How I ended up using Google Tasks

There are literally hundreds of productivity apps trying to help you get things done. And I need to get things done so I tried so many of them. Let’s see how I choose one for myself.

Why am I looking for a task management tool in the first place?

It’s pretty simple. My brain is pretty bad at remembering things. If the human brain were a computer, I would have a fast CPU and tons of storage, but super low on RAM.

Luckily, we have computers and smartphones nowadays to help us with all kinds of stuff. Then we have another problem, choosing the right tool. I mean, look at how many of them are trying to solve this problem.

Choosing the right one is kind of subjective as each has different needs and preferences. Let’s first scope down our search by setting up criteria. This is quite specific for me but you can probably set up something similar.

What am I looking for?

1. I’ll be using this app for personal tasks only. This includes paying monthly credit cards, doing laundry and groceries, meeting with the dentist, and other day-to-day small tasks. I’ll use another project management app for work separately (I use Asana for work).

2. It has to be some kind of checklist where tasks can be checked off as a clear indication of completion.

3. It should be easy to jump in, no initial setup is required.

4. It has to be able to create recurring tasks as most of them will be repeating.

5. It should work on all devices. I use a Windows PC and an Android phone. But to be safe, it should work on Mac, iOS, and web browsers.

6. And finally, it should be free as it is for personal use.

These criteria filter out a lot of the options, including some popular ones. Things only work on Mac and iOS. Trello doesn’t do recurring without hacks. And Notion… well, despite its popularity, I never consider Notion as a task/project management tool 😂.

In the end, all I need is just a list of things, in the cloud, reminding me what to do and when. That’s it. Google Tasks is good enough for this.

What I like about Google Tasks

Google Tasks is dead simple. It’s a list of tasks. It has all the basic functions a task management app should have. Add tasks, put due dates, check them off, done! You can still make things more complex by adding notes, subtasks, and lists if you want. It also works on all devices and operating systems. They are all synced up under a Google account.

Tasks can repeat themselves, which surprisingly is not possible for some other apps. You can set tasks to repeat weekly/monthly/yearly. You can also set how many times it should repeat. And you can even do some tricky stuff like repeat a task every first Saturday of each month.

Because it’s a Google app, it integrates with the Google Ecosystem, especially Google Calendar, which many other apps struggle with. And I use Google Calendar a lot. It’s quite nice when you can just complete your task right on the calendar.

What I don’t like about Google Tasks

Lists are difficult to use in real life. The problem with having tasks in multiple lists is not knowing what to do at a certain time. This is because there is no view to see tasks that due today from all the lists. So I need to check all lists to see if I need to do something in it, which is kind of frustrating. I solved this by just using one list.

There is no file attachment. This is not a big deal as I’ll be using links to Google Drive anyway. But I wish those links could be prettified automatically. It’s annoying to see long URLs in the description sometimes.

There is no collaboration feature. You can neither share a list nor assign a task to another. It’s just your own lists and tasks. I wish I could assign tasks to my wife 😂.

There is no dedicated desktop app. It used to have one. But no more. To use Google Tasks on a desktop, you need to either use it in Gmail’s sidebar, or in Google Calendar. They’re fine, but I still prefer having a dedicated app icon.

What if you don’t like Google?

You may be an iPhone user or just don’t like Google. Here are my recommendations that are pretty close to Google Tasks.

Todoist can do pretty much all Google Tasks can, plus more like a collaboration feature. I tried this one before moving to Google Tasks as the calendar integration is not as good.

TickTick is close to Todoist but only works on mobile. If that’s fine for you, it can be one of the good options.

Things is for Mac users. If you are in Apple’s ecosystem, then this is the one.

Microsoft To Do is from, well… Microsoft. Similar to Google, it works seamlessly within Microsoft’s ecosystem. Most of the apps work with Google Calendar in some way. But if you use Outlook as your calendar of choice, this is probably the best.

Superlist is new in town. It’s from the same creator of Wunderlist. This one looks pretty and promising. I’ll keep an eye on this one.

Conclusion

There are a lot more and I will never be able to cover all of them. And I believe there is no one right app for everyone. Each of them has pros and cons. And each of you has different needs. Just try some and pick the one that works for you. Let me know which one is your favorite.