and self-guided work during the day to not feel like an assembly line worker.
Second, tweaking your local setup is more like 'ergonomics' then 'productivity'. Working with more ergonomic setup may yield the same output, but it's more enjoyable.
Interesting. I feel far happier when I am able to just "do the damn work" all day. Instead, I find I am constantly having to pander to the onslaught of stakeholders who require constant meticulous management to give me the space to do the damn work. I can hardly get into a flow state anymore because of the heavy layer of management and dependencies.
Reading both posts it sounds like they're in violent agreement rather than disagreeing. There is a lot of FOMO in the aesthetics of productivity but at the end of the day everyone needs a system. It's wise to balance trying to improve the system with getting work done.
Personally I run with a very minimalist setup, am unlikely to change software defaults unless I need too, keep a todo list for myself and use whatever we're using this week to work with others.
I do wonder how much the more productivity systems optimizing people are measuring the actual result versus chasing aesthetics but at the same time I've not noticed it being a net drain so don't particularly care. In part I think it's a case of doing what works for you unless it becomes detrimental. There's a lot to be said for ritual making you comfortable.
The idea of having a system or process is to be able to;
- be intentional, consciously engage, and be present.
- participate by being active rather than passive.
- be consistent and reliable in timing, expectation, and quality.
- be finite by constraint around time, effort, or action.
If one wants just to keep winging it, it is still a choice and OK to be that.
That’s me. I wing it. I do this because I believe productivity as such is not a virtue.
I’m interested in creative breakthroughs, not maximizing any predictable or conceivable variable.
> I’m interested in creative breakthroughs, not maximizing any predictable or conceivable variable.
Most jobs and tasks in life don't need any "creative breakthroughs". The article is discussing scheduling, task prioritization and management. Fix this bug, implement this feature, schedule this doctor's appointment, do the dishes, buy toilet paper. No breakthroughs needed for those, creative or otherwise :)
I strongly believe in writing things down. But not so much in having a specific routine for it. The only criteria I have is to make it visible according to context. Some time I use Reminders.app, or I message myself in WA. I may also use an org file or my physical notebook. it’s pretty much the same as notes, I want them to be contextually visible. I don’t care to have a perfect filing system.
The practice: Shipping creative work by Seth Godin would be a good read.
The most consistently productive I've been was using the most stripped down physical bullet journal I could. I needed to write things to organise my thoughts a bit but other than that, anything else was literally a distraction and not a system. Basic, basic, bullet journalling and google calendar reminding me of events. That's all I actually need. The only thing holding me back is my brain refusing to use these things consistently these days and avoiding work.
> That's all I actually need.
This is key; understand what works for you personally. There's plenty of workflows and frameworks out there that would rather tell you what they think you need, which is the trap most of us end up falling into.
Good on you for listening to yourself.
If your brain is refusing, maybe they aren't all you actually need? There are processes and systems that help me, as an ADHD individual, trick my brain into not refusing.
It worked for like a year. What stopped the streak was COVID. I also recently got an ADHD diagnosis. Things that help with that thus far is morning excercise, cold showers, a deadly cocktail of caffiene and nicotine, and yeah bullet journalling was literally made by an ADHD guy. The system only works if you use it. And the only issue with bullet journalling is keeping the habit of using it. I don't see how that would be easier with any other system. If anything, the simplicity of it allows it to be less overwhelming to force myself to do. My other tactic is forcing myself to only care about work and have no hobbies. That really works and is the only way for me to unlock hyperfocus on work activities, because usually I cannot stand work in any form. But just doesn't seem healthy. Either way, there ain't no app that can help the fact that I am pathologically adverse to habits and consistent work on one thing. But we'll see when I get coaching if they come up with anything magical. All I'm hoping from coaching is that I feel accountability from discussing my systems to keep my systems (bujo and excercising pretty much) running. I don't want app recommendations.
In my mind all these productivity systems cook down to creating a list of tasks. The list can be between 4 and 10 items. You do one task at a time and when you are finished you can cross out the task. This is the extent of focus my brain is capable of. Creating giant backlogs and plans is just | /dev/null in my case.
A giant backlog of tasks can help with strategizing a long-lived project. But I classify them as planning material, and when doing, I just create a new list based on them.
> CGP Grey has a monolithic OmniFocus build that uses perspectives to really nail down what needs/can be done this second.
I highly recommend the early episodes of the Cortex podcast where CGP Grey talks about his system. I discovered that his brain works in roughly the same way as mine, and so I was able to apply a lot of his insights to make my own system better.
> our grandparents [...] woke up, put on their boots, and got to work, no excuses, no distractions, no bullshit.
And mostly, I suspect, they saw tangible results for their labour. The house got built, the dress got made, the bread got baked. Its easier to get yourself to do things when the things are there, in front of you. Nowadays many of us sit at a desk building or wrangling systems that are intangible and almost un-visualisable. I think its not surprising that our motivation can be lacking.
I'm a developer, but for me my most productive (and rewarding) day of the last year was the day I spent with friends chainsawing and chopping and carrying twelve tonnes of logs for fuel for our climbing hut. Didn't need to get in the zone for that, and at the end we knew what we'd done and it stayed done.
If you had to write software to run the chain saw, and write software to coordinate socializing with your friends, and write software to enjoy the warm luxury of the fireplace, I suspect you'd feel much the same about your software.
