How do you keep track of all the things you need to do? Whilst developing DataCocoon I found that there were so many things to keep track of - finishing the software itself, building the website, getting the artwork done, setting up the Ltd...

On the bigger scale ("bug X needs to be fixed", "there needs to be a help file") I just tracked everything in my bug database, as I have for years with any software project. But that doesn't work very well for the day-to-day, finer-grained list of actions that need to be done in order to achieve the bigger goals.

After reading the excellent Getting Things Done and being overrun with to-do lists jotted down on scraps of paper, I decided it was time I got things computerized.

All the to-do list applications I've come across seemed either far too simple for my needs (just a basic list), or too complicated. I don't need to give each item a priority, write pages of information about each task, or work out how long it's likely to take... Having too many options like that is just likely to encourage me to procrastinate by reorganizing the priorities of my tasks, rather than just getting on and doing them.

The perfect to-do list should be powerful enough to let you keep track of everything you need to do without overwhelming you with items when you're deciding what to do next, and stay out of your way as much as possible to let you get on with getting things done.

tedium is what has grown out of these thoughts, and my need to get things done.

Adding a new task is as easy as typing the task and hitting return. If the task has to be done on a certain day, then you can add a due date. Most importantly, each task can have a list of "tags" - these are just keywords, defined by you, to help you organize and filter what you've got to do. They can be projects to which the task pertains (e.g. "wedding", "house_move", "SalesPresentation"), the type of task ("email", "meeting", "phonecall"), where the task will happen ("work", "home", "town")... whatever will help you arrange the tasks later. Then you can see all the tasks relating to the big sales presentation you have to make later this month, or check everything you need to pick up or visit when you drive into town on Saturday.

There are still lots of ideas we have on how to make tedium even better, but we thought it was useful enough to start letting other people in on the action. If you're having trouble keeping up with everything you've got to do, and if you think tedium might help, please sign up and join the beta programme.