Most small law firms and solo practitioners want to be able to manage and assign tasks and to-do items to other people (or just remember what they need to do from day-to-day) but don’t have the need for a full-blown group server such as Microsoft Exchange.
At thousands of dollars in hardware and software costs, it’s a bit of a waste to implement a server just to keep track of your to-do list and calendar. Still, some folks buy the hype that without such groupware (that’s the technical term for it) their office will sink slowly into the ocean.
Still, how do you manage workflow among your staff members (both those inside and outside of the office) without it?
Three words: Remember The Milk. No, I’m not giving you a chore to do on the way home – it’s a web-based to-do list, and the best one I’ve seen so far. It integrates with Google Calendar, lets you send tasks to other users and track their progress, and reminds you by e-mail and/or text message and/or instant message when a deadline is looming.
Features of this amazingly handy service (which I’ve been using for about a year without incident) are:
- Locate your tasks. Use the map to see where your tasks are located in the real world. See what’s nearby or on your way, and plan the best way to get things done.
- Manage tasks quickly and easily. An intuitive interface makes managing tasks fun. Set due dates easily with next Friday or in 2 weeks. Extensive keyboard shortcuts make task management quicker than ever.
- Get reminded, anywhere. Receive reminders via email, SMS, and instant messenger (AIM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Skype and Yahoo! are all supported).
- Plan your time. See what’s due today and tomorrow, and the things you’ve missed. Prioritize, estimate your time, and postpone with ease. Set tasks to repeat every week or after 2 months.
- Organize the way you want to. Are you a list lover? Create as many lists as you need. Into tagging? Use the task cloud to easily see what you have to do. Want to store notes along with your tasks? You can do that too.
- Work together to get things done. Share, send and publish tasks and lists with your contacts or the world. Remind your significant other to do their household chores.
- Add tasks wherever you are. Adding tasks is as simple as firing off an email (even from your phone). See an important date on the web? Add it to your list with Quick Add.
- Take your tasks with you. Access your tasks on your web-enabled mobile device. Print your entire list or a handy weekly planner which shows upcoming tasks. View your tasks on your calendar with Apple iCal or Google Calendar. Subscribe to feeds with Atom/RSS.
- Search your tasks the smart way. Find the tasks you want with advanced searching. Save your searches as Smart Lists, and easily see tasks that match your desired criteria.
So tell me – why are you not using RememberTheMilk?
