Todoist, the small-and-simple task management tool, now supports task sharing with Todoist Next
Doist has now added task sharing to Todoist — and a slightly redesigned user experience — moving my favorite task manager from the personal to shared task management category.
I have been using the new version, called Todoist Next, for the past few weeks during the beta, and it adds exactly what I had wished for, and retained all the winning qualities of the predecessor. I’ve written about how I use Todoist (see It isn’t how much time you have, but how you protect it), and it is an app that I literally have open all day.
The basic structure has largely remained the same as with the previous version. Todoist is based on a two pane UX: on the left is the navigation, here with ‘Projects’ selected. That shows all the projects, including subprojects (indicated by the black triangular toggle). I’ve selected ‘Kitchen renovation’ and so the right side panel shows the tasks in that project.
In the screenshot above, I am editing a task ‘draw version with cellar stairs reworked’, and you can see the various metadata controls:
- ‘@’ for adding ‘labels’ or tags — these can also be added simply by typing ‘@’ in the task title.
- clock for notifications.
- flag for priorities.
- outdent and indent for nesting of tasks under others: subtasks.
- ‘no due date’ indicates where a date can be set.
- the silhouette represents the sharing capability.
Sharing has been added to Todoist Next at the project level. In this case I have invited my wife, Sarah, to share the kitchen renovation project with me, and then I can assign tasks to her or me, or to leave it unassigned, as I did in this case.
The folder displayed on tasks represents notes that have been left. Here I clicked on the folder icon, and see a comment I left about recommendations for contractors from an architect.
Note that the identity of the contributor is left with each comment.
In my everday use of Todoist I make heavy use of tags (‘labels’), so that I can filter different groups of tasks, for example, all the tasks associated with my Sociality interview series. Task filtering can also be based on time classes like things due in the next 7 days, or what is overdue, or tasks with no due date.
Most central to my work, I also use tags as a part of my version of the so-called 1-3-5 rule:
Stowe Boyd, It isn’t how much time you have, but how you protect it
Each day, we can accomplish 1 large task (and it’s best done before lunch), 3 medium tasks, and 5 small tasks.
- A large task in my case is a redraft of a report, or traveling to the west coast. Something that takes several unbroken hours.
- A medium tasks for me might be writing a blog post, or getting a product demo, which could take 30 minutes to an hour.
- A small task for me might be writing a long email to a colleague, or following up on updates to a project on a work management tool, or negotiating terms for a speaking or writing gig.
Whenever I add a task I try to imagine which it is, a @1thing, a @3things, or a @5things. Each morning, I spend a few minutes seeing what I accomplished the day before, and whether I fell into the 1-3-5 rule or not. To get around the fact that completed tasks fall from view (unless you ask to see them explicitly), I use a @completed tag, and then later on — like the next morning — actually check off the completed tags.
What I wish that Todoist would provide is something half way between checked and unchecked, like a penciled check that I could later overwrite with ink, or erase. And these penciled tasks would not disappear when I leave the project context. This is actually better than a setting like ‘hide all completed tasks’, I think, and then I could stop using the @completed tag as a workaround.
The Bottom Line
I’ve had the opportunity to use Todoist Next for a few weeks, including the premium features — like notes, tags, and other capabilities that make Todoist a truly essential part of my work flow. Now, sharing was the one huge missing piece for me, and now that’s covered.
As I have said in other posts discussing my use of Todoist and other work tech, rely heavily on being able to get at the URLs of granules of the information buried in tools . Todoist does provide URLs for projects, so I can link to those, but I wish I could get at the URL of tasks, so I could share one with a colleague, or place the link of one task in a comment on another.
Likewise, I’d like to be able to ‘too’ tasks — to just share a single task with someone without having to invite them to join the project or be able to see other tasks.
However, with those caveats — and my dream of penciled tasks — Todoist is the perfect cooperative task management tool.


