A New Twist on the To Do List

Humans are odd creatures, and no two are exactly alike, which is likely why so many different methods exist for tracking the progress of tasks that must be accomplished. [Simone Giertz] has graced us with her own spin on task tracking that adds an element of chance.

[Giertz] tells us that she started with written lists that she tackled in dice-determined order to keep her from overthinking or cherry-picking tasks. While this worked fine, she longed for a more elegant solution. Approaching the UI first, unlike any Open Source project ever, she determined that a marker that could randomly point to a task on a vertical list would be most pleasant.

The bulk of the project was evaluating different mechanisms to make the marker pick tasks at random while not selecting a task that had already been completed. A set of magnetic toggles that could repel the marker proved ineffective, but a simpler solution involving moving the completed tasks past a divider won the day. The finished product has a satisfying selection mechanism that makes interacting with the chore chart a joy, which probably helps make it more likely things get done.

We’ve seen many productivity hacks over the years, including Arya’s Hacking the Self, this rotary time tracker, or this e-ink macropad.