Sadly, modern software development (and the workplace in general) is not optimized around generating immediate, tangible outcomes that might be that rewarding.
If you had to write software to run the chain saw
I am both completely unqualified and intensely interested in undertaking this task.
Please don't.
We are also very isolated from the people who benefit from our labour. We do not see anyone benefiting from what we do.
It is also now usual to pay less attention to doing good work; to produce cheap crap or to design systems to trap customers into subscriptions or otherwise do bad work for greater profit.
Yeah its much easier to do things that actually have clear useful outcomes in the tangible world.
I suspect the dichotomy of the two posts is because productivity comes naturally to many people. Others need a system. Although I do agree that a lot of people tend to overdo it and track meaningless metrics.
"Productivity isn’t about shiny tools. It is about getting things done."
Earlier in my career I went on all sorts of productivity boosting courses and read loads of books...in the end only one thing has stuck and that's the 2 minute rule from David Allen.
In short, if a tasks hits you and you can get it done in 2mins or less just do it there and then.
Explained in his voice here for those interested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_-YOdwUDsg&t=37s
I've found that a problem I've had is that a "2 minute task" is sometimes, for me, estimated to be a 20+ minute task.
When I actually got out a watch and timed it, I was like "oh shit, that was not even a fraction of my estimate".
So it's the estimation, not the actual task length/difficulty that is sometimes a problem for me.
Precisely. This is how “mount my monitor on the monitor arm I had lying around” became “ream an 8mm hole in my desk”, “find an 8mm drill bit”, “rig a screw driver to ream out the whole by hand”, “ask coworker for a sleeve to make a sleeve for the bolt so it stays still on my desk”, “ream out the brass shell casing he gave me”.
However, after spending 2 hours doing that, I went and did a bunch of stuff I’d been procrastinating doing that were high priority with seemingly way more energy and focus.
Depends. 2 minutes with a context switch is very expensive. If it is just putting that cup in the dishwasher then sure!
Its not 100% for sure but say 70% for me which is high enough.
Yes if I am working on a high importance, high bandwidth problem I will break it.
But of day-to-day with team a lot of things fall into this. I see other stick it in their To-dos or setup time in calendar where I just prefer to get it done.
It seems like a lot of the productivity crap is that people feel that they're being productive when they're working on the stuff to make them productive, when in actuality while yes they're working, they're not working on what needs done.
An example to me is note taking, it seems like the productivity people seem to fixate on doing it perfectly and in the exact right way to maximise productivity, instead of just taking the notes in a good enough fashion and doing something else with the saved time.
This balance was a struggle for me in college. I'd forget without notes and taking too many I missed a lot of nuance and opportunities to ask questions.
Ultimately I realized it was more important to have a skeleton of notes and err on the side of paying closer attention in the moment. Then backfill any additional notes afterward.
Others would record the lecture audio. But that seemed like torture to me since it doubled the lecture time.
As others have said, the most optimum point varies per person and perhaps even changes per subject or over time.
I think it might be a little simpler. Productivity crap (or productivity porn as Merlin Mann has called it) is just fun. People enjoy notebooks and pens and talking about taking notes.
It’s not just productivity crap. Reddit (and HN too) is built on people talking about things rather than doing things.
The problem is not productivity porn but productivity tool yak-shaving, where the tool undergoes constant churn with no or marginal justifying productivity improvements
To me, the problem is “productivity culture” and the often projected idea/belief that a tool or system will make you productive.
Over the years, I’ve come to look at tools in this category this way:
1. If you’re struggling to get things done and especially if you don’t know where to start, productivity tools aren’t the solution.
2. But if you’re extremely busy and are having a hard time managing your workload, tools can be a godsend.
The “crap” part is the myriad of productivity influencers selling their particular system and the people who follow those systems like some kind of religion. This crowd often projects the idea that you just need to organize things to get unstuck.
But getting unstuck is a whole other ball of wax. Tools might help in some circumstances, but also might just be a huge distraction. Often the truly best approach is just to start.
Bottom line: use productivity tools to tame the chaos, assist your particular brain, etc. Don’t use these tools thinking they’re going to get you out of a rut or solve your procrastination problem.
I threw away all my personal productivity crap a couple years ago and still get the same amount of stuff done. I just converted the fiddling time into free time.
Would you say fiddling time was in some way pleasing for you? Maybe it was free time all along and still is for people who like that?
Write about productivity crap all you want, if your results are just plain bad compared to others then everyone with a clue will know it's bullshit, you are only fooling newbies, yourself and other kool-aid drinkers.
Obsidian is one thing, but forcing a bad programming methodology onto a problem can waste years of time. Focus on results rather than arguments. I've read beautiful arguments from people I consider insane after seeing their code. Metz is the Aristotle of our time.
Or at the very least define your problem rigorously if you want to apply human reasoning to it. And obviously if the problem changes your "system" for solving the problem should change too, otherwise you are just a dead man walking.
As a whatever kind of being I am, I am repelled by the very concept of a system of productivity.
Any sustained system of externalizing or conceptualizing my tasks at all threatens my thought processes.
Once in a while I write something on a card.
Technical operations you don't want to forget must not be automated. That said, after a while, the brain is in automatic mode, and you don't even give attention to them and kind of 'forget them'.
The original post was really just a troll's rant.
Prove it please.
these day's what isn't lol