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Often at work I struggle to keep track of the multitude of jobs I have to juggle. Fix this bug, take a look at this unexpected behaviour, get abc to xyz etc. Normally I write these in a little text file.

Is there a better solution to help me manage tasks? It has to be unix/command line based.

Edit: Wow how did searching note reveal todo.txt. Thanks to both jammon and Ham for point it out.

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jun 9 '11 at 13:09

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6 Answers 6

up vote 4 down vote accepted

You are looking for todo.txt.

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For simple projects I like to mantain three files:

  • Roadmap.txt: Milestones and planning for each phase
  • Changelog.txt: Things that I've changed or implemented.
  • Todo.txt: Things that I still have to do, with explanations and justifications for each one.

For more complex project an integrated ticket system is the way to go. Trac, for example is quite good. Team System also works well.

For GTD, which is an enterely different things you might take a look at omnifocus or any other GTD application.

I'm very fond of GTD methodology, basically using projects and contexts can help you a lot organizing when and where to do things as wells a prioritizing what's need to be done based on where you are and what you have available each time.

By the way, if the project is big enough or you have enough things in your mind and enough responsabilities just don't go for the txt file. First of all, if you want to go digital (don't underestimate the power of a standard paper notebook) make sure, at least, that you can synchronize it on the cloud, so that you can check your tasks everywhere you are.

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Very good points all together. Just let me add to your last sentence, that the todo.txt project also has an android app that syncs your todo-file with dropbox and lets you check and edit your tasks on your android phone. And it has the bonus of not depending on any proprietary format or platform. –  jammon Jun 9 '11 at 11:58
+1 for managing project with three files concept, simple and clear –  PaulP May 30 '12 at 19:12

Taskwarrior is a nice project which I used some time ago.

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Taskwarrior looks good,but see the subtasks support is not there and the only alternative for this is specifying the depends relation ship between tasks. Any other task manager with proper subtasks support? –  Naga Kiran Aug 10 at 15:26

How about this one? Todo.txt

If you've got a file called todo.txt on your computer right now, you're in the right place.

So many power users try dozens of complicated todo list software applications, only to go right back to their trusty todo.txt. It's simple, straighforward, and readable by every text editor ever made.

But it's not as easy as it should be to open todo.txt, make a change, and save it—especially on your touchscreen device and at the command line. Todo.txt apps solve that problem.

You're not going to find many checkboxes, dropdowns, reminders, or date pickers here. Todo.txt apps are minimal todo.txt-focused editors which help you manage your plain text todo list with as few keystrokes and taps possible.

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Another option would be to use org-mode in emacs. You still get to edit in text in a terminal window, but you get coloring and folding and a host of other features. But, yeah, you have to use emacs.

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devtodo is a simple yet efficient commandline-based todo program.

It is available in most Linux distributions.

